[CarJunkie]

It was awesome!

M2C for laps in the autocross course, G80 M3C on the south palm course in the morning.

Great lunch.

Got my laps in the GT4 on the south palm course right after lunch. I'll post video once I have a chance to crop it to reasonable length. Some of the other participants were pretty timid, so I was glad to get out of my group of 3. I had 10 minutes following my own instructor, who was driving the doors off an M4C trying to give me as much room as possible. He was bouncing off the full width of almost every curb and berm to carry speed in the corners and had a little more speed down the straights, but I could have been faster having gotten comfortable with the race car. The unassisted brakes were actually very easy to work with, and I could have braked ridiculously late if I didn't have to trail the instructor in his street car. The machine was raw and angry, very easy to drive at the limit, sounded awesome, and just worked well.

Next we went back to the autocross course for timed runs and I managed to set the best time. Not too shabby! (Bragging rights in pic….I'm Brian in the blue group)

The last drive was back in the G80 on the south palm course. The G80 is easy to drive fast, but obviously less exhilarating than the GT4, and for me was far less engaging and "white knuckled" than my prepped 1M at the limit on track. I don't like the ZF. At low speeds, shifting 1-2-3 produced firm mechanical jerks that must be programmed in to give the illusion of mechanical feel, but once at speed it shifts with slop, usually a good half second after the paddle is pulled. It is obvious once driving hard that it is not a DCT. Engine was awesome. Sounded great.

The instructors then gave us a ride around south palm drifting the corners. What an experience! I rode in the backseat. The instructor had long hair. He turned on some Ozzy Osbourne, opened all the windows, reclined his drivers seat almost all the way back and set loose. From the back seat, it just looked, sounded, and smelled amazing.