varkwso

Actually, my smoking started a little earlier at Millen, Georgia - but I will get to that......

I had most of last week off so prep and load for the three day weekend at Roebling went great. The car was prepped, trailer loaded and I even washed the tow vehicle! Since I had Thursday off I planned to leave a little early to meet up with Toby (he lives in Charlotte) at Roebling about 1800, catch up on the latest news and eat dinner somewhere.

I left the house at 1500. Being thorough I did a last minute pressure checks on the trailer and truck. Trailer had three tires at 45 PSI and one at 25 PSI on the right side. As I was putting air in the tire I found the nail in the sidewall. Since I have two trailer spares and it was a slow leak I decided to change it when I got to Roebling. As I was leaving Millen, GA (~50 miles from my house) I saw smoke on the left side of the trailer. I opened the door and looked back and saw flames shooting out of the hub on the front wheel - not good. I shut the truck off, set the brake and ran back to the trailer to get inside to get a bottle of water, poured it in, saw flames out the rear side of the brake drum so I poured another bottle of water on that, the flames were gone so I was left with a lot of glowing metal. I got turned around on Hwy 17 (neat trick with a 24 ft trailer - love that 4x4 truck!) and limped back into Millen Auto Repair to get some assistance getting the wheel off. With large hammers and impact wrenches the hub finally came off. The hub and spindle was trashed with no spare parts available anywhere in GA/SC and he spent an hour on the phone looking. While all this was going on my daughter called with the news about my new granddaughter - Taylor Rene (7pounds 7 ounces, 18.5 inches, born 1356 MST 28 Sep 06) - my first grandkid being in Idaho really is going to make it tough to make her spoiled rotten.

In the end I unloaded the Fixed Roof Coupe (FRC) at the shop in Millen - great bunch of guys by the way - and put as much track gear as possible in it. I pulled the trailer back home on three wheels, put as much stuff as possible in the back of the truck and had Berit drive me back to Millen. I then loaded some more stuff in the Vette and met up with Toby at Roebling to sleep in his trailer ~2230. In the end it took more than 7 hours to get there instead of a little over 2. Being without my enclosed trailer at the event was torture. I was back in a tent, no electric lights, missing gear, and stuff all over the place on the ground. It is amazing how fast I became addicted to my trailer! Of course I was beat unmercifully by all my track buddies about "my lack of trailer".

The new track surface at Roebling is phenomenal. I could hardly wait to get out there on Friday. The rumble strips are the same and the track surface is a little lower now. It is a bit unsettling to the car to hit them like I used to. The stick is great and I had a hard time putting heat into the tires it was so smooth. The line is basically unchanged but your turn ins are very crisp now. I ran all of Friday on 4 year old Sumitomos on front and 6 month old track abused Sumitomos on the rear - it was like being on fresh R compound tires compared to the old surface. We did not put on our 10 heat cycle Hoosiers on till Saturday at noon. I ran a 1:26 in traffic with a passenger with the old Sumitomos.

Jake and I were entered in Time Trail B (TTB) with the FRC. The car is using most, but not all, of its points. Tim was there in his TTB Camaro and Glenn was there in his TTA Mustang. I ended up taking second in TTB on Saturday with a 1:22x and Jake took second with a 1:21.8 on Sunday. Yes, my best was a 1:22.3 and Jake smoked me by .5 seconds. The best part was running flat out with Tim and Glenn. It was a lot of fun to "push" each other to better performance. Now I did ops test my Phoenix tow eye in the sand trap at Turn 5. I had gotten in front of Tim on the straight, finally (he was killing me on the straights with his 385 rwhp), and had clear track ahead of me. At that point I exceeded the capability of my Hoosiers in Turn 5 by about 5 mph. I knew as soon as I made the turn in I was to hot to stick. The corner workers did give me style points and tons of constructive criticism. I can honestly say watching the cars go by stuck in the sand was not near as much fun as running around the track. Jake ended up taking it off coming out of 2 when he ran out of track after making a pass between 1 & 2. We were exiting 8 at ~120 mph and hitting ~140 at the start finish line - the track is great now! A 914/6 did blow an engine at the 2 marker on Turn 1 and run it all the way to the pits on the line. Richard put down a lot of oil dry, and considering, seemed awfully cheerful overall. I would hate see the bill for that one!

Lets talk about the first place TTB car for a moment. It was a 1999 Porsche 996. When it rolled up on its trailer I thought - wow - that is going to be tough to run with in my class. I already knew Tim would be a challenge in his Z28. The 996 car ran consistent low 1:20x's all weekend. I talked to the guy, cool guy by the way, and he was really open about his car. I did not know his base class so I did not push the issue - but I did check when I got home - the car is base class TTB. It had Moton remote reservoir shocks, Hoosiers, a huge wing and two Sparco seats that I could see with casual observation. Those mods alone put him into TTA. I am pretty sure the car was a TTU (Motons are not the first suspension mod you make!) if you really counted up the points. That was frustrating to say the least. NASA is going to have to do something about this - other wise I am going to take off my ZO6 badges on my 02 and say it is a repainted 00 FRC and run TTB. My ZO6 is a solid 2-3 seconds faster than the FRC at Roebling so I would be able to beat these kind of cars. I struggle to keep the FRC in class and it seems it does not matter. I also need to get two transponders so Jake and I can both get "points" in class. That would have put both of us on the podium both days. If the class rules were enforced all of us would do better I think.

I had a Viper, 914 and a Z28 as students. Jakes students were in a automatic C5 and our good friend Kim in his 03 Cobra. The Z28 is the only one who really struggled all weekend. He has been to Roebling three times already and had a basic understanding of the line. He snatched the car at the exit of 8 and saw how close the pit wall was, lifted in 7 and hit the tire wall (I spent more time stuck in the sand) and lost it entering 8 when he got off line to pass out of 7 and tried to make a square corner at 80 mph (last lap of the last session). His off track actions are really quite good. He did make the comment maybe he ought to consider dirt tracking instead of road racing. He did great when he could stay focused but any distraction or off normal event really threw him a curve. But he was much better than when I rode with him in May. Josh was able to get out on track with me this weekend - he is really looking forward to getting his license in December so he can show Jake and me how it is done. I will be looking for volunteers to instruct him....

There were lots of people there I knew from earlier events and from various forums. With prepping the car and working with students I did not get as much time to visit as I would have liked to. To those I met - it was great - for those I did not get much time with - get to the track more so we can hang out a little!


Overall:

* Great time, great people, great track, great events
* I need to get to Idaho dang soon for meet Taylor!
* NASA needs to fix/clarify a few things with TT - participation is low - but it can get lower!
* The FRC has a 1:20x in it at Roebling when we do everything correctly I think
* The ZO6 brake pads are gone - after being on the car since May (Sebring, CMP and Roebling did them in finally).
* I ordered more of the discontinued Hoosiers
* I am looking for a new axle for my trailer
* I will never run with Tim again, competitively, without new brakes and tires on the FRC
* Jake is running way too fast without all the proper safety gear (so am I for that matter) - Hans type devices are no longer an option
* Looking forward to the next event at CMP on 14-15 Oct
* Cannot wait to get back to Roebling on 20 Oct
* My wife is a long suffering woman...

trumper Z06

Nice "write-up"... thanks Jeff.

Z06cool

Jeff, good to meet you and Jake. Thanks for the advice around T3. My last session on SUN, I solo'd and was able to take that turn faster than I thought I could on the street Toyo T1Rs. Traffic in the DE groups were a bit heavy at times especially with no point-bys and the number of "caravans" that formed. Overall, I had a great time on this first run at Roebling and learned a great deal. Congrats on the GRANDPA status also

Falcon

Whoaaa! Jeffro, what's up with that?

varkwso

Remember the real speed secret is the the Big Pine Key Motorsports sticker....good for at least 1 second at any track in the country...

varkwso

In 15 or 16 years I will need someone to go to the track with me...guess I need to start with another generation

no spin

Although we only stayed for Friday we had a really good time. It was the first time in awhile that i had a full day off to relax and do something fun. Fridays weather would be hard to beat and the new paving is awesome. Thanks for the ride i always pick up something. We were a little worried about you in that topless viper. Glad you made it thru the day with the shiny side up.

Congratulations Gramps our granddaughter is over one year old and we still have not seen her but that should be remedied soon.

Z06cool

I guess I can get one here... http://www.bigpinekey.org/ . Is this you?

96GS#007

Great write-up as usual. You spoil us with all the detail!

varkwso

He was an Navy trained Orthopeadic Surgeon and very, very predictable and conservative - if he made me nervous I would have been out of there in a second!

See you guys later

Timz06

Here is some video of my run on the new pavement with Jeff's son (white FRC) It is kind of long, 12 min, at about 9-10 min you can that Jeff has taught his son a special line!
Jake was killing me around the long turns. I was pushing my car for everything my tires had, just couldn't get any more out of it.


http://69.73.156.222/movies/roebling1.wmv

31mb 12 minutes (sorry didn't get to edit it.)

varkwso

Tim could you mail me a hard copy of that by any chance? I think he did the right thing taking it off instead of trying to save it.

Keep in mind those were 20 heat cycle Hoosiers and ZO6 pads down to the backing plate!

We are going to sign up fro VIR in Dec with Chin - CMP, VIR and SEbring in Dec - sounds like a good holiday season to me!

varkwso

No it is not me - I wish I was that rich AND good looking....

Mayor - When are some more stickers going to be available?

Timz06

Can do. I think he did a great job, had the fastest time so can't be too bad!

c6rpowered

great write up and we did have some fun...
i'm still confused about my car ,,went faster with NCCC timing last nov.,,but this was my first time at roebling in traffic.. chasing that tubo porche was a rush..and running with you guys is allways a learning exp.
the dry sump went out ,,AGAIN,, killin' me working on it ,but that comes with all the mods ,i guess...
johnny,,,

varkwso

I had nothing to do with that "special" line - that was one he was trying out for himself! But his last fast lap sure was pretty nice though...

C6R it was quite fun to see you ripping around also!

AU N EGL

Great video Tim. Fun to watch Jake too. He will out drive Dad very soon I bet.

Jeff, time to make Jake a CMC Camero and turn him loose in the Camero Mustang Challange races.


http://tinyurl.com/fn4fm

inside a Noble M400

Timz06

Jake had the fastest team england lap!


1 1 14 TTU Friedman Cory 1997 Porsche 993 1 4 01:18.717
2 1 86 TTA Brownyard Rick 1988 Porsche 944 1 7 01:20.040
3 1 347 TTB Oblow Ed 1999 Porsche 911 1 14 01:20.357
4 2 111 TTB Team England 1999 Chevy Corvette 1 18 01:21.872
5 3 01 TTB Marcinek Tim 1995 Chevy Camaro 1 27 01:22.491
6 2 181 TTU (new) 1 20 01:23.317
7 2 209 TTA Forrester Glenn 1995 Ford Mustang 1 15 01:23.622
8 1 968 TTD Erberbas Ahmet 1998 BMW M3 1 20 01:29.364
9 1 6 TTF Brewer Ken 1991 Toyota MR2 1 8 01:30.217
10 4 87 TTB Secosky Forrest 1987 BMW 325i 1 16 01:30.713
11 1 186 Summers Rob 1 4 01:43.531

BTW Jeff, Jake's pic from the award ceremony is up

http://www.nasa-se.com/pics/20061001/tater/index.html


Really enjoyed the time trials, except for the cheating porsche in ttb. When (hopefully) Nasa gets it squared away it will be great. The competition adds a whole lot of fun to the weekend.

AU N EGL

A little shy Jake ??

Good Job

varkwso

As Tim said, and everyone there pointed out, Jake did our best lap all weekend. The competition does make it a lot more fun.....

I was building a CMC Camaro - more or less - when a minivan took it out. I just sold its last remains yesterday

We are thinking of One Lapping the FRC this spring if we can work it around his school commitments. We will be handicapped with a TTB legal car but we would still do OK I think. It looks as if I am headed to crew chief and chief financial officer of Team England.