The saga of Siena Kitch’s experience with ProFormance’s Race Licensing Course continues. Here’s what she encountered on the second day of the life-changing course.
Our last feature highlighted Siena Kitch’s experiences on the first day of her Two-Day Accredited Competition Race Licensing course. The second day turned out to be just as eventful and thrilling, even though it began with a very standard Northwest feature: rain.
The instructors showed up early on the second day to help students walk the track and learn how to improve their turn segment times. After some preliminary talk, the group began walking the storied straights and turns of Pacific Raceways.
“I needed the most assistance at Turn 5A,” says Siena. “Ken and I got out of our car, and physically pinpointed where I should be off the brakes by, where my apex was, and where I need to be full throttle.” Siena found it a great help learning the exact point where her car was capable of going full throttle. “The track walk was a huge confidence boost for me.”
A matter of control
After the track walk came wet track car control exercises, which promised to be interesting, thanks to the rain. The weather gave Don the chance to teach the students about oversteer/understeer and how to “catch” the car in an oversteer. “We went down to Turn 3A and 3B, which we ran backwards,” Siena says, “beginning at Turn 4 and reversing towards 3B. Then we braked and saw how quickly we could get on full throttle.”
The exercise, tracked by a radar gun, taught Siena a lot: what it meant to be full throttle by the apex to track out; not to be too greedy with the throttle; and to have patience until you’re 100% confident that you can hit the apex.
No cone
More lapping ensued, but this time without cones! The familiar guides that tell you how to manage the turn — yellow cone for turning in, green cone for the apex, white cone for tracking out, and a host of others — were gone. Instead, Siena and the others had to rely on their geographical reference points they had located that would always be present on the track.
“This was a breakthrough moment for me,” Siena says. “Rather than being concerned about exactly hitting my apex perfectly, I could “dance” the car around the track. If I were a few inches off my apex, I wouldn’t notice and considered it a win.” Of course, being one of the people who take the cones off the track each day would have helped familiarize her with the track layout.
Passing on knowledge
Even with her racing background, Siena found there was still a lot to learn
The passing drills helped drivers get comfortable with overtaking and being overtaken in the classic passing zones, under braking prior to turn in. Additionally, students learn to follow flag commands by the marshals from flag stations, a vital skill for racing safety. They also learned about the local racing scene, and what is involved in a racing weekend (hint: it’s a lot more than showing up and racing).
All in the mind
One fascinating exercise was “mental driving.” Drivers sat in their cars, closed their eyes, took some deep breaths, and drove three perfect laps in their brains. Then their heart rate was taken. Afterwards came three actual qualifying laps. Not only did the mental driving help Siena’s concentration on the actual laps, but as it turned out, her heart rate taken after the actual laps was very close to her heart rate taken after the mental driving. Proof that a great deal of motorsports is a mental game, and the brain in mental practice does not know you are not actually driving.
The big moment arrives
The grand finale of the day was, of course, the race. “I felt ready and knew I had done everything in my power to be the best prepared version of myself for this race.” After a formation lap and lining up, the signal came, and they were off.
“All I knew when I saw that green flag wave was that I wanted to be at the front of my race group. All of my skill and confidence growth across the two days had prepared me for this moment.”
And what a moment it was. The ProFormance race licensing course is unique in that experienced race drivers participate in order to give students a taste of real professional competition. “I went wheel to wheel with Corey Peters, arguably one of the best PRO3 drivers on the grid, and held onto him for most of the race!” Don showed them every flag in the bag and put the group in real racing conditions. “For 30 minutes, I truly was a race car driver.”
“When I saw the checkered flag, I was so relieved and proud of myself. I finished my first novice race and performed above my expectations. There’s no other way to put it: we all have racing gremlins in our bloodstream, and they reproduce rapidly when exposed to racing elements.” Siena went from being uncomfortable at high speeds to thriving in a race environment. “I don’t think any course I’ve taken has pushed me to grow as much as this did.”
That night, Siena hit the sack at 7:30 PM and dreamed of racecars.
Personal benefits of the race licensing course
With the Two-Day Accredited Competition Race Licensing course under her belt, Siena feels much more in touch with the ProFormance client experience. Don’s familiar sayings (e.g. “The tire can only do three things, and it cannot do two things 100% at once”) make so much more sense to Siena now that she’s experienced them on the track. She also feels more empowered to help ProFormance clients on their own personal journeys.
Onward: PRO3 Racing
Looking back, it was probably inevitable, though Siena didn’t realize when she took the course that she’d end up a competitor in PRO3 racing. But Siena now has her own PRO3 car and will be racing in the Invitational at Pacific Raceways this October. Next year, she’ll be running the full ICSCC schedule. She’ll also be honoring Don and Donna’s Team Seattle legacy by using the car to benefit Seattle Children’s Hospital.
With its wealth of top-flight coaching and cars, PRO3 is an excellent choice for anyone interested in Northwest club racing. And if Siena ever wants to go farther afield to test her mettle on any raceway in the world, she’s ready for that too: “Don taught us how to learn a new track before you even get there. Any question or uncertainty I had before this course was completely eliminated. I don’t know how many other courses can accomplish this.”
Now it’s your turn!
Siena’s advice to anyone who has thought about taking the Two-Day Accredited Competition Race Licensing course: do it! Sign up. “It’s the best two days you can spend at the race track, hands down. The instruction is absolutely fabulous and gives you the ability to grow as a driver so quickly. Probably half of my fellow students won’t go racing, but they had the time of their lives learning more about driving techniques and understanding race craft. When they come back to their sport lapping events, their confidence level and car control will be through the roof!”
One of the unique perks of ProFormance’s race licensing course is that you can’t “un-learn” what you’ve acquired there. It becomes part of you, whoever you are, and whatever you do afterwards. “Now I walk the earth differently,” Siena says. “I’ve raced against other people and had fun doing it. The 2020 Siena would never have thought that possible.”
Your move. ProFormance offers its Two-Day Accredited Competition Race Licensing course at regular intervals. Sign up, show up, and Siena Kitch will guarantee that you’ll come away transformed in two days’ time. You’ll have a new command of your car, you’ll be ready for club racing, and just as important, you’ll have found abilities in yourself you never knew you had.
