Chad-1stGen
06-12-2011, 08:10 PM
What a blast yesterday!!! Figured I'd try for a more detailed report and see how you guys like it. If it's too wordy let me know lol.
I may have a new favorite track. I love the high speeds of Big Willow. Not just the straights but turns 1, 2 and 8 which I could hit at 85+, 80+ and 110+ mph respectively. Gives a big thrill!! After my track day high wears off I may revert to Buttonwillow being my favorite but for now I'm in love ha ha.
So a bit of set up. I've been feeling super lazy regarding the Camaro since I did Streets of Willow Springs on 5/15 with Dave, Mike and Brett. I came home parked the car and didn't touch it again until Friday night (6/10). Of course I had to wash the car off so I could get fresh dirt and brake dust all over it again :p Also, while teching the car I was very happy to see that SOWS CCW didn't toast my brakes as I feared and i have tons of material left. Bad news was that my front tires were even worse than I had remembered. I had tried pretty high PSI settings in the front at SOWS and ballooned the tire pretty bad so that the center sections were pretty much gone. On my ride home from SOWS on 5/15 my car's usually mellow high speed vibration was nasty and I found no obvious signs of what could of caused it and hey maybe I was imaging things.
To top it off I had a pretty good reason not to break the car cause it has to be somewhere this Wednesday looking as shiny and clean as possible. I always feel nervous before a track day but I was feeling extra nervous now but figured I could at least go and get one good session in and maybe two if I was lucky before my tires or vibrations sidelined me. At least I would be able to watch Dave kick ass with his awesome blue 68 Camaro.
Saturday morning the Alarm goes off at 4:40 and I'm off to the track. Woohoo. Track days are one of the few things that I will not hit snooze for, ha! Drive out was uneventful other than the fact I thought my car might shake itself apart a few times. At this point the vibrations would come and go at the same speeds in any gear acceleration or deceleration so I was scratching my head but determined to see how it behaved on the track.
Got to the track and met up with the Mustang guys. Met Jay (screen name Brakelate here) a few events back and while him and his Mustang buddies are pretty die hard Ford guys, they still love American muscle of the non Ford variety if it hits the track. We had a nice spot coned off and ended up having three Terminator Mustangs (the super charged Cobra), a couple of new 5.0's a new Camaro, Dave's Camaro and myself. For some lame reason I didn't take any overall shots of the pit area.
At the driver's meeting we learned that there would only be 3 run groups and we would be getting 30 minute sessions!!! I felt bad for Joel of Extreme Speed as the turn out probably wasn't good for his bottom line but it made for a heck of a lot of track time! Also, worth mentioning that the track was just resurfaced/resealed so it was super black with zero indication of where the line was or any landmarks for folks who use on track indicators. Being as this was my first time on this track I was a bit leery of this. We were all hoping it would provide good traction still. I was thinking the drivers would be stoked for a fresh surface track but I guess that usually means a much slipperier surface.
Advanced guys led off the session.
Here are some pics of Dave and Carlos. Carlos' orange Mustang is a freeking monster and he is a great driver. Even with some voltage issues at WOT he was the fastest car in our group.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894068_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894081_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894080_large-1.jpg
Dave and Carlos ended up waiting for a while before they got out on the track. One of the very first guys on the track spins on his first lap (uh warmup anyone?) in turn 2 and covers the track in dirt. Took them 10-15 minutes to get it cleaned up. Once Dave and Carlos got on the track a silver C5 Z06 (think the same one I ran with at SOWS on 5/15) blew his motor (that was the rumor) and spewed oil on the track. Dave thought he saw some fire too. So another clean up session was in order lol.
EDIT: BMW driver who spun off the track on his warm up lap and stopped the Advanced guys first thing in the morning posted the vid of it so here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMmft09U1AM
At this point I'm sweating bullets. New Track, some gremlins in the car, and people have problems in the first session.
Dave came in early complaining that the trans was popping out of gear. I will point at that this particular trans was the third one Dave has put in the car since SOWS on 5/15... Dave's crew chief, Rich, later was telling me Dave needed to "Drive that thing like a man and slam it into gear!!" I'm guessing he told Dave the same thing as the next session Dave smoked the transmission. :(
My first session was short and not too much fun. The vibrations were pretty constant on the track. After walking by the onsite tire shop I decided to pull the rear tires and have the balance checked. I missed a session doing this but low and behold both tires were off balance by over two ounces. Track days are hard on zee tires! With rebalanced tires I headed out after lunch and had a great time. Vibration problem was gone and I could concentrate on learning the track and trying to go faster.
So while my day started off not so great but was getting better, Dave's was trending the wrong direction. However, since Dave brings a crew to the track, he decided to look for an M21 locally. After about 1.5 hours of searching and putting the word out he finds one... at the track lol!!
Rich rolled up set the trans on the ground and sprung into action.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894073_large-1.jpg
Nicole (think that is her name) even came over to offer some encouragement.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894075_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894076_large-1.jpg
They got the trans in and would of been able to run some more that day. However, the shift linkage proved to not be compatible with the new trans and they couldn't get it to access all the gears. Dave damn near made legend status for blowing a trans, sourcing a replacement, installing it track side and getting back on the track same day. I felt like I was at the races, not a track day ha ha. Dave, you rock!
Dave's car did get some more love from the photographers before he got back with his trans. However, since Brett and Mike weren't around my to outshine my car, I got some love too.
These guys, seemed pretty hardcore, with the whole track and trolley setup for video. There were also 2-3 still camera guys.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894079_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894070_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894072_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894074_large-1.jpg
Big Willow ended up being nicer on my front tires I think. I was actually able to get three sessions on the car before I called it quits. When I headed out for my third and final session I had 100% intentions of doing 5 or so medium effort laps and coming in. I am normally fast enough in my car to not embarass myself, but I'm not setting in records. But this session the ego raised it's head and I got addicted to chasing down the other intermediate guys. I kept telling myself, ok one more lap, but then would see a car in the distance again and try and catch/pass them. I ended up catching or passing a car just about every lap and stayed on track long enough to turn more laps than anyone else with a transponder lol!!! The only reason I came in was because as I was trying to pass a vette (can see at the end of my video) I lost serious power as my car started having fuel starvation issues (damn!!!). I managed to pass eight cars without being caught by anyone else. I have to be honest, it felt damn good. You will see in the video that I had several opportunties to pass but passing rules were pretty strict on this track for intermediate and I could only pass in the first 75% of the two straight aways.
Here's the video:
(sadly only 480p because its too long to let me upload in 1080p and I can't edit video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2PKBk1t5mc
Here is a data overlay of my fastest lap. Yellow zones are 0.5+ sustained G's and red are 0.85+ sustained G's.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894082_large-1.jpg
I wrapped up the day by joining some of the Mustang guys at the Golden Cantina. One of these is not like the other ha ha ha...
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894077_large-1.jpg
Ok. That is my longest post ever I think. I hope it was worth it.
PS having trouble getting video with data from my phone but will post it when I do.
I may have a new favorite track. I love the high speeds of Big Willow. Not just the straights but turns 1, 2 and 8 which I could hit at 85+, 80+ and 110+ mph respectively. Gives a big thrill!! After my track day high wears off I may revert to Buttonwillow being my favorite but for now I'm in love ha ha.
So a bit of set up. I've been feeling super lazy regarding the Camaro since I did Streets of Willow Springs on 5/15 with Dave, Mike and Brett. I came home parked the car and didn't touch it again until Friday night (6/10). Of course I had to wash the car off so I could get fresh dirt and brake dust all over it again :p Also, while teching the car I was very happy to see that SOWS CCW didn't toast my brakes as I feared and i have tons of material left. Bad news was that my front tires were even worse than I had remembered. I had tried pretty high PSI settings in the front at SOWS and ballooned the tire pretty bad so that the center sections were pretty much gone. On my ride home from SOWS on 5/15 my car's usually mellow high speed vibration was nasty and I found no obvious signs of what could of caused it and hey maybe I was imaging things.
To top it off I had a pretty good reason not to break the car cause it has to be somewhere this Wednesday looking as shiny and clean as possible. I always feel nervous before a track day but I was feeling extra nervous now but figured I could at least go and get one good session in and maybe two if I was lucky before my tires or vibrations sidelined me. At least I would be able to watch Dave kick ass with his awesome blue 68 Camaro.
Saturday morning the Alarm goes off at 4:40 and I'm off to the track. Woohoo. Track days are one of the few things that I will not hit snooze for, ha! Drive out was uneventful other than the fact I thought my car might shake itself apart a few times. At this point the vibrations would come and go at the same speeds in any gear acceleration or deceleration so I was scratching my head but determined to see how it behaved on the track.
Got to the track and met up with the Mustang guys. Met Jay (screen name Brakelate here) a few events back and while him and his Mustang buddies are pretty die hard Ford guys, they still love American muscle of the non Ford variety if it hits the track. We had a nice spot coned off and ended up having three Terminator Mustangs (the super charged Cobra), a couple of new 5.0's a new Camaro, Dave's Camaro and myself. For some lame reason I didn't take any overall shots of the pit area.
At the driver's meeting we learned that there would only be 3 run groups and we would be getting 30 minute sessions!!! I felt bad for Joel of Extreme Speed as the turn out probably wasn't good for his bottom line but it made for a heck of a lot of track time! Also, worth mentioning that the track was just resurfaced/resealed so it was super black with zero indication of where the line was or any landmarks for folks who use on track indicators. Being as this was my first time on this track I was a bit leery of this. We were all hoping it would provide good traction still. I was thinking the drivers would be stoked for a fresh surface track but I guess that usually means a much slipperier surface.
Advanced guys led off the session.
Here are some pics of Dave and Carlos. Carlos' orange Mustang is a freeking monster and he is a great driver. Even with some voltage issues at WOT he was the fastest car in our group.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894068_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894081_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894080_large-1.jpg
Dave and Carlos ended up waiting for a while before they got out on the track. One of the very first guys on the track spins on his first lap (uh warmup anyone?) in turn 2 and covers the track in dirt. Took them 10-15 minutes to get it cleaned up. Once Dave and Carlos got on the track a silver C5 Z06 (think the same one I ran with at SOWS on 5/15) blew his motor (that was the rumor) and spewed oil on the track. Dave thought he saw some fire too. So another clean up session was in order lol.
EDIT: BMW driver who spun off the track on his warm up lap and stopped the Advanced guys first thing in the morning posted the vid of it so here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMmft09U1AM
At this point I'm sweating bullets. New Track, some gremlins in the car, and people have problems in the first session.
Dave came in early complaining that the trans was popping out of gear. I will point at that this particular trans was the third one Dave has put in the car since SOWS on 5/15... Dave's crew chief, Rich, later was telling me Dave needed to "Drive that thing like a man and slam it into gear!!" I'm guessing he told Dave the same thing as the next session Dave smoked the transmission. :(
My first session was short and not too much fun. The vibrations were pretty constant on the track. After walking by the onsite tire shop I decided to pull the rear tires and have the balance checked. I missed a session doing this but low and behold both tires were off balance by over two ounces. Track days are hard on zee tires! With rebalanced tires I headed out after lunch and had a great time. Vibration problem was gone and I could concentrate on learning the track and trying to go faster.
So while my day started off not so great but was getting better, Dave's was trending the wrong direction. However, since Dave brings a crew to the track, he decided to look for an M21 locally. After about 1.5 hours of searching and putting the word out he finds one... at the track lol!!
Rich rolled up set the trans on the ground and sprung into action.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894073_large-1.jpg
Nicole (think that is her name) even came over to offer some encouragement.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894075_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894076_large-1.jpg
They got the trans in and would of been able to run some more that day. However, the shift linkage proved to not be compatible with the new trans and they couldn't get it to access all the gears. Dave damn near made legend status for blowing a trans, sourcing a replacement, installing it track side and getting back on the track same day. I felt like I was at the races, not a track day ha ha. Dave, you rock!
Dave's car did get some more love from the photographers before he got back with his trans. However, since Brett and Mike weren't around my to outshine my car, I got some love too.
These guys, seemed pretty hardcore, with the whole track and trolley setup for video. There were also 2-3 still camera guys.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894079_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894070_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894072_large-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894074_large-1.jpg
Big Willow ended up being nicer on my front tires I think. I was actually able to get three sessions on the car before I called it quits. When I headed out for my third and final session I had 100% intentions of doing 5 or so medium effort laps and coming in. I am normally fast enough in my car to not embarass myself, but I'm not setting in records. But this session the ego raised it's head and I got addicted to chasing down the other intermediate guys. I kept telling myself, ok one more lap, but then would see a car in the distance again and try and catch/pass them. I ended up catching or passing a car just about every lap and stayed on track long enough to turn more laps than anyone else with a transponder lol!!! The only reason I came in was because as I was trying to pass a vette (can see at the end of my video) I lost serious power as my car started having fuel starvation issues (damn!!!). I managed to pass eight cars without being caught by anyone else. I have to be honest, it felt damn good. You will see in the video that I had several opportunties to pass but passing rules were pretty strict on this track for intermediate and I could only pass in the first 75% of the two straight aways.
Here's the video:
(sadly only 480p because its too long to let me upload in 1080p and I can't edit video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2PKBk1t5mc
Here is a data overlay of my fastest lap. Yellow zones are 0.5+ sustained G's and red are 0.85+ sustained G's.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894082_large-1.jpg
I wrapped up the day by joining some of the Mustang guys at the Golden Cantina. One of these is not like the other ha ha ha...
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/23346894077_large-1.jpg
Ok. That is my longest post ever I think. I hope it was worth it.
PS having trouble getting video with data from my phone but will post it when I do.