SoCal: Time attack tuesdays

[69sponge]

Dose Don own a cylinder head shop..


Paul

[TCI Engineering]

Dose Don own a cylinder head shop..


Paul

A long time ago.........so you're probably thinking of the right guy.


Here is a shot I found of his old drag car.

[DriverzInc]

How did it go?

[DFRESH]

Jon, whoever told you the track wasn't worth going to was way wrong---you will have a blast out there--even in my non-posi one legged jihad car, I managed to hit 60 on the straight section--it's got some good sweepers--the best time I have had at the track--for 20 bucks it was amazing. The people running the place are fantastic--very good people---we had an amazing time--I will go back as soon as possible. You guys that are close or even a couple hours away wont be dissapointed. We had, I believe, 10 cars from this site show up and Evan and Jason from TCI. This track has "rent me" all over it, or at least a "once a month" attendence for sure. Props to Chad for getting this going---it was an amazing evening--so much funner than the little auto-x at the GG---geez, it even has a banked turn--and I mean banked---more fun than I was imagining. YEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAA.

P.S. Dan with the Mopar was the schnizzle fo shizzle---Chad was right on his 6. Chris, Matt, Stig, Paul, Brent were all running great times. Evan took video while in my car---maybe he will post it up--both my rear shocks were out of fluid by the time I got there--LOL--it was heinous---I had to make at least the first session though--and took it around the track three different times (4 laps each session---talk about wheel hop--). Hope more of you will get to join in on this action---so much fun hangin with the PT group--great group of people.

Doug

[slow4dr]

I had a blast even though I was just spectating. Hopefully Sal will actually bring the Camaro out or at least let Evan take it. It was nice meeting some of you guys and I can't wait for the next one.

I have a few good photos and a bunch of crappy ones. The camera did not like the low light once the sun went down so most of them are from the first session. I'll upload in the morning and post them from work.

-J

[-The Stig-]

So much fun... Its a shame my car has the wrong tire on it. I'm sure on a lighter car they'd hook better, but underneath 4000lbs of Pontiac the get over loaded easily causing limited grip.

Oh well, still was stupid fun. Best $40 I've spent in a while. GG is what, $45-60 and maybe 6 runs (Costa mesa). $40 here and we got 6 runs.. They run that operation pretty smoothly.

Although I noticed I was boiling the power steering fluid towards the end of the runs... Steering got realllly vague and heavy. Poor Pontiac just can't be pushed hard... Lessons to take with me as I build up the Camaro... It -will- have a powersteering fluid cooler. Haha

Good seeing everybody again...

[79-TA]

^ Don't forget Matt, in each of those "6 runs" you got 3 laps. 50-ish second laps at that. It's easily a way better value than the Goodguys events in terms of track time.

[Matt@BOS]

Man, that was great! You really can't beat it, especially for $20 a session. You might only get 3 timed laps but with the warm up and cool down its more like 9 laps, which is pretty decent. Plus you can easily run two sessions, which is about 18 runs for $40. Also, whoever said we should rent the track out is on to something.

I also learned a few things today. First, hard work and lots of planning pay off. I sabotaged Doug's coilovers back in Pleasonton and I was finally able to run a better time than him today. SWEET!

Second, Dan was the man out there tonight. If he had R comps he might have been able to hang with the fastest Miatas out there.

Third, brake pad knockback really sucks. I forgot to pump up my brakes on my last timed lap and put the front two wheels straight into the dirt. I think I Need a different master cylinder, a full floater, or a different driver.

Lastly, I think the Stig should taxi people around. We could call The G8 the Time Attack Tuesday Taxi. You have to admit, it's got a certain ring to it.

Matt

p.s. I left my backpack full of tools at the track, so I have to head back at some point. You boys still thinking of going August 10th?

[-The Stig-]

I seem to go better with a passenger.. Haha, not sure what that's about. Maybe I feel more relaxed? Lol.. Dunno, but it's fun to hear the passengers get all happy if the rear steps out... What's that about, I don't get all 'yippie' when driving and it gets all goofy...but if I'm passenger and it slides I'm like "yeaaaahh" ... I must be too busy driving to enjoy it.. Lol. Must be for them as well?

[-The Stig-]

... Sitting at work ... I could do that stuff all night. Haha. I wanna do it again. But in the Fbody. That'd be much better, especially since it'll be like 800lbs lighter. And making a little more power. Weee!

[rrunner68]

Yeah that was definately a good time. If they start doing two timed runs per go like they said, it would be cool. They definately had some quick little cars out there, we're lucky none ended up in our intakes. I had a good time goofing around with everyone, and making french fry race tracks. I'll do the homework for SCCA stuff and put it up in another post when I"m not so busy here at work. I'm freaking tired...but it was worth it.

[chr2002ca]

Yep, that was definitely a hoot. The track has a fun setup considering it's really a go-cart track, the people there are very polite, and the event was well run. It was cool teaming up with Matt and Dan for the drive up there also, and meeting Paul in the Orange Crush also. It was a bummer Doug blew out his other shock on the way up there, but he was still sporting enough to give it a go considering his tires were bouncing horribly around each corner. I think heading up early and grabbing an early dinner was definitely a good idea. Great fun for $23. And I was able to drive home! No AAA! Yeh!

How many runs were you guys able to get in on the second session?

Here are some video clips I took of Chad, the Stig, Dan, Paul, and Matt on the 2nd session as it was starting to get dark:





Here are the sorted times from the 1st 3 runs. If someone has the times from the runs in the 2nd session, feel free to post them.

Run 1 -
Chris 50.59
Chad 51.02
The Stig 51.04
Dan 51.28
Paul 51.51
Matt 51.55
Doug 56.57 (2 blown rear shocks)

Run 2 -
Dan 48.72 (rediculous)
Chad 49.70
Chris 50.31
The Stig 50.52
Paul 50.57 (solid!)
Matt 51.78
Doug 54.85

Run 3 -
Dan 49.22
Chris 50.10
Matt 50.59 (great improvement)
Chad 50.70
Paul 50.88
The Stig 51.26
Doug 52.20 (With 2 blown shocks? HTF?)

Someone wearing a TCI shirt(was it Jason?) was taking some cool action shots with his camera. If you know his contact info, see if you can get him to post some pics.

Chad, thanks a bunch for letting us know about this event!

[Vegas69]

You guys let a Roadrunner take you out?

[6'9"Witha69]

Meep!! Meep!! :P

[TCI Engineering]

Thanks for posting the first session numbers Chris. I am uploading my pics now....all 56 of them.

I'll add in Don's numbers from the '32 Ford as well.

1st session
Run #1 = 56.22

Run #2 = 54.43

Run #3 = 53.63

He was improving each pass so we didn't make any adjustments to the car at all.


Here is everyone's 2nd session.

Run #1
Don = 52.20
Chad = 49.97
Dan = 48.84
Stig = 50.92
Paul = 51.19
Matt = 50.88

Run #2
Don = *spun*
Chad = 51.02
Dan = no-time *traffic*
Stig = 52.12
Paul = no-time *traffic*
Matt = no-time *traffic*

Run #3
Don = 53.04
Chad = 51.13
Dan = 49.33
Stig = 51.32
Paul = DNF
Matt = 53.86

-Jason

[rrunner68]

Edit: Oops!

[406 Q-ship]

When are you going again??? I want to be able to put in a request to leave work early so I can go, I need at least a week of notice. I hate missing any chance to beat the Malibu.

[rrunner68]

2nd Session:

1st go....
Chad: 49.97
Dan: 48.84
Stig: 50.92
Paul: 51.19
Matt: 50.88

2nd go.....(Stupid roadster)
Chad: 51.02
Dan: TRAFFIC
Stig: 52.12
Paul: TRAFFIC
Matt: TRAFFIC

3rd go....
Chad: 51.13
Dan: 49.33
Stig: 51.32
Paul: DNF
Matt: DNF

[Chad-1stGen]

Chris.

Thanks a bunch for the video! You even managed to get one of my two sub 50 times.. yeeehaaa!!! I love how you can hear Doug in the background calling out peoples times and getting accurate too!

Now I don't have to post the crappy cell phone video I took so we'd have at least something to report back with.

Last night was a blast. A big Thank You to those of you that came out to the lil ol cart track to have some fun. I was pretty skeptical of the place myself but its actually a lot of fun and with fellow pro-touring friends it was 10x better!

I was talking with Rob McGregor last night and he's talked with some of the workers before and mentioned trying to get some more pro-touring types to join him and they've exhibited the typical attitude of "those cars can't handle!" Well I think we made a bad ass showing! Dan was probably top 5 fastest car there that night!

What is a "Chicago Box?"

a. area on street or track under fire from gangsters with machine guns
b. area on street or track which requires you to slow down enough to grab a dime bag out the car window
c. area on street or track that looks like this...


Note all three answers above were given in response to this question. The curly fries describe "the Stig's" anticipated path through the Chicago Box.

Ok lets make this a once a month thing in the summer. Who is down for August. I can make August 10th though I'm not sure if that is too soon for peeps that went tonight or not. I probably can't do the last Tuesday in August.

Thanks again guys. I also got to meet Evan from TCI but missed meeting Jason I think it was. Thanks for coming out.

[chr2002ca]

You guys let a Roadrunner take you out?

YES! We got a Todd comment!

We wish you could have been there to join in the fun Todd. Dan does SCCA racing and has his car really dialed in now, plus he's a great driver. He mentioned he came very close to catching Mary at a recent AutoX, so that gives you an idea of how fast he's getting. He said the car is at 3600lbs now which is still 'heavy' but is actually lighter than my car. It's great to see that RoadRunner surprising the hell out of everyone, including the announcer on the video clip. Throw in the fact that it's his daily driver now, 80 miles a day, and it's really impressive.