Participating in the Masami Meeting for the fourth time: Target time of 43 seconds on the Tsukuba Circuit TC1000

Participated in Masami Kageyama's driving lesson for the fourth time

This happened about a month ago, but I participated in a driving lesson called ``Masami Meeting'' by professional driver Masami Kageyama, which I have been attending about twice a year since 2023.

Of course, the participating vehicle, as always, was my beloved black Carrera (991.2 base model Carrera).

The reason why I always take driving lessons (circuit driving) in this model, which does not have a Sport Chrono and cannot be put into Sport Plus mode, is because I absolutely love this car.

I wanted to become faster in this black Carrera, and I wanted to know more about and understand this black Carrera (←and the car ^^), which was the initial reason and purpose that led me to take driving lessons.

I still love this Porsche so much that when I look at it, I can't help but fall in love with it.

Well, this time I participated in the Masami Meeting with brand new tires.

I won these tires in a raffle to win Yokohama Tires, which is open to those who attend Masami Meetings more than twice a year.

I won "two tires", so I received two black Carrera rear tires and purchased four front tires and had all four brand new ones before participating (I was told to drive 100km after the tire change, so I made sure to drive that far before going).

This day's lesson also started with morning lectures. Please also refer to the following past articles:

◆Third time participating in the Masami Meeting: Tsukuba Circuit TC1000
◆Driving school: Second Tsukuba TC1000 run by participating in Masami Meeting
◆Participated in Masami Meeting, a driving school hosted by Masami Kageyama

We were taught many things in a thorough lecture, which reminded us of many things (we forget them immediately), and as usual, after a passionate talk, we were in a state of mind where we were fully confident that we could do what we were told (lol), and started the morning practice run.

In the morning we will practice at the Tsukuba Circuit Gymkhana course.

And as usual, I was disheartened, thinking "I thought I could do it, but when I tried running I realized I couldn't do it," but I still think that my understanding has improved compared to the time before and the time before, and I'm sure I'm changing for the better little by little.

...I want to believe that (lol).

However, the points I'm always given are the same ones, so although I'm gradually beginning to understand, when I have someone look at it objectively I realize that I still have a long way to go.

Inevitably, my viewpoint gets closer, and before I know it, I'm so concerned about the clip point that I try to get close to it too early.

Well, I'll be positive and understand that there's still a lot of room for improvement, and I'll continue to work hard in the future.

At Masami Meeting, before the morning lesson, yellow tape is placed at the 12 o'clock position so that the steering position (where and how far it is turned, etc.) can be easily checked from outside.

On this day, after finishing my morning run, I happened to look at the tape and wondered...what is this?

I was so busy with the steering that I rolled up the tape (lol). Is it possible to get it to spin like that? ↓

On that day, I was pumped up like "Aaah, let's go for the big rudder here!" but I was also panicking like "It's not the big rudder yet" and "No, it's not enough yet!" and it's obvious that it's showing up in such a bad result. Hehehe.

After the morning program, it's time for lunch.

During the break, I happened to look at a staff member's car (I think) and saw a beautiful praying mantis there.

It's rare to encounter a praying mantis in Tokyo these days, so I was thrilled to see one for the first time in I'm not sure how many years it's been.

Praying mantises are so impressive and so scary...

When you get close to look at it, the mantis suddenly turns around and your eyes meet, and in that moment it looks like it's going to scream ``Oi o ka!'' and come towards you.

Every time this happened I would scream "Wow!" and jump away, but it was still a life form that I couldn't help but stare at.

After seeing the praying mantises it's time for lunch.

As usual, the bento contains all the side dishes that are served in a children's lunch (lol).

The target time for the TC1000 is 43 seconds

For the afternoon session we moved to the TC1000 at Tsukuba Circuit.

This will be my fourth time racing the TC1000. My best time to date is 44.005.

If I had been 0.006 seconds faster, I would have been in the 43 second range! This was my personal best and I cried because I missed my time by 0.006 seconds.

This time is not the fastest among the people who are running TC1000, so I feel embarrassed to publish my time every time (lol), but I guess there's no point in showing off, so I'd be happy if you could see my times, which may be improving little by little.

My current personal best time was in my second run. In my last third run I found myself getting really nervous from the start and my result wasn't very good (44.638).

Thankfully, this time I didn't feel scared and was able to think, "Okay, today I'll stay calm and not panic, just run slowly and carefully, one step at a time."

Well, even though I say that, I end up panicking in the end (laughs).

This time, there will be three chances to run the TC1000 (15 minutes each).

However, although I was able to enjoy the first two runs, I wasn't able to improve my time.

Here's a miracle.

After the second run, I had a ride with Masami Kageyama (Kageyama drove the black Carrera). Every time I get someone to ride with me, I try to steal anything I can from their driving, but... What? Well, I'm not going to steal, I'm going to learn from what I can.

However, I don't have the skills to immediately learn something from such professionals every time, but!

Perhaps because this was my fourth time, I noticed a lot of things, like "Oh, so that's how Masami goes in here," or "I was trying to take the distance as far as possible on this straight in order to go all out."

Furthermore, when it came to a corner that I had not been able to understand at all until then, Masami casually told me while driving, "Yes, do this, do it like this," probably without even intending to "teach" me...but it really had an impact on me.

After this ride, I tried driving on my own and actually put into practice as much of what I remembered as possible, such as "The line was like this here," and "It was like this, that here."

I achieved my goal of 43 seconds!! I cried! I'm so happy.

Moreover, the best time was43.498』.

This is a big improvement in my time. I'm so impressed. I'm not running as "Yay!" as I used to.

Running calmer and faster than usual is exactly what I wanted. Well, I'm not there yet, but I think it's a sign of growth for me.

And take a look at this time of 43 seconds (who am I talking to?).

Surprisingly, from the third session onwards, he started hitting the 43-second mark many times. It wasn't a fluke. Probably.

The realization I had that day was truly big.

Of course, it was impossible for me to understand and memorize all the points of the TC1000 while riding with the rider that day, so I did my best to first desperately try to remember from the first corner to the second corner, and even the twisty part after the hairpin.

That's why the time improved so much.

That means.

Next time, I'll try my best to remember the final corner from the final compound corner, and if I combine that with what I learned this time, maybe I can shave another second off my time? That's what I started dreaming about. It's simple (lol).

One of my next goals is to be able to adjust tire pressure by myself.

One more thing, even before I set the time, I thought to myself, "I need to be able to do this," and that was adjusting the tire pressure.

I'm ashamed to say that I've never done this by myself before. I always have my husband do it with me, or have him do it at the Porsche Center.

And because this happened right after I had changed the tires, the air pressure was still not properly correct after the change, so I thought, "Well, I can just adjust it before the circuit after doing 100 kilometers to break it in," but in the end I came to Tsukuba that day without having time to adjust it.

At first, the air pressure in the left front tire was extremely high, so I asked a Porsche driver who was participating that day to lower it a little while waiting for the morning practice (thank you ^^), but I couldn't cause any trouble while I was driving on the circuit after that, so I decided to drive with this crazy air pressure this time ↓

The air pressure was quite high when we started driving. Those who drive a 911 will understand this, but it is overwhelmingly higher than the pressure required for normal driving on public roads.

Looking at the air pressure, I vowed to myself, "Next time, I'll be able to adjust the air pressure myself! And once the air pressure has increased, I'll try lowering it a little and driving."

So, next time I think I can shave off another second by "properly lowering the air pressure if it's too high" and "learning more about the second half of the TC1000 and riding carefully", so my next goal will be to "run in the 42 second range" in the TC1000.

Previously, Kageyama-san achieved a time of 42.293 in my black Carrera, proving that the black Carrera itself has the potential to achieve a time in the 42 second range.

*Of course, I know that if Mr. Kageyama were to drive the black Carrera by himself, without teaching me, he would be able to achieve a much faster time. However, I just wanted to use this figure as an indicator of the time I should be able to achieve if I try hard.

I was able to spend another enjoyable day with the Black Carrera.

I really love the sound of the black Carrera racing on the circuit. It's really cool.

It may sound strange to say this about my own car, but I honestly can't help but love it every time I drive it.

For me, this is the best Porsche. I'm happy.

As an aside, after returning home that day I drank every night, and in my completely drunk state I suddenly started drawing a diagram of the TC1000, saying "I thought this part was like this, but it was actually like this", "So I did it like this, you told me to do it like this, and it was like that!!" and I was totally drunk and annoying my husband (lol).

A picture of a really drunk guy talking (and he's only talking about the first half of what he learned lol) ↓

My husband came home having fun riding the TC1000 on his own, and then in the end, he told me in a drunken chat about what he had learned about how to ride the TC1000. I feel bad for him (laughs).

I'm grateful to my husband for accepting that, and I'm happy in many ways.

I'd like to continue having fun with the Black Carrera.

Once again, I would like to thank the kind staff at the Masami Meeting, the Yokohama Tire staff, the participants who joined us, the instructor, Hironori Takeuchi, and Masami Kageyama, who even cracked some dad jokes while riding with us (what a way to introduce yourself (lol)), for a very meaningful and enjoyable day.

It was fun!!

Masami Meeting Official Website:Masami Kageyama Driving School: Masami Meeting

Related article:
◆Third time participating in the Masami Meeting: Tsukuba Circuit TC1000
◆Driving school: Second Tsukuba TC1000 run by participating in Masami Meeting
◆Participated in Masami Meeting, a driving school hosted by Masami Kageyama

◆How to change tires on a Porsche (for the fifth time) and discover the time bomb that was planted in the tires