Well... it took a 2300+ mile road trip with a 26' trailer the whole way, but it was worth it. Left on Thursday from Louisville to head down south. Spent the weekend in sunny Florida (beats the freezing temps here in KY for sure). Sunday morning, hooked up the trailer and took off straight to VIR for the Trackdaze HPDE to test it out.
I had some minor hiccups but nothing too unusual for a "new" car. First session I had a WICKED vibration on the out lap. Turned out to be nothing more than an old wheel weight that was missed when mounting the new tires. Pulled it off and made it out just in time to get 1 lap. The following session ended with a tow back from the pits to our spot WAY up the hill (thankfully the paddock will be ready next time I'm there). I shut it off in the pits when they pulled us all in after a wreck and had no starter when I tried to fire it back up. Turned out to be nothing more than a loose wire.
After back to back sessions flagged for people stuffing cars into walls I FINALLY got a few laps under my belt in the afternoon. All I can say is WOW. This thing is the definition of fun. It is also a complete 180 departure from the Corvettes. The learning curve is STEEP with the clutch in the pits and the Jerico. I'm sure plenty of people were laughing at the clown who couldn't drive through the pits but by the end of the day I had it pretty much figured out. Functional... but not quite smooth yet.
The clutchless shifting is an absolute blast. As good as it feels to rip through a good heel-toe braking zone, this is a whole new level of awesome. The brakes are simply amazing. The pedal pressures are WAY more than the Vettes, but they are unbelievably precise and predictable. I never even began to push hard and was still braking deeper than I ever could with my C5Z with the AP T1s. As I get better with the bias adjust, getting them dialed in should make it even better.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to hook up any data or video so I have no hard numbers but it feels like a rocket. The track was packed... I don't think I had a single lap without having to deal with at least 3-4 cars. I was also just getting used to it. I wasn't even remotely coming close to pushing hard. I was coasting into braking zones, short shifting, and being very gentle on the throttle. Even with all of that, my father was clocking laps in the 2:10 range. Through massive traffic and driving about 50%, I'm more than happy with that. There are a LOT of seconds to be gained. Unfortunately, it will all be paved and widened next time I'm there so I won't get a good comparison in lap times with my previous cars.
OK... enough rambling. Gotta work.
