Mikelly

SO some of us DON'T have cars right now and are living vicariously through you guys... How about an update???

Anybody See my Boy Jim McNemar there? He was supposed to have his Z06 instead of his GT3 Porsche there... Wanted to know how he did and how others did as well??

Mike

Cobra4B

Jim had the Porsche out... w/ the new gear box... driving my father's new Z06 ('04 Z16 stock) I couldn't keep up in the straghts at all!

Here's a post I made earlier man!

:o

Today was a great day at VIR... running the Grand course w/ the mazdadrivers group (4.2 mile configuration... amazing). Refering to the other thread I posted, my father picked up a "new" '04 Z06 Z16 yesterday and today he had it out at VIR with me. He's doen the panoz driving school at Road Atlanta back in '03 with me, but other than that he hasn't been on track. However it was like riding a bike and he got back in the groove quickly. He should be moved from D group to C group tomorrow. He loves the car and the power and says it might actually be plenty loud in stock form (however he has my car to hear al the time)

The bad... my car broke in the 2nd session... accelerating out of turn 5 I hear a "pop... pfft, pfft, pffft, pffft, pfft" I feared the worst... broken valve spring, however no check engine light, not drop in oil pressure... nothing. Just this wierd noise (like massive exhaust leak) whenever I got into the gas some.




The air tube broke off the driver's side header... if feeds air to the emissions system for cold system starts. I'm going to patch it up tomorrow for the drive home and then see what I want to do. I may pull the headers out for some jet hot coating and ditch the air system completely as removing it makes servicing the car easier.

I guess I'm lucky that my dad got his car when he did... I had a backup ride!

More pics of the day...


Swapping wheels for the Hoosiers


Buddy Ryan's '03 Z


Sorry Brock... had to beat down the Ford




Dad getting "yelled" at... apparently he passed w/o a point by... but his instructor swore otherwise.


Great Day with my dad

Cobra4B

Oh and I was able to patch my car and ran the last 3 session on Sunday in it.

Falcon

The weekend was sensational! The weather was hot, but tolerable.

Brian's Dad got him a new (to him) goregous '04 Z commerative edition and he's in the hunt now.

Richard Watts broought his new C6Z and their C5Z T1 car. We had some very fast company.

It seems I was either driving or in someone's car all weekend. I haven't recovered my energy yet.

I'll post some video tonight of a couple of us pushing pretty hard.

Mike, I saw Jim in his garage Friday night and we talked a little. I ran mostly in the instructor group so I didn't see him on track. I guess he was running the A group.

Oyishdog

Awesome weekend! Very hot, but the best track time I have had in a while. Best session was the last on Sunday when I was able to keep up with John's viper!! it wore me out, but i was proud of the old z

CHJ In Virginia

Wonderful event - hot days but enough of a breeze to keep it OK. Lots of vettes C-4, C-5 and C-6 were in the various run groups. Unfortunately one of the instructors in a 04 Z06 had a bad off into the tirewall near the snack bar. Passenger side of the car pretty much trashed cosmetically and bent rear suspension tie rod. Driver and passenger both OK and no air bag deployment. A couple of 06 Z06's were in attendance one with a novice driver learning the ropes and one that was setup with all the goodies including Goodyear race slicks. It was screamingly fast. Wish you could have been there !!!

vms4evr

Ok Mike you asked, so this is a little long and not as exciting as some of the other guys reports that run in Advanced groups.

Excellent weekend. Still a bit too hot for my liking. But that was my only complaint. Event ran well and got plenty enough track time. I was in Group C, Intermediate.

Got to test out my new Carbotech XP8s and Nitto R2s. This is from stock Z06 pads and stock F1 SCs. I like the setup and I can run the XP8s on the street so I don't have to swap pads. Not the hardcore setup but worked well.

Now my instructor was an interesting gentlemen (I'm being polite here). I heard from Varkswo (Jeff) that this guy is actually an eccentric multi-millionare industrialist who lives in a double wide. Well he's quite the character. First session out on Saturday we're just learning the track since I've only run VIR-N. VIR-GE is a lot to absorb and memorize.

So first session goes well. I learn the flow of the track and the line and the instructor is quite polite. 2nd session out it then goes downhill. I have some M3 ******* me and figured I'd just point the guy by. "Oh No you don't!", says my instructor. Tells me I'm driving a Z06 and if I let one f#$&ing car past me he's getting out of the car to find a new student! Hmmm. Ok so he's crazy. I'll ablige. I never got passed all day Saturday and he signed me off for solo. Then Sunday morning he rides first session with me. Reminds me again that I better not get passed or he's taking the solo sticker back! Sheesh what a hardass. So out of fear of being reprimanded I didn't get passed all day Sunday. Had to fight off 2 RX8s that are fairly race prepped and were double teaming me. That was actually a lot of fun.

I learned a lot this weekend about that course and me. Once again I get another instructor who pushes me past my comfort zone. I come out on top with quicker smoother laps. Please don't anyone tell this guy I put it into a slide at the top of the uphill Esses at 100mph! I recovered it sliding down the hill sideways and never even put 1 wheel off. Although it took an hour to get the seat foam out of my butt after that little stunt

Thanks for all the help this weekend Jody. It was a blast

Graham

Bugeater

Really Ryan, its the nut behind the wheel you should pat on the back - its alot more fun with a rabbit out front eh? You quit thinking so much and start reacting... I enjoyed seeing (to my surprise) a car on my azz for once! Brian's dad appreciated the extra effort I'm sure!

PS - if you were taping I would love to see some of that...love to see what I am doing wrong and right on GE.

Yeah the weekend was nice. I got to ride shotgun with the new 06Z and novice driver. That car with a experienced driver and prep is going to make my left arm tired pointing out the window I think.

varkwso

It is only because you are ready!

Falcon

Hey Graham,

It was good having you as a student. Your smoothness created the speed we're all looking for and it was fun riding with you.

As far as eccentric, I'd probably agree with that, but multi millionaire, no way. When I got home I looked in my pocket and all I had was a quarter, a dime, 2 nickels and some lint. BTW, my wife sold the tail lights off of the doublewide so we could have a nice evening out at KFC late Sunday when I got home. Since we quit towing it, we didn't need the lights anyway.

I gave so many rides to people during the weekend, I thought I was a carnival worker. There was only one session (1st on Sat. morning) when I didn't have a passenger. Having passengers is not a bad thing, it gives us an opportunity to show many non-vette guys just what a great car the Vettes are. A couple of guys asked for rides, and I felt bad I couldn't take them out, but maybe next time.

vms4evr

Hey Jeff thanks for the kind words. I'm getting there... I appreciated your coaching at Roebling a few weeks back. I'm sure my times went down a couple of seconds.

Glad to hear you got a night out with the wife and splurged for a trip to KFC Jody

I owe you guys both a beer or two. I'll bring some of the good beer for Saturday at VIR-F after the track shuts down.

Since we were all playing at the track this weekend. My wife and kids did Fathers Day get together last night. I got the ok to get the Corbeau FX1 Pro so I'll have a much better seat in time for VIR.

Oyishdog

Thanks, John! It was a blast...I think I need some new hooisers after that though. I did not have a camera in car that session...something else that is "on the list" of things to do.

Mikelly

I got a call from Jim and he said that his GT3 was completely unsorted from the repairs. Jim had broke the car while at MidOhio during a Porsche event back in late April/ early may, and had the car in Atlanta getting work done to the tranny and a clutch and flywheel replaced... Guess they regeared the tranny... He said it was fast everywhere and stayed in the powerband the whole time... I had thought the car was fast already!

I know he was advanced "A" solo group, but otherwise Jim didn't say much other than he had a GREAT time!!!

Mike

MazdaRob

VIR GE was a blast. I hung out with BPKM and I must recount that my membership saved a lot of heartache. I spun coming out of Bitch and hit the tirewall. Luckily it hit on the side where my BPKM motorsports sticker was protecting both the car and my instructor.

I had a great time amongst the flamingos and watching vettes go by me at light speed.

Rob

5.0 RACER

I instructed and had Rick Moore in a new yellow Z06 and Rick Kiser in his 98 Porsche 911S. I drive the black 5 liter.

Great weekend, if warm. Lots of track time, logged about 180 miles over the 2 days. That is such a great track, you just can't get enough of it.