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View Full Version : Roebling Reloaded



Varkwso
05-29-2006, 02:36 AM
Jake and I headed back down to Roebling Road this weekend to run with Chin Motorsports. The 1999 Vette Fixed Roof Coupe is still down with a bad throwout bearing/clutch/etc. (buzzes badly when in gear with clutch depressed) I killed at Roebling last weekend. As a result we teched and loaded up the ZO6 with the manually operated headlight doors and left at 0430 to make the 0700 showtime on Saturday at the track.

Sign in and tech was painless. There were quite a few familiar cars and drivers from Sebring at the event. The drivers meeting is where the "pain" started. They started talking about all the fast Miatas at the event and wanted to make sure all the "Corvettes and Mustangs" did not park in the back half and haul a$$ on the long straight and slow down the Miatas. Now I like Miatas as much as the next "gold chain" guy and was more than willing to give them a fair shot. I must admit I am not fond of "broad categorizations" so I made it a point to do all my passing of Miatas in the "back half" of Roebling. Passing them at Turns 3, 4, 5 and 6 was particularly satisfying. In their defense I have been held up by AMGs, 350Zs and 911s on the back half and blown away on the front straight when I was tracking the Porsche 944S - it is extremely frustrating.

Seriously though, it was a great event . It was a little warm at times - but since you can wear shorts and t-shirts on the track it makes the heat a little more bearable. I especially enjoyed the swim suits and other warm weather gear on the comely lasses:jawdrop: . Chin divides into two run groups and give you tons of track time each day. The cones they set out were for momentum cars but we worked around that with our students. I had Todd in his Cobra Mustang (who also consumed Miata's in the "back half") as a student - since he is recently traded his ZO6 for the Cobra to get more track time (now there is a track addict) he is still "one of the family". His car has a killer suspension setup and runs Nitto RIIs. It is a well driven and quick snake. He had run with us at the NASA event the weekend before so he knew the track and his car. I turned him over to the "solo check instructor" and did not warn him about the car or driver - just said he was "ready". Todd like to gave him a heart attack when he turned in at Turn 1 at about 90+ mph and hit the throttle. A "stock" Cobra would have taken a little trip to the berm with the track conditions like they were this weekend. He was cleared solo after about 2 laps. Jake had a Miata (poetic justice I think) on Saturday and a Cavalier Z24 on Sunday - do not see those everyday! The Miata also went solo on Saturday. The Z24 determined 5 year old "free" tires are not the best track day choice. Even so it seemed like they got much better as the day went on and he learned an awful lot. Jake and his students had a blast ripping up the track in the ZO6. I must admit I had a blast taking Todd and Graham out for some track tours. I especially enjoyed my last session out with Graham in the car running with a yellow Z06 and silver Boxster S , both had track tires I would like to state, and then they slunk off to Charlotte before I could talk to them...

I rode with Graham in his ZO6 on Sunday to give him a few Roebling tips - other than taking him faster through most of the corners than he had ever been (100+ exiting Turn 3) - things were great in his car. While smoking down the front straight chasing down a Porsche headed to turn 1 - I start yelling "Deer, Deer, Deer" - Graham mumbled something about not "knowing me that well" when the Porsche in front hit the deer at over 120 mph. I kid you not, it went 30 feet in the air and hit 50 feet to the right of the track. I wanted to see if there was enough to BBQ - but the deer was really hammered. Unfortunately, so was the front half of the Porsche. The driver was OK, bummed out, but OK. I told him it was one incident insurance was clearly going to cover! Other than a lady jumping the fence onto a hot race track to try to find her cat who ran across the track there was no other safety incidents. Quite a few people spun out but there was only dust and pride injured.

Pertinent Highlights:

* I did not get passed by a Miata all weekend.
* We passed many Miatas - almost none on the front straight.
* Jake and I did get most of the remaining track life out of a set Kumho MXs
* Hitting a deer at 120+ mph is not recommended (wish Graham's video had been on!)
* Do not jump Richard's fence at Roebling to chase down your cat across the track.
* We had a blast meeting old friends and making new ones
* The ZO6 is much faster than the FRC (duh)
* Looking forward to running Rockingham in June
* Looking forward to the Hot Rod Power Tour this weekend (not sure what I will take yet:crying: )
* Not looking forward to putting in the new clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, actuator and slave cylinder, now sitting in the living room, on the FRC.