Very NICE Pics!

 

OK, that's all for now! I gotta get to work.

 

now this feels fast...

 

Thanks L8! That's what I was trying to do.

I spent a little time with one of Jody's friends. Some of you may rember him as the driver of "the Red Corvette" that smashed last year at Roebling. He said he wasn't even sore the next day. AMAZING! He's not going to replace his ride anytime soon as his family is concerned for his safety. So, he now has a Nikon D200 like mine and was learning how to shoot it at this event. Guess he still wants to be a part it and this keep's him in the loop. Maybe we will see some of his work sometime soon.

 

Where to begin... I guess the first order of business is to emphasize what a terrific weekend we all had and to give a general thank you to all who attended and made it so fun.

OnRails - once again it was nice to meet you. I hope to see you again on track. Lego said you did really well and I don't doubt it. You car looked great and those wide *** wheels and tires sure looked cool. Clear corners will make you even faster.

TrackGod/aka Torqueaholic - congrats on the successful completion of the Instructor Clinic. The gold stang with the park bench seats sure can hustle around CMP. I enjoyed riding one session with you. We can spend more time playing together at RA when we both run HPDE4 together. That will be exciting to say the least. I hope to have new shocks by then so maybe just maybe I'll be able to keep you in sight for a few laps. I doubt I can find another 145 lb/ft of torque and 35 hp by then.

Lego - also a hearty congrats to you on graduation into the ranks of the instructors. Your RX7 sure was fun to ride in and it looked like you were having a blast driving it. It is very tossable and looked to be quite predictable and forgiving. You did a great job building it.

Rob - it is an honor paddocking with you and Team ROAR. Thanks for allowing me to keep my junk in the trailer overnight. Dinner at Gus' on Friday night was fun as was the rest of the weekend. We all wear our ROAR caps with pride. Thanks for welcoming us and hope to see you, Revelle, and Chris at many future events.

Silver -Thanks for the pics already posted. You busted your *** covering the entire track with a bad back. I think working may have been a better option. However, I am grateful you did man the telephoto lens for the weekend. It is always fun hanging out with you. The photos posted thus far are awesome.

L8APEX - have you warmed up yet? Thanks for working to make the track a safer place for us HPDE-ers. It was always great to come by your corner station and see you. I came by plenty of times over the weekend!!! You also make a good roomie despite the snoring. The company on the long drive to and from CMP was also very nice to have although we both were pretty worn out on the ride home last night.

KurtBob - its always a pleasure to see you again. I am sorry I didn't get a chance to catch a ride in your super charged Miata and give you a chance to scare me like I scared you. I did modify my turn in and line through the kink after your sage advice. Thanks!

As for my report...
It was cold - damn cold especially early in the morning and at the end of the afternoon. When I registered on Friday evening and I was given the list of instructor/student pairings I was a bit worried. The forecast called for 25 degree mornings and one student was in an S2000, the other in a Miata. I thought that someone in NASA just doesn't like me and I can't imagine why. After all I am one charming mf instructor It all worked out as the S2000 had a hard top and the Miata broken right after tech inspection so he drove his friends Mini Cooper S instead.
The S2000 is a fantastic car. Matt (the owner) had it mostly stripped. He had 3 track days with Turn One at CMP as previous experience so he was very comfortable with the track. He was also quite quick right off. He had excellent car control skills and had a great feel for what it was doing under him. His goal is to turn it into a race car and run in HC at some point. Over the course of the weekend, I got him to stop turning in until the turn in point and to compress his braking zone. He had a tendency to cheat in before the turn in point and to brake way early and not hard enough. We had a small spin in turn 1 as he carried a lot of speed into the corner and was trailing braking a bit too much. He also had a moment in the kink dropping 2 off driver left. He got it gathered up nicely though by not braking while having only 2 off and getting back on the track and applying just the right CPR input. No harm no foul.
The Mini had some work done to it. It had some extra go fast bits to make it quite quick. I was surprised. I was especially surprised at how easy that car is to drive. My student (Jay) had nothing but bad habits from hand position on the wheel to early turn in on every corner to early braking to consistently missing every apex. Jay is a retiree just having fun. He had some track experience and a bunch of autocross experience. We worked on skills over the course of the weekend and I felt I was able to make him significantly faster and just plain better. It was fun. That Mini could scoot and it rotates beautifully especially in turns 11 - 14. I see why GRM likes it so much and it is so popular for autocross.

I spent lots of time on track. I felt like I was hopping in and out of cars all day and I guess I was. I had an excellent weekend particularly since my fuel pickup issues seem to be resolved. Now, I want to upgrade my shocks and tweak my alignment settings. The car made good power this weekend due to the cold weather. Grip was low in the morning sessions but improved on lap 3 or 4. Later on in the day, grip came on in lap 2. I only got greasy in one session where I was wagging the tail too much and heating up the rear tires with those antics but it came back if I backed off a bit. I had 2 moments... On day 1 I explored the depths of the braking zone for turn 11 and discovered I had taken it too deep. I just went straight off as I wasn't going to make the turn and didn't want to go off sideways. There was no drama. My second moment came on day 2 with Kurt Bob riding with me. I went into the kink with a bit earlier turn in than I usually have and the car started going sideways on me. I kept it on the track, applied CPR, started yawing in the other direction but not as badly. A bit more CPR and she was all straight and happy again. We slowed for the corner and all was well.
I had fun riding all day and giving some rides. I took out Silver a few times, my Mini student, Lego, KurtBob, and OnRails. Right now I am tired from the weekend but very satisfied.
Sorry for the long post.

 

Great pictures, Don!

The fellow you're talking about is Cass. He did in fact run into the wall at RR and demolished his car. He loves racing and all the things about it, so you're right, this keeps him in it on the user level. I'm sure he appreciated all your help.

These events are all about the people we know. Seeing you guys and all the people we know week in and week out is what makes this sport so much fun to me.

 

Jody, I PM'd you about the pics.

 

Sounds like a great w/e--glad all are safe.
All of you instructors or going for instructors is going to leave me in 3 with less company. Oh well--may have to join ya. I need more track.
olddragger

 

Well, I had a complete blast at CMP. Thanks for letting me hang out with the crew. It made all the difference in having a postive experience. Lego gave me some excellent instruction. He had me moving pretty fast by the end of the weekend. Also the ride in the RX7 was fun! Only problem was bumping my head on the roof. The ride with TA really opened my eyes to the potential of our cars. That helped me realize the braking potential that I was not using to it's fullest. On track, I had some good moments and some not so good moments. Getting a point by from a 350Z after riding him 11 - 14 put a smile on my face. Spinning out in 14 on another occasion reinforced the idea that you shoudn't try to brake mid turn. I still have a lot to work on but you can't learn it all in one weekend I guess. SilverEIGHT, you really took some great pictures! I like the shots where the car is in focus and the background is wizzing by. It really gives you a sense of motion.

Newbie observations:

I'm really glad I put on the Carbotech pads and switched to the Super Blue fluid. It made a big difference. I hadn't realized how much abuse the brakes were gonna take. I experienced virtually no fade the entire weekend and the stock rotors still look pretty good.

You use a lot of gas on track! I computed my official gas mileage on Sunday as 5.74 MPG.

The RT-615's get a little slippery when you get them too hot. I had a little wiggle action going through the kink at around 110. A little unsettling to say the least but I was able to maintain control. After that I toned things down a notch in that area.

NASA hosts a well organized and well run event. I felt like I really got my money's worth both on the track and in the classroom.

This track stuff is fun! I can't wait till the next event.

 

Guys,

Looks like most who have chimed in had a GREAT time. TA, you looked good mid-corner, great speed.

TA2, based on the posture of your car in the braking zone, it looks like you have that thing tuned in. I know what 32vCobra runs there, and based on the shots, looks like you may have been close.

Lego .... CONGRATULATIONS I know it has been a long time coming. I am proud to see my fellow RX8 Brethern making to the ranks of instructor. Please, continue on the path, you guy have matured your skills, but continue to mature you track awareness. That is what gets you out of trouble.

I am VERY sorry, I couldn't make it down. I was hoping to come down, and score some rides, at the very least. CMP is my hope stomp, and I would have loved to offer some help to you guys where I could. AFter spending time with Mark Daddio at CMP, I learned a great deal, and probably ran some of the fastest laps I have ever run, in th eheat of the day in July.

BTW, how modded was the STi running 1:48's? I know what it takes to get an Evo in that bracket, and I would be curious to see how close the STi was. s

Guys, can't wait for the vids....

STF

 

Cool! Jim Pantas is sending an article to GRM and including my images from the event. Looks like I will get published in the magazine! I will be sending some of our group. Keep your fingers crossed and hope the editor includes one of the gang! The number will be limited so it's gonna be tight!

 

Make sure you send a side view of the car with the GRM stickers in the window. That'll boost the chances of a pic in the rag.

 

Good idea!

 

I don't know his mod list, but outside of some of the racecars, he was by far the fastest car on the track. I have not seen published lap times for anyone, but he was flying. I worked 3 and 11, and he went through those two with a ferocious amount of speed. I enjoyed watching him come through the kink, and we always thought, is he gonna hit the brakes for 11. He got everything out of the car, that is for sure.

 

Wheew, what a weekend!

I didn't set the track on fire !!

As usual, a fantastic time was had by all. After experiencing what it's like to have a student and do my runs, I fully understand what TA was talking about when he was saying how much more demanding and satisfying it is to be on track both in the right seat with a student and left seat trying to figure the b$$tch out!

L8Apex I hope your knees are back up to full function.. It's a fun but long day at the corner worker station, standing all day and running around with fire extinguishers and such. Thanks for being there and giving us feedback on how we looked as well as keeping us safe.

TA, I am glad you could hop in on my park bench for a few laps. I learned quite a few good things on how to work-out the carousel and the other slow corners. This slow corner tight 90 degree stuff does not come easily to me so I take all the help I can get. I am definitely looking forward to do some lead follow in HPDE 4 at RA, that will be a lot of fun.

Silver, I enjoyed the phone conversation on the way down and am glad you could be there to hang with us and take fantastic shots of the track action. The pictures just keep getting better every time you shoot.

Rob, it was great to see you again. Dinner at Gus on Friday was really fun, I was glad to meet your charming better half and hang with you guys listening to your Daytona tales.. Next time we're on track together I hope to spend a few laps chasing you and learn a few of your tricks..

Lego, great to see you again and congrats on the car and getting certified as an instructor, I'm sure we'll have a great time exchanging stories about our adventures in the right seat at speed with perfect strangers..

OnRails, it was great meeting you and I am hoping you'll become another track hoe hanging out with us at the events.

Kurt Bob, it was great seeing you again. Next time we'll need to see how we can arrange a few rides in each other's cars, I'd like to see what it's like in the monster Miata

A big part of the fun was to hang with the ever increasing gang of track buddies. James (Blue with silver stripes turbocharged Flyin' Miata soon to be Performance Touring Racer) was a great roommate, we had a good time at dinner and hanging out. Mark was fast in his great looking Bullitt, and my student Brent was a great guy with a fast car (98 32 valve Cobra with a full Griggs front end and lots of other goodies), it was really satisfying to see him progress from being one of the slowest on track to being of the fastest HPDE 1 guys over the course of the weekend.

As for me, CMP ain't my best track but I am learning..

I learned a lot from everybody and for the first time ever: (DrumRoll Please)

I drove fairly aggressively all weekend on a track that is really tough on brakes, got to drive the whole thing, and got to drive home with out even lifting a finger on those darned brake pads!

It was a bit cold but that did not keep us from having a fantastic time, truth to be told by lunch time it was quite pleasant and kind of nice to not sweat a quart per hour.

I learned that you cannot drift through turn 4, come in smokin' hot into 5 kind of tight to the right hand side curbing and expect to get away with it by trail braking all that speed while rounding a pretty tight 90 degree turn. Also, even if you think you did not go 4 off it seems well advised to come in on a furled black just to be on the safe side of caution..

I was very pleased with how well the Hankooks handled and took the beating. They took the abuse, did not get greasy or chewed-up at all, and look like they will last for a while longer. The way they are wearing it looks like they work really well with my setup and driving style. I recommend them as an excellent close-out buy from Frisby Tires if you can find them in your sizes.

See you boys and girls @ RA.

 

For you guys who like video, here's some from the races:

Sprint race start:

Saturday's Sprint Race start

A little action at the Kink at about 110:

Some action at the Kink

The Enduro start:

Sunday's enduro start

The entire Sprint race:

Saturday's entire Sprint race (thanks Google )

 

Sweet! That Kink... she's a scarry little witch!

 

That maroon mustang had a hard time staying on the track! I got a series of shots of him loosing it out of turn 7 and almost tangling up with a blue mustang.

 

He got a little help from the Camaro in the beginning of the Sprint race.

 

This is one of the sequence of him loosing it. I'll post the others later. He was so close to me I had a hard time zooming my lense out but I got some good ones of him.

 

looks to me as if the mustanf guy had something to settle in the pits--oldstyle.! Nice catch Big Pine! Its good to see how the other cars are driving--the camaro guy was scary --had to take your time getting around him didnt ya? Where the hell did that superstaker come from ---Jesus!
It was good to see how it was going once the track opened up a little. peskey prosche!
What kind of rearview do you have --is it a Wink mirror--i need one of those.
Great Vids man--hope to see ya at RA
olddragger