Anyone have any thoughts/reflections on running HPDE with Hooked On Driving? I'm heading to Pocono with them later this week and would appreciate any thoughts on their conduction of HPDE.

Same for Pocono Raceway ... any suggestions, things that I should know about the track? I have not been able to find a "lap around Pocono" guide as I've found for Lime Rock and New Hampshire. They are running the "full road track" this week.

Thanks for any help.

 

Looks like I'm charting new territory here.

 

a long while back, somebody (I think it was dkstone) posted a track layout. Good luck!

 

I've done a bunch of DEs at Pocono with NASA-NE, PDA, and M-club. The East course is the most fun with the MINI. There is a long course which uses the North Course and South Course infield sections along with the front straight and the tri-oval turn. I've also run a long course using the North Course infield along with tri-oval and NASCAR T1 and the front straight. Damn - that is fast.

http://www.racenow.com/d02_pocono.htm

I am not familiar with the term "full road track".

Alan

 

Thanks for the info. I spent the day at Hooked On Driving's Pocono HPDE yesterday. I was the only MINI there, running with lots of the usual high-end sports cars. Needless to say, the MINI held its own! The track is what they call the "Full Road Track", detailed in the attached image that I marked up.

The good things about HOD: you get 5 track sessions, 4 at 25 minutes and 1 at 30 minutes; you get a garage space at no charge; they raffle off $25 gas cards; and they serve a buffet lunch. The not-so-great things are: it's somewhat informal so you don't get the session-ending checkered flag at the start/finish line... flaggers anywhere on the track start waving when your session is over so no cooldown lap; they let some upper skill level drivers and instructors out in the lower skill level sessions without letting us know; there's a lot of passing without point-bys by the upper guys when they are running with the lower-guys (that's me, I ran in the intermediate group) and no one calls them on it - scares the living bejeezus out of you; and they have the buffet at a pub 2 miles away, so there is no driving for 1.5 hours midday, and you have to go there with your track tires if you use them. Finally, the staff at PCI (maintenance guys) would not let spectators use the infield stands to get a good view of the action, for no known reason. None of these things would make me not drive with HOD, but I like the SCDA and BMWCCA events better because they are more controlled and they pay a lot more attention to the little details. Remember, I'm an intermediate, so if you are more experienced, and don't have a lovely wife to keep happy at the track, you'll have no problems!

It's the most technical track I've driven yet... lots of twisties and hairpins ... challenging to keep the speed up and not blow downshifts in the complex turns. But there are three straights where you can really open it up. I felt like my Nitto NT01's got a little mushy midday as the track heated up and I'm going to post a tire pressure list a bit later to see if someone can help me figure out the best inflation pressures (I forgot to bring chalk to mark the tires). Top speed for me was 128mph on the back stretch, and if I drove the hairpin onto the back stretch better, the MINI would have gone faster. Though that speed was good enough for me!

What a great car. I can't believe how good she drives and how well she performs against bigger, bad-*** machines. Now I'm looking forward to WGI at the end of July. Hope to see other MINIs there.

Photos:
1. Pocono "Full Road Course", run clockwise.
2. Nikki in the turn off of the front straightaway.
3. Nikki keeping it real and passing bigger iron at 120+ on the backstretch.

Yeehaaaa!!!

 

Thanks for the write up! If you haven't been on it yet, I'd recommend the Shennadoah circuit at Summit Point. It's another technical track. The Jefferson circuit is the one most folks are familiar with. Can't wait to hear the feed back from the new course in south jersey.

 

well since you asked, it's amazing!!! very new, so not many land marks...but the kind of course you get to pull on m3's and s4's i was on thunderbolt this tuesday with nasa. everyone was learning the course.....including the instructors....as the thunderbolt course opened less than a week ago (lightening has been open for about 2 weeks). i'm going back october 16th with nasa/pda http://www.pdadrivingschool.com/ this is a very mini friendly place. thunderbolt is longer, but has more turns. in short i couldn't wait to get back again...just wish my schedule was more flexible.

 

Nice. I'm thinking about NJMP with SCDA 8/26 or 9/17. Does New Jersey have garage bays available?

 

thunderbolt does for sure. i haven't been to lightening yet, but i'm pretty sure they would. looks like they're gearing up to be a top notch facility.