My GT350 is loud. If I rev over 3000 RPM, cops from the next town over are queuing up to give me a ticket. It doesn’t help that I’m probably doing 80 in a 35 zone at that point =(.

So I took my car to her natural habitat: The Track. The closest one is Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA. It’s a pretty good one.

On the longest straightaway, it’s not unusual to reach 145 MPH. At the end of that is a generous braking zone to heel-toe 4th to 3rd at high RPM – reducing speed down to about 50 MPH for a long turn. Then, another downhill straightaway up to 100 MPH again before another heel-toe down to 2nd. Then, it’s like a windy mountain road, the aim being to maintain a line as much as possible through mild turns. Finally, the most critical corner, maintaining as much speed as possible entering the original straightaway.

In some ways, chasing a fast lap time is similar to training on the violin. You do the same thing over and over again, trying to get better and better. It’s about having an idea for what to do and practicing at executing on those ideas.