I just had to share my experience a couple of days ago with all of you. For years, I have wanted to take a high performance driving class, and finally this year, I went for it. With the sponsorship of Barrier Motors in Bellevue, WA, I had the chance to take the 1 day High Performance Driving course put on by Proformance Racing School at Pacific Raceway.
The first half of the day was spent learning braking techniques, slalom, emergency lane change, and some classroom work learning about the importance of taking the right line through turns, as well as how important balance is in getting quickly around the course. What balance especially means is braking and accelerating at the right time. The afternoon was then spent doing a series of 20 minute lapping sessions around the 2.25 mile, 9 turn course, with an instructor in the car at all times.

There were 26 cars participating the day I went. 14 Porsches (1 Cayenne, 6 Boxsters, and the rest various 911's), 6 Audis (including 1 RS6), 2 Mercedes, 2 BMW's, and 2 Volvos - a 98 T5 sedan, and my 98 V70 XC. My car seemd completely out of place, but everyone was amazed at how well it did! In the course of the afternon lap sessions, I passed 16 of the other cars, and was only passed once (by a Boxster). My car, even with 132,000 miles on the clock, has the advantage of a Wetterauer chip which raises HP to 235, and torque to 250, ipd sway bars, ipd/cherry turbo strut brace, and front Bilsteins. The tires are Bridgestone 950's in stock 205/65-15 size. I use Mobil 1 10W-30 oil, and Mobil 1 synthetic ATF, both of which I change myself. In the pictures taken by the photographer, it was clear my XC, even with the taller suspension and added weight of the wagon and AWD, was cornering much flatter than the T5.

The temp was in the low 90's, and with the AC switched off, and wearing a helmet, I got very hot, but the car did great. Towards the end of the 2nd lap session, I started getting a blinking arrow warning light, which I suspect was from a hot transmission, but if I backed off just a bit, it always stopped blinking. This happened a few more times through the afternoon, but always stopped if I slowed down just a bit. My brakes wore down about 3mm front and 2mm rear, and my front tires (inflated to 40 psi all around) got pretty chewed up, but are still fine. I drove 100 miles on the track that day, and used 12 gallons of gas. I was hitting 107 mph at the end of the straightaway, going into turn 1, and was exiting turn 1 at 90 mph.

I learned more about my car and my own driving skills in this 1 day than I have in 30+ years of driving. The Porsche drivers were amazed by the performance of the 2 Volvos that day. I really recommend taking a class like this as the ultimate performance improvement for you and your car!


www.proformanceraceschool.com

Gordon Volvos rule!!
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86 240 DL 120K; 98 V70 XC 125K(Bilsteins, ipd strut tower brace & sway bars, Wetterauer chip)