Speed Ventures 2008 Track Day Event Schedule

[CarlC]

Happy New Year Everyone, (note: to unsubscribe, reply with "unsubscribe" in subject field or body)
Thank you all very much for participating in Speed Ventures events in 2007. We hope you had a lot of fun and will join us in 2008 for even more fun. Remember that the more you drive, the better you get at driving. The better you get, the more fun you have. It's a simple recipe and we hope you will follow it. This is not unlike a good fruit cake. Most of you probably don't like fruit cake because most fruit cake you get in your Holiday gift baskets is terrible. But there are good fruit cakes out there. A good fruit cake is rich and complex combining cured fruits, molasses, cream, and eggs with Holiday spicebox. The more fruitcake you cook and the closer you follow the proper fruitcake recipe, the better it gets. But now, for the news:

STREETS of WILLOW EVENT
We have an event this weekend at Streets of Willow Springs. We have lots of room on both days, but on Sunday rain seems unlikely. When they say "showers" in the desert it means either nothing or a drop or two. So, feel free to show up at the track and join the fun. Needless to say there will hardly be anyone there and lots of track time.

WILLOW SPRINGS - Road Course
We have a event on January 26,27 at Willow Springs on the Big Track. Plenty of room there as well and we'll be hosting an inaugural Lotus Challenge Series event and our second Rear & Mid Engine Driving Clinic with Carl Rydquist (for more information on these events, see below). We hope you will join us for some great weather, fast, cool-weather laptimes, and hot cocoa.

LAGUNA SECA Weekend Event!
We also have a weekend event at Laguna Seca on February 2nd and 3rd! Laguna has raised the price for this date by $2200 per day ($4400 per weekend) so please understand that we are doing our best to keep the prices down. Normally we charge $320 for for 5 x 20 min run sessions, but we are offering the following early-bird price to everyone who signs up by midnight on January 15. (Remember, space is subject to availability).
$240 4x20m sessions
$50 Extra 20m session at end of day (Intermediate and Advanced Drivers Only please - limited space).
You will be able to purchase the extra session in step 7 of the signup process. We hope you will join us at Laguna Seca.

NITTO TIRES North America & SPEED VENTURES to Offer NT01 Discounts Speed Ventures and Nitto Tires North America are very pleased to announce the continuation of their strategic partnership to ensure that everyone who drives on the race track understands and reaps the supreme benefits of the best bang-for-the-buck road racing tire on the market. The NT01 is already a fantastic tire, with the best combination of tread depth, large-block tread design, price, and proven laptime performance on the market. Well now you can take advantage of this great product at an additional $20 per tire savings if you attend Speed Ventures events - that's $80 per set. Here's how the program works: purchase NT01 tires from www.discounttiredirect.com (already offering the best prices and free shipping), save your receipt and bring it to a Speed Ventures event. We will enter a $20 per tire credit in our system which you can redeem at any future Speed Ventures event up until December 31, 2008.
The 2008 Nitto / Speed Ventures program is an absolutely fantastic deal and more than we had hoped for. We hope you will take advantage of it and enjoy thousands of miles of extremely fast driving on California and Nevada's finest racetracks.

LOTUS CHALLENGE SERIES LAUNCHED
We are very pleased to introduce a new time trial/fastest lap competitive series for Lotus cars: the Lotus Challenge Series. Speed Ventures will host the inaugural Lotus Challenge Series in 2008 with the inaugural event at Willow Springs on January 26 & 27. The Series is open to all Lotus makes and will offer a safe, low-risk, and fun format to compete for fastest laptime in your Lotus car. For classing, rules, and other information, visit www.lotuschallengeseries.com. We hope all of our regular customers with Lotus cars will participate.

REAR- and MID- ENGINE Performance Driving Clinic #2 On Sunday January 27th at Willow Springs on the Road Course we are offering our second Rear & Mid-Engine Performance Driving Clinic with Carl Rydquist. The first Clinic was held at California Speedway in October and was a great success. The cost for this clinic is $220 (this does not include the regular track fee). For more information on the clinic or to sign up, please go to our website. The first clinic sold out, so please sign up soon if you are interested in attending. For information on the details of the clinic, click here: http://www.speedventures.com/events/rmclinic.aspx

SPEED VENTURES SUPERCARS - Exotic Car Mailing List Speed Ventures has created an exotic car mailing list (Speed Ventures Supercars) for drivers with high value cars interested in running on track with cars of similar value in low car-count run groups. Although we're calling them "supercars", in fact any car over $100,000 in value might be appropriate for this group. To get on this mailing list, simply email me at [email protected]. Also, we hope you will spread the word to folks with high-value cars who are averse to running in normal run groups.

2008 SCHEDULE
Our 2008 schedule is pretty close to being finished, with some exceptions. Of course throughout the year we continuously add more events, so it's a good idea (for you and us) to keep an eye on our schedule in the event of changes. At any rate, here's what we're looking at so far. We expect to add 1 or 2 more Laguna Seca events in the second half and pick up random cancellations at other tracks as well:
January 5, 6 Streets of Willow (CW, CCW)
January 26, 27 Willow Springs ROAD COURSE
February 2,3 Laguna Seca
February 8 Streets of Willow
February 25 Laguna Seca (Monday)
February 29 Streets of Willow
March 8, 9 Spring Mountain
March 21 Streets of Willow
April 7 Laguna Seca (Monday)
April 11, 12, 13 Buttonwillow Raceway
May 3, 4 California Speedway (infield)
May 10, 11 Streets of Willow (CW, CCW)
May 30 Streets of Willow
May 31, June 1 Buttonwillow Raceway
June 13 Streets of Willow
June 14, 15 California Speedway (infield)
June 28, 29 Willow Springs ROAD COURSE
July 11 Streets of Willow
July 26, 27 California Speedway (infield)
August 9, 10 Buttonwillow Raceway
September 6, 7 Willow Springs ROAD COURSE
September 13, 14 California Speedway (infield)
September 26, 27, 28 Buttonwillow Raceway (w/SKIDPAD sat & sun)
October 18, 19 Spring Mountain (3.1 mile course)
October 24 Streets of Willow
October 31 Infineon Raceway
November 21 Streets of Willow
November 21, 22, 23 California Speedway (FULL COURSE – ROVAL)
Dec 12, 13, 14 Streets of Willow (CW, CCW, CW)

SEEKING GENERAL BUSINESS COUNSEL
We need a lawyer. Not because we're getting sued, just for general business stuff. Anyone want to trade "services"?

That's it for now. Hope to see you at the track.
Thanks,
Aaron & the Speed Ventures Crew
323-461-4795
[email protected]

[alcino]

Some friends and I are doing the Feb 8th Streets.

Someone needs to setup an event where we can get a lot of PTers to signup. I remember the good ole days of bachelor party track day. Those had good turnouts. Whos getting married soon? Buttonwillow seemed to get the most attendees being central to the north and south cali residents.

[CarlC]

Al! Good to hear from you. You still down south?

[mpozzi]

Some friends and I are doing the Feb 8th Streets.

Someone needs to setup an event where we can get a lot of PTers to signup. I remember the good ole days of bachelor party track day. Those had good turnouts. Whos getting married soon? Buttonwillow seemed to get the most attendees being central to the north and south cali residents.

I remember that event as it was the last time we heard from YOU (LOL)!!! Yes, let's get something together for SOW in the spring and make it a mandatory Pro-Tour west-coast event.

Cheers,
Mary Pozzi

[Orngcrush69]

Alcino,
Nice to know you're still running! Looks like SV has some events at Buttonwillow that maybe be could get a PT rally going. The May 31 looks good, not too hot yet.

[MrQuick]

Al, welcome back brother....im still hoping to get the wife and I out again. maybe this year.

[CurtiSS 69]

Anyone going to do any of the Laguna events with Speed Ventures?

Regards

CurtiSS 69

[Steve1968LS2]

I always get my Willows mixed up.. which one is the one that's more open (ie, less junk to hit).. sorta like Buttonwillow?

[mpozzi]

"Big Willow" is the main track. Very high-speed but with lots of runoff room.

Streets of Willow also has lots of runoff room but with much slower speeds. That track is more like subdivision roads without the curbs and houses. Very fun course that can be run in various configurations.

Both are very "friendly" regarding hazards, walls, fixed objects, and other detritus that you often find once you leave the track surface. You've got to have the pre-impact pucker factor going for a while for both of these tracks.

For Penny, it's a toss up. A rock flying from a vehicle traveling at 130 mph will do much more damage than one leaving a car doing 85 or so. Just my .02 worth.

Cheers,
Mary Pozzi

[CarlC]

Yup, Big Willow is FAST.

[Orngcrush69]

Ditto Mary and the "Streets" track is not well maintaned, so there is going to be more crap on the track because of that. Steve, Buttonwillow would be a better track for you

[mpozzi]

Of all the tracks in the general area, Laguna is the best maintained as they have the Skip Barber Schools there. Streets of Willow can be "dirty" and Buttonwillow's a bit better but still has some crap you need to contend with.

I lost a magnetic number at Buttonwillow and decided to hike the entire track trying to find it. In the process, I found a 3/4" socket, end wrench, bolts, a shock absorber cover, several ball joints, and pieces of fiberglass bodywork on or next to the track. And yes, I did find the errant number at the very end of my exercise route. And no, it wasn't worth keeping as everyone else used it for their apex marker ...

Cheers,
Mary Pozzi

[Salt Racer]

Did you happen to find a turn-signal lens of a '91 BMW at the exit of Bus Stop?

I'm also guilty of littering Big Willow T2 with front lip of the said BMW.

Laguna is nice but I didn't enjoy the track layout much, at least in that rusty 90-hp BMW I used to drive. Dave knows how slow I was going uphill after T5...

[mpozzi]

Did you happen to find a turn-signal lens of a '91 BMW at the exit of Bus Stop?

I'm also guilty of littering Big Willow T2 with front lip of the said BMW.

Laguna is nice but I didn't enjoy the track layout much, at least in that rusty 90-hp BMW I used to drive. Dave knows how slow I was going uphill after T5...

Hell, I found everything EXCEPT Jimmy Hoffa out there ...

Cheers,
Mary Pozzi

[David Pozzi]

Katz!
Nice to see you are still around!
David

[Salt Racer]

Checking to see what you guys are up to.

Unfortunately, I won't see you guys much at the track during the next two years. I started driving a semi and my schedule is very unpredictable. I have to do track days whenever events coincide with my day-offs.

Trucking is something I've always wanted to do (you know I love road trips), also it's the beginning of my latest long-term plan.

After two years, I should be able to buy my own truck and become an independent contractor (aka, owner-operator). Then I'll be able to take time off pretty much whenever I want if I work for the right company plus good money to boot.

Then I can start wheel-to-wheel racing - thinking of either shifter kart or SpecE30 series. The latter is much like Spec Miata, but using BMW like mine. Also smaller field - no $20k pro-built engines involved at this moment, and there's better shot at podium finishes.

[David Pozzi]

Katz,
We have a friend with a spec E30 who will start racing it this year. It looks like a great series.

I hope your plan works. But It's a shame to see your engineering skills go unused! At least you can see a lot of the country!
David

[Q ship]

Yup, Big Willow is FAST.

Big Willow is a blast, and seems like a perfect track for the P/T crowd. As long as you respect (fear?) turn 9, it's pretty forgiving. It's too bad that SV doesn't have any days there in the spring. Late June will be scorching. Katz and I may try to run with another group in March or May, depending on his schedule.

Al, it's nice to hear from you! We kind of thought you had gotten out of the game.

Carl, are you going to be out more this year?