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Varkwso
03-16-2006, 11:09 AM
Three days of track time - check. Great track weather - check. Cars that ran well - check. Low track density - check. But what made the weekend so great was the people. Turnone/Full Lock on Friday and SVT Cobra Mustang Club (SCMC) on Saturday and Sunday put on great events. The folks in the paddock, motels, on the track, in the grid and restaurants are really what put the life into these events.

This weekend was truly fantastic, I spent three full days at the track (Carolina Motorsports Park - CMP). Since Jake (my oldest son) was out of school on Friday he did the full three days with me also. It was a little tough getting two cars track ready, working on wiring a second tow vehicle for electric brakes (note: I HATE wiring anything) and loading up since I just got back from a event at CMP last Sunday (tough life - I know). Eight spare tires, one set of pads, one liter of brake fluid, one set of spare seasoned rotors, the cooler, water, stove, tent, chow box, track box, tool box, jack, air tank, chocks, sleeping bags, chairs plus a few other items got loaded (glad I have a long bed 3/4 ton truck!). Somehow, in all the excitement the spare oil and jackstands did not make the load list - guess what we needed at the track? Luckily, Advance Auto is located almost everywhere.

On T-Day we departed at 0500 to get to the track by 0730. Even with an emergency stop at McDonalds in Columbia to prevent the imminent starvation of a 17 year old we still made it as the gates were opening. It was wet and windy up until about lunchtime and then it was sunny and windy. My Friday student in a very clean 1993 mildly modded Miata was pretty apprehensive about taking it "on the track". By the end of the day he was much higher on the comfort scale and was going home to recruit his local Miata club to come down for an event. The supercharged S2000 spun at Turn 4 on its first session first lap and the pit entrance to the track for its second session - I could see the instruction by Tim (aka TimZO6) was taking well. After that I think the student understood why they did not offer that option from the factory. Jake spent most of Friday sleeping and setting up our site for the weekend. Hazman broke his car on Friday and spent the rest of the weekend trying fixes. I was able to run the '99 Fixed Roof Coupe (FRC) on the track in the morning (it was my "wet" car) and the ZO6 in the afternoon (my "dry" car). We ended up Friday by driving into Lancaster to register with the SCMC for the weekend events. SCMC made it as painless as any process I have been to. Ate a pretty lousy dinner at Applebee's then hit Food Lion and Advance Auto for resupplies and made the longest 20 mile trip in my memory back to the track.

Saturday started off with pretty heavy ground fog, really reminded me of Silverstone and Nurburgring, and that delayed things a bit. After the fog lifted and the delay was sorted out we ran in bright sunshine all day long. One of my assigned students (Kim Reed) ended up getting bumped up to the solo group before I ever even got in the car - I guess Kim figured out he could do better alone than with my dead weight in the car - wise man. My other student was great with a pretty cool car - a 1995 Cobra that was the sole SVT prototype for the cammer 4.6 motor. It was supposed to be crushed by Ford but wasn't - it has many unique features - hydraulic brake booster, heim jointed suspension components, plus many other one off features. It was well driven by him and the car was set up to handle a road course. Between riding with my student and Jake plus giving rides to all that wanted it I had a full track day. SCMC lets instructors give rides to all with a drivers license and a signed waiver. What a great marketing idea! I am sure I set the hook in a few folks. The day was full but there was no carnage to speak of and it ran safely and smoothly. I did pass a FR500C (the Ford Grand AM Mustang Spec Racer) several times on the track - it looked really, really good - it would look much, much better in my garage. The other neat car was a vintage racer/ AV8SS Boss 302 Mustang, it had a 69 front and 70 rear so I am not sure what year it really is. Tim (akaTimZO6) was a poster child he for how not to work under a car supported by a Chinese jack. Chocks and improvised jackstands would have slowed work down on his Z28 torque arm repairs, apparently. It did finally break a sending unit on the trans sidelining the car. I did get to see the torque arm pipe clamp fix fail in a spectacular manner coming out of Turn 14 when Tim put the hammer down. Other than dodging pieces of pipe clamp it was a neat thing to see. All we had to do on Saturday was bleed the brakes in the '99.

Sunday was the day of my comeuppance. Jake was in the '99 and I was in the ZO6 - guess who could not get in a passing position in the designated passing zones? I said bad, bad things about his ancestry at that point. I believe there is videotape of me chasing him around the track, several times. He drove the car very,very well and kept his concentration up. He did lift a little early, brake too early, not carry enough speed through the kink and turn a little early at times (it is very possible that I have been known to do the same). Since I am the chief mechanic and financial sponsor it did not bother me very much he was a little cautious. Tim took his tow vehicle (AWD SS Pickup) out on the track on Sunday - it was a hoot to watch it chase down cars. He did figure out, eventually, that a broke car and broke tow vehicle is not the best plan. Jake rode with him the truck and had a great time. I watched him chase down Mustangs - it was like a shark in the minnow pool.

In total we used three tanks of gas in the '99, two tanks of gas in the ZO6, consumed most of an unknown set of pads on the '99, most of a new set of Kumho street tires on the '99, made playdo out of the tires on the ZO6 and had a blast. In summary:
* It was a safe, well run and organized weekend
* Jake had more fun than he could stand
* I am looking forward to doing it again
* I need to remember to bring jackstands so Tim can stay safe
* Next time, somehow, I am going to have to even the odds - OK cheat so I can pass Jake..
* Road Atlanta with NASA this weekend
* In the end, it is really the people at the events that make them so fun

Damn True
03-16-2006, 03:25 PM
Great read! Sounds like a heck of a weekend.

HUGE high five for doing it with your son.

Ralph LoGrasso
03-16-2006, 03:31 PM
Wow, sounds like a big time! Thanks for posting the details of the event. Any pics?

David Pozzi
03-16-2006, 09:44 PM
Thanks for the report! It's great.

One suggestion, PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE, don't post in all-caps!
On my screen, it's giving me eyestrain to read, and in forums like this, it's considered SHOUTING.

pics??? :)
David

Varkwso
03-17-2006, 11:07 AM
Thanks for the report! It's great.

One suggestion, PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE, don't post in all-caps!
On my screen, it's giving me eyestrain to read, and in forums like this, it's considered SHOUTING.

pics??? :)
David

Where did I post in all capital letters? I capitialized abbreviations and proper nouns.....Am I missing something....I am pretty good at
etiquette

Pretty new to this forum but been on others for quite sometime - this one has some great resources.

I have no pics but I know the SCMC guys will have some - Jon Basf has some video of me chasing my son....I took a camera - it never left the track box!



Great read! Sounds like a heck of a weekend.

HUGE high five for doing it with your son.


It was - headed to Road Atlanta today for the weekend when Jake gets out of school this afternoon. Only taking the FRC this time....

Jake has been open tracking since he was 15 & 16 in a 944S, 1994 Z28 (16) and now in a '99 FRC Vette (17). My current 14 year old looks like he will be starting in a '99 FRC - he worries me a little it - no fear at all.....

Next month we will both do Roebling and then I will be doing Sebring and Infineon.....when summer hits we can get serious:naughty:

Ralph LoGrasso
03-17-2006, 04:03 PM
I do not see any caps, either. David, it might be a personal setting on your end?

--Sounds like it's going to be a fun weekend.

Varkwso
03-20-2006, 05:56 PM
I have a short video clip of me chasing Jake into Turn 11 at CMP on two laps - looking for a website host to put it on...

Ralph LoGrasso
03-20-2006, 08:48 PM
You can attach the image directly to the post if you want. When you're at the posting screen, just scroll down and click on where it says "Manage Attachments". Then click "browse" to locate the picture on your computer and upload it. Then simply post as normal and it will appear as a thumbnail at the bottom of your post.

Like this:

Varkwso
03-22-2006, 01:06 PM
Here is a link to a short video of me chasig down Jake:drive1:

http://www.zr-1.us/jeff/video.wmv