I attended the BIR Performance Driving School today. Loaded up the car at 4:00 am and drove the 2.5 hrs up to Brainerd Minnesota. Got to the track @ 7:30 am, signed the appropriate waivers, and went to class. They had a continental breakfast, introduced the track instructors to us and we each had a chance to introduce ourselves. I was impressed with the experience that each instructor carried with them. Most instructors have been in motorsport for at least 20 years. Overall the event was very professional, and safety was always number 1.

I couldn't find the gaffer tape in time that GDC-SRT recommended so I borrowed some from the BIR folks (thanks a lot tech guys). I covered up the headlights, parts of the bumper, and the areas behind the wheels. I was puzzled why most if not all of the really expensive cars weren't covered up. It turns out that BIR is a really clean track without much if any gravel on the road. The only other car with tape on it was a modded Z06 (more on that car later.)

Onto the track. I took about 22-25 laps, only two without the instructors. The Crossfire was a MUCH better car than I was a driver. The stock Continental all-weathers were also better than I expected. I mentally couldn't handle learning the track and shifting at the same time, so I ended up doing all my laps with the gearbox stuck in 4th gear, good from 40 up to 110 mph! That's what getting an XF with 229 ft lbs torque buys you, I guess!

Not much body lean at 70 mph through the 7/8 Chicane. This car is SOLID. Going early into turns results in understeer, but taking the perfect line, this car is totally neutral. Steering is very communicative. You can tell you're turning in slightly early because the steering becomes heavy due to the understeer. Giving it some gas tends to lighten up the steering. The quietness and almost boring quality of the car are assets going around turns because you can concentrate on the drive.

Brakes are plenty strong. Not sure about fade because I was never going fast enough to have to use them hard anywhere but going into Turn 3.

The seats...oh boy. The seats need some improving because I was getting exhausted from having to hold myself into the seat. There's nothing on those seats holding you in on the high g-force turns! After every 4 or 5 laps, I had to go in and take a break because my whole body was tired from basically having to hold myself "in place" in the car. Very distracting.

If you don't know Brainerd, it's an interesting track with a little bit of everything. The most challenging turns for me were turn 3 (which is a 120 degree turn which requires HARD braking due to the high exit speeds at turn 2). Turn 4 is a throw-away to turn 5 which was hard for me because I kept turning in early, because I couldn't figure out where the apex was. Turns out the apex is pretty much at the end of the turn 4, which was a weird concept for me. Turns 7 and 8 are a mind-blowing g-force heavy left-right chicane where the apex is actually off the track, but not too difficult. Turn 10 is tough because the track is so wide (it is the staging area of the drag strip, which in turn is the main straightaway.) The instructors say "turn in after the first bump" then hit the apex and use as much of the track as possible.

The Crossfire was really popular and got lots of positive comments! How it looked, how it drove, etc. Everyone loved the car. Few of the instructors had ever ridden in one so I ended up taking 4 of them out. One guy said, "hey this is built on a mercedes platform right?" Yes, he was right. I popped the hood and showed him the parts that still had German writing, which he thought was hilarious. All the car guys seemed to know a little bit about this or that about the Crossfire.

OK, onto the other cars:

Z06: Man, I have some newfound respect for these cars. When they are on the track, they look incredible. One guy with a modded Z06 was pushing 505hp to the wheels and I took a ride in the passenger seat. With racing slicks that car was taking turns like it was stuck on the track like glue. Apparently he was hitting 170+ on the main straight and 130+ on Turn 1.

Panoz GT-RA: Interesting car. I didn't get a chance to see it on the track, but it was unique.

Infiniti M35x: The guy who owned this was flogging it something serious! A nice car.

Pontiac GTO: Phenomenal car. Really pretty and fast on the track.

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S: Big ***** on the guy who brought this to the track. On the straightaway it gave the modded Z06 a run for the money. This thing is large but very, very fast. It was a little slow through the tight turns, but at 2 tons large, that's not unexpected.

Also there were a 1958 Morgan, an SL500, an E30 M3, a few miatas, a Z4, Dodge Viper, a C5, a brand new Z06 (which didn't have plates yet it was so new), a pontiac firebird? A bunch of vintage cars, porsches, open wheelers and other things that are too old for me to understand. One car called a ginetta(sp?) had a remote oil filter assembly explode on the track which left a big oil slick. Cool little car but too bad for the fella who brought it, his day was over pretty quick. One guy brought a porsche 718 or something that was about the same size as a go-cart.

The Trackpedia folks were out, one was racing a Volvo S60(R??) (and was driving very very quickly), one had an open wheeler and the other two were in a 924 and 944.

Other thing of note: a couple of very lucky guys with wives who were really supportive, acting as pit crew etc. A lot of very social guys, really nice, it was nice to talk shop.

Then it was over.

No videos, because the footage would have been just a bunch of better drivers passing me on the right side.

Here's some pictures though: