NASA @ VIR July 22-24

[Bill Howell]

http://nasaproracing.com/event/1272

THis will be my first NASA event. I signed up for the HPDE1 class. Hopefully there will be some more protouring guys/cars there.

[parsonsj]

I signed up this evening. I'll see you there.

[GNon18s]

Damn Bill, you sure do get alot of seat time in!

[wicked68]

considering going......

[Beach Cruiser]

Hey Bill and John "solo"!
Had a great weekend, it was nice meeting up with you guys face to face. My son's friend took some good pictures I'll try and post when I get them from him. The plagued camaro made it all the way home with a whiny rearend, but at least the motor ran strong. It was nice following them with the ac on and jamming to some cds knowing that they had no air and no tunes! The ole firechicken ran pretty well the last session, my instructor was impressed! Too bad the poor red ZO6 couln't keep up!
Mills

[Bill Howell]

Mills,
Great to put another name with another face also. I had a lot of fun, learned a lot, and got some great seat time on the fastest track yet. SOLO? I know John did, but no, I didn't know I was even eligible. We smoked the pads on the vette on the HPDE4 run so I loaded the car in Albert's trailer and headed home early-thanks again Albert!
VIR is certainly the fastest place I have driven, yet does have some pretty technical areas too, I don't know that I ever did master HOG PEN turn, that is a tough one to set up right for, I finally did figure out to go deep on the left bump entering it. It was fun getting up to speed on the front and back stretches but my favorite spots were the two Ss . It was also fun to chase John and Yancy in their Z06s with my lowly C-6. 60 less HP and anautomatic certainly made that challenging. I NEED a stick..........

[parsonsj]

Great time by all! Mills, it was good to meet you yesterday. Sorry I couldn't mix it up during the last session... my car went into Active Handling mode and I had to quit. Somehow the BCM "found" my street wheels and tire pressure sensors, and then got upset when they weren't there on the track. :(

But this made it all worthwhile:

[parsonsj]

And if anybody wants to run at historic Sebring Florida, the NASA FL event registration is now open. I'm signed up.

http://www.nasaproracing.com/event/1300

jp

[Beach Cruiser]

At Bill, So Brian owes you a set of pads huh? I'll let him know! My instructor and I worked on turn entry and the correct apexes from the first session, I wouldn't say I mastered Hogpen but I was shifting into forth before exiting the turn the last few sessions. I was topping 125 entering the braking zone for turn 1! Fastest speed of the day for me was 133 on my speedo at the bottom of the hill before roller coaster. At John, Excuses, excusses, excusses.... :-)

Had a great time! Sebring is a little far for me to drive to, but I'd love to run it one day. Maybe after I hit the lottery or retire, niether will happen anytime soon.

Mills

[Ron S]

Fun weekend, learned alot about the car. Here are the picture galleries for anyone who was there.
http://store.fandsenterprises.com/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=10622

[Beach Cruiser]

Here's some shots my son's friend took that have all of us in it (less Ron). That's my son Tripp in the Silver 4th Gen Z28, Me in the WS6.
Mills

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/284852_1818869642693_1568700142_31420608-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/284303_1818867602642_1568700142_31420595-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/283900_1818867322635_1568700142_31420593-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/267305_1818868082654_1568700142_31420598-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/263383_1818867442638_1568700142_31420594-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/263359_1818868682669_1568700142_31420601-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/215160_1818867922650_1568700142_31420597-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/285014_1818870162706_1568700142_31420612-1.jpg

[Bill Howell]

LOL, no Brian just happened to be driving when they gave up. I had been torturing them all day though. No problems, I have the NEWEST setup from Baer now for the car, an upgrade that involves 14" rotors and stock calipers. This should solve my brake issues. If I could just figure out how to get a STICK now... and 60 more HP, and, and, and........

[parsonsj]

Bill, you're gonna be a lot faster with those brakes. I'll need to step up my game for sure! As for me, I've got a LPE oil tank coming, and I'll be inspecting my pads in a couple days. I may need a new set too.

[blacklab]

What a great weekend ,even after missing saturday I was able to jump in on sunday and run three sessions.
It was great seeing everyone and meeting some new friends.

See ya one the track again


.

[parsonsj]

With some research (from Jeff Tate via Danny Popp):

(bold is what happened to me)


Tire Pressure Monitoring System and Competition Use of a Chevrolet Corvette

The Corvette is equipped with the latest in tire pressure monitoring hardware and software. Each wheel has a sensor mounted in it that transmits electronic signals through the air to a Tire Pressure Monitor (TPM) Receiver. The system is designed to monitor tire pressure and alert you if conditions warrant your attention or action.

The TPM Receiver looks for the production sensors to check in for each corver. If the production sensors are removed, the receiver will start a counter that adds up time driven above 20kph without TPM signals. This counter is reset at each key cycle until the time is reached. After a total of 60 minutes* cumulative time (above 20kph in that key cycle) it will set a TPM fault. You can slow down or stop during this period, but the counter only runs when the vehicle is exceeding 20kph. The DIC will then display "Service Tire Monitor" and the pressures will display XXX for each corner. Once the "TPM fault" has been set, you will be able to continue to disable traction and stability for the lifetime of the car, as long as the original programmed sensors are nowhere near the car. if a master power kill switch is utilized, the system is reset and the driving process must be repeated to set the TPM fault. Some owners install partial kill switches that maintain power to vehicle computers. To maintain the TPM fault, power must be maintained to fuse #11 in the underhood fuse center.

* The 60 minute timer applies to 2005 Corvettes. For 2006 it is reduced to 30 minutes, and for 2007 it will be less than 20 minutes. Be warned that sometimes the sensors can be picked up from as far away as 50 feet. We recommend keeping the TPM sensors far away from the vehicle. Leave them at home.

During the time that the counter is accumulating with no sensors checking in, you can still turn off stability and traction control normally. As long as all four corners go invalid at the same time, you can continue to disable stability and traction control as you would normally, even after the timer sets the fault. One minor exception is that if the corners are considered by the TPM Receiver to be "invalid" a few seconds apart, it might turn stability on momentarily when the timer expires, but it can then be manually switched off with the button.

Stability and traction can be switched off as long as either all four programmed sensors are present, or none of the sensors are present. If 1, 2, or 3 sensors are detected at the corner they have been programmed, then the system will go in to flat tire mode. This is an aggresssive stability function, cannot be switched off, and Competitive Mode is not available.

Autocrossers should be able to get away with swapping wheels and never reaching the timers. They will want to make sure the stock wheels and sensors are put somewhere far away before keying up, so they don't accidentally pick up 1, 2 or 3 signals. Open track day participants might reach the timers and set the TPM fault. They can still continue normally but might be surprised by the message. When it's time to go home, as long as the stock wheels go back on in the correct location (corner for corner), the sensors will start working again and all will be well. Road racers probably want to get rid of the sensors and keep them far away from the car altogether. As an alternative, a racer could keep the sensors in the race wheels, to help keep an eye on this during a race. Note some sensors may saturate above 50psi and return to normal as pressures decrease. A second set of sensors could be used as long as they were retrained to function as designed per the owner's manual.

Wheels sensors for my track tires are on the way!

[Beach Cruiser]

wow! I've had similar issues with my vette when I have tire work done, it's a pain to sort out. On the firechicken, I have issues with the ABS going into ICE mode when I have the hoosiers on and the Hawk HP+ pads. The deceleration is much faster than what is programmed in the ABS module and it goes into ICE Mode... Not a fun feeling at all! Glad you documented your excusses! JK!

[YancyJohns]

I had a great time at VIR, Learned Alot and WOW was that a fast track! It's so much fun hanging with everyone under the DSE tent and Vinny's villa. Man was it Hot weekend!!
I felt my best session was the 5th, with me, Parsons and Billy pushing each other for almost 50min around the track. I have to say, Billy auto c-6 ran good, but.....lol

! Too bad the poor red ZO6 couln't keep up!
Mills
That's too funny, I don't remember that during the first 5 out of 6 sessions your arm was out as I passed you....hehe The last session, I was behind you by 3 cars off the start(nice pics) and finally caught up and got stuck in traffic and I couldn't catch you. But it was all in good fun Mills, nice to meet you and your son!! Your Pontiac is surely a fast one!!

[Beach Cruiser]

all in good fun Yancy! I was just kidding, Your vette and Johns were surely the fastest of the field, You two and the CMC mustang were the only point bys for me all weekend. I think my 6th run was the fastest by far, I ran the Hoosiers for the 5th and 6th runs. My car is stock with bolton's for a paltry 337HP! But it's well sorted from all my Autox seat time. I think I'm coming back in Oct, hope to see you all there!

ps, I'm still having flashbacks about running up on that Audi at 120+!

[parsonsj]

Yes, good fun for all. Despite the heat, an awesome weekend.

Hey Yancy, any chance you could post some of those great pics your family took?

[tazzz25906112]

It was a blast down at VIR and the old TA did a good job on the track less a few technical issues that a couple of upgrades from our good friends at DSE and Wilwood will sort out real fast... Brian of course will make this all happen at lightning speed and the car won't mess a beat on the event schedule (thanks Bud)... Like the others I learned a lot to say the least and my instructor Jeff was really great...

We work the line and by the end of Saturday (3rd session) I was running down many a car in the group... The biggest single advancement of the weekend came in the form of hand placement on the wheel,,,,, it made a marked difference if you can believe as a rookie... Apparently I was shoulder steering prior to the adjustment and upon making that single change my driving became very smooth and lap speeds increased dramatically... In the first session on the track I waved by 4-5 cars,,,, after the adjustment I passed 5-6 cars in each subsequent session with a feeling/sense of a "lot more control" and lap times that I'm sure would reflect a marked improvement to say the least...

Overall I'd say it was a fun weekend that was enjoyed by all who attended....

[John Wright]

I think I'm coming back in Oct, hope to see you all there!

If anyone is interested in going earlier...I received this a few days ago.


TrackDaze Members,

We are one month away from our popular August VIR Full Course event (August 25th-26th). Registration is already open for this event, and there are quite a few people already signed up. If you have not yet registered for this event we suggest you do so soon. Multiple run groups do sell out quickly! To register or for more information about the event you can follow this link: https://www.trackdaze.com/augvir2011

We look forward to seeing everyone out at the track! Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments.

Regards,
TrackDaze Staff
[email protected]
http://www.trackdaze.com
http://www.facebook.com/TrackDaze

[YancyJohns]

Here are some pics my kids took...
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/20110725_60-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/20110725_44-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/07/20110725_89-1.jpg