I am leaving tomorrow night from Vegas. I still need to swap out my belts, change the oil, swap wheels, and fill the new radiator with coolant so you are not alone on last minute prep lol.

 

I just spent the evening bleeding my lines, popping out my center caps and changing pads (only took me an hour and a half -- but still).

 

Finally I see the Jeff Ritt. You always flaked on the days I went

I am leaving Friday evening from Garden Grove / Long Beach if you wanna Caravan. 714.875.5517

 

hmm just wondering... can anybody join this? is it some kinda study or competition?

 

www.nasaproracing.com

 

wow i feel really dumb... i thought it was nasa as in the space program. do you guys have roll cages in your cars? im insterested in competing but i am a total newb... and a young newb... is there a certain age i have to be to compete?

 

No cage required.
16 is okay with parental consent. Otherwise 18+.

Read all about NASA's HPDE driving program here:
http://www.nasaproracing.com/hpde/index.html

You might want to check out an event for yourself to see what it's all about. Come on out to Buttonwillow on Saturday and stay to watch the evening endurance race.

Complete schedule available here:
http://www.nasaproracing.com/socal/e...5-Schedule.pdf

 

I'm leaving from San Francisco tonight. Car is prepped and ready to go. I've got to watch some video though because this track is essentially new to me.

See you all tomorrow.

 

RickDogg,
Please don't snipe me...I'll be there this time, I promise.

I'm going to finish the car up after work, and then I'm heading up tomorrow AM. Only running Saturday, not Sunday. I think I'm going to run Group 4, and my girlfriend's dad is going to drive my car in Group 3.

If anyone needs race pads, etc., let me know before the end of today and I'll bring them with me.

Should be a good time...i'm looking forward to finally meeting some of you guys.

Dave,
I ran #13 counter-clck once, and it was fun. IMO, Riverside is not quite as hairy as it is clockwise, and you carry some serious speed into the bus stop. I think coming on to the front straight is more hairy though, which I'm not too keen on with the pit wall looming. Ah well, just need to take it easy through there. When I ran that config., I watched an S2K stuff it into the wall there (with a very experienced and excellent driver at the wheel). The esses aren't quite as fun either, because you're not flat out like you are when going clockwise.

 

What configuration are we running and in what direction?

edit, just called the track and they said they are running Configuration 1 CCW

edit again, I've only been to this track once, and we ran clockwise. I guess this will be a totally new track to me. Should be fun.

 

how much does it cost to get runs in with instructors? does anybody happen to know if state farm covers these HPDE events?

 

Instructors are free if you sign up in HPDE 1 or HPDE 2. I have not run with N.A.S.A. before so I am not 100% sure they are free, but thats the way most groups do it. Since this is not a timed race event and is considered a "Driving School" (HPDE = High Performance Driving Education) your insurance should cover it. Although you will have to fight them on it and they will probably drop you afterwards lol. Don't worry though, just go as fast as you are comfortable with.

 

Instructors are provided only in HPDE 1

Most major insurance companies have now excluded all on track use. But check your policy.

If you want track insurance -- go here: http://www.americancollectorsins.com/

 

Thanks to everybody for helping push my car back on the trailer. (Full story coming soon).

 

Nice meeting everyone this weekend. Next time you SoCal folks will have to visit us up north.

 

Ok heres the full story...

On my first lap of the third session I lost my power steering so I pulled into the hot pits to check it out. I looked down and saw that my belt was shredded and tangled in the pullies. I drove back to my pit area and when I went to pull the torn belt out I realized that my tensioner pulley was gone. Luckily it was sitting on top of the front diffuser piece so I didn't lose it. Then I realized that my other belt was really loose all of a sudden as well. That tensioner pully was almost off as well and the belt had slipped off behind it. So I was done for the weekend since I couldn't get any replacement belts in Bakersfield or Buttonwillow. It was a really expensive weekend for two sessions, but I still had a lot of fun with everybody.

 

Great meeting you all. Thanks for letting me drive your unique whip Dave.
The suspension is coming along nicely. I think my next day out is going to be purely a setup day. I need to get organized, and start collecting some data to get the car dialed-in. The hardware is clearly capable, I just need to get some fresh rubber, and tune the thing. Then I'm going to be humming...can't wait!

 

Yep -- I had a great time. Configuration 1 in counter-clockwise is pretty sweet.

Great seeing everyone. I hope to get race rubber before too long as I now think that I am officially outdriving the Khumo MXs.

I did not have a transponder, but timed my laps with th stopwatch in our cars and got 2:29s typically. But I am not sure how that compares to others.

My pad knockback was killer -- I am now doing the left-foot dab thing while in straights. I wish there was a way (other than piston springs) to cure this issue in our cars.

 

You mentioned in a post above that you were going to change your belts. Sounds to me like that is your problem. Something did not get torqued down to spec or something.

 

Yeah I had to change the belts because I installed a Unorthodox crank pulley, but I didn't touch the bolts that came loose.