Since it’s completion in 1959, Pacific Raceways (formally Seattle International Raceways) has become one of the most well-known dragstrip and road course tracks in the Pacific Northwest. It is built out of everything that makes Washington roads so much fun; from twisting ribbons of tarmac through forests to the dips and hills of mountainous countryside, it really feels like the epitome of driving in the upper left corner of the United States.
However, as Jake learned this weekend while receiving his Competition License, Pacific Raceways can be just as unforgiving as it is beautiful. To excel at this track drivers must forget about the trees lining the straights and the hidden bumps in the pavement and push themselves to get within inches of walls at eye-blurring speeds.
Before Jake’s training weekend he did have one track day recorded at Pacific in his own car. That can only go so far - once you’re strapped in to the ProFormance Racing School’s Scion FRS, the track feels like a whole new beast. The FRS is a brilliant training racer and provides a manageable, yet challenging introduction to the track; once you’re buckled in, it feels like you’re wearing the car instead of driving it. Add a dozen other drivers who are also inexperienced in FRS’s, and racing school becomes a real trial-by-fire.
Over the two day course, Jake spent more than ten hours on the race track each day. It doesn’t matter if you’re as buff as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson - you’re going to be sore.
In Jake’s words: “It was spooky! You’re so tense because you’re like, ‘What am I doing? I have to be how close to the wall going 115 mph plus?’”
An outline of Pacific Raceways. Jake was the fastest through 3A/3B and 5A/5B
So much seat time also means getting to know the cars and the track like the back of your hand. Don Kitch Jr., Jake’s instructor, told the drivers to record a track journal - a list of notes to refer to when trying to squeeze every ounce of performance out on the track. Here is an example of Jake’s:
For turn 3 Curtis taught me two methods for A and B. Inside and outside on both turns.
Inside Turn 3A and 3B
If you are going relatively fast, and squeeze on the brake kinda late and firm 2/3 down on the inside of A, release most brake pressure as you turn in smooth but quickly you'll take your car out to the outside, then unwind the wheel... your speed and traffic will dictate how down close you are to B and whether you go straight to the regular brake point and turn in point. [Then] flip the car around and then come straight for the apex or if you're that close to Turn B you simply just hit the apex on B and flip the car around.
Doing that during laps is one thing, But during the race I found myself getting slowed down by the other cars -which gave me the capability to just do a perfect U-turn on the Apex and beat a car out of each turn. I wonder if that's blocking?
For outside it's much more clear.
Bomb down the hill on the drivers side and squeeze the brake firmly on the brake line about 5-10 yards past the start of it, kinda early. Release the brake the same amount toward the end of the brake line and get the car turned around and head for the middle of the track. [While] unwinding the wheel give it a good gas squeeze, then onto the brake line. Squeeze on to the brake firmly, release and then turn the car about 180 degrees, look for the apex, hit it, then straight to the exit and turn out. As I aim to the turn out, I unwind the wheel and squeeze the gas down as much as I can and only easing off the gas to scrub some speed to aim the car where I want.
Turns 3A and 3B happen within a span of a few seconds, which isn’t very long to non-racers like myself, but it’s an eternity on the track. In fact, Jake was consistently the fastest through those corners over both days of racing school. However, being fast while in school is much different than being fast during a real race...which Jake was also able to participate in.
On the final day of school all of the drivers were let loose for a final race. No instructors, just the drivers and their cars. The class was broken into two groups, five students and five Pro3 BMW racing drivers who would race in their actual race cars!
Jake slipped to last place toward the beginning of the race and traded spots with the 9th place driver for most of the run. That is, until the final lap.
With one full final lap to go, Jake overtook one car through the inside of the long, swooping turn 1. He kept his speed and took another out of turn 2. Bombing down the hill he took to the inside and out-braked the guy to his left. In turns 3A and 3B, a couple of his fastest corners, he passed two more. He closed the gap through the back stretch with turn 4, and was the quickest through the tricky chicanes at turns 5A and 5B which put him right on the tail of the 6th-placed car. Once again, Jake overtook two more cars through turn 8 and the nerve-rattling wall at 9; fast but demanding corners. With the finish line in sight, Jake carried the speed through turn 9 and onto the straight and passed yet another car. Jake finished 4th out of 10, overtaking more than half the field!
Now with a novice license, Jake must complete three incident-free races to get his official amateur racing competition license. This should be pretty easy for Jake to do, considering his view of racing isn’t necessarily to break track records. To him, it’s all about being a good driver - staying on line, being confident in his and the cars’ abilities, being safe - and making memories.
Jake has caught the full-blown racing bug. While racing school was fun, because, well, it’s racing school, it also provided an ‘escape’. Jake said that when you’re racing, there isn’t anything else on your mind. There can’t be anything on your mind. It’s all, ‘brake point, turn in, apex, throttle, knowing where other cars are’, all within seconds. The track, especially a place like Pacific Raceways, demands respect. It is a consuming force that overtakes your senses, but provides an entirely raw, powerful experience; 100% focus, dialed-in.
The next time Jake visits Pacific in early April he’ll be in his restored Corvette. Racing season can’t come soon enough!