The first time driving Laguna Seca | One of my 7 hairiest moments

Everyone who races has stories. Some are about victory so sweet, but most are more likely about total disasters. Here is the second of my seven hairiest moments on track.

Everyone who drives WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca loves it. My first time was an absolute nightmare.

The year was 2001, and I had been invited by legendary Mini racer and parts vendor Don Racine to try out the first new MINI race car in the United States. This was still a couple of years before BMW brought the bigger new MINI to the U.S.

Somehow, Don had gotten one into the country and asked me to try it and write a story about the experience. I had obviously never driven this all-new car. I had never driven the track, either, and most importantly in this story, I had never driven a car with right-hand drive.

It was a test day, and very fast Porsche 911s, Mustangs and BMW M3s kept whizzing around. I sheepishly asked if I might try the car during lunch parade laps–or at least out on the local public roads first–to address at least the concept of driving right-hand drive. He basically told me to quit whining, get my butt out on track and show off my fancy car magazine publisher skills.

I was terrified but dutifully did what I was told. As fast as I could, I was processing the car, the track and the nuance of shifting with my left hand. I was just starting to get things figured out when I came up the hill to the blind left-hand turn, just before the infamous corkscrew.

Cutting to the chase, I missed that corner completely and went straight through the dirt and rocks, only to rejoin the track about halfway through the corkscrew. I was horrified and embarrassed. My fancy car magazine publisher Spidey sense had let me down big time that day.

Despite this nightmare, I will never forget, I did end up figuring out how to drive this car, the track and even shifting with my left hand within a few laps.

Comments

View all comments on the GRM forums

You'll need to log in to post.