Yes, this was not only my car's first time on the track, but also mine.  I brought with me no experience other than what' I've see on Pinks and Pinks All Out series on SPEEDTV.  So for those who are debating going to the track the first time, my advice is just go, I promise you won't regret it.

Of course since I knew I was going to track my car I already purchased a helmet with a M2005 Snell rating.  Of course technically I should have purchased a SA2005 rated helmet, but for $50 more and the fact that the track only required a SA95 rated helmet I was in good shape and my M2005 more than covered the requirements of the SA95.

Now, of all the things I had to learn about running the 1/4 on the track I was most nervous about the "tree".  Yep, that sequence of lights that go from yellow to green signaling you to floor it.  Well, first thing I learned was to floor on the light before green, not green itself.  By the time you register that last yellow and floor the pedal, the light will be green - trust me.  When I did do this I had reaction times of .8 - .9 - not bad at all.

The rest of my lessons came after I got home had time to think about what was going on.  The first was realized out on the track and that was my cars inability to reach it's full boost potential.  I was only doing 13-16 lbs of boost when I should have been seeing 20-24 lbs.  I spoke to one of the APR guys out there and after hearing my setup he suggested I tighten down my Forge SPLTR (dv/bov).  Of course the car was way too hot all day to do it right there so I opt'd to correct that after I got home.  Second, was the fact that my 60ft times were terrible.  This was a mystery.  But what led be to a solution was I remember seeing a light flash shortly after launch but couldn't register what it meant.  Well, after getting home I realized it was the ESP (Electronic Stability Program) system or traction control for others, and I did confirm this after looking in the manual.  Lastly was I need to remember to roll up my windows before going down the track - the drag is not needed!

So with those changes, dv/bov tightened down about 12-14 clicks, and my track routine now including 1) roll up windows 2) disable ESP, I should be able to get under 16 sec - I hope.  The best I did was 16.21 out there.  So now of course I'm itching to get out there again.  But maybe next time I'll have some drag radials, b/c I quickly put a few flat spots on my tires that day - they are finally starting to wear away with my  highway commute to work.  See ya next time!