I talked 4 friends of mine into going to "Road and Race Car Driver Training" at Portland International Raceway sponsored by Team Continental.   Each student gets a senior instructor who rides with you, teaching you late braking, apex, exit, and throttle technique.  There were three classes; Group 1 (total beginner), Group 2 (some driving class experience), and Group 3 (licensed or former race drivers).  We got 4 sessions each about 15-20 minutes long.

I, of course, was in group 1.  My 'competition' was my co-worker Jeff Mathena in a twin turbo Supra, my co-worker Kathleen O'Neil in a Mustang 5.0, my co-worker Jon Barrett in a 96' Camaro, a race prepped Camaro, a couple of BMW M3s, a BMW Z3, a Nissan 300Z, a 850 T-5, and a Prelude Type SH.  By all means I was the low man on the totem pole in terms of power (still at 11-12 psi) but did pretty well in the corners.  I don't think I convinced anyone to go out and race prep a Volvo wagon, but I got a couple 'faster than I thought' comments.  Peter Linssen of MVP was in Group 3 with the 'Big Boys' where he got to race with about 5 Vipers and various other fast cars.  It was great watching him come into turn 9 in a pack of Vipers.  His car was going like a bat out of hell.  A good driver really is worth 100 hp.  Very impressive.

This was not a 'race', but once I got the 'being passed' flag because the Prelude SH was behind me.  He barely got past me on the straight and was actually slower in the corners.  So, he would pull out ahead of me on the front and back straights, then I would catch right back up to him in the corners.  This was a kick!

My car performed better than I expected actually.  Very flat in the corners (for a wagon) and neutral handling.  The motor held up well to running at 5500 RPM for the 1/4 mile, 100+ MPH blasts down the front and back stretches (did not use OD).  I had not run the car super hard since the rebuild.  This was a true test of the car.  I pretty much killed my brake pads though.  I have the 'low dust' (high fade) pads from IPD but when I was done, my rims were black and boy does asbestos stink.  When I go out again, I'm changing to grooved rotors or cross drilled and maybe the Hawk Black pads.

Anyway, It was totally worth the $105 fee and a set of new pads.  If you have the chance to ever go, DO IT.  Check with your local track or race car club.

Go here for video clips. Site may not be available all the time since Geocities limits the file transfer per hour. Good luck