Goodwood

Had a very good experience @Gingerman with CGI Motorsports this past Mon. Learned a lot about turn in, track out, point bys, (both giving and receiving them) and always looking ahead to where you want to car to go next. Car performed flawlessly, brakes were fine, although I really didn't push too hard early on. Didn't want to do what my numb nuts youngest son did. He ran off track towards the end of the very 1st session, (after the "parade" session), cracking his alum wheel on the curbing, ending his day well before lunch. We felt so bad for him we all 3 went into town trying to track down any replacement wheel that would fit, but never found one. Only missed one session since it was getting close to the lunch break. Did 4 sessions with my instructor, and was allowed to go solo on the last one, so 5 in all, plus that parade session. That was enough for these old bones in 90 deg weather! (56 y.o.)

Already got all 3 of us signed up for the next one 2 wks from now!

Since the youngest didn't have a car to drive the rest of the day, I shoved my camera in his hands and he got some pretty good shots of us going round.
My eldest son trying to catch up in his Tiburon GT:


A closeup:

DOUG @ ECS

Sounds like you had a good time.

Aardwolf

Excellent! I hope my kids like the track when they get older.

Goodwood

You bet I did. Next time though, I'm going to try to remember to dial down those Pfadt shocks a little tighter! I have them set @6 front and 4 rear, fine for street, but a bit soft for track use!

Goodwood

Yes, it's a real hoot to "chase" each other around the track. Hopefully next time, we'll all 3 be able to do some nose to tail (so to speak) running! I hope the youngest, Russ learned his lesson this time with his bent wheel on the 1st session, and won't try to over drive his car next time out.

WNeal

You have experienced a new drug.
Addiction comes fast so be prepared.

Goodwood

Well, if it's anything like my photography hobby, watch out! My youngest took this one after he broke his wheel:

69427

Glad you had fun. I used to go there 2-3 times a month when I lived nearby in Indiana. (Just finished rebuilding my transmission last week that I broke entering turn one the last time I was at Gingerman). Gingerman is in the top five things I miss since moving south.
Again, glad you had fun, and keep posting the pictures.

Goodwood

Ya, sort of by default really, we chose Gingerman as the closest track from home, which, btw, is Ft Wayne, about 2.5 hrs away. Also wanna try Putnam too. Going back on the 13th!

MungoZ06

NCM is running a one-day HPDE event at Putnam 17 Oct - wed prior to Z06 Fest; priority to Fest attendees. Dunno if it's filled yet. Roc at museum would know ...

NoOne

Steve,

Glad you had a good time. If your interested we're going to Grattan on August 27th.

Its a far more technical and fun track than Gingerman. If your interested let me know.

Grattan is about an hour and twenty past Gingerman for you but there isn't a better track around, blind corners, off camber corners, long straight, great track.

varkwso

My oldest son (18) is severely addicted to the track and my youngest son (15) has already managed to solo in a ITC Fiesta and piloted my ZO6 to a 1:23 at Roebling . Soon he will chasing me down also...

It makes for a much better event weekend when your kids are there with you . Eventually though they WILL start beating you

I have watched them both spin in spectacular manners at the track. Other than a bent rim and damaged egos the impact has been more learning curve than financial ruin....

Goodwood

But since it is a 4 hr drive vs about a 2.5, and we are going again to Gingerman on the 13th, I don't know if I can swing it, but will def keep it in mind!
So, for a total noob, what does "more technical" mean, anyway? Not sure if I need more technical at this early stage in my tracking career!

Goodwood

How on earth did your 15 y.o. get to even pilot any car on the track, if he doesn't even have his license yet?
I agree, doing something with my sons give the greatest pleasure, be it them beating me on the golf course, or out-hustling me around the track! My 17 y.o. was actually mocking me for going so slow, but I was quick to point out that I didn't go off track and waste my rims, ending my day on the very first session!

NoOne

Steve,

More technical can mean a few things. I like Grattan, especially for new drivers, because it is technical that you have a lot of fun not going very fast.

It has a number of elevation changes, a "jump" that you can catch some air on if your going fast enough, an off camber bowl where you go down into a 180 degree turn that is off camber, with elevation change....so your turn left, while the road is leaning away from the corner, going downhill at first, then at the apex, going back uphill. The straight away you can probably hit around 145 in your car with the 427. I hit 135 or so with 400rwhp. The combination corners teach you good driving habits and to be fast you have to keep to the concepts of road racing. Thats what technical means to me. A more technical track is more driver oriented than car oriented. Less technical is more car than driver. On a less technical/wide open track a 500hp car is going to be faster than a 200hp car even with a sub par driver. On a technical track a 200hp car can give a 500hp car fits with a good driver. So if you can combine the two together you'll come out a much better driver.

Most of the corners are blind and the other thing I like is there is enough pucker factor at certain corners to keep the more adventurous in check until later on in the day

There is a tight hairpin where you come uphill, across an S curve and onto the 3/4 mile long straight.

If you read the Viper/Z06 shoot out from I think MT, it was done at Grattan.

Grattan is also where GM, Ford, and Chrysler do all of their dynamics development. Most of the C5/C6 development was done there.

If you have any questions feel free to ask or PM.

Goodwood

What do you do if your car breaks and you can't brive it back home? How's that work? Grattan sounds very interesting, Eric!

varkwso

Way down here in the south (GA, AL and SC) 15 year olds get limited licenses - depending on the track day and their insurance you can get them on with it. They are both better drivers because of it...

PCA and BMW have a min age of 18 - stupid in my ever humble opinion. SCCA and NASA have min age of 16. They learn more there then they ever will on the street.

I want a 3rd C5 ready to go soon so we can all get out there at the same time. Then I will really see the tire and brake budget soar....

NoOne

Trailer it home....I've done it a few times, now I bring spare parts.

If your car is in good running condition and your careful then you should be fine. Just based on your reading if you did a day at Gingerman with stock brakes then you were taking it easy enough as to not have a chance for a real problem.

I pack extra rotors with me, but I run race pads.

If you have an LPE package they are more on the conservative/reliable side. Bring spare rotors and brake fluid.

Its a great track and one that appeals to everyone. You can go slow or fast and still have a good time.

Goodwood

What if, like my son did, I bent and cracked a wheel, I don't have any means of towing my car. I suppose it could be flatbedded back, but that would cost a fortune. Just trying to play the what ifs game.

NoOne

I read about what happen with your son's car.

You have AAA? Does your insurance have tow policy?

Someone has AAA, you do not actually need to be the AAA member to get a tow. They will tow you to the first place available to get a repair.

Busting up a wheel is a rarity, did it break re-entering the track? Hard to imagine it broken up leaving the track into grass.

We've done what we could to get people home. We've had people offer to drive their trailered cars and put the broken car on the trailer to at least get you closer to home so its not such a drive to pick up the car. He didn't have a spare?

Someone else didn't have a spare that would fit? Could have driven home on it and Fed Ex'd it back to the original owner?

We've setup things like that before. Everyone is pretty helpful and one thing is I know everyone at the event so we always try tor do our best to help people out and so do the participants. My wife has run people to the parts store in one of our cars to get parts.

You'll find that at a most events how helpful people are. No one wants to drive 3-4 hours to pick up their car.

Best thing is a AAA membership, think its about $45 per year. A lot of times they will not tow it home for you, not 4 hours but I think the Gold Membership will go 100 miles. At least get it closer or someplace to repair. If you have tow coverage on your insurance policy its also not a bad idea to get AAA too.

I've had the Vette towed over 125 miles before. I sent the bill to both AAA and State Farm, they each payed a max portion and I only got stuck with about 30 percent of the bill which was a deal considering the overall charge.

If your considering you should try it out, fantastic track and a very casual enviroment.