SilverEIGHT

Dang, sorry to hear this. I was looking forward to meeting you. Guess swoop is now the loan representative from the state of FL. Good luck with everything.

Cool, looking forward to meeting the clan. Safe traveling and we will see you this evening.

Razz1

If you guys can post a link to track times that would be great.

Drive safe.

Kelly was a passenger in a car on Sunday that rolled on the track. She's ok. Remember two in a car is differant than one.

Be wise...............

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

I will be arriving early Sat morning. I WILL NOT MISS THAT 1St session lol--coolest one of the day. 5 cups of coffee and hit the track and with so many 8's of the grid--i have to be in it! Course i will be one of the slowest---this time. I have a LOT of adjustments to make between the streering wheel and seat. If anyone that can I welcome riders! Silver-- we will take it easy and with the 4's on the track--have to watch them close.
It has been a long time--------!
Denny

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

Rolled? Dang man--now that is pause for thought. Glad everyone is ok physically.
OD

SilverEIGHT

I'm out the door. TA and L8, see ya shortly.

OD, will toot when we pass your exit. :D

swoope

iTrader: (5)

am here,

where is everyone staying??

beers

SilverEIGHT

Hi Scott, Levent and I are at "Comfort Suites". Where are you staying.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

im in 106, how long have you been here? check pm.

beers

SilverEIGHT

our group is getting quite large. We assembled quite an array of cars:

RX-8s, miatas, RX-7's, 2nd Gen with a LS engine, Lexus, BMW, Mustang, Mazda Speed 6 and a damn Crossfire snuck into the middle of the pack and separated and pissed a bunch of us off. I thought L8 was going to blow a gasket. lol

Lots of fun and everyone seemed to do well. TrackAddict got a 2nd place in TTD but still holds the track record. Legokcen took a 1st place with his RX-7 in TTE (I think). Someone correct me please. Olddragger got his SC out on the track for the first time and gradually explored it's capabilities and showed a few ground pounders that they don't walk off and leave him on the straights. Several track virgins this time.

Swoop get's the biggest atta-boy for supplying a small keg of AWESOME beer. I can't remember the name but it was uber kick-***!

Ray (Charles R. Hill) drove all the way down to do his thing. I introduced him to Rob Whitener of Roar Racing and they chatted for quite some time. He came back to our paddock area sporting a Roar hat so I assume he had a good meeting. Tomorrow he will change out the intercooler in olddragger's SC 8.

This was my first time back out on the track since last August at Road Atlanta. Since I left the track under less than positive reasons, I was a bit reserved and a little scared to get on the throttle. But on the 4th session, I had Legokcen ride with me and he calmed me down and helped me out with two turns I was having problems with and it all clicked and my last lap of the day was the best lap I think I have ever driven on this track... Thanks Lego!

Alright, I'm bushed. Later!

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

Yeah......I think it's safe to say that BHR will be sponsoring a SECOND team pretty soon. This time it's clutches, flywheels, coil sets, and whatever else I can help them with.

Stop&TurnFreak

Sorry guys, been busy, both with personal issues, and work issues. Things are ok now, but I have been swamped.

TA, sorry for missing your calls, but I was with customers.

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

one of the best track w/e's ever.
Great to see old friends, and make new ones.
Ray's new intercooler work well--sure is purdy too---!
I am having (still ray --on the way home!) with it loosing it's prime--but we just need to twick the prob wherever it is.
The s.c on the track was solid---no problems--GREAT power---how about pulling a Lotus , moded 350 Z, various mustangs and a newer model vette did not pull me! (it was not a zo6)
I do need bigger tires!!
All did well, all learned much and Many thanks to Lego for riding with me some(I got one good braking episode in for turn one that made him whoop just a little! hehe) His rx7 project looks better everytime i see it and has become very smooth and fast on the track---the boy is putting in the wrench time.
Rest of the gang was great--Swoope aint no virgin anymore and has a big old tired grin on his face.
Have to go now--tired.
Let every one please include Silver and his family in their prayers.
olddragger

SilverEIGHT

This was a very emotional weekend for me as my father-in-law passed. We loved him very much. We had anticipated this would happen within a week or two. It just happened a little sooner than expected. Thanks everyone for you concerns at the track today. It meant a lot to me and I have told my wife what you guys said. Don't know if you all knew it but the black flags on my car were for Warren.

Great weekend for meeting new people. Welcome to all the new guys, except Crossfire guy.

As for the emotion on track, I had plenty. First I was scared to push it and as OD said "that's a good thing". Again, thanks Lego for your instruction on track. It made a world of difference. Today, riding by myself was vastly improved. I scared myself several times. I knew I could take turns faster than I was doing it so I decided to trust the car a little more, I did and it paid off. Even though I was pushing it I still was a bit conservative.

I had one off that was a great experience ad frankly, I'm glad I did it. I'v been hearing over and over and over about exiting turn 9 and getting two wheels off or on the gators then heading into the wall like the poor Porsche did in the Thunder session. I went wide, the wheels started touching the gators and I made the decision to not even try to do anything about staying on the track. I just went straight off at about 100 mph and the car handled fine in the grass. No problem at all. I gradually slowed down and got the car completely under control and the start/finish guys were flagging me to hurry back out on track. I was far enough ahead of a group that no one passed me till I came in for the under car and nerve check. All in all it was a great experience because it showed me to trust the instructors and don't fight the car. In car video to come.

So many things to talk about this weekend but I have to go to bed now. I'll continue with my 3 installment tomorrow.

To come:
- New cell discovered, can't wait to tell about this one, this is a classic
- I yelled and freaked out Lego when he was riding with me
- Crossfire... I'm sure someone will tell all the stories on this one before I get around to it. Swoop, Dano and L8 will surely elaborate. ez swoop... don't get us banned! :D

dbright007

I will have to agree with Olddragger - one helluva a track weekend.

Unfortunately, I spent Sat/Sun on the sidelines.
OnRails and I were there for SeatTime on Fri. Great organization, lots of track time, and very laid back. After a couple good sessions, and feeling the groove, I began to throw CEL's. (I track a miata, not the 8 btw). Long story short, I was misfiring. I had the option fri eve of transferring my NASA entry fee to another event, or committing the dollars and seeing what could be done 250 miles from home. I made the decision to not run the weekend. I don't regret the decision as I threw CELs at 30 mph the next morning and drove the 250 miles home with a flashing CEL. A good diagnosis is pretty apparent, and I hope to be ready for Barber in a couple weeks.

Anywho - we were able hold a great big section of paddock until the gates opened for NASA. By Sat - In one big row in front of the tech shed.

Russ- RX7 - LS1 Vette Engine
Swoope! - Rx8
Steve - RX7 w/LS1 Friday - Lexus on the weekend
Olddragger - Supercharged Rx8
CharlesRHill and Family
L8Apex - Rx8
Silver8 - Rx8
Sandman(Bill) -Mazdaspeed 6
KurtBob - SC Miata
OnRails - Rx8
Mike - Bimmer
Legokcen - Rx7
AxiomTherapy - Mazdaspeed Miata
Trackaddict - Rx8
TorqueAholic - Mustang
dbright007 - Miata

Toss in 85 degree weather, a sweet track, a keg o Swoope's finest, and hot paddock chicks! w00t! (And yes L8, they were 18, I am sure).

congrats on Lego's win in TTF, and trophy's to TA and TA2.
And OnRails! Congrats on making it to Time Trial!

Damn Crossfire..

Silver - My prayers are with you and the family.

More stories to come ..

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

That was a cool crossfire(it is kinda of a oddball track car---like our car is considered an oddball. Nice guy --just transferred from California to s Carolina to help the production of that new tv show---army wives. He was with NASA out West.
Travis--needs new fuel pump---I know it was aggravating to drive on track with fuel starvation issues--been there done that.
Gas in that area is now OVER $4 a gallon.
olddragger

L8APEX

This past weekend was one of the best track weekends our group has had in a while. It was a big group with a lot going on. It was just too much fun.

OD, thanks for not making me look tooooooo bad, you only passed me in 6th gear. I guess it could only have been worse if you did it in reverse. :shock: I really am glad you have your car back up and running, and it seems like it ran like a champ out on the track all weekend, better so after you steam cleaned the inside of everything. I enjoyed watching you and Charles install the intercooler, always fun to watch people work on cars and just stay out of it.

OMS, glad you are back my friend. I know I have good pictures to share. It was fun watching you try to catch up to the Thunder Roadster. I am sure you had fun trying. Sorry you melted your bumper a little, must have really been generating some heat out there.

OnRails, sorry I could not play out there. I just can't keep pace with you anymore, but it was fun to watch you work your way through the group, burning off the bug guts on the fronts of all the cars behind you. I always get a big smile on my face when you throw flames out like that. It is your calling card of sorts. Congrats on passing your check ride, can't wait to see how you stack up in TTC at BMP. A certain gold rustang needs to look out.

TA, congrats on second place, I think you got robbed, I think you need to pull the string out next time out and get that BMW. : I did not get a chance for you to ride along this weekend, I know you had a busy weekend. But this was one of the first ones where you were there in the seat even when you really weren't. I would find myself going into turns, hearing you telling me, off the brake, mat it, go, now. your instruction over the last couple years has helped tremendously.

Swoope, glad you made it, glad you got to drive this weekend. I know you had a ton of fun, otherwise you were doing something else to make that smile stay on your face. I have a bunch of pictures of you on track to, and will have to get them to you. Sorry you were having such starvation issues, it sucks to have that happen on track, I feel the pain too. Hope to see you again next time we head down to RR, and thanks for the damn fine beer you brought up, that stuff was great, and I would drink it any day.

Levent, had fun following you for a while on Sunday. It is fun to see your car out on track, it looks like you enjoyed driving this weekend, and have most of your issues sorted out, congrats on a first place in TTF, and if I remember, your fastest lap at RR to date.

Kurt, thanks for the offer of the room, while I like OMS and Levent, the floor is not my favorite place to sleep. So, I appreciate it. One day I want to take a ride in the Miata, preferably when all of the belts and pulleys are where they are intended to be.

Dano, always good to see you, sorry it was under conditions where Celine was suffering. I know if must be frustrating, but I think you did the right thing in not going out. I hope you get her back up and running soon.

It was nice to meet some new people, Russ and his LS1 powered monster was a nice guy, and a really nice car, that had a lot of people’s attention all weekend. That thing was a beast. It was nice to meet Bill in his MS6, seems he has now drank the koolaid, and liked what he drank. That might have been Swoope’s beer too, but we like to think it was the track koolaid. Also nice to meet Mike McSweeney, someone who’s day job is probably more fun, and definitely faster than tracking his BMW. I have never met anyone who flies fighter jets for a living, now I have.

Then there was that damn Crossfire. Of all the cars to have wedged himself into our compound, it would be a California C…..cker with a Crossfire. No one else would see a small gap in between a bunch of Mazdas and RX-8’s and think….hmmm…great place for me, my big *** truck, trailer and Crossfire. I tried to talk to him politely, before he had unloaded all his gear and his car, but he went crying to Jim Pantas and got to stay. We tried to get to the track early, and tried like hell to mark out enough space for all of our people and cars. Oh well. He split us into two camps, and unfortunately it felt that way all weekend. I am showing up to Barber with a roll of caution tape to be used to stripe off an area for all of those attending that will paddock with us. There will be no more Crossfires. At least TA whopped his *** in TTD.

As for my weekend, I never felt the need to get my good friends and trusty instructors in the car to tell me to go faster. I managed to do it all on my own. I was happy about that. On the second session Saturday, I managed to see 110 at the end of the rumble strips of turn 8, and that was by far 10 mph faster than normal. The whole session was fast. I hope the video turned out good. I was not able to replicate that session all weekend, just had the time and right conditions for it, and it was fun. After that session, I started to get fuel starvation issues too, so that hampered my progress around the track, and slowed me down a bit, some on my own doing. It reigned me in a little, and there is nothing wrong with that. By the end of Sunday, I started having the fuel cut out in turn 3, with an apex speed of about 95, and that was not fun. I backed it down from there, and took it easy the rest of the weekend. So, before Barber, I will be needing a new fuel pump. Kinda bummed, but it has almost 80K miles on the original pump, so not too bad really. I had fun running from the Corvettes, and had a blast of a session playing chase with 2 Lotus 7’s, unfortunately, that video turned out like crap, exposed for the dash of the car, not the outside. it was a hoot.

All in all, I had a blast, we had a great group, a big group, I missed having Phlash there to keep us all calm. But he too was there in spirit, cheering me on from the right seat to go catch those cars, and to keep the pesky Vette Ladies behind us. Sorry you could not make it down, look forward to seeing you again at BMP. Sorry that a couple others had to back out last minute, that always stings. And my condolences to the Yaun/Kaufmann family in the loss of Warren. I was sorry to hear about that Don, and our thoughts are with you and your family.

Till next time. w00t w00t!!

TrackAddict

I commented this past weekend to several of you how excited I was in the 3 weeks leading up to this event where the past year, I never really got jazzed in advance about a track weekend. I think the difference was the promise of a large gathering of our group including Silvers return, the resurrection of OSCD, and seeing Swoope and Charles Hill again.

As always, the weekend was busy as hell. Doing TT in addition to instructing means even more time of the day taken up with on track activities instead of socializing under the EZ Up.

My weekend was great! Despite 2nd place finishes in TT on Saturday and Sunday, I felt like I gave it my all and did as well as I could. Mere 100ths of a second separated me from the race prepared E36 325I that won. Bastard was probably cheating... One of the best times was hanging out Saturday night BSing and drinking some awesome beer provided by Swoope.

TA2 - good showing in TTC with a solid 2nd. That S2000 was blistering fast and probably cheated just like the BMW (bastards). Beef jerky is fast becoming a track "must have". Sorry I didn't ride with you to check out the new Recaros on track. They were comfortable as hell on the street though.
OMS - welcome back my friend. Condolences on the passing of Warren. You have a wonderful wife to insist on you coming out to the track despite the circumstances. You did a great job particularly keeping a level head when you drove off in 9.
OSCD - I am so glad to hear that temps were great and the car ran well. When I took a ride with Onrails, you zipped past us on the front straight. That showed the increase in power you have. Awesome. Next time, I want you to take me for a ride please.
L8 - glad to read what you wrote about feeling comfortable and just working on the stuff you already know how to do at Roebling. Too bad about the starvation issue but at least you found it in time to fix it before Barber.
OnRails - congrats on the TT check ride. I had no doubt you would pass. TTC better look out. Keep those wide tires to stay in that class! See you at Barber. The trophy girls **** feel nice and firm as ever. You will cop a feel there for sure.
Lego - glad you finally got everything sorted on the 7. Congrats on a first place finish in TT. Looks like you could keep pace with the PTE RX7. Also thanks for helping Russ raise up his RX7 in the front. Otherwise, I would not have been able to sample it.
Kurt - always great to see you. I was hoping to catch a ride but the days slipped away. I appreciate the humor about the helmet. Really! If friends don't give each other some junk, who would?
Swoope - once a year isn't enough. Hopefully we can get you out with us more often. The beer was excellent and was quite potent evidenced by the hangover I had Sunday morning. I am glad you had fun. Driving your car was an experience as I don't think I have ever had an RX8 wag its tail so much. I honestly wasn't trying to drift it. It stepped out at the slightest provocation but as you could tell, the car can be brought back under control with all 4 wheels rotating in the same direction. I am glad the minor adjustments I suggested worked to tame the car's handling.
Charles - good to see you however brief. I am glad that you got hooked up with Rob at ROAR. I hope that next time things are not as hectic for both of us and we can shoot the breeze a bit. I know you had lots of quality time on the far side of the Crossfire with OSCD and Swoope.
Bill (MS6) - first time on track and not a bad showing at all. The MS6 is pretty powerful but the turbo lag makes driving it tricky. It also is very nose heavy and does the AWD plow thing on throttle. Have to learn to be patient with the throttle and manage boost so it is there when you want it. Ultimately, it is quite a bit slower than the RX8 in all parts of the track including the front straight.
Russ - the V8 RX7 is awesome. Thanks for the opportunity to ride with you and give you some pointers and then the opportunity to pilot the beast. It was fast, loud, powerful, and balanced.

Looking forward to Barber!

SilverEIGHT

This is the GA RX-8 Club gang and friends. At least all that I shot and excluding me and swoop and Mike in the bimmer. Mike and I were busy checking out sand and grass for horticulture reasons. :D

Let me know if you want any high-res images.

OD, sorry I didn't get any of you. Just didn't work out.

http://www.silvereightstudio.com/NASA_rr_may08/

SilverEIGHT

OK, now for a couple fun stories:

New Cell:
While cruising down the front straight, Lego noticed my Check Engine light was flashing. I worried about it for about 3 seconds then it was time to threshold brake for turn one! I noticed it coming on a good bit so I was starting to have a mini-freak wondering if I was fixing to lose my new engine but I kept on going like there wasn't a problem. Once I pulled into the paddock and shut down, I heard a strange sound like a motor turning on and off. Kind of like the windshield washer fluid or fuel being pumped. I plugged in my scanner and got a #1 miss fire code so I didn't worry too much about that. But that damn motor sound was driving me crazy. Ray (Charles R. Hill) came over to give me a little assistance. He started looking all in the engine bay and suggested it might be the fuel pump (not the proper term but I forgot what he called it) in the engine bay. He started looking around the console and centered in on the problem when he opened the glove box and found my cell phone ringing while turned on to vibrate! The code reader doesn't pick up that cell!

... olddraggers suggestion to turn ignition to on and pump the brakes real fast till my leg turned blue seemed to take care of the check engine light issue. Thanks OD.

==========

To tell this one, I have to start at the point where I'm entering turn 3 with Lego riding shotgun. We have mic's on so we really don't have to speak loud at all. The g's are building as I start entering the sweeping left hander. All of a sudden a piece of pea gravel flies out from the vent on the dash right under the windshield and lands on the floor at Lego's feet. I'm freaking excited because I think this is the last remnant from my off road excursion plowing up the pea gravel in turn 1 at Road Atlanta last August. I'm so excited I'm finally rid of that piece of **** that I yell an elated expletive. Lego being the mild mannered, cool headed instructor thinks something very serious is unfolding and I think he was in beginning stages of shock and he almost broke his neck looking for what was happening. Meanwhile I have to calm him down letting him know that this is a good thing. I think he thought he was fixing to die.

So, we save my little piece of **** pea gravel and I think I'm going to glue it to my dash as a reminder of what not to do... on several levels! Sorry Lego! But I'm glad that little ****** is out.

Now I have to deal with the three more that are still in there and dislodged from the event. Guess that's my excuse for HAVING to drive more events.

=====

When I say the following words, do they mean anything to you guys:
- White attire
- Semi transparent
- Thong

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

I was thinking it may have been the purge pump cycling but the sound was coming from the glovebox area and when I opened the glovebox.........VOILA!

L8APEX

I have no recollection of what you are talking about sir.

L8APEX

man, OMS, those pictures are good. they show that OnRails needs some more spring under him, he has a lot of lean going on there. the front air flap on the passenger side is almost on the ground.

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

Guess I was just to dang fast to capture on film!!
OD

L8APEX

parade laps.

SilverEIGHT

^^ Yep, there were quite a few of those.

Swoope, remind me to bitch slap you when I see you next time. That damn Xfire pic is like a reoccurring nightmare!