varkwso

If any landing you can walk away from is ok, any event you can load your car under its own power on the trailer at the end is a OK also. With three full days at Roebling I was able to load my intact car and my two sons physically unharmed from the event.

This event started off differently since I picked up the ZO6 from the body shop in Millen, GA on the way to the track. By the way, my body shop bill for tapping the Armco at Barber was $136.05 - a fee I can easily live with - the good Lord takes care of fools and children. The downside was I had to load up a rear wheel bearing and all the tools I needed (or so I thought) for the bearing job in the paddock at Roebling. When I told Josh we were going to stay at the Comfort Inn in Pooler the first night he was convinced I was possessed - but when he heard we were crashing on Wally's floor he realized I was still the man who fathered him. Thanks for the hospitality Wally - once again - I owe you.

Dr. Wike brought down his Fiesta for Josh to drive on Friday with SeatTime and I arranged for TimZO6 to instruct him. Josh had a great time running the wheels off the car - and like a true member of Team England spent a little time in the dirt at Turn 4. He was cleared off solo again, proceeded to keep it on track and make the little car scream for mercy. He may have to go to detox though. He mentioned he "kind of liked" front wheel drive cars. My family has many notable faults but an affinity for FWD is grounds for ex-communication from the clan. I even ended up buying a $20 picture of him ripping up the track in front of (naturally) a Miata. Lynn - I owe you.

I was blessed with a notable One Lap racer as my student on Friday. He wanted to get some shakedown at Roebling since he had never been there before. Little did he know he would get recruited into the "bearing crew" as part of his instructional fee. Keith and I had a blast in his car.

After about 8 hours of intermittent working on the bearing replacement (a cracked rear rotor was a no additional work replacement), instructing, riding along with friends and assisting in preparing a gourmet meal (actually, I stayed out of Josh, Kim and Patches way) I finally got the car back together. It seems I forgot the 15mm, 18mm and 21mm open end/closed in wrenches I needed to get the spindle out of the car. I also forgot some locktite and a clamping device to get the lower ball joint seated enough to get it tight. But thanks to many good friends and a few total strangers I was able to get it on the track again for the last session. Once again I owe many people for my good fortune.

In the last session of the day I took Keith out to show him the options you have based on traffic, tire grip and intestinal fortitude for running Roebling. He was awfully quiet on the ride so I think he soaked up all I had to offer with my running commentary. Since the door panel was still out of the car he saw me perfect my right handed steering technique while using the left arm as leverage to stay sort of behind the wheel. We did chase down Khoi quite easily I might add.....

Saturday and Sunday was a total zoo - but a well orchestrated one. It was crowded and rowdy but by and large the track manners were outstanding in HPDE and TT. The car developed some handling and power issues throughout the weekend. I was about ready to put Josh behind the wheel and see how he did since I know he turned a faster lap in June on street tires than Jake or I did on NT01s at this event. We had to replace the rear pads on Saturday evening - but otherwise we could find nothing obviously wrong with the car. It really did not like to turn right or stay stable under braking - it was like driving a Mustang or something. It also was down on power for some reason - bad gas, broken valvespring, chafed wires in the injector harness, ignition wires or coil degradation could all be culprits. 40000+ miles of my gentle handling may also be a factor in its "tired" factor. I owe GM for providing a car that takes a lot of use...

Time Trial was great this event. Everyone was careful, courteous and professional. Tim was magnificant. Corded front tire, blown head gasket and overheating in 5 laps did not stop him from going out and setting a blistering time (for the weekend in TTA) of 1:20.8x in his Camaro. His strategy to get in front of a Porsche and then put a lot of distance was flawless. He easily took first in TTA and second fastest time overall - every dog has his day - he beat me fair and square. Getting beat by an RX8 driven by Rob is what hurt the most - I can hear all the RX8 sycophants already. At least we beat Jon in his Porsche on Saturday. On Sunday I am pretty sure we nailed down last place in TTA. But at least I had a car there for the weekend - that was not a guarantee.

My weekend student was Art. He has great car control skills, great attitude and a willingness to learn. He is definitely ready to play with the big dogs in HPDE 3 now. He learned to respect T5 without spinning or leaving the track - his skid control was textbook and executed with perfect timing. I like riding with him so much I am considering the Chin event in Nov...

The race groups were a blast to watch. The spec E30 race was a real hoot to try to figure out what the heck they were doing. If I had more money to burn I would have to check out the W2W thing.

As always the event was really about hanging out with good friends and making new ones. I am pretty sure I took Josh down there but I did not see much of him around - it seems he has distractions. I still did not manage to get in the car with Tom - Barber it will happen, honest...

Now I need to get the FRC together for Barber in less than two weeks...

1lapRacer

[QUOTE=varkwso;1562132799]If


I was blessed with a notable One Lap racer as my student on Friday. He wanted to get some shakedown at Roebling since he had never been there before. Little did he know he would get recruited into the "bearing crew" as part of his instructional fee. Keith and I had a blast in his car.


In the last session of the day I took Keith out to show him the options you have based on traffic, tire grip and intestinal fortitude for running Roebling. He was awfully quiet on the ride so I think he soaked up all I had to offer with my running commentary. Since the door panel was still out of the car he saw me perfect my right handed steering technique while using the left arm as leverage to stay sort of behind the wheel. We did chase down Khoi quite easily I might add.....


Thanks for the excellent instruction Jeff. I was thrilled to have someone who knew the track along for the ride. My prior one lap experience was to be thrilled if I knew if the corner was right or left with added bonus karma for figuring out which corners are slow the end of 3 laps. You have my vote for favorite instructor. The only thing notable about my one lap experience is Brock hasn't had to return a check yet for NSF.

I never turn down the chance to work on someone else's car, it means mine must not be broken!

The ride along in your car was very interesting and I did soak up your running commentary... between holding onto the door handle and seat bolster. Now I want a Z06 with sticky tires!

Thanks to everyone I met at the track it was a wonderful time. Wish I could have stayed for the weekend but reality was awaiting my return.

gmblack3

Here are some pics I took on Friday.

Sorry about the poor quality but with a crappy lens, I had to crop these out.

racerjon1

I hope to have pictures up soon as well.. I should have a shot of everyone at least once from Friday.

My week had a setback when my GF hit a brick in the road on the way back Sunday night.. -2 wheels, -2 tires, judging by the pull, at a minimum an alignment and perhaps some suspension..

I will work on the pictures as soon as I can.


btw.. I want to thank everyone who came out on Friday, my biggest day to date, but everyone behaved and had a safe day. (for the most part)


Jon

beerkat

I enjoyed my first Seat-Time event Jon. It was nice to meet you and Melisa. Sorry to hear your trip home was not good.

Nice write-up Jeff. We had a great time hang out with you. Really enjoyed meeting Tim and Khoi and getting to hang out with Wally some more. plus meeting more people I hope everyone made it home safe. Also was good to visit with Ron and Jim.

Hope to see you all next year.

WNDOPDLR

Great write up Jeff as always. I really look forward to your reports-you should consider being an author in your next life.

This WAS a really fun weekend with an awesome number of Corvettes in attendance. Weather was perfect for 3 days. Had as much run time as I could handle and the car didn't fall apart until it was off track and it was just sitting there. Jeff- that is the training program you need to put your car on.

Kim and Patches- thanks for feeding the crew for 3 days and thanks to pitt Mom for all the support and help in whatever needed done. Kim- still have not converted my video but will get you a copy of it when I do.

Khoi- hope you got the beast straightened out and we solved your oiling problems. At least it got you through the weekend.

Glenn- awesome car in your Atom and thanks for posting the pictures of Tim smoking me out and filling my lungs with noxious fumes. Maybe I can threaten him into buying my tires for next year or something.

Tim- congrats on your win- we need to play more together some time.

JDIllon

A great weekend and lots of fun and friends. Not to mention an unintended high speed spin. I found out the hard way that knowing which gear your in with all systems off is very important. !!!!!!!!!!!!LOL But as Jeff said putting the car on the trailer in one piece after three days of HPDE is the best trophy of all. Hope you all can make VIR Chin event in Nov. JD

Timz06

Thanks for the writeup and kind words Jeff!

Thanks to Kim and Patches again for the food! IT was really great to avoid the track food, and was even better than the stuff that Jeff usually feeds me!

Wally, nice meeting you and sorry for the smoke screen! (Actually I enjoyed the smoke screen when I passed the Porsche during the time trial run!) I have a blown head gasket, and am going to pull the engine to determine the root cause of the smoking, so next time we can play with clean air!

Brian and Glen, thanks for coming up. Glen thanks a bunch for letting me drive the Atom, that is a really fun toy. I am starting to learn those selling skills from Brian, after he peddled all of his gas off on me, I turned around and sold all of the gas to others! Unfortunately, I didn't make a good profit!

JD, Art, and Ron, enjoyed seeing you again! You guys are all really movin out there, except JD...JD is stupid fast out there in that thing! I am glad he was not in the TT with me!

Tim

JDIllon

Thanks Tim, it's yours and Jeff's/Jakes instruction that makes the difference. I really appriecate the help. JD

Z06cool

Great write-up Jeff. I enjoyed it all except for this part... Hey, at least this time, you didn't try to do it on the cool down lap

Great event(s)! Great friends both old an new Thanks for all the suggestions and inquiries about the smoking engine. Actually, I just wanted to have a secret weapon smoke screen like Tim as well

Z06cool

Jeff's Z06 during hub swapout....



Wally's new inverted exhaust he was going for....

gmblack3

Tim, Thanks for helping us get rid of the gas. Now we have an idea how much gas the atom uses.

Good to see everyone.

Bryan

V8 Juice

Not since my time in the Marine Corps have I heard the phrase “Your other right, stupid!” Mercifully Jeff omitted the IQ assessment portion of the phrase as he instructed me on the turn specific location of the inside and outside of the track more times than necessary for a normal person; the last instruction to “stay outside” didn’t require the aid of Chatterbox headset.

Classroom instruction was livelier than usual with students ganging up on the instructor to challenge whether a debris flag prohibited passing, denying a yellow was flying during recent session and arguing that a yellow meant passing was allowed until you reached that corner displaying the yellow flag and passing could resume when you saw a green (or no flag) at the next station. This logic was as improbable as a Porsche passing Jody without incurring scratch marks as the instructor realized this meant the yellow no-passing zone was only the area in the immediate front of the corner stand!

Thanks to Myra and Cheryl who promised the HPDE group a chance to keep up with the black Zs at the next event – they would let their husbands drive instead.

JD entertained us with pirouettes in T3 and a shortcut to Highway 80 from T9.

Thanks to C6 Xtasy we learned the rule of using all the track applied on the highway as well and left turns can be made from the far right side of the road.

Jake’s worries that his dad would lose perspective while Jake was away at college proved correct – usually people tow a good car to the track and drive until it breaks but Jeff towed a broken car to the track and spent session time fixing the car. Josh helped us recall what the only thing more important than cars is to a teenage male.

Wally proved you don’t need a new Z06 to be competitive; Tim proved BMW convertibles are a great car…..to get around the paddock area in; Jeff from Charlotte proved the Lexus SC 400 is a silent but deadly little stinker; Laura proved cop cars can be fun and everybody proved we are a little crazy but just too much fun to be sent off the to mental ward just yet.

Thanks to all who made the event a great time.

varkwso

Art - maybe I should have used Port and Starboard instead.....for a Marine it was pretty impressive...

Glenn - you have a lot of cool toys - Glad you brought the ATL crowd with you

JD - You are really getting the hang of things - when you spin out as much as Tim then you will be there...

Tim - I only feed you so Lisa will hang with us...I darn sure do not to keep you supplied in beer!

Khoi - I hope your engine settles in

Jon - let's hope 26 Oct is as good - hopefully without the brick

Keith - you ought to ride in it when it is making power and sticking to the track...

Kim - it is a pleasure to share a paddock and track with you (your beer selection is not bad either!)

Z06cool

Was reviewing some of my laps off the camcorder. Had a few in the 1:23s but consistently in the 1:25s. Not bad for HPDE3 and being "conservative" not knowing when the next smoke-out was going to occur. Now what were your TT times again ?

varkwso

With Art in the car chasing the "TTB" Porsche I logged a 4:32 according to timing and scoring . I recorded a low 1:23 to at least beat your best.....you need to step up to the open passing big boys...

Z06cool

4:32?? Did you stop by the side of the road to have a snack? It's all good. Just knowing I'm on your heels is gratification enough for me ....especially with my minimal track time... Come on now, you can't say I'm "SLOW" at Roebling anymore, can you?

racerjon1

Yea, I can do without that brick.

Oct 26 is the Friday before the PCA weekend, so there is going to be quite a few Porsches.

Pictures to come soon..

Jon

racerjon1

I stayed up late last night going through the pictures, I am not sure if I have everyone this time, as it was big enough it was hard to keep count of everyone.. hopefully you made it in.

http://www.seat-time.com/html/photos.htm


But of course, the Vettes:






(yes there is a vette in that picture..)













There ya go... twas a fun weekend of Vettes actually.
( I need to win a lottery so I can have one each of the Black C6 Z06s and the Lotus Elise)

Jon

Z06cool

Jon, I'm hurt. No black C5Z with red tow hooks and nasty smoke/crud residue all over the back...