NASA HotLanta Challange, Aug 10-12, Road Atlanta
07-05-2007, 07:32 PM
#56
Neat things? What---you mean things like my old sniper trick "if you dont want to sneeze--then dont close your eyes" (try it--it works).
Well---my wife is insisting I go---really ---right now. i dont want to disappoint her. Just signed up for hp 3. The pipes and the 17"s will be screaming
olddragger
Well---my wife is insisting I go---really ---right now. i dont want to disappoint her. Just signed up for hp 3. The pipes and the 17"s will be screaming
olddragger
07-05-2007, 08:48 PM
#57
The Turkish Delight
If she is insisting that you go, then you have to. Remember don't dissapoint her. "If Mama ain't happy, nobody's happy!" 
Do it for her if nothing else. I know it's a sacrafice, but sometimes, you have to do that.
Do it for her if nothing else. I know it's a sacrafice, but sometimes, you have to do that.
07-05-2007, 09:42 PM
#58
Registered
Thread Starter
Neat things? What---you mean things like my old sniper trick "if you dont want to sneeze--then dont close your eyes" (try it--it works).
Well---my wife is insisting I go---really ---right now. i dont want to disappoint her. Just signed up for hp 3. The pipes and the 17"s will be screaming
olddragger
Well---my wife is insisting I go---really ---right now. i dont want to disappoint her. Just signed up for hp 3. The pipes and the 17"s will be screaming
olddragger
07-08-2007, 03:02 PM
#63
Registered
Thread Starter
A few images to get ya going... TA at RA today with the BMW club. More images at: TrackAddicts Gallery
07-08-2007, 08:40 PM
#66
Smooth Criminal
OMS, you have to tell me how you got that first one, I tried that today, to no avail. I need some instruction, you are the Jedi Master.
Great Shots, and I know TA had fun, I went and saw him this afternoon, took a few pictures, and got a ride on his last session of the day. Dude flies.
Great Shots, and I know TA had fun, I went and saw him this afternoon, took a few pictures, and got a ride on his last session of the day. Dude flies.
07-08-2007, 09:52 PM
#70
Registered
Thread Starter
07-09-2007, 06:26 AM
#71
The Turkish Delight
07-09-2007, 08:44 AM
#73
I miss my 'Bu
Join Date: Jul 2004
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The 3 day weekend with the BMWCCA was excellent! Thanks to TA2, Silver, Dano, and L8 for showing up and hanging out for a bit. I was glad to give y'all rides.
Friday - I got to the track around 8am and did my tire swap. We had a drivers meeting at 8:30 and at 9am the track went green. I went out shortly after that. There was very little traffic as we only had instructors and some selected advanced students registered for Friday. I would guess there were about 40 cars there in total. Spread those over 6.5 hours of track time on a 2.54 mile course and you have very low traffic. TA2 showed up at lunch armed with his helmet and a sandwich for me He rode with me most of the afternoon and gave some some excellent coaching. He got me through turn 5 and 6 a bit faster than before and coached me to make some changes in turn 1. He felt I was entering turn 1 too fast and sacrificing exit speed because of that. I pulled back on my T1 entry speeds and got on the gas a bit earlier. I don't think I gained anything speed-wise and might have lost a bit but I gained a bit more safety. He clicked off some laps on his stop watch and we gained between 1 and 2 seconds with the best timed lap at 1:47.7 which felt pretty damn quick especially ferrying around a good sized passenger. My speed at the end of the back straight was about 4 mph less than when I was solo as a point of reference. None of my solo laps were timed. TA2 also was a valuable resource in discussing my students over the phone to better my instruction focus. Thanks man!
Saturday/Sunday - the DE was in full force. I had 2 students. BMW has 4 DE groups and an instructor group. I had a D student driving a 2003 BMW M5 and a B student in a 1988 325is. The D student had never done this before and had a lot of apprehension which he had trouble losing all weekend. I took his M5 out for the last instructor run group of the day to show him just how far from the limits he was. I must say that while I enjoyed the opportunity to drive an M5 on a race track, I was extremely cautious and kept it at 7/10s. The car's brakes were very mushy and braking from 120 or 130 into 10 was scary! You can also feel the weight of the car at corner entry as it leans over before taking a set. What is impressive is the feeling of that big V8 propelling the car when you romp on the gas. It feels like it will keep pulling and pulling. Traction control comes on very early so we turned it off after a few laps. My B student lacked consistency and I didn't make as much progress with him as I wanted. His line at first was pretty good and I fine-tuned it with him but he would either lose focus or something and not drive it consistently so it was hard to make real progress. On the plus side, we did keep it safe and on the track.
For some reason, I kept the GA RX8 Club tradition of being one of the last to leave the track on Sunday. I drove the last session of the day and wanted to let my rotors cool a bit more before swapping back to street tires. I left the track around 6pm and made it home for dinner. It was a good weekend.
Friday - I got to the track around 8am and did my tire swap. We had a drivers meeting at 8:30 and at 9am the track went green. I went out shortly after that. There was very little traffic as we only had instructors and some selected advanced students registered for Friday. I would guess there were about 40 cars there in total. Spread those over 6.5 hours of track time on a 2.54 mile course and you have very low traffic. TA2 showed up at lunch armed with his helmet and a sandwich for me
He rode with me most of the afternoon and gave some some excellent coaching. He got me through turn 5 and 6 a bit faster than before and coached me to make some changes in turn 1. He felt I was entering turn 1 too fast and sacrificing exit speed because of that. I pulled back on my T1 entry speeds and got on the gas a bit earlier. I don't think I gained anything speed-wise and might have lost a bit but I gained a bit more safety. He clicked off some laps on his stop watch and we gained between 1 and 2 seconds with the best timed lap at 1:47.7 which felt pretty damn quick especially ferrying around a good sized passenger. My speed at the end of the back straight was about 4 mph less than when I was solo as a point of reference. None of my solo laps were timed. TA2 also was a valuable resource in discussing my students over the phone to better my instruction focus. Thanks man!Saturday/Sunday - the DE was in full force. I had 2 students. BMW has 4 DE groups and an instructor group. I had a D student driving a 2003 BMW M5 and a B student in a 1988 325is. The D student had never done this before and had a lot of apprehension which he had trouble losing all weekend. I took his M5 out for the last instructor run group of the day to show him just how far from the limits he was. I must say that while I enjoyed the opportunity to drive an M5 on a race track, I was extremely cautious and kept it at 7/10s. The car's brakes were very mushy and braking from 120 or 130 into 10 was scary! You can also feel the weight of the car at corner entry as it leans over before taking a set. What is impressive is the feeling of that big V8 propelling the car when you romp on the gas. It feels like it will keep pulling and pulling. Traction control comes on very early so we turned it off after a few laps. My B student lacked consistency and I didn't make as much progress with him as I wanted. His line at first was pretty good and I fine-tuned it with him but he would either lose focus or something and not drive it consistently so it was hard to make real progress. On the plus side, we did keep it safe and on the track.
For some reason, I kept the GA RX8 Club tradition of being one of the last to leave the track on Sunday. I drove the last session of the day and wanted to let my rotors cool a bit more before swapping back to street tires. I left the track around 6pm and made it home for dinner. It was a good weekend.
07-09-2007, 09:14 AM
#74
Book em' Dano
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And just to say thanks again TA, THANKS! I've seen RA from every angle, and plenty of vids, but until you are out there, it just doesn't click (for a new guy anyway). Actually feeling the car thru the elevation changes, and seeing how blind some of those turns are at speed are a real rush.
"What wall, I don't see any wall?"
"What wall, I don't see any wall?"
07-09-2007, 09:19 AM
#75
Got Track
Join Date: May 2006
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Having worked on the Roar cars now for the last month and a half, I haven't even touched my car. I will now change that and start gutting the monster to install a roll cage.
BTW - getting the Caster correct on the 8 will make a world of difference on track. This will allow for better road feel through the steering wheel and not having to run as much static camber. Just ask Rob, he didn't even have to push the car past 80% at Mid-Ohio to beat his lap record by 2 seconds after I got the Caster/Camber/Toe combination correct.
BTW - getting the Caster correct on the 8 will make a world of difference on track. This will allow for better road feel through the steering wheel and not having to run as much static camber. Just ask Rob, he didn't even have to push the car past 80% at Mid-Ohio to beat his lap record by 2 seconds after I got the Caster/Camber/Toe combination correct.