Rotary Car Club - 2009 Track Day Information and Dates

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Herblenny (Post 87963)

COOL! Should we do Pho?

John are you going to goto IFO?

Brent, I'm heading to Barber's tomorrow.. I'm Chris' crew :)
I'll be there from 9:00-9:30 til 1 ish.. I'll take some pics of you guys on the track.

Absolutely we should go Pho, i doubt if i make it to IFO i would like to but wife is off on Sundays and since I only see her on weekends i cant be gone both days

Sounds good. I'll be there around 6 most likely. It's pretty packed in the paddock and I didn't drop the trailer off tonight so I need to get there early to get a good spot. I just saw Bryan@BNR at Cracker Barrel. See you guys tomorrow. I'm starting to get pretty pumped!

Bad News Guys.. I can't do dinner tonight.. My wife didn't get home until late last night and she wants me to hang out with her tonight as I'm leaving all day tomorrow.. Sorry I can't do dinner... Dang!

Bottom line up front... a bad day at the track is still better than a good day in Afghanistan :D

Well guys, not a great day at the track. I kissed the wall and here is the end result:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track033.jpg

Good news though is that no one was hurt and it didn't damage my RZ wheel. The only thing that was hurt was my pride. I have a video of it that I will post later on once I figure out how to cut it down to under 10 minutes. I was on the last turn tracking out maintaining throttle and it broke loose. I went back and forth a few times before I did a 180 and hit the wall.

I pitted to have the tech guy check out the damage and was given the green light to go back out and finish the session, which I did :D I was extremely relieved that the damage was as minimal as it is.

However, after the next session I pull back in to my spot, put my drain pan under the car(as a precautionary measure) and start talking. I notice a coolant smell a few minutes later and pull the pan out.... sure enough it's leaked around 20-30oz of coolant. I take the intake and intercooler off and notice some black material on my radiator fans. I trace the problem to the hose that connects from the bottom of the AST to the bottom of the radiator has come loose(I'm assuming the radiator was jarred when I hit the wall) and hit the fan until the fan eventually wore a hole in the hose. Phil is pretty sure he has a spare and I'm going to go pick it up in a couple of hours. If he doesn't, I'll just splice a metal hose in the line. I'm hoping to avoid that as it would introduce 2 more potential failure points, but would work for the time being.

Chris was running well today and I believe came in 8th overall in TT and 3rd in TTA. Here are a few more pictures from today.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track022.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track024.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track025.jpg
Phil's MB FD:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track030.jpg

I'll have the hose replaced here in a couple of hours and be back at the track bright and early first thing in the morning.

Had a great time at Barber today. It was HOT!!!! Around 90 degrees. I'll post some more pictures later on, but here are few that I stole from Phil's facebook. I'd love to have some larger/higher resolution copies of these Phil when you have a chance and if it's not too much trouble.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...6_1944077_.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...6_1944076_.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...6_1944068_.jpg

I'm sitting at the hotel right now a few miles from Road Atlanta. Looks like it's going to be a good turn out of rotary's at the Chin Event tomorrow. Don and Kevin Clifford, who were also at Barber this weekend, will be there as well as the Black and Red FD track guys. I can't remember their name but I met them at VIR. I think one of their names is Nate. I believe they'll be a few more as well. More pictures and updates in a day or two. Once I get home and get everything situated, strip down an engine and take it to David Jerome... I'll post a bunch of pictures. Time to rack out.

So how did Road Atl. go?

Had an absolute blast for the most part at Road Atlanta. It seems like a good mix of VIR and Barber. Has the technical sections like Barber, but you can carry alot more speed like VIR. I had an instructor showing me the line and he was really pushing me and was very knowledgable, which got my legs completely back under me after Saturday's incident and pushing my car pretty hard. However, he just bought a koni challenge 996 5 days ago and was primarily concerned with getting it set up, which I didn't mind. I know what it's like to have issues with your car and he was twisting wrenches on it all day long. He gave me the feedback I needed on the track and that was really good enough. He sent another guy out with me on the last session so he could work on his car. I had been running the majority of the course in 4th gear. I would shift to 3rd for one section and I'd be in 5th on the back straight. So instead of letting me continue to build and progress my line, he made me keep it in 3rd and was talking to me like this was my first time on the track. I was going 20-30mph slower than what I had been going. He was showing me a new line, which was cool, but over revving the car in 3rd caused the water temp to start to climb. So instead of overheating the car because this guy doesn't want me in 4th, I just pitted after 15 minutes or so. I'm not going to blow a coolant seal on my last session on account of that guy.
Overall I had a blast, I just really wanted to keep pushing that last session as I only had one day to pick up as much as I could there.

I'll post a bunch more pictures later on. I'm still looking for a mov. to mpeg converter to convert my video's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent (Post 88300)

Glad you had fun but most importantly glad you found your legs again :icon_tup:

I'm sure the second instructor was just worried about getting back out of the car on his two legs after seeing that quarter panel I'm surprised he didn't make you keep it in second :rofl: Seriously though not a very cool thing to do especially the last session of the day :(

Nice pics, too bad they don't line those walls w/ tires.

haha. Yeah, I understand the instructors reasoning because he doesn't know me from Adam and, as you know prob. better than anyone Fritz, I could be another one of those guys that just wants to "go fast" that ends up putting him in the hospital. I was more disappointed with my instructor because it was the last session. I felt really good on session 3 though. Man!!! I still just want to go to the track and drive some more!!!

Here's a couple of shots of our SE at the Spring Jefferson TT (Summit Point, WV).
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...9/100_0804.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...9/100_0802.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...9/100_0803.jpg

Still getting the car dialed in but there's one Miata that's tough to catch.

Did you clip the inside curb at all before the spin? I've found out my car doesn't like that at all on that turn.

I don't think I did. I think it was a combo of getting the tires to hot, having a little too much air in the tires, and the driver of course. If this posts in a weird format its because I am stepping into this century and have internet on my phone.

Awesome pics!

That black 997 w/ the yellow rollbar is calling to me :driving:

CPR in the driving world stands for correction, pause, recovery and there's a chance that the P was left out when you smooched that sexy Barber wall :beatdeadhorse5: I love the calm shift into neutral when the fight is over :icon_tup:

BTW the MB 95 is sounding SWEET!

I know what you mean, I keep playing around with getting a 996, 997, or a new M3. I don't think I will until I get rid of some FD's though. My instructor at Road Atlanta on Monday had a 996 Koni Challenge car. Unfortunately he had just purchased it 5 days prior and didn't have a passenger seat in it so no ride along for me.

haha... yeah, I think it'll take me a time or two more to get CPR down. Hopefully next time, but I'd really like to get some more practice on car control. I've been trying to find a skid pad/car control school but haven't had much luck. NASA mentioned possibly doing one at Road Atlanta in August. I'm hoping that actually happens as I think it would be a great investment not only from a driving perspective but also a safety perspective.

You should AutoX for a year or so. That's about as good of car control as you are going to get.

From watching the video it sounds like got completely out of the throttle when it kicked a little which can upset the car a whole lot making over correcting very easy. You have to pretty much just stay in it and ride the drift out and wait for it scrub enough speed off on it's on, so that it catches slowly. Maybe that makes sense. :icon_tup:

But everyone that tracks a car is going off sooner or later one way or another, I've just been lucky and not hit anything. :001_005:

BTW found that P&P 3bar yet?

Yeah, makes sense. I know better, but that didn't stop me from letting out :( I use to AutoX a good bit back 7-8 years ago. I guess I've just been away from it too long. Plus I hate working half the day :D

I'm heading back to Cookeville right now and I have to ship some parts out and I REALLY need to get a short block to David today. Work took longer than expected today. I should have a chance to look for it this weekend. If not, I still have the 3 bar with the connector that you can splice in.

Here's a video from Road Atlanta on Monday, for some reason there is a 10 second delay once the video starts:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent (Post 88564)

Yeah I know what you mean I keep saying I'm going to go to one again sometime but everytime the weekend gets near I decide I don't want to stand out there all day for 5min of driving.

Had a blast at the track with you guys. Look forward to seeing both you (Brent) and Herblenny. I found out one thing for sure, the RX-8 cannot keep up with most cars on this track. It bogs down in the hairpin, carousel and turn 14. Brent, I look forward to seeing you out on the Barber track again. You were getting pretty comfortable by your third session on Sunday.

You guys please feel free to join in with the Georgia gang anytime we have an event. I will be at Road Atlanta with NASA-SE in a week. Any of you coming out to play? I will be taking the summer off as the heat is too much for me. Will pick back up in the fall.

Don,
Glad to see you over here. Don was my instructor this weekend at Barber and was one of the best instructors I've encountered thus far. If you attend a NASA event and are fortunate enough to get him as an instructor, you will get more than your money's worth for sure. I already commited to VIR the weekend of the 13-14, but I'll be at Road Atlanta for the event Aug 8-9 most likely.

If anyone has been thinking or planning on signing up for the Nashville event on June 20th, you might want to go ahead and sign up. They are short on people and are in danger or having to cancel the event.

Had a blast yesterday at VIR's Grand East Course!! Heading back there right now to have some more fun. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent (Post 88373)

As promised:

Wow, how fast were you going? From the vantage point of the camera, it doesn't appear to be too fast.

I was in 3rd about half way through the gear and tracking out so prob. somewhere between 60-70 when it let go if I was to guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent (Post 89463)

I was in 3rd about half way through the gear and tracking out so prob. somewhere between 60-70 when it let go if I was to guess.

Sounds about right:icon_tup:

Nice pics BTW, I've always wanted to go to VIR, maybe one day it's just such a haul.

Stop messing around Chris... let's go halfsies on your uncle's RV... then VIR won't be a problem. :D VIR is my absolute favorite track. First time doing the Grand East course, 2nd time at VIR... loved every minute of it!

BTW, 86C and 180-200C oil temp all day long

What oil coolers do you have? That's on a single right? I've got to get a single!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDP (Post 89432)

Wow, how fast were you going? From the vantage point of the camera, it doesn't appear to be too fast.

It seems like the ossilations just kept getting worse. :(

Hope you did not get banged up to bad!

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPICcnmFD (Post 89503)

What oil coolers do you have? That's on a single right? I've got to get a single!!

Just the stock R1 set up. I actually don't even have the dedicated brake duct on the passenger side, but I do have the 99 brake/oil duct. It's ran right around 200F today at TGPR with the outside temp in the 90's. They said 94, but I think it was prob. closer to 90. Yes, single turbo, no AC, no PS... no heat problems :D

Just got back from TGPR, will post some more pictures and video's in the next couple of days. Absolutely fantastic day!! Only 5 cars were there!! I left at 1:30 and had gotten 5-6 30 minute sessions in already(you normally only get 4 in a full day).

Alright, finally have a little time to throw a little bit together. Well, on Thursday evening I finally have my new engine fully broken in, everything on the car is buttoned, and I go to test out the car under boost and make sure nothing comes undone. I pull out of my driveway, warm the car up, and hit the gas…. The car starts stumbling and falling on it’s face when it hit’s 2-3 psi. It was just dumping fuel in when the secondaries were coming online and killing it. I thought I might have an injector stuck open. I check and they are all good. I go back and double check everything, verify all my vacuum hoses… nothing. Long story short, I ended up staying up until 2am going through the fuel and ignition system and not finding anything. After talking with David Jerome, he thought it was my “new” used harness we put in the car during the reinstall. So Friday morning, after trying a few other things, I pull the main engine harness out of the car and put my old one back in. In the process I broke the coolant level sensor connector and knock sensor connector on my old harness I was having to put back in. Luckily I have a really good condition RHD harness that I use for connectors. So minor hiccup there. I’m extremely frustrated when all of this is going on. I was wanting to leave at 10am for VIR on Friday morning. At this point, it’s around 2pm. I get it all back together and am thinking to myself, “if this doesn’t work” I’m going to tear this car apart and sell everything” haha… I think we have all been to that point at one time or another working on these cars. Well, I pull out of the driveway, get the car warmed up again, turn around and hit the gas and… brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaapppppppppp!!!! I was screaming and yelling as I was at WOT with joy! As soon as that happen though, I blew the main coolant line off the side of the block(the one with the plastic quick disconnect nipple). I am right in front of my house just in case something like this happened so I immediately cut the car off. It spewed coolant everywhere but it never even got above 85C. Pull the plastic nipple off and double clamp the hose to the block and go and do it again. Everything is working great now :D Load the car on the trailer. Pack the rest of my stuff, shower, and hit the road around 4:30-5pm. We arrived in Virginia at the hotel around 1am. Get up at 4:15am my time, get ready, head to the track, and had one of the best weekends at the track to date. Car did absolutely amazing!! Really enjoyed the grand east course. Here are some more pictures from VIR:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track536.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track538.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track534.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track503.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track459.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track475.jpg
I drove up to pick up a Carbon Fiber Hatch and RE-A wing from Fritz for my yellow car and some other parts after I finished at the track Saturday. I figured it was only 4 bolts to bolt it in, might as well try it out at VIR :D I was very surprised at how much more stable the car felt over around 80mph.
So I had an issue free weekend with great track time and continuing to progress my driving. VIR is still my favorite track… just wish it wasn’t 8 hours away.

So we headed back home, arrived home around 2am in the morning. Woke up early Monday morning and did a once over on the car and started trying to play catch up on everything else. I end up leaving for TGPR around 7-8pm that night. Arrived around midnight and got a pretty good nights sleep. It turned out there were only 5 cars running!! So I was running a session, taking 1-2 sessions off to cool the car down, driving another one, and then repeat :D All kinds of track time!! On my last session I came into the double apex turn that is before the sweeper turn that leads to the back straight. I turn the wheel and try to turn the wheel to start to track out at around 50-55mph. The wheel is stuck turning right. I push it a little farther to the right and whatever is lodged in it comes free and hits the ground and is dragging before it finally lets go. I pull in thinking that something messed up in my suspension/steering. What actually happened was my HKS Twin Power wires some how broke or burned through the zip ties that moved the wires out of the way of the steering column. When I turned the wheel it caught the wires and ripped the twin power(which was bolted to the metal sidewall of the engine bay) out of the hole and lodged it between the steering and wheel. The only wire it tore was the ground wire. It eventually let go at the harness connector and dropped it on the track. We go back out there and pick it up. It’s beat up pretty bad. I just want to see if it still works. So I reground it and plug it back in… sure enough it still works… ha! I took it back out as I still want to check it out some more but I thought that was pretty neat. Didn’t really get many pictures from TGPR, but here is what I have:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track524.jpg
Here is a video from TGPR trying out my Aiptek A-HD+. I can’t seem to get it to move back far enough so I can actually get the entire front windshield.

I'll have my video's of VIR up in a little while most likely. I'll be at Nashville Super Speedway on Saturday and then I'm going on vacation. This will be my last track day for a while. It's been fun, 9 track days in a month!

Here is the first one from VIR. I think someone broke down and they black flagged us to get them off. I'll have some better ones later today.

another one from VIR:

Heading to NSS tomorrow. Should be a fun time. This will be my last track day for a few weeks. I have some other stuff going on and it's just soooo frickin hot right now. I may do Mid Ohio July 11-12, and I'll def be at NSS on July 25-26. Hope to see some 7's/8's/rotaries out.

Ok... upcoming track days(so much for taking some time off... haha):
NASA Mid Ohio July 11-12(pending... haven't made up my mind on this yet)
Zoomfest/ATL SCCA PDX July 19
Redline Nashville SuperSpeedway July 25-26
NASA Road Atlanta Aug 7-9

I'll be at Road Atlanta this weekend with NASA. Anyone else going to be there?

Awesome day at Road Atlanta. One of my best days on the track so far. May have some video, maybe not. I forgot my charger and my camera battery went dead pretty quick.

A couple from Road Atlanta this weekend: