varkwso

Over 500 miles in three days, a great racetrack, with lots of my friends around, lap dances in my car and dry weather. It is truly a hard weekend to beat.

Following a business trip to California, yes I do have adult responsibilities - I find it a necessary evil to support my family in the manner in which they have become accustomed, and then I actually put in a day at the office before I headed to Roebling very, very early on Friday morning. The trailer was "sorta" loaded from the CMP weekend in October but items consumed, items removed for other activities and tools I do not have duplicated still had to returned and/or restocked. Since my pit crew was either sick, in school, at wrestling practice or studying (all week - somehow) the task fell upon me. The worst part is that I had to swap my own tires on Friday at the track - I need to write a better pit crew contract I think. We could only get the ZO6 track ready for the weekend due to a lack of tires and a brake caliper issue for the FRC. Jake drove the GTO down on Friday evening with emphatic direction it was not to go on the track from the titled owner. Honestly, I think the GTO was disappointed to just have to sit there and watch all the other cars have a good time.

There was a tremendous turnout on Friday with lots of familiar faces. My student had a 96 LT4 Corvette and I rode with several other folks in high power cars (996 Turbo and Vettes) to show them the line at Roebling. I also gave rides to a bunch of people on Friday to help them with their line and braking. It was a cold, cold track with an overcast till late afternoon. Lots of folks slid off the track due lack of grip and other than dusting the car, along with a little embarrassment, no one bent a car. Kate showed up in her brand new Mini Cooper S Workes car and put it on the track with about 1000 miles. I love it when cars are broken in correctly! It took her a while to get her comfort level up to where it needed to be - but she had a blast in her car. Tim was there in his ZO6 and we proceeded to "test" each other all weekend. I thought I would be able to spank him handily with my "sticker" Hoosier RS04s but I had a hard time putting the power down and was never able to get in a position to pass him. It was a three day slugfest as we battled it out, often with passengers, with the same result - whoever was in front stayed in front until we decided to change out the lead. Due to the offs, the significant track oil down by a race prepped Triumph and the hot pit management the groups "only" had 80 minutes of track time on Friday. Jake and Todd (thnkfast) showed up Friday night to run on Saturday and Sunday. The Chin team showed up Friday evening and we checked in with them without too much effort.

Saturday and Sunday were clear and cold. There was no overcast so the insolation on the track surface was a real benefit - but it was still a little slippery until around noon both days. The cars were definitely eclectic - including but not limited to - a BMW Z8, GT3, Ford GT, Carrera GT, several Ferraris, a Radical, many Factory Five Roadsters, a Mini Cooper S, a raft of MX-3s, an infestation of Miatas and several ZO6s. It is always fun to watch the crowd roll in. It ranges from million dollar RVs with stacker trailers to grassroots cars with the camping gear stuffed around the track tires.

When Jake, Tim and I were getting students we were assigned a Prelude and a pair of MX-3s. Since there were Vettes, Vipers, 996s, Ferraris and a few other high power cars on the roster we were a little confused why we had the front drivers and the Miata drivers had the high power cars. But life is really not about rational thought or actions - just work with the government for a while. Trust me, we could not have been happier with our students, they were part of the Redline Performance club and had built up some great cars. I had Chris in his Japanese spec V6 swap (160 HP to the wheels in a 1600 pound car) MX-3. Once I got him to have confidence in his car, to quit "peddling" the throttle and to use his momentum he was unstoppable. He chased down and passed most everybody in the session - to include a Viper Coupe. He had great control of his car and knew what to do to get the car where he wanted it. Not only that he could really drive. He was left foot braking, heel toeing, trailbraking and throttle steering like a champ. So I sent him to the check instructor for his solo sign-off. I did not warn him how fast he was though - I would have loved to have a pulse rate on the instructor on the first hot two laps. His speeds were within a few miles an hour of me in the ZO6 in a lot of the corners. Jake's student's MX-3 put down 300HP to the wheels with a turbo 4. It had few maintenance issues (turbo bolts, blown transmission, etc.) but was doing exceptionally well when he was on the track. These guys were in Grassroots Motorsports a few issues back and the article did not do them justice. They were a great group of folks with a car that has exceptional performance - I look forward to running with them at future events. Not ready to trade my ZO6 for it yet, but I do respect it. They did like the rides in the ZO6 though and were very impressed with its braking and torque.

There were even folks from my home county down there tracking their cars with one father/son combo driving a Mallet ZO6. I am pretty sure Jake took them out in the ZO6 and we ran lead-follow a little bit on track in a few sessions. They definitely got faster by Sunday. It would be nice to have a caravan from Augusta area to some of these events.

Dennis and Linda made it down on Saturday - Jack we missed you buddy - and had the chance to get on the track. I do have a few new track rules based on Dennis and Linda though:

1. All lap dances in my car have to involve me.
2. No hand held cameras allowed (especially during #1 or on the race track ) in the car.
3. Pat down searches may be required for passengers to make sure they are not packing (contraband).

Tim and I took them out for a session and we all had a blast. The black flag and oral abuse was merely part of the charm. Personally, I think black flags are a positive experience - it means you are going to get some personal attention from someone, real soon. Since my heart is pure I have the strength of 10 and know they are mistaken in their flagging. Jake had one for passing in T8 (legally I might add - but the trackmaster felt compelled to tell us how dangerous it is), I had the camera "incident" and one for hitting the rumble strip at T2 (bogus call - strips are part of the track). Tim did not take his black flag (also in error) very well since it was accompanied by a threat to eject him from the track - I would have probably paid admission to have seen that.

After I was done with my student I was talking with a paddock mate who was having trouble with his line. Scott was in a beautiful red 2001 996 convertible and could not get any decent speed up. I talked to him about driving the 911, mostly about the snap throttle oversteer with the cars and how important it is to not lift when the car is loaded up in a turn, and the line. He asked if I minded riding with him. Normally, I do not ride in convertibles as a rule without a roll bar installed. But he was a mature and consistent driver. The 996 also has "pop up" rollover protection (marginal in hind sight I think). I rode with for a short session (dog on track) and then took him out in one of my sessions. A little later I jumped in with him for another one of his sessions. About 8 laps into the session he gets a little wide in T8 at about 70-75 mph and gets in the marbles. It makes a lot of racket and makes the car squirm a bit. It was his first time for the "marble" experience and lifted the throttle as he tried to turn in a little bit more. I was hollering more throttle but it was too late. I then started hollering both feet in as we started swapping ends. We spun twice on the pavement I think and then hit the wet grass for a long slide(and a spin or two there) for the tree line. Positive mental attitude did not stop a low speed impact with a very small oak tree. Prayer did keep the car from flipping over in the soft sand. Scott was pretty upset at first, understandably, but I kept on telling him it was OK, to keep his helmet on, stay in the car and it was not really that bad. It took a while to get it out of the trees due to the angle of impact. The damage was really the front bumper cover, a fender, a headlight and a radiator segment - not trivial but not a spike through the heart. If we had spun into the wall the car would have been a total loss. All I can tell you instructors out there - an event will happen fast and it will eventually happen to you if you do this enough. He was able to load it on a trailer headed his way and catch a ride home. In the end he was cheerful and looking forward to getting back on track and going fast.

Now lets talk about Todd. Todd is a darn good driver, a great family man, a fully qualified assassin for the empire and a true hero of the Republic - however, he made a severe judgment error. He went drinking with Tim. When I dropped them off at ~2130 after dinner (and a few drinks) at a local bar I knew things were going to be bad, real bad, on Sunday AM. Tim, based on my experience, could qualify for the Olympic drinking team and Todd has to spend most of his time honing his warrior skills and it reduces his drinking training time quite a bit. Tim was able to hit the track at 0830 sharp with his student and Todd hit the bunk till about 1300 sharp. Todd displayed amazing recuperative powers though (must be all that PT).

As always I picked up some great pointers:

1. It is easy to know where your kids are when they are with you.
2. I know that drinking with Tim would kill more brain cells than I can spare at my age.
3. Todd is one you wake up carefully after a night of carousing.
4. Convertibles really need real rollover protection for me (or Jake) to get into another one.
5. It was fun to match a magazine article with the practical application in the flesh.
6. Three days with two drivers at a fast track burns lots of gas, tires and brakes.
7. Jake was styling in his new race suit.
8. The people at the events are what make, or break, the overall "fun factor".

VIR and Sebring in December left to do this year.

AU N EGL

I am sure Julie and Jake will be glad to hear that.


500 mile endro, dang.

Good story

varkwso

I also forgot to add - Tim, Jake and I turned a bunch of 1:20.x and I am pretty sure Tim and Jake turned a 1:19x but this was on hand chronometer timed laps since we had no AMDs in the cars. We were hitting the rev limiter in 4th just past the start/finish this time (about 150 feet later) and our T8 exit speeds were down about 5 mph. Guess it was track/weather condition change from last month (a hard rain just washed all the rubber off on Thursday).

Timz06

Great writeup as usual, Jeff. Without you guys, I would just be driving around in circles all weekend, that would have gotten old by now.

AU N EGL

I still think a Camaro for NASA Camaro Mustang Challange would be good for Jakes driving future

vettmike

Make sure you leave time to join in on the pot luck dinner Friday evening and seafood on Sat. evening.

vettmike

Wildcat1

My dad and I ran this Chin Motorsports event Sat and Sun in his 02 Z06, it was great. We had no off track excursions this time, got black flagged only twice, and were able to run the same tires and brakes two days in a row for the first time ever. We appeared to be the fastest car there, with the exception to some blue go-kart indy car looking thing.....it was the only thing that passed us at least. I believe we passed everything else that was out there. We were using the new Hoosier R6 tires, they performed great.

The first instructor I had ride with me seemed a little timid of the car and untrusting of me, he drove a miata and didn't know anything about corvettes. He talked the whole time. I didn't get anywhere with him and the slower group 1 cars that were in my way. He put me in the middle class (Intermediate) which required sharing track time with the slower Novice class. That didn't work well at all, couldn't get a single clean lap or even more than two turns at speed in a row....even after letting the field pass us in order to create the space needed to run at speed. We discussed this with the Chin group and they put another instructor in the car with me who didn't speak a word and we lucked out getting a clean lap where I could showcase my abilities and after only one or two laps I got promoted to the Advanced class with all the fast cars. We had much more fun after that and my dad no longer fell asleep with his arm hanging out the window causing a black flag.

We got plenty of track time, Chin did a great job. Some of the rookies took the classtime a little too much to heart as we could tell by their track lines. Too many people were aiming right at a pylon and making a turn more of a 90 degree line instead of a rounded edge line. Also, a few people were pointing pass signals inside the car instead of outside. The guy in the Carrera GT had a tendency of making you wait a long time before he threw out the pass signal. There were a few times we passed multiple cars that told us different sides to pass on and caused a slalom effect in some cases or no passing at all in other cases. I wasn't that great at figuring out which way to let the cart pass, so I can understand how this can be difficult....specially if you're getting passed a lot.

I only taped one session of mine and haven't had a chance to see what times I got that session, I ran faster on Sunday but I didn't get any film that day. I usually film every lap we make, but it was a lot less stressful not messing with the cam this time. Kinda wish I had done it anyway now though.

Got to meet Jeff, nice to finally meet you. Met some other drivers out there, the guy with the 500rwhp C6 vert Z06 was nice to chat with as was a member of the 800hp s/c blue and white shelby cobra crew I spoke with. Had enough time to take some pics of the other cars and chat with a few people before it was time to run again. Never have enough time to mingle at these events.

Learned a few more things this time, it's my 2nd time to really drive on a roadcourse. I was finally able to settle down on Sunday and not hold the wheel with a death grip. It's nice not having your hands cramp up on ya. I was able to stay out much longer after learning to relax.

Great event put on by Chin Motorsports and we're looking forward to participating in more and more events.

Timz06

Don't seem to remember getting passed by a black vette, except letting one by on the a cool down lap. It said 'mallet' on the side and was missing a lot of apexes!

Falcon

Wow! That's some serious talent, there. Particularily when I read this:

Then I read:

One is bad, but 2....????????

Wildcat1

Ahh, the net haters come out as usual with a quickness. I never mentioned a black vette.

I was in the blue #11 02 Z06.

I believe I saw you get black flagged for something, not sure what. We passed you a few times, some when we both were at speed.

One black flag for me being placed in the group 1 and my dad got bored and almost fell asleep with his arm out the window. I got promoted to the orange band after that incident but not because of that incident. The other flag was for warming up my tires going back and forth on the track with that slow group 1 since there wasn't anything else I could do while on the track with that group.

This is my 2nd time to drive this course. Luckily, my dad is a great instructor and we have plenty of experience, hence the orange band I received after taking my 2nd instructor around for one lap. We'll be at more events, feel free to introduce yourselves then. Seeing is believing.

varkwso

Did I hear food at an event - which one is this exactly?

jeff

Timz06

Ok, I guess I just missed that part!, I did have a late night out Sat.

Wildcat1

Not into driving like this with a hangover myself, makes me question who we're on the track with now and how safe it is. But off the track, I can throw em back with the best of em.

I got the impression at least one driver was driving under the influence on Sunday after talking to him. He had also been promoted from group 1 to 2.

I also don't understand how people with such high dollar cars can show up on street tires and say they can't afford race tires.

One new thing I learned this time is to trust the 5-point belts and not hold the wheel with a death grip that would cause hand cramps after a couple laps. I learned to strap myself in as tight as possible, then move the seat forward to make the belts tighter. After learning that on Sunday, my times got faster and I quit getting hand cramps and sore arms and was able to stay on the track longer. I still have a lot to learn at that track.

varkwso

You are absolutely right - if it were not for really good friends I have met at the track I would have tapered off to just the ones Jake could make.


Tom - I am looking for a series - with participation and visibility - that will be fast enough to be a challenge but cheap enough for us to run often. PCA, SCCA and NASA are all contenders at the moment. We are going to concentrate on NASA TT this next year so we can beat down Tim and keep him humble - somewhat.

Wildcat - it was good to finally meet you and your dad. You did not pass me....I was in the other blue ZO6...it is possible you passed Jake - but I did not see it...but it really does not matter - without accurate timers it is all about the best debrief. I even caught your grief once (your group 1 actions) since we were both in blue ZO6s - and that is OK - we kept it in the family. Roebling is easy to drive but hard to get the last few tenths of speed - the fast line easy (and wide) and makes you complacent about the true fastest line (lots narrower). Tim, Jake and I ran together quite a bit but only got passed when we were at speed by the Radical or were busy with a passenger and instruction (or high speed BS - even more fun) - we also made an attempt to stay close so we could torment each other. I did quite a bit of hand timing from the paddock - but due to traffic it was tough to say who was the FTOTW. The Radical was doing 1:18s pretty consistent. One FFR (forget the #) and our 3 Vettes did pretty consistent low 1:20,21,22s all weekend. Jake and Tim did dip in the high teens on a couple of laps - not bad for our stock cars in those conditions with R tires.

Jody - they were a little black flag happy at this event.

Wildcat1

I don't understand getting black flagged for warming our tires up, we weren't doing it in traffic. But we aren't complaining. I can see why they wouldn't want us doing that though. We used the rumble strips a lot w/o any problems. It is, afterall, the fastest way around the track.

I think I noticed a green band on your wrist, I don't understand why you had that on?

I'll have to watch my tape to check my times tonight. Wish I had taped the whole w/e as usual now. Since no one but that radical or whatever passed us, we didn't really care at the time. We had a freakin blast! I think we had more fun riding with each other than we did driving.

vettmike

The group from North Flordia Corvette Club usually have a pot luck dinner on Friday evening, then a large number go to a seafood place on Sat. night.


vettmike

varkwso

I will be getting down there Friday as soon as I can (about 10 hours from leaving Augusta) - where will the potluck be held? There are some really good seafood places in town - sounds good to me.

varkwso

If you were talking about me - no - mine was black. Not even sure what a green band was for.

vettmike

At the track when everyone is done with their practice laps.

Mike

racerwannabe

i'm bringing genuine north carolina chili!! and fresh tires for sat. and sunday!!!