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:

 

That must have been a heck of a good time, A closed road race track, conditions should have been good. Temps in the fifties and dry. Good chance to push the car with out Smokey pulling a fund raiser on you.

 

Next time it would be nice to have more than one XF, especially a factory supercharged AMG one hint hint

lol @ the speeding tickets. Have you noticed lately that MN cops are out in force all over 494?? Watch out...

Conditions were great, everything was perfect except for 15 mph wind blowing all day. It was blowing against traffic on the main straight slowing people down, and it made for an interesting picnic lunch.

 

Good to see more people are putting these nice handling cars to good use and doing some real racing, err i mean road racing!

I always get a kick when total strangers ask me what car I have and if they can ride shotgun during a session.

 

I am real envious. Sounds like a good time. The first time I took mine to Road America (July '04), folks would walk right past a Ferrari to get a look at Scooter. Watching how miffed the Ferrari guy got made my day.

 

Sounds like you had a blast. Seems a lot of different drivers grow some new respect for the Crossfire after seeing it in action. I usually have people at the track sneer at my car before the first session, after I get out there (and I'm no pro) and shake down the course with the SRT6, most of them are showing a whole new level of respect for the car. This always holds true for the Limited and Base models too.

Easy way to eliminate the seat slop is to do the seatbelt locking trick. Get the seat set where you want it then move it back an inch or two. Then tighten the lap portion of your belt, force yourself back in the seat and pull out on the shoulder part of your belt and let it snap back into the retractor. At this point it should be locked. Now move your seat back forward to your 'set' position. You should now be snug in your seat with the belt tight both across your lap and your upper torso. If it seems a bit constrictive... it was done correctly.

Hope that helps... Cheers!

 

Thanks guys.

Oh btw, you guys running the SRT6's with an auto tranny have an advantage on the track as far as I'm concerned. With only two pedals to worry about and both hands always on the wheel, you guys can spend 100% of your time on technique!

Thanks for the tip MMZ. I'm also looking into buying some more supportive seats to replace the stock cloth ones.

 

Wow! Wished I knew about this. I put a dock in this weekend. No fun. I just got my car but I've so wanted to just go need for speed most wanted with the thing. Too bad for me, I can't just reset the game and not get tickets or thrown in jail. I've heard our cars are pretty tame on the track but have just the right balance of snort/quickness and agility/drivability for almost anyone to be a weekend racer with them. Audi's and Bimmer's are gonna be up there this upcoming weekend. Co-worker has a S4 that the XF is just itching to eat...Maybe that's why he won't race me! Anyways, sounded like it was a lot of fun. Hope to get up to the next one.

Peace, I'm out!

 

http://www.archive.org/download/BirP..._2008_720P.wmv

Here's a video from the Trackpedia guys. Not much footage of my XF, but you can see it here and there.

 

[quote=sonoronos]Thanks guys.

Oh btw, you guys running the SRT6's with an auto tranny have an advantage on the track as far as I'm concerned. With only two pedals to worry about and both hands always on the wheel, you guys can spend 100% of your time on technique!

quote]

I agree though not like we had any choice.