I'm ready!

 

OnRails - See ya down there.
Holler if you got any probs about the room.

 

Will do. Tomorrow can't come fast enough!

 

I'm bubbling over with excitement! I'm leaving in about an hour. Hope to see everyone later today.

 

We're here!!! We're here!!!! Checked in and headin' to the city!!!! Lego, Call us!!!!!

 

Ok guys --STAY SAFE___HAVE FUN!
dang I sound like a parent
OD

 

We're here. Excellent first day. I'm at the hotel now and ready for bed. Some of the other folks are out getting a beer, but I'm going to call it a night soon.

The track is great! We're having a blast. The weather couldn't be better. In the 80's, nice breaze, & sunny. Track is sticky, people are great, cars are awsome, and we have a new TTD track record from Mr. TA! TA2 also got a 1st in TTC.

The RX-7 is such a blast to drive here and everyone is having a great time. Silver's got about 2000+ pictures to sort through so I'm sure there will be many posted by him later.

 

looks like we have a monster in the making
OD

 

What was the time?
OD

 

Congrats to TA / TA2. Wish I could have been there, but wifey is sick, kid had cheer camp, and my rental (C6 Z06), my surprise, fell through.

It just wasn't in the cards.....

Again, I can't wait to hear the stories, if it wasn't for you guys, I would be really hurting.

STF

 

Sessions all finished on Sun without any drama, and everyone should be getting home.
I will try to post a recap if I can soon, but suffice it to say it was a blast. Great people as always (met a few new ones also), great weather, and no major issues.
Since Lego let the cat out of the bag about the TTD record, TA lowered it again today.
( Since his two track records have come while he was instructing me, I claim partial credit )

Anyway, saw RXV8 Steve on the road, saw Lego pulling off at Dublin and hope everyone else has a safe trip home.
Recap to come...

 

write up and recap later, too much work to do today. midpipe is still on, and I am still married, so that is good. but it will come off tonight. after 4 hours last night, my head was killing me from that thing

 

Another fun time was had by all this past weekend at Roebling Road Raceway in scenic Pooler, GA. For me, it was the most adventurous track weekend I have had to date on many levels. It started off very rocky as I left my house at 1:30pm on Friday afternoon to meet Dano and TA2. The car was acting weird. Instead of running smoothly it has hesitating and surging. It felt like I was towing a trailer. I called up Charlie and after a short conversation I turned around and headed to his shop. We hooked it up to his computer and everything checked out other than a few codes that don't impact driveability. We cleaned the MAF sensor, reset the computer and I decided to see if it was better. Lo and behold, it was! So I set the cruise control to stop and go traffic to get out out of Atlanta. I left Mazcare at around 4pm and finally got out of Atlanta. I was at the track right at 830pm. I-16 was crawling with Sheriff patrols and state troopers. I manged to avoid any tickets while averaging about 80. Car ran great all the way. I met up with TA2 at the track where I unloaded my tires and track stuff. We then went to meet the crew for dinner. Car still ran great.
Sat - on the drive to the track from the hotel the car started surging again. One word came to mind and it started with a capital F. I decided I would go on track and see if it was going to be an issue. The car seemed to like running wide open, so track driving was no problem. So I tracked the sucker. What can I do? I am addicted. My main competitor in TTD (an E36 M3) didn't show up so I felt confident of a top podium finish. My best lap of the day was a 1.25.083 which was 1.5 secs faster than Zach in his now prepared 325is E30 chassis car, That kid can drive! So I got to pose with the lovely trophy ladies. It was fantastic to have my friends at the award reception to cheer me on. Thanks guys. Also on Saturday I was fortunate to have Don Clifford ask me to take his son Kevin out for a ride in his awesome 3rd gen. We went out in a TT session and had a great time. I think the RX8 is a higher precision handling machine but the FD just rockets down the front straight hitting over 140 before getting on the binders. The shifter is fantastic as well with a far better action than the 8.
Sun - car still acting like a stupid piece of ****. But, wide open she seemed happy. I found that my AC belt was really loose so I tightened it hoping that was the cause of the problems. I also had a lot of oil around the crank pulley. Crap!!! I decided to hardly run the car and just go out to get a time in TT so I could win it again. After 3 TT sessions Zach was .2 seconds faster than me running a 1.25.3. He had lowered his Saturday time by over a second! So I decided to go out in session 4 and do my damnedest to bust out a hot lap. I put the pedal down and ran 6 hot laps in a row trying 2 different lines figuring that if I could match Saturday's time, I would be all set. Secretly i wanted to break into the 24s. (Incidentally Rob Whitener's best in his TTC RX8 was 1.22.083 so I have a lot to learn still). When the timing sheets came out, I was really pleased to see I had achieved my goal. I ran 1.24.21. On Sunday I took Kevin out again in the FD which was a blast. Steve also asked me to drive a session in the V8 RX7 so we went out in HPDE3/4. That car is quite the handful. First it is not easy to drive in anger. With no power steering the first thing you notice is how unusually heavy the steering effort is. Took some getting used to! The shifter gates are not nearly as intuitive as the RX8 or the FD making it easy to slip it in 6th instead of 4th when trying to downshift from 5th. I did that about 3 times. I didn't feel bad since Steve did it once too and he has had tons of seat time in that monster. The power is unreal. You have to use the throttle very judiciously otherwise you will easily break rear traction. Corners come at you very quickly as well since it accelerates so briskly. I was stabbing the brakes going into 3 since the car gained so much speed out of 2. Fun stuff. The drive home was pretty sucky as I surged the whole way. We made our obligatory Zaxby's dinner stop which was a nice break from driving. I was beat by the time I got home at 1030pm.

Dano - it was an honor instructing you this weekend. You did fantastic and belong in HPDE2 where you can work on improving skills. I had a great time riding with you and watching you progress over the day on Saturday into Sunday. I felt totally comfortable soloing you for the last 2 sessions of the weekend.

Steve - I really enjoyed instructing you in "The Monster". You were smooth and drove very calmly. That car is a handful and I certainly appreciate how well you control it. It takes patience and prudence to hustle it around a track. Great job.

TA2 - thanks for waiting for me at the track on Friday night. We had a great time as roommates and at the track. Congrats on your first place trophy in TTC. Who knows but if you make it to Barber you may have a chance at an end of year top spot in points!!! You learned the track very quickly and in your first visit managed to out drive many guys that have been there before. Maybe it is your near perfect corner weights and amazing front/rear weight distribution??

L8 - quit grinning! Dude as usual it is awesome to hang out with you. My only regret is that I didn't get a chance to go out on track with you Sat. I really enjoyed riding with you on Sun and you did great. I think it was supremely fun leading G around the track during that session. We could not shake that bugger either!Your car sounded awesome too! I love the Team Moon and midpipe combo.

Phlash - did that 32 oz can of Amp keep you awake all night? Man I think you got some seat time this weekend! It was awesome that you went out and ran all your sessions as well as the TT sessions. You too were quick out there. I overheard some of your coaching with OnRails and from what I heard, you are doing a great job giving feedback. It is awesome having some nay instructors in our group.

Lego - great seeing you again Lego. Your RX7 track ho mobile is looking better than ever. Those graphics look awesome. You also seem to be squeezing out all the speed out of that thing that is possible. I bet it is a hoot from turn 1-9. I would love to get a ride in it next time. You have done a lot of work to it since my last ride at CMP early this year. Hope you had a safe tow home.

KurtBob - it is always great to see you. You hardly post on line so when you show up at an event it is like an unexpected bonus. I really would like a ride in your supercharged Miata one day soon. I hope you make it to Barber in a couple of weeks as I think that car could really kick butt there! It is really a handling course and the FI would add the zoot out of the corners.

OMS - thanks for coming out to the track and taking 7 million pictures. You are going to be busy organizing those for weeks!!! Sorry I didn't take you for a ride this time. Even though you on a short hiatus from tracking, just having you there is a big plus for the rest of us. The only downside to shooting is that you were busy all day instead of hanging out under the EZ Up with us between sessions. i bet if you came with nothing but a helmet you could be on track for 8 sessions a day getting rides with us as well as other instructors. Something to think about...

OnRails - great to see you again John. I hope we can get together and go cart racing in Charlotte in a few weeks. You have always been fast on track and from what I heard G telling you, sounded like you were fast at Roebling too. Hope you had a good drive home.

Skillmaker - it was nice to meet you and your family. Thanks for coming out to hang with us. Next time sign up and drive it with us. I know you'll enjoy it especially considering your ice racing and autocross background.

I hope I didn't miss anyone. Sorry for the long posting.

 

post ho.

 

I'll report in when I have a little time to spare. I just a tad busy right now! Thanks everyone for a GREAT time, especially Lego for the "Exciting" ride. The spin in turn 1 was in slow motion and Phlash pass us by in the opposite direction we were facing was priceless! Too much to say and I gotta go... I'll be back later with my write up.

PS: Did I mention I got to speak with the TTD record holder!

Favorite shot of the weekend...

 

Roebling Road, you are my favorite track, why oh why did we get off to a rough start?

Saturday was a bit lackluster, the jump to HPDE 3 was to say the least... The drivers are much faster, much more competent, for the most part, and thins are happening much faster, and there is so much more to be aware of. I spent most of the first three sessions, with the arm out, pointing people by in any direction that was not already occupied. It was to say the least frustrating. Lego rode with me the fourth session, and that helped, we worked on a couple things, and it started to get better. Sunday started out better, a little faster. Then a ride with the new TTD Champion, and new track record holder re-aligned the planets for me, and reminded me of what the car can do, and how much faster I could be. The weekend got so much better from there. And from that point on, I was having a lot of fun again, and it made all the prep, all the travel, and all the work worth it.

Lego, Phlash, TA, thank you for your input and instruction, without it, my weekend would have been a loss. I really do appreciate the time you guys take out of your driving schedule to help. You are all top rate instructors.

TA, congrats, on both he new track record, and the top podium spot for TTD both days. You are a force to be reckoned with, the 2008 NASA TT season will be a ton of fun to watch. You really know how to hustle the car around a track, congrats.

TA2, congrats to you as well, on your top podium spot in TTC. I am sure that the other competitors never saw the '78 Fairmont coming. Mr. Cross Weights.

Dano, glad you got your excavation excursion out of the way, and everyone, and the car came out ok, I wish I could have seen the spectacular show you put on...Mr. Debris Flag.

OnRails, good to see you again, you and Phlash were really hauling it from what I could tell, hope you can make it to barber, so that we can play some lead follow again.

Kurt, always good to see you, I think we saw a different side of Kurt this past weekend, and it was hilarious. Hope to see you at Barber, I bet the little Miata would be fun, but you really ought to bring the 8.

Lego, it was so much fun to watch your little RX-7, you hustled it through the back half of the course with enough sped to make it hard to keep up. Watching you slip and slide was entertaining as hell, I hope it shows up on video the way it felt on track.

Phlash, thanks for the lessons, and patience on the fluid changes on the car, the good company over the weekend, lunch, and for not making too many holes in the ceiling at the house from jumping on the bed. Always a fun ride to anywhere, watching you weave in and out of lane markers. It was fun trying to get away from you on the track, maybe when they both drop, I will be able to keep up, but for now, it was fun as hell.

Last, but not least, OMS, thanks for making the trip down, thanks for the million pictures we will all get to look through, and thanks for taking them. I know your back was killing you by the end of it, I hope it feels better soon, you will be missed at Barber.

Ok, I'm done, i think. I had a good weekend, I got to see my good friends, hit the track pipe, and spend time with good people. It is always fun, and I look forward to Barber in a couple weeks.

 

Thanks for letting me hang out guys. Had a great time, watched some great racing, learned a lot about the next steps, and even the wife is enthused. Looks like in a few months there'll be yet another RX on the prowl through the HPDE ranks. This time, winning blue, just to add a touch of color to the track.

I enjoyed meeting all of you, and even my wife remarked at how well everyone got along, and how nice everyone was. We've been in a lot of different venues, and this was the most relaxed and showed the most comraderie of them all.

I'll get up to date on the NASA calendar and plan my schedule accordingly. Now just need to find some sponsors to offset the costs. Meh.

I have to admit, the thunder racers put one one heck of a show. Those stock cars were wicked fast, and had a really nice sound to boot.

Again, with the fabulous weather, nice company, and excellent racing, had to rate as one of the top auto competition observation experiences I've had.

See you at the track...

Skillmaker.

 

WOOHOO !!!!!! What a great four days!!! Hands down, leaving early Friday morning, hanging out in Savannah for awhile, and just plain taking our time to get things done was soooooooooooooo much more relaxing for this whole weekend. WARNING: This is a tad long, so go grab a cup of your favorite beverage and have a seat…..

Could we have asked for any better weather??? What great camping weather that would have been. I have never been to RR with a breeze all weekend, low 80’s and cool, cool mornings. The car loved it. I loved it! Best I figure, in addition to all the DE2 sessions I ran with my student (he ROCKED by the way) I ran all my sessions and all the TT sessions. Good times. I had no DE 1 student this time, so the weekend was quite a relaxing switch from past instruction weekends. The changing back to the OEM rear sway and new alignment seemed to have corrected my horrible rear drift issue I was having at CMP. The car was spot on this weekend. However I did have a grass cutting excursion on Sunday. I went out with Rob from Roar Racing and asked him to show me his 4-8 transitions and such. He was getting on it in the back section much sooner than I and picking up and carrying much more speed that I had been. So, we came in about half way through the session, I climbed on board my baby and away we went. I got in it much sooner through the back section onto the front straight and ended up carrying a good bit more speed entering the front than I ever had. Because of that I was misplaced for turn in (too wide) and couldn’t finish the turn. I knew it and knew I had to make a choice NOW…..So, both feet in as I launched across the rumble into the field. A lot of dust and 2/3rds of the way into the field I came to a stop. No harm no foul except to my fragile ego. Got back on and completed three more laps before the session ended. I worked on that area the rest of the day and by the end of the weekend was carrying the same speed out of that area (112-115 vs 102- 106 - btw- 115 is scary as hell and had to be a fluke) in the right spot and without the drama from my launch. Needless to say, I have a whole different set of markers now for that area. I am however loosing a lot of time in other area’s of the track. Although I got to try to chase the track record holder down a few times, I never got the opportunity to have him along to help me find the missing link(s). Next time.

First and foremost, L8 – THANKS. I had a blast this weekend and you were a huge part of it. Thanks for meeting me after my seminar. Thanks for dinner, and some great time on live for speed…..I really suck at that. Thanks for giving me a place to crash. Thanks for getting up and out early. Thanks for helping me get reacquainted with Savannah and for the tour through your old stomping grounds. Thanks for sharing the room and dealing with my jumping around on the beds. Thanks for your pit help at the track, the use of some or your supplies. Thanks for blowing smoke into my car. The pipe is sick man…..really……that drone home must have killed ya. I know you felt Saturday was not the best in the world. But. I’ll tell you again, as I followed you around during some of those sessions you were right on, just as you were at CMP. You generally knew the line, tried different things, and kept the car on track all weekend. Sunday you just allowed “them to drop a little” and it showed. I had just as much of a blast following you and the track record holder around Sunday as I did Saturday, just a tad faster…ok…a good chunk faster (OnRails has some unofficial time spreads). Don’t sell yourself short. You did great with your first time out with DE3. Congrats! AND congrats on passing your ARE(?) test! You had a great weekend! And yes, you do snore…………….

OnRails – a man of few words…..”OOPs”…LOL….You did a great job this weekend and it was a great pleasure to be in your right hand seat this weekend. One would have never guessed this was your first time on this track. You just continued on what I got to witness at CMP. You have some great control skills, just keep honing them. As I stated (as well as some of your past instructors) you could make the next step if you choose to do so. Take your time, milk those instructors as long as you feel you need to. Remember even if you choose to move on I would be thrilled to ride with you again anytime, anywhere (even in that turn one/two spin). Thanks for a great time.

TA – You HOE!!!! Congrats, congrats, congrats!!! I’ve never gotten to hang with a record holder and top podium person all in the same weekend let alone all in the same person. I really need to pick your brain and have you in my right seat some more…..it has been too much time since we did that last (RR in May) and I will really need it at Barber. You are a great mentor for the group and a great friend. Thanks for all your help and insight this weekend.

KurtBob – So very nice to see you again. It was my first time seeing the Miata. It was a pleasure sharing the track with you all weekend. I’m glad to hear that you had such great students this weekend. That makes all the difference in the world. Can’t wait to run with you again.

Dano – Oh great dirt in the teeth one, I was thrilled to death to see and watch how you improved this weekend in the new ride. The excursion was a learning event and you kept a great attitude after the fact. That’s what it’s all about. It was a blast watching you and hearing your stories.

TA2 – Damn, I got to hang with two first place finishers this weekend. What are the chances of that? Congrats!!! You sure can make that Fairmont/Fairlane run. Your crossweights must be dead on!!! You are hoot to listen to after your sessions and your stories will go down in history. Thanks for the good times.

OMS – Great photo Ho….damn….4000 plus pictures…..I don’t thing you charged enough. Thanks for dealing with my bed jumping and early morning excitement. Thanks for helping L8 and I with the room. Hope the pass by after you spin in one with lego didn’t freak you out too much….I know about that slow motion thing all too well.

Lego – Glad you got to make it into town early and hang at the brewery with us. The car looks, sounds, drives, and tracks great!! I had a blast riding with and following you around the course. Following you is very much like following Rob….granted maybe just a tad slower……a little tail happy and you working the crap out of it…what a great ride you have there my friend and it was great hanging with you and you friend this weekend. Glad the steering thing was a small fix.

Steve – Great to finally meet you. The monster RX is a blast to watch and get blown by with. Hope to run with you again.

SkillMaker – Pleasure to meet you and you family. Glad to hear you were so at home with us. We get that comment a lot. There is no reason for anyone not to have a good time. We all try to help make that possible for any and all that may choose to drop by our little world and hang for awhile. Come join us for a hit of the pipe next time…..you’ll want another and another and another………………

All that said….the planets are starting to fall apart for me for the Barber event. Once again, we have to work around dead times on campus to do upgrades and that weekend we are empty due to fall break (what a way to spend my birthday). So, it’s not in stone yet but I may be working that weekend. I’ll know soon. If that’s the case, RR was a great way to end my NASA season. I got to hang with some of my best friends and make new ones. I got to end at my favorite track. The car came home in the same shape it started the season (minus some tread and brake pad) and the sliding rear end issue seems to have gone away.

To all of you, THANKS. Thanks for the feedback, the instruction, the help, the humor, the good times and the bad, the friendship, the memories, and a GREAT 2007 season. 2008 is going to be a BLAST!!!!

WOOT WOOT!!!!

 

well said my friend, well said.

 

NASA uploaded the weekend timing results to mylaps so I could pull up all my laps. My best time of the weekend was on lap 2 of the last TT session of the weekend. I was running my old line of double apexing 1/2 and 5. Taking the rim shot was about 0.6 seconds slower.
Overall results are here

My lap breakdown for my best session is here.

You can see that my 5 hot laps were better than any of my other times all weekend so I picked up speed regardless. I hope to figure it all out further on my next visit there. That said, I don't know how much faster my cojones will let me go. After reading Phlash's account of carrying 112 tracking out of 9, I am clearly missing some speed there! I don't think I was going that quick there and I was searching for front grip every time through there. I may need to experiment some more with tire pressures.

Fav pic of the weekend thus far for my big head...

And yes they are quite lovely

 

112 at 1??? Hardly.....that was coming onto the straight from 8/9 (whatever number you choose to use for that turn). Mr. England stated to me that they can see 125-130 there easy...damn..I can't imagine....106-110 is much more comfortable for me...remember my speedo is at least three to four mph off due to the low *** profile 710's I'm running.....so I bet you are doing the same real speed numbers...BTW 1:24 and change is smokin' dude.....congrats.

 

I meant tracking out of 9, not 1. I mistyped.

 

What's that sticking out of your left pocket?

Any idea what exit speeds ya'll were getting out of 2? Best I ever saw there was 80 MPH.

The best time I was able to capture on film was 1:30. Hard to believe ya'll are getting around the track 6 seconds quicker. Good job!

 

and by the looks of things, your little head as well.

couldnt help myself

 

OnRails, 1:30 on street tires is pretty good, last year, I was running around 1:31 on street tires. TA was also running 1:29-1:30 on street tires last year. The R-Comps make such a big difference.

As for turn 2, on one lap, I carried 71-72 all the way through turn 2, and have no idea what my track out speed was, but at what was usually just a nice lift point for 3 I was at about 95, I hit the brakes just a bit, and turned in at 88 for turn 3. that was my best, fastest lap, and it freaked me out. I tried the braking at 2.5 for turn 1, and carried over 80 through turn 1, the car was a little loose, and pushing to the outside, I saw in my vision, the corner worker at 2 was reaching for his flags, I think he thought I was going straight off between 1 and 2. I don't know how that lap ended up, I need to go back and look at it. It was the last session on Sunday, when there were only about 5 or 6 cars out on track. It was nice, no fear of braking really late and getting hit from behind, or a mid track spin turning into a pile up. it was fun. a little scary a time or two, but it was fun.