Good fun, on a very hot (97 F degrees air temp) day at Buttonwillow, California. A lot of cars that were even hotter, including a sweet 300ZX TT from Texas, Mike Bonnani's 350Z from Vegas (2nd place unlimited class-congrats bro, but you get to explain how that all worked out!), Mike A's yellow 350Z, aka the "bumblebee", Steve M's beast running in street class, and a gaggle of Mitsubishi Evos, Subies, S2k, NSX, Mustang and other great track platforms.

The event was run on the demanding configuration #13 in the clockwise direction.

Due to the high temps of the day, I decided to just run a few practice laps in session #1 to make sure the car was sorted out, and as soon as I had five laps under the belt it was clear that everything was right and I came in to give her a rest. I skipped practice session #2, no use beating up the car (or the driver as three layer nomex on a hot track is a good way to fry your brain!)

The first time attack session run was acceptable, but not great. A lap time of 2:05.2 which was a half second better than my best time last fall of 2:05.7, but still a bit disappointing.

During the third practice session that separates the two timed runs, I sat out again, and instead spent the time replaying the video of the first time attack session, and looking for places on the track that I thought held the greatest potential for improvement. Now, one has to be realistic about such things and not immediately proclaim....."everywhere". That may be true but it does not help to get a manageable solution. So after picking TWO places as the priority, the sweeper leading into Bus Stop and the transition into and through the Riverside sweeper, I replayed in my head a visualization of the speed, turn in point and track out....over and over. Tying the entry into both sections and the transition through Bus Stop into a smooth segment as best I could.

Then off to the second session. My three timed laps were 2:03.616, then 2:04.119 (one mis-shift), and then 2:03.606. The car was fabulous, and has a lot more speed in it and thus room for improvement by the driver, who still manages to be the greatest limiting factor. But considering I was at least 20 years older than the next oldest driver, and that every car in front of me in the rwd category was stripped to the shell, and we were running with Bose stereo, air conditioning, the back seat and all the luxury appointments.......a decent showing for the old man in the luxo cruiser.

I will get some pictures up and added here in a bit.

 

You forgot my z ed. The one and only z with the stock block.
Anyway you pretty much rocked at bw. The track was too hot for my taste though, and my car.

 

The event was indeed fun, even though our experience seemed to be plagued by misfortune at first. I wont go into great detail about all that happened as I have already re-lived the tiring weekend writing a full detailed reveiw of the event on my website at www.DoubleDown350Z.com. I will just say that soft suspension, two blown tires, and a set of front brake pads later, we managed to walk away with a trophy for 2nd place in the Unlimited RWD class with Scott Bush driving. The 2nd place wasn't as glamorus or exciting as it may sound though. There were only five entrants total in the Unlimited RWD class. One was the insanely fast JIC/Hankook S15 Silvia which set a new Buttonwillow lap record at a blazing fast 1:47.xxx just a hair quicker than the previous record holder which was Tarzan Yamada in the Sun Cyber EVO. Third place went to an older body Ford Mustang which was supercharged, wide-bodied, and I am sure much more. Who and what the other two competitors were, I don't know. In Street Class after the first round of competition we were hanging onto third place by a few tenths, but were only a few tenths away from second place as well. Unfortunately for us our front brake pads didn't make it to the second round of competition where the cooler track temps provided some good improvement in lap times for most drivers causing us to get bumped out of 3rd place in RWD Street. Modified RWD wasn't any better. The competition was close and after the first round we sat in 5th place, but the rest of the competition was around the same times. Had we gotten a shot at the second session, we may have been able to place in that class as well. Regardless of the suspension being too soft after the roll cage stiffened up the chassis, I think that we could have placed in all three RWD classes had we not been stopped dead in our tracks by front brake pads that were down to the backing plates. The moral of the story is, always come prepared with extra parts and even though its easy to get caught up making sure the big things are taken care of, don't forget to check on the little things before heading out to the track.

One thing about this event that was better for us than any other track day before was the crew we had and the support we got from them along with good friends like Ed (Eagle1). We switched our street tires from the Axis wheels to my good 'ol Nismo LMGT4s for this track day due to the smaller sizes of the tires fitting better on the 9.5" rims. Well, on the Nismos, we have always run a 285/30/18 up front with no need for spacers, but for some reason, even with a spacer, our 285/30/18 Bridgestone street tire rubbed the control arm resulting in a hole in the tire just as I entered the last turn leading onto the front straight. After hours of searching for a replacement tire anywhere near Buttonwillow or Bakersfield, we were saved by Eagle1. I was lucky enough to catch him on the phone before he left for the track on Saturday evening and he was kind enough to throw his Enkei wheels and Yokohama street tires on his trailer for me so I can still run Street RWD. We got the tires from Ed at 10:30pm on Saturday night, just in time to get some rest and head to the track on Sunday. Its friendships like that which make the sport worth while. I would like to personally thank everybody on my team for helping me and my car get through this stressfull weekend...

Scott Bush (WA2GOOD) - Thank you first and foremost for putting insane amounts of time, effort, and even your own personal money to get my car ready for the event. You turned everybody into a team instead of just a group of people and thats not just because you made everybody matching Relentless Autosports shirts for both days . We acted as a team and everybody in that shirt played a huge role in our success this past weekend.

Mark Brent - Mark is the head mechanic for Relentless Autosports and since he is not on the forums, I will direct this thank you to the general public. Without Mark this weekend, we would have not made it through to Sunday. Mark was working his *** of taking tire temps, fixing turbo pipes, making adjustments, and even doing a complete differential swap in 45 minutes. He even took the time to go buy and install heat resistant tape for the driver's side floor because we were seeing 195 degree floor temps. Aside from all of that he was kind enough to do a custom alignment on my dad's C6 Corvette because his new rear tires were rubbing a little. Mark is an incredibly skilled technician and an even more incredible asset to this team.

Chris Frick (FrickU) - You are a madman when you need to be. Because we run all three classes this guy probably changed 60 scorching hot wheels & tires over the weekend without a single complaint. He also shot some great video from the balcony for us and did a ton of other things here & there for us.

Big Dave - Big Dave is a photographer that Kognition Design sent out with us for the event. Aside from taking some insane shots of the car, he spent HOURS calling everybody he could along with calling literally everybody in the local phone book looking for a replacement tire and replacement brake pads for us. I truly appreciate his will and commitment to helping out the team any way he could and going above and beyond just taking pictures.

Jordan (JRSport018) - Jordan originally came up to check out track racing and shoot some video for us and he ended up not only getting some awesome video and setting up everything for that, but he helped a ton around the pits making sure things were where they needed to be, helping change wheels & tires, and everything else he could do to help.

Heather & Kelli - Instead of being like most girls and sitting in the air conditioning complaining about how much they want to go home, these girls were out in the hot sun cleaning the car, helping Scott and I strap in to the seat, making sure everybody stayed hydrated, and even fixing the front bumper, all while looking good doing it.

My Dad - My dad originally came up to drive his Corvette and have some fun away from home. He ended up playing just as big a role as anybody else on the team doing everything from buying fans to cool down the intercooler, to footing the bill for gas, food, and a lot of other things for the weekend. After seeing us in action he is even going to send some money our way so we can get some things we need for the team and the car.

After all was said and done, this was one of the best weekends I have had at a race track because of all of the people with me. Thanks again everybody.

Professional photos and video are being edited right now and will be posted as soon as I have them.

 

Here are a few preview shots that have been popping up...

Courtesy of Jordan (JRSport018)...



And courtesy of BigDavePhotography.com...(With Ed's Enkeis )

 

I met a bunch of people this weekend who I felt like I already knew because of the forums. My car wasn't there this weekend but I rode out with Steve from Arizona. I was the tall guy with the red hat hanging around Steve's car most of the weekend. Thanks to Michael A for letting me borrow a helmet and all the other Z/G guys for letting me poke around and ask questions.

 

^^^Hey! Good to meet you. Glad you had a good time.

 

Congratulations guys, sounds like it was an exciting weekend.

SinCity350Z - Sorry to hear about the pad issue, but second in unlimited class is an impressive finish. I like the new graphics!

 

Very well put Mikey, +100000

Things turned out ok in the end, Although it was frustrating most of the time, I would have loved to have had the chance to at least see what we were capable of running in the (much faster and cooler) afternoon sessions in all classes. I am beat today after being in the 140 degree car most of Saturday sorting it out, and doing the back to back classes (unlimited RWD & Modified RWD) on Sunday. I echo the thanks to all involved especially Mike B and Mr B, and my Relentless Autosports crew for being so helpful. The car is still in its infant stages (with basically only 3 Time Attacks weekends on it) This is just a on going evolution for the car and although it is a contender already, there is already plans for improvement and we look to be even quicker and even better prepared in the next few events we do. For me I just need to be realistic and start looking back on this for what it really is.... Its a great and steep learning curve, and Although I am a (results now, type of a perfectionist) I am trying to keep my head up. I must admit we have placed two out of the three times in these highly competitive Time Attacks. (1st place street and now 2nd place unlimited) Although I want to do a lot better than we have, we are making big progress. That's all we can expect
(for now )

 

My sincere apologies. The heat was too much for any critter other than a fringe toed lizard, that is for sure. Here are some pictures:

 

^^ Thanks sfarrah, although it was not directed at me, THANK YOU.

Too bad you couldn't make it out with Kuah this time.

 

sfarrah - Thanks for the compliment! I like the new graphic layout as well. Unfortunately our decal guy was out of red so we had to mix it up a little with blue. It doesn't match the harnesses and brake calipers, but I do kinda like the blue. Either way the color of the car along with the decals and components will be changing soon.

Eagle1 - Great pics Ed! I must say, although I am a die hard black wheel fan, your silver Enkeis don't look so bad .

 

It was a great event! Congratulations to Scott and Mike in placing at the event. I think if we had brought replacement AP brake pads we could of placed in one or two more classes, but we did what we could. I can't wait till the next event, and yes, I'll bring my car this time (still not over that).

A few pictures...video to come...

 

Really nice pictures, JRSport018
Looking forward to the video!

 

I believe I was salivating while reading this thread...

 

Here is video of the second timed run, from launch in the hot pit to the end of the second timed lap. On the first turn, called "Offramp", during the warm up the entry was too hot and there was some understeer and getting off line with cold tires. You will be able to see rotation of the rear in the Cotton Corners and out of the Sunset turn, and a bit in the sweeper before the Esses. A little dust cloud from the Evo in front coming over Magic Mountain and getting track out just a bit wide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jE6lPprC78

 

Great pictures Jared! I need to go buy a blank DVD to burn those video files on for you.

 

It was good to see you run again, Ed - it certainly was hot! I was mostly hanging with the two Z32s that were running, but wandered around a bit and tried to put some names to faces. The last time I saw your G was at BIG Willow, and you had MUCH less power! Good times...

 

Good to hear from you, and sorry we did not get a chance to meet and chat in the pits. I remember dicing around Big Willow, and your TT 300 was really pulling like a train, she was fast....and it was hotter than heck that day too! I think the air temp was 106F that day, and you were pretty much melting the tread off the tires right down to the cords at the end of the session we ran together.

Look forward to seeing you out there again soon.

Cheers.

 

nice pics guys! great vid there too Eagle1

congrats to sincity350z and scott for placing 2nd. Is this your best time so far @ Buttonwillow config 13 CW?

 

^^^Thanks! So far yes, the 1:58.551 is the best time for that car, but she has a lot more in her thats for sure especially on a cooler day.