Fantastic read Billy, well written, impressive articulation of somewhat difficult subjects within the addictive realm of learning to drive at the limit! How about an article on car setup? Or rather, learning to become a development driver, building upon the skills necessary to identify handling traits and what changes available to us will influence them? ie. tire pressure, damper adjustment, spring rate and spring rate bias, alignment, sway bar changes, Aero, etc. -you know, stuff that a good HPDE/TT driver has at their disposal from the basics up to data acquisition and adjustable LSD's. Maybe that stuff is common knowledge but it would be nice to hear from an accomplished driver on that subject.
I started at 25 with a 5 day racing school in FF2000 after doing several HPDE's in my sports car. While it was the most costly way to further develop my car control skills it was also the most beneficial in my personal experience - a real investment. If you pick the right school, it can be very rewarding as they will have personalized instruction and will always be encouraging you to find "the limit" - learning to identify discrepancies between your perceived limit and the cars limit....and you get to do it in somebody else's racecar! Other than racing schools and car control clinics, we are left to HPDE/TT in our NSX's to go about improving as drivers and learning these fantastic sports cars. I agree 100% with your assessment of the HPDE environment, and again, I think if you pick the right event organizer and the right track - you CAN explore the limit and try different things like various amounts of trail braking, late braking vs. less braking and more entry speed, inducing oversteer on purpose to see where and how the car lets go, etc. but obviously should be done on a corner/track with plenty of clear run off and never attempted with another driver close by.
Sorry for ranting on but I find articles like yours inspiring. I think driving IS an art form, and as such it is interpretationaly-based: two drivers may do different things with the same canvas, brush, and pallet. Thats where I can see the benefit of one-on-one driver coaching, delving into comfort zone analysis, improving the ability to recall what the car is doing and where, and even sports psychology. To do this for a living- race cars, develop cars, win races, and share with all who are willing to listen, while always learning more is something most of us dream of. Keep writing and thanks for sharing!
