C6400hp

Had a great time this weekend and look forward to seeing all of you again real soon. Many thanks to 21st Century Muscle cars for Saturdays lunch. Thanks to SW for having us in for lunch and proving exotics are not only for "show". It was nice to see old friends and make some new ones. There were alot of vettes, hopefully we will have an even better turnout at the next event. Here is a 1 lap video.
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...rrent=TWS1.flv

Brian
#82 White C6

hisvett

This was my first time at TWS and will not be the last. I'm sorry I didn't get over to 21st, I was a having a boat load of issues with my pea brain and the track. This is an artical I put together for everyone in my club that didn't go;

My first impressions of Texas World Speedway are; intimidating, overwhelming, nerve-racking and absolutely AWESOME!! Saturday was challenging, first session I had an instructor, Rob, SCCA pro racer, good all-around guy to have in the right seat. The track had cones in place for turn-in & out and apex like MSR but unlike MSR, most were not in the correct places. So needless to say, I was a mess trying to learn Left turn, Right turn, fast corner or slow, how much and where to use brake. I was so intimidated I felt like moving back to the beginner’s class and starting from ground zero. The one positive thing about it was I got real good at driving with one hand because I had the Left one out the window constantly pointing cars around me! I think Saturday the only car I passed was a C6-Z, he had a flat on the Left front and I got around him on the pit-in lane (now add demoralizing to the day). I did spent some time talking to a few people between sessions trying to pick their brain on how to drive the track. I got a couple of really good visual land marks to look out for; radio tower in turn one and water tower in turn eight. This information was a big help and came into play later.

Session 2 & 3 got a little better, still was using the “Left arm out the window” driving method but did get a better feel of the track. Session 4 I had Rob back with me. Got another boat load of helpful suggestions but was still having major issues with the cones. Obviously, I have picked up a very bad habit at MSR of driving by the placement of the cones. After the last session, Rob asked if I would like to take a ride with him in his car……”DAMM RIGHT I WOULD”! So we loaded up in his Honda S2000 and I’m thinking; OK, not exactly a high HP car like my C5 but it will probably do alright in the corners. Son of a B!T$H…..I never new a S2000 could do what Rob was doing…and on street tires! We were blasting through corners flat out where I was breaking and diving into others at just under Mach 1. You know how in the movies when the leading star gets a vision; the clouds part, a bright light fills the sky and the harps play (ya, it was that kind of a moment). SO THAT”S HOW YOU DO IT!

After Rob’s enlighten driving experience, I loaded up and headed for the hotel room with track map and video tapes in hand. I spent a couple of hours doing my homework and turned in early for some much needed sleep. The next morning I was first in line at the track waiting for the gates to open while dash-board-dining, two sweet rolls and apple juice. After Bubba opened up the track, I parked the truck, made an adjustment to the tire pressures and got the car unloaded, then got back in the truck where it was warm to review my homework. With my new found knowledge and confidence, it was “Game on baby”!! We are going 4 rounds today and TWS…..YOU ARE GOING DOWN!!

First Session; I staged at the back of the pack hoping to have some empty track to myself to put all my new knowledge into practice. First thing noted, most of the cones were gone. This made it a lot easier to drive without the distraction of a marker cone. But now I have a new issue; it’s a Right Brain, Left Brain battle going into turn 1 & 2. While coming off of the long front straight into turn 1 at a BUCK FOURTY the Left Brain is calmly saying; “Right foot, gently apply brake to scrub speed down to 90, Hands, gentle steering input to the Left and Foot, back on the throttle apply slight power”. Now the Right Brain has a whole other idea on how to handle this situation. Right Brain chimes in about now with; WHAT!........ARE YOU @#*%&$# NUTS!!! Foot…STAND on that brake, HANDS…DON”T event think about turning that wheel until we get this freight train slowed “WAY” down or we’ll be taking a ride out into the weeds!!! This went on almost every lap on Sunday, welcome to TWS.

Second Session; Got hooked up with a Red Mustang Cobra and hung on through a few laps learning his line. This helped smooth out a few spots I was having problems with. By the time we finished this session, I was ready to find someone else that was a bit faster.

Third Session; This time I ran up on a BMW Z3M. I remembered earlier speaking to Josh, a Z06 driver that had commented about Steve who drives the same type of car and was, in his words, “Blindingly fast”. We ran through corners 10 to 15 with the Z slowly pulling some distance on me and then down the front straight keeping the same distance till the turn into #1. By the time we hit turn #3, I was on his bumper and he was giving me the pass point out of 4. I wave him off and we played tag for the next 4 laps, good times! After the session, I walked over to introduce myself and it was the same Steve.

The last session was just a repeat of the first three. Picked on a few new cars to follow, played with Josh in his Z06 and finished the day with a lot better feeling than the day before.

Final thoughts; As much as I love MSR and think of it as my home track, TWS now makes MSR feel like a Go-Kart track. Last weekend was the fastest I had ever driven in my life (well legally anyway). TWS is a track you will have to experience at least once in your life and may need to do so quickly because of the sale of the property. Rick has added another weekend for April (21 &22) to run TWS in the CW direction (fine, now I have to learn the track all over again). I’m going to have to consult with my CFO before committing to this one and Eagle’s Canyon.

Mike
Mag Red C5 #29
Red Group

C6400hp

Nice article. TWS is alot of fun!
Here is a longer video from another session.
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...2000sAtTWS.flv

hisvett

Nice camera! What are you using to shoot with?
Mike

Mojave

Nice video. I was driving the green C4 with the spoiler (and loud exhuast). Do you have any more video of me? I think there was a session where we were together a lot. If you could post/send that to me, it would be awesome!


TWS CW is way better than CCW IMO. It is faster, and turn 7 is a blast down hill. Going out of 2 full throttle at 100+ is quite exciting. I think going into 15 is better than going into 1.

C6400hp

Thats awesome! I was hoping you were here since I didn't get much time to talk to you. Yes I have the full session when I was chasing you. I am working on uploading it now it will be in five parts starting with session 2 part1. I had to break it up into 5 minute clips for photobucket. If you save the videos you should be able to patch them back together into one with windows movie maker or other video software. You guys should have come over and had lunch with the 21st Century Muscle cars crew. They are a fantastic group and they put together a nice lunch for us Corvette guys. If you need any go fast stuff give John at 21CMC a call.
I am using a Sony DCR HC 96 mounted on the Sharkbar with camera mount.


Mojave you go by me at about 4:30 into the first 5 minute clip and I am trying to catch you the rest of the session,
I will post them all here as I get them uploaded.
Part 1
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...sion2part1.flv


Part 2
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...sion2part2.flv

Part 3
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...sion2part3.flv

Mojave

Thanks for sharing! I really need to make a camera mount for that car. I made one for my Firebird, but I just haven't gotten around to making one for the C4.

C6400hp

Part 4

http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...sion2part4.flv

yakisoba

I was happy to see so many Corvettes out there. I missed coming round and saying hello to John and co, so apologies for that. Had a blast, as I haven't been on track for over three months.

Does anyone have video of going through the coolant (or whatever it was) in turn 12? I had a big off there, and it would have looked pretty cool from an outside vantage.

The last run on Sunday was by far the best, as I was able to run with two or three cars that were about even in speed/skill. I like to save something for the end of the weekend, as going home on a high note is nice.

As always with TDE, well run and smooth event. Seemed like we had fewer big offs and track closures than we've had in a long time, so track time was plentiful. That slick between 11 and 13 was the only bad spot for red group.

See ya'll in April, I hope.
--Yak
Z06 #73

C6400hp

I dont have any vid of the spill or your off, I was running in yellow group.
All 5 parts of yellow run group, session 3, day 2 are up now.

Part 1
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...sion2part1.flv

Part 2
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...sion2part2.flv

Part 3
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...sion2part3.flv

Part4
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...sion2part4.flv

Part 5

http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...sion2part5.flv

Bookman

Hey guys, had a good time as well. I was in the C5Z [black], yellow run group. I had some great instructors during the weekend, corrected my shuffle-steering. Now just need to stop overbreaking/early apexing on some turns... I'm going out with the P-car guys in two weeks.

Also thanks to John and crew for the lunch!


Going broke one weekend at a time!



Chad