I just got back from two days at VIR. Wow, what a weekend!
To start, I got to crash in one of the villas. If any of you have seen the Top Gear episode where they go to VIR....that's where they stayed! A front row view of the "Climbing Esses", RIGHT on the track. Anyways, i started off the next morning with a rude awakening. It was supposed to be in the 70s and sunny, but instead we were greeted with 50s and cloudy. I didnt even bring a coat, and just had a sweatshirt as an afterthought! When we got down track-side, I got a ride in a buddy's track-prepped STI with some sticky rubber (one step below Hoosiers...whatever brand/model i forget). He was trying to heat-cycle his tires and bed in his brakes so he was "only 60-70%" but WOW was it eye-popping. He's got a mighty quick car and its a fun track.
So for my first run I had an instructor (especially since it's a new track to me) and tried to find the line. I ran into some overboosting problems, so for most of the session i was only doing about 50% throttle to keep my boost at maybe 10 psi. There are some corners on there where you can carry SO much speed and never expect it, and I was having trouble trusting my tires. So my instructor invited me for a ride along in his Miata. We were hauling ass around the corners and falling miserably behind on the straights. On maybe our 6th lap around through the climbing esses we got a little loose and did a nice spin into the grass in spectacular fashion. Spins are less scary than they seem, although i was glad we were going in the direction of field rather than a wall.
To keep this rambling story short, I got a new tune overnight (thanks George!!!) and put down some MUCH quicker laps. I was a few seconds faster than a new friend in a tricked-out Outback, and he was doing 2:25 by the time we parted ways, so i think that puts me at maybe a 2:21 or 2:22 with several places I KNOW I can get more speed. My instructor was teaching me the Miata line, and the "school line" but by the end I was trying the racing line and could go faster--i just didnt get enough practice by the time I had to leave.
I look forward to going back to VIR and will try to post up some pictures/videos soon.