Reno Fernley Raceway
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From: Pasadena, Ca.
Reno Fernley Raceway
Made the pull up north from Pasadena, and Mike A all the way from San Diego, to get to the raceway for a run with Trackmasters-Racing this Memorial Day Weekend. It takes about as long to get there as does to walk to Belize. Solid ten hours of driving time with a trailer for me, and about 12 and half for Mike.
And worth every minute! What a track. 4.2 miles, more than thirty turns, major elevation changes, with sections called the "slide", the "hoot n holler hill climb", and a set of high speed esses at the end of the front straight followed by double apex hairpin.....just phenomenal technical parts and some cannonball cojones sections as well. But do NOT go off, as the moonscape around is littered with not just rocks, but BOULDERS that will gut the undercarriage. The track is new and a work in process, and over time will undoubtedly get better groomed.
I will get some video and description up in a couple of days, but have to get to work now.
It is not a track for a high hp car like Laguna Seca or Big Willow Springs. But is more technical like Sears Point or Buttonwillow. However the twisty sections are in places very compact like Spring Mountain. This is a tough track on your tires as you will be sliding!
Here is a picture in the paddock:
And here are a pair of Porsches coming through the "slide", about a 45 foot descent and hairpin leading to a good long (and bumpy) straight.
And worth every minute! What a track. 4.2 miles, more than thirty turns, major elevation changes, with sections called the "slide", the "hoot n holler hill climb", and a set of high speed esses at the end of the front straight followed by double apex hairpin.....just phenomenal technical parts and some cannonball cojones sections as well. But do NOT go off, as the moonscape around is littered with not just rocks, but BOULDERS that will gut the undercarriage. The track is new and a work in process, and over time will undoubtedly get better groomed.
I will get some video and description up in a couple of days, but have to get to work now.
It is not a track for a high hp car like Laguna Seca or Big Willow Springs. But is more technical like Sears Point or Buttonwillow. However the twisty sections are in places very compact like Spring Mountain. This is a tough track on your tires as you will be sliding!
Here is a picture in the paddock:
And here are a pair of Porsches coming through the "slide", about a 45 foot descent and hairpin leading to a good long (and bumpy) straight.
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This was a serious tryout of the new 24 way adjustable coilovers that Mike A has been working on. We t
\]ook out the Stance coilovers that I replace the Tein Flex with, and was [']very happy to have. We did Cal Speedway with the Roval on them and they were very solid and crisp. Especially going through the Roval I was very pleased with the stability and predictability going through the banked turns 1 and 2 at 150 mph. But this was the caldron of fire test, because Reno Fernley throws it all at you, and hard. Uphill, downhill, on and off camber, diminishing radius, increasing radius, trailbrake turns, high speed sweepers and toss and gun it turns. With better than 30 turns per lap you are working the car hard, and the tires are punished with all the loading from side to side and the slides.
What the course really proves out is that the set on these coilovers occurs very quickly. There is no "mush" or squish, they just set right away and without a shock or slam. When I changed over from the excellent Nitto NT-01 tires to the gummy Hoosiers, the difference in performance was even more pronounced. The tires gripped "right now" and the set was predictable and aggressive. For a street car the adjustability is very easy, but to go to "track settings" is just a few twists and POW, you have an animal on you hands. I was really impressed. There is so much flexibility in the settings that it is going to take me awhile to understand how to extract the max from these coilovers, but what a blast to use and experiment with.
I will get some video up, probably inferior to what Mike has, but when you see what this track involves, you will understand. I cannot wait to get back out to run this remote treasure of a track. It is what they say, "racings field of dreams".
\]ook out the Stance coilovers that I replace the Tein Flex with, and was [']very happy to have. We did Cal Speedway with the Roval on them and they were very solid and crisp. Especially going through the Roval I was very pleased with the stability and predictability going through the banked turns 1 and 2 at 150 mph. But this was the caldron of fire test, because Reno Fernley throws it all at you, and hard. Uphill, downhill, on and off camber, diminishing radius, increasing radius, trailbrake turns, high speed sweepers and toss and gun it turns. With better than 30 turns per lap you are working the car hard, and the tires are punished with all the loading from side to side and the slides.
What the course really proves out is that the set on these coilovers occurs very quickly. There is no "mush" or squish, they just set right away and without a shock or slam. When I changed over from the excellent Nitto NT-01 tires to the gummy Hoosiers, the difference in performance was even more pronounced. The tires gripped "right now" and the set was predictable and aggressive. For a street car the adjustability is very easy, but to go to "track settings" is just a few twists and POW, you have an animal on you hands. I was really impressed. There is so much flexibility in the settings that it is going to take me awhile to understand how to extract the max from these coilovers, but what a blast to use and experiment with.
I will get some video up, probably inferior to what Mike has, but when you see what this track involves, you will understand. I cannot wait to get back out to run this remote treasure of a track. It is what they say, "racings field of dreams".
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Okay, the video is uploading to youtube now. It will take a short while to be cleared for release, and then you can watch it. The file limit is 100mb and that is not even enough to get two full laps of the 4.2 mile circuit on tape! About 32 turns, and some nice elevation changes, the severity of which are hard to appreciate from a car mounted camera. This was a new engine so I was going low on the rpms and not pushing at all, but still she did very reasonably out there. I think the track is one that takes several visits to get even marginally comfortable with for purposes of pushing the limits. Not the Nurburgring by any means, but enough going on to really tax your skills and stamina. Run ten laps of this baby and you are going to feel it, as is your car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Tz4WZPjp0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Tz4WZPjp0
Last edited by Eagle1; Jun 4, 2007 at 05:15 PM.
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