At the end of the second day, after showing INCREDIBLE natural aptitude, I lost the car in turn 10.  Todd happened to be instructing me for that session.  For lap after lap, he was amazed at how well I was driving.  I had the line down perfectly, and I was FLYING.  This was my second track day EVER, and I was already driving faster than anyone in the intermediate group.  Because of my line, and my confidence in the car's stability and brakes, I was carrying a lot of speed through the turns.

Well, natural aptitude and a well-balanced car are just no substitute for EXPERIENCE.  I entered turn 10 on a slightly different line than I was used to, and I mistakenly thought I was running out of track.  I lifted.  NEVER LIFT IN A TURN.  The back end came loose and swung around counter-clockwise.  At this point, I could have (a) run straight off (turn 10 is one of the few places at the Glen where this is possible), or (b) gotten back on the throttle to correct my mistake.

But a beginner just doesn't know how to correct mistakes.  I panicked; I put my foot on the brake, and tried to correct.  It only made it worse.  My two right tires went over the edge of the curbing and touched the grass, and the traction differential was so great that it snapped the car into a CLOCKWISE spin of 180 degrees.  At this point we were flying across the track BACKWARDS and the passenger side glanced off the armco at the fateful point marked on the map below.  We actually hit with sufficient impact that it bounced us all the way back across the track, where we came to rest in the grass.

Yes, it was pretty bad.  Wheels don't normally look like that.  Both the front AND the rear suspension arms were broken on the passenger side.  That probably actually saved the car; the suspension absorbed the impact rather than transferring it to the frame.  The frame was not damaged at all.

Mike Lawton generously loaned me his brand new Tundra and his flat bed, and I towed the car home the next day.  Took it right to the body shop, where it stayed -- from Memorial Day until Labor Day.  Yes, the entire first summer, and I didn't have the car.

I was back at The Glen (twice) in 2002 (driving, per Todd's description, like a cat that had been neutered), and also Mid-Ohio.  And then twice at the Glen again in 2003.  Now with a total of 12 track days, I have a much healthier respect for speed and physics.  I'm concentrating on developing my skills (heel-toe shifting is next), and feeling the way the car behaves so that I know when it's telling me something is wrong, and can do something about it.

But it was definitely an experience I would have preferred to avoid.

NEVER LIFT IN A TURN