dbright007

Headed out the door to meet TA for lunch - see ya'll in a little while!

SilverEIGHT

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

silver--its 1325 and i havent heard from ya and you are not answering your phone---does this mean we are through
OD

DarkSideDE

Silver8 got into Pooler - no sweat -- only the olddragger is dragging his... LOL

See you in the morning :-)

SilverEIGHT

OK boys... we have ourselves a new group that I do believe is going to be one of our favorites. Jackie and Al put on one hell of a great HPDE. The word I heard from Julie is they will be having another event the end of March. It will be one you will not want to miss... I promise.

I'm too pooped to poop right now and follow up with my report tomorrow.

TOO MUCH FUN!

PORSHCES, PORSCHES, PORSCHES..... Hell, we even have a new member to our group that drives a 944, John. Stories about him to follow as well.

OK, gotta go for now. Vids galore. You are especially going to like the one with OnRails, smoking his tires in a hellacious drift through 2, concluded off track. Real exciting from my perspective.

My video was off during my massive spin out of 4 with TA riding shotgun.

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

yep--i agree --this is the way you need to spend a w/e at the track. ALso more to come
OD

SilverEIGHT

OK, first video... OnRails losing it in turn 1... and... 2! Just keeps going and going and going!

http://www.silvereightstudio.com/Dar...lsLosingIt.mov

All car parts were safe in this episode.

TrackAddict

What an excellent weekend! It could only have been improved by having more of our group there. I don't know where to start... This weekend was very special for me on many levels and you all know why. It was fantastic to get away and not think about the past week.

First and foremost I need to say what a great group the Darkside is. From Jackie to everyone behind the scenes, it felt completely comfortable and welcoming. The schedule was terrific with exactly what you would want in a DE. (We got off to a 10 minute late start on Saturday morning but by the first break, we were on schedule where we remained until the end of the day on Sunday.) Everyone got 4 sessions per day and they started and ended on time. They were not cut short by incidents or oil downs. The whole atmosphere was much like the family atmosphere when we all started doing NASA events. With under 150 participants, there was lots of space in the paddock, short lines at the concession stand at lunch, and a relaxed feel to the event. Everyone knows and loves JAckie and I can see why. She made an effort to reach out to us here and made us all feel valued and welcome. I would most highly recommend this club and plan to do many more events with them.

Dano - it was great to meet up with you for lunch Friday and get a belly full of sushi. Thanks! I was most impressed by my ride with you Sunday afternoon. Somehow the switch got thrown and you drove Celine like the bitch that she is. She will always love you for that. For the record, I didn't time you at any time during the weekend. That is not allowed. If I was to guess, I would say you were running sub 1:35s.

Don - I really appreciate the ride down to Roebling on Friday. It was great spending those 3.5 hours (yeah right) just chatting. Thanks for taking me for a spin (literally too) on Saturday. You really have made the leap from casual HPDE driver to serious high performance driver. You are driving your car with confidence and prowess. It shows. I also appreciate you letting me pilot your car for a session on Saturday. Your car has razor sharp reflexes and is highly responsive. I had a complete blast.

Swoope - First thanks for invite to stay in your hotel room. I can't wait until I can repay the favor. I was so happy to get to instruct you this past weekend. OMG what a difference between where we started and where we ended on your last session on Sunday. It all came together that very last session. I need to redo your evaluation! Thanks also for the opportunity to pilot your car as well. Her handling was excellent and she did not want to drift. As fun as that is, it is just not fast and confidence inspiring. Those Dunlop tires are great too. The beer you brought was excellent. What a terrific way it was to end the day on Saturday.

OD - great to see you again my supercharged friend. Catching a ride with you was awesome. Your car feels so fast blasting down the front straight. It is just like riding in a supercharged RX8. Oh wait... I am sorry that you had some fuel pump issues. I know how frustrating that can be but it didn't stop you from having fun. Glad you turned off DSC and got more of a feel for the beast under your butt.

Kurt - glad you brought the RX8 out this time and gave her a workout. I know the Miata is your primary track weapon but ti is great to have another 8 on track. I was hoping to catch a ride with you but that didnt materialize. Next time I hope. I think those helium filled tires would be fun to experience.

Onrails - glad I caught that ride with you Saunday afternoon. You were having a ball sliding your car around Roebling. You seemed so totally at ease pitching the car around any of the corners at high speed and waiting for the tires to grip. It was quite impressive. I am looking forward to seeing video of that.

I hope to see most of you at Road Atlanta in December with NASA. I will defintely expect to see all y'all at Roebling with the Darkside in March.

OnRails

I had a really great time at this event. Like everyone else I was very pleased with the Darkside. Very well run and Jackie and Al made us feel right at home. Lot's of track time and the run groups were small enough that there weren't really any trains or anybody holding you up at all. I've gotten used to open passing anywhere having run in DE3 and TT with NASA so I was a little worried about getting any clean laps (Black group was limited to passing on the straights) but it turned out to not be a real issue. The whole weekend had a very relaxed feel to it. The BBQ and music saturday night was excellent. I'll be back for the next Darkside event for sure.

Getting to the track on Saturday meant leaving Charlotte at 3:00AM since I got stuck friday night working on some issues at work. I arrived at 6:30AM but the gate didn't open till about 7. It was a little bit of a scramble to get everything unloaded and make tech but I got through it. At registration I was impressed with the welcome packet. The Darside polo shirt is really nice and the little pocket size schedule was a nice addition. It just made you feel like they had gone the extra mile to think of the little things.

Saturday on track was a new experience for me. It was my first time on the 17" rims and tires and my first experience with Hoosiers. It took me most of saturday to become comfortable with them. After my big drift and off in turn 1 in the first session I backed off quite a bit. The Hoosiers feel like you are driving on the edge all of the time. There is little warning that you are approaching the edge of traction but after a few sessions I started to get the feel for them. They do communicate with you but you have to do it all by feel. The gearing reduction you get with the 17" rims was welcome. It gave the car a little more grunt out of the corners. Of course this called for a little more smoothness on the throttle but I found that I could actually rotate the car by adding throttle. With my old set I could only achieve that rotation by lifting. It was like gaining an extra weapon.

Sunday I went out for my first session with TA and managed to cord one of my tires so it was back to the street tires for the rest of the day. I actually like driving on them. They are not as grippy but you can really throw the car around on them. After watching some of my video, I discovered that my lap times were about the same on the street tires as on the Hoosiers. I attribute this to my lack of familarity with the Hoosiers and the learning curve with the smaller rims. I wasn't as willing to drive to the limit on them. I'll get there though.

Dano - Thanks for setting up the room again. Sorry about the 9 year old antics. lol. You sounded like you had reached a new level in driving skill this weekend. Way to go man! It always feels good when something clicks and you are able to do things you couldn't do before. I think you were giving some of those 944's hell in the miata.

TA - Thanks for riding with me for those two sessions on Sunday. I always enjoy having you in the right seat. I just know I'm going to learn something. This time it was to not coast into turn 8 after shifting into 4th. I really enjoy the feedback and the company. Wish you could have been out there driving as well. We'll have some fun in December for sure.

Silver - Thanks for helping me get my camera mount set up on Saturday. You got some great video of my incident in 1! Glad you were able to get most of it on tape. You can actually hear the tires squealing which I don't remember hearing from inside the car. Looks like you'll be in the market for some new rubber as well. I think you have me sold on the Toyos based on the life you got out of them. Looking forward to more video.

Swoope - You started the weekend being "that guy." lol. Sorry you had the fuel pump issues early on. "Bad fuel pump. Bad!" Thanks for bring the tasty beer again. I'm sure that is on the list of how to win friends and influence people. Sounds like you had a successful weekend driving as well. "Move toward the elephant..."

OD - Hope you had a successful weekend on the Nittos. I know you were having some frustrating issues with the fuel cut. Hope you are able to fund out what is going on. I know it's probably hard to duplicate on the street though. I really like the second radiator idea. I'm going to have to look into that. It didn't seem like it would be all that hard to do. It just takes someone with the idea and you are a man of ideas!

Kurt - Glad you could bring the RX-8 out. I got some great video of the run session where we all went out together. Sorry that you apparently look like TA with your helmet on. Well according to you student anyway.

944 John - I really enjoyed being on track with you. I think your car is a little faster but we were pretty well matched. I had a real blast trying to keep up with you. I've got some good video of your on track spin in 5. I'll post it up for you.

I've got lot's good video that I'll post up when I can this week. Hope I'll see you guys in December at Road Atlanta. I'll definitely be at the next Darkside event in March.

SilverEIGHT

The weekend started with a hook-up at Mazcare as mention with Dano and TA. It's always fun traveling with friends but this time I got an unexpected cheep thrill when we went under some Atlanta Airport extension which is an awsome tunnel or something. Windows down and top back I geared down... 5, 4, 3... and nailed it! Dang, that exhaust sounds great in a tunnel environment. The trip was very enjoyable with the company of TA riding shotgun, even in the traffic jam that slowed us up big-time, I just turned up my iPod in my sound system to Santana and I didn't care what was going on outside the car.

As mentioned, to get the nerve to put those cool stickers I procured from Lego, I had to drink 4 beers and by that time I didn't have a problem doing the decoration job. It was kind of like decorating the Christmas tree. There really were not that many and since they were white on Silver, they really didn't show up that much so it wasn't obnoxious. Kind of classy red-neck so to speak. I had a real hard time putting them on straight and without making big *** wrinkles but with Kurts keen eye and verbal abuse... I mean support, I was able to get-er-done! I took a couple pics with my iPhone because I forgot to bring my camera. :?

You could tell that this was going to be a great weekend as the pizza and beer were a great touch on Friday night. Sitting down with people you don't know and making new friends was time well spent. That's where we met John with a Porsche 944 race prepped fun car. He wound up hanging with us the whole weekend. More on John later. Very interesting guy and I suspect we will be seeing more of him.

Saturday morning started off cool with the wind blowing made for one of those days where you couldn't stay warm in short sleeves and if you put sleeves on you were too hot but when on the track, "Oh, it was a wonderful experience. The one thing I noticed right off was that this was Porscheville and I anticipated a lot of being passed by these screamers. Let me assure you guys, that was not the case. You would have been proud of the GA Mazda Mafia as we handily took control of the track. Not that we didn't get passed but I assure you that we were respected. Vids to come. I am soooooo pleased with my car's performance that I almost wet myself a few times. (not going to say it this time TA)

As far as my performance goes, I could not have been more pleased. I know there are more seconds to shave off of my time and I will work on it next March but I could not be happier. I'm really getting the feel of the car now and not afraid to push it except for a few places I'm working on. I think the one that scares me the most is turn 3 and I know I can give it more. I will work on it when we go back. In fact I'm confident I'm leaving time on every turn but I have to say that turn 1 & 2 was just about all I could give it without drifting and I don't think that would have been any benefit. Funny how turn 8/9 or what ever it is, just doesn't bother me any more. After taking that off road excursion the previous event at about 100+ and seeing just how easy it is to escape properly, I know now I can push it and not be as timid. I did hit the gotors once on track out and just kept the wheel nice and straight and made my way back on with no issue. I can honestly say I drove the crap out of my car this weekend and I contribute it to TGPR as well (like Dano) First, driving in the rain with RA-1's then going back and driving with them on dry was a HUGE education and one that probably taught me more without having an instructor in the car than you can imagine. I think everyone should do this and not worry about going fast, just learning control.

After looking at a few of my vids, I saw lap times in the 1:27's. I haven't looked at all of them yet but I do believe I'm capable of 1:26's. I will have to find out in March with a new set of tires as I corded my RA1's Sunday morning. I ran two sessions on my Goodyear Eagle GT's and just couldn't keep up with the pack. Cars I was passing handily on Saturday became speed demons and passed me without any trouble. There were a few cars that I could pass but I had to work at it instead of breeze by them. That was my first time on 4-season tires on the track. I'm looking forward to seeing what the difference in my times with those tires are. Lots of action with the rear of the car with those rubbers on and not bad but nothing as good as the summer tires some others were running. Toyo R888's... here I come.

Jackie, Al and the entire crew:
Thanks for a fantastic weekend. It was a great buildup to a wonderful time. Your planning and execution were impeccable and truly appreciated. Your attention to all of the drivers was like you wanted to personally know each one and cared about us. No way can anyone make an event more personable than you guys did. I bow to the both of you. I will be signing up for the March event and look forward to the spring.
w00t-w00t... your #1

Nabil:
I enjoyed the trip to Savannah and glad you were able to catch a ride with me. You now know way too much about my purchasing habbits, work, lifestyle & education. Your time in the passenger seat on and off track is always a pleasure and even though we did not have the headsets hooked up, you simple move of the hand in turn 5 and directional signals were all I needed sometimes to make a turn like 5 a completely different experience. I loved the Yaaaaahooo when we went through turn 1 at a brisk clip. That was one of my favorite turns of the whole weekend. Others were exciting but that one was sweet! And riding with you is always a treat as what I thought was a good line was really not as fast as I thought it was. That rim shot in 5 was nice and smooth. I think that's my favorite line there now. The turn 4 incident was pretty exciting also. Glad you got to be in the car for that one. It was a real tank slapper.

Kurt
Always enjoy rooming with you. Anytime you need a partner just let me know. The one thing I was disappointed about was getting you out in our group and not getting to drive up to your speed. I wanted to get that blue 8 in some video. You guys were just too fast for me after I put on my street tires. I will be looking into the Mazdaspeed Development as you and TA have both suggested I do it. I like saving money on car parts. Thanks for the help straightening my labels, you couldn't see any damn better than I could. :D but no one really noticed. One thing you never mentioned was the guy in the room next door that was rattling the walls snoring. Don't know if you heard him or not but it was so bad, I almost called his room number for a 3:00AM wake up but I wasn't sure if it was 223 or 227. Let me know anytime you need a roomie. Don forget my Christmas presents! :D

Denny:
You are the tinkeringest **** in the world! I love to watch you work. If you are not putting fresh water meth in the trunk, you are pulling hoses, tightening bolts, pulling gas pumps and blowing gas through tubes or removing parts to your SuperCharger. Simply amazing to watch. I love it! I wish I had your mechanical abilities and desire to tinker. I do have to admit that it was nice to see you sit for a while and just chat. I never really got a chance to spend a much time with you on track. Seems like we just never got hooked up. Maybe in March.

Dano:
Always making me laugh. You make stories come to life and the one of OnRails sticking things to the wall was too damn funny. Watching you on track I could tell that you have really done well and are getting comfortable with the little bitch. I can't wait to see what's in store for you next year. Sorry I didn't get the easy-up. I was in such a hurry to get out before they closed the track that I overlooked my duty to cary it back... Sorry bout that.

OnRails:
I had a blast working the track with you and you know I REALLY enjoyed you little exhibition in turn 1/2. I do have to admit that it was fun until I saw you not slowing down in the grass moving sideways toward the dirt barriers. I was really worried about you and didn't want to leave too fast as I wanted to see you safely pull out. All was good and I think you learned a little about 17" wheels at that point. Great drift dude!

Scott:
Beers: You are always a hoot. Great sense of humor and always have a great smile on your face. Even if your water pump is fubared. I've seen you go through lots of car troubles the two times at the track and you handle it with grace. I confident we will see you back up in March. You know we like you and we also like your beer. It tasted really good and to sit at the table eating pit cooked BBQ, drink microbrew and listen to Annie Allman was a great way to spend the early evening hours.

John (Porsche 944):
Thanks for hanging with our group. We appreciate all sports cars especially those that appreciate us! :D That track recorder software was too cool. Thanks for letting me run it one session. I look forward to getting the file so I can check it out. Enjoyed running with you on track also and loved the stories about your 18 cars (as your wife pointed out). You must have a lot of fun playing with them. Look forward to seeing you again at the track. Please stay in touch.

My young rider from the Girls Club
It was fun talking to you and showing you the track. I did capture a quality moment on my video with you that I promise I will not share with your mother. "Kid's say the darndest things" I will cut the clip where you tell me how fast your mom got her sports car up to on the street.

The guy chasing the other poor dude while yelling an flailing your extremities :
You're a freaking r-tard!

DarkSideDE

Guys, thank you for the kind words.

About March - I don't think Dark Side will be helping to put it on - Audi got a sponsor and well, seems they want to do it themselves. They offered to call us in when it is closer to the date - but - hey you've seen how we work things -- it takes time to plan and organize. Not something that can be whipped up a little closer to date...

So I'll see you in May - May 2-3 to be certain..... and yes, I have my name on a waiting list for another date at Roebling.

And I want to see that video!!!!!

Anyone take any photos? I never had the time to pull my camera out - and the official track photographer didn't come this weekend.... boo hoooooooo

SilverEIGHT

Jackie, I took a few photos with my iPhone of the cars in our group but that's all I have. I have 5 or 6 vids I plan to put up this evening. Motorsports photography is how I got into this to start with so maybe we should talk. I usually don't mix shooting and driving but maybe we could work something out for May? Check out silvereightstudio.com

DarkSideDE

If I had known the track photographer was not going to be there, I would have made arrangements for one to be there. Whether the track had a backup one or I had to dig up one of my own.

It really was a shame. There were many Greenies there coming to me asking if someone was going to take a picture of them at the track. Someone could have made out like a bandit...

There were two guys there that promised to send me links to their photos as soon as they are up there - and one tried to get a picture of each car on the track... so we shall see.

Thanks for the offer. I wonder if you know my buddy Donn from Macon - he loves to photograph cars at the track.

SilverEIGHT

Nope! Don't think so.

dbright007

I really wish I would have broken out my camera and taken a few pics.
I am so used to coming home, and Silver and L8Apex having such great shots (and mine being pretty ho-hum) that I just got out of the habit of snapping em.

Silver, you even mentioned it. My bad.

DarkSideDE

I have been asked a question about you - and I can't answer it. Perhaps you can. Do you always write long critiques of the events you go to? Dano - I truly appreciated everything you wrote on the GRx board. I'm use to seeing two maybe three sentences tops! Thank you.

SilverEIGHT

We as a group, love to do a post event wright-up. It's a great way to document what it did and how much fun we have. We have a very close group of friends as you can tell by our long threads. This is not unusual and those that hang with us find out just how passionate we are about our participating in events.

A great event does however spawn big reviews and I believe this was a great event!

dbright007

Jackie - yes, we are known for long reviews.
It's a way for us to pass along what we saw/did to those who couldn't make it (give them a mental pic) and kind of cement the memory in our head.

And it is a little shout out to the folks we were with. Thanks for little things, or things we noticed. And yes, sometimes places for grumbles and gripes.

Basically 0 on the grumbles for your event! I mentioned the few minute delay Sat morn on getting all hands going, but that wasn't your issue. And after a couple sessions - every group was on and off like clockwork. Amazing.

The length of review sometimes comes down to how tired I am when I get home!
I can honestly say I was whooped tired, but I had so much fun, and so much I wanted to pass on to those who didn't make it, that I purposely included lots of details. This was probably my longest post on an event. One of my most memorable for good reasons.

My question is.... who was asking questions? I will be more than happy to drone on about how much fun I had....!
Were they cute?

DarkSideDE

I think they are - I've been married to him since '84.

SilverEIGHT

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

hahahaha--i can see his face now.
I will sum this up by saying
ALL GEORGIA RX8 GUYS AND GALS--LISTEN UP----THE NEXT DARKSIDE DE EVENT IN RR---YOU HAVE TO BE THERE---PERIOD!!!!
SWOOPE YOU ARE A GA RX8 MEMBER! AND ALL THE OTHERS WHO MAY JUST HAPPEN TO NOT LIVE IN GA.
I promise I will not spend the night at the track again--i miss the social life
Next one we really need to do it up right--video, pics, dispays etc. I will not tinker with any of it!
Jackie you are the best!
OD

Kurt Bob

A lot of the members post long discussions about the events. I never seem to do it, because I don't get online as much as some of the others ... and I'm usually too late to the party. By that, I mean that most of it has already been said.

This event was great and I really enjoyed myself. Most of the weekend I hated driving on street tires, though. Since you are always turning at Roebling, they really make a difference. But, after some of you corded your tires and had to switch to street tires, I enjoyed running with your group.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that instructors are treated well. We paid a little more than at many events. But, with only one student, I had more time to relax, regroup, and do post-run debriefs with the student. And here is the best part ... I got an e-mail from Jackie yesterday with an instructor evaluation. I didn't have to wonder what happens to the evaluations that get turned in (as with some organizations). If an instructor never knows for sure how well he/she did, then it's hard to know what to improve on.

Thanks Jackie ... I'll be back!