Thought I'd better start a separate thread about racing at the American Road Race of Champions (ARRC) at Road Atlanta this fall. I set off from my home in Colorado for this 1400+ mile adventure yesterday. Towing my 24' enclosed trailer with my '08 Titan KC LWB is usually an adventure in itself, and this year was no exception.

Across eastern Colorado and Kansas, it's like an ocean of grasses and wheat, with a little green sprinkled in. There were a TON of huge wind generators set up across Kansas, and the effect is a bit surreal when you see them spread across miles of prairie around I-70. The wind seemed calm when I left, and this held true until the afternoon when a cross wind not only made the rig less stable, it simply killed my fuel mileage. For those who might complain about the VQ's mileage and power, I have news for you. The VK56DE has massive torque and power, but 6.2 MPG will drain even the Titan's 34 gallon tank mighty quick.

It seemed worse when I had to use the ethanol-enriched unleaded fuel in Kansas. But that was only part of it- the smallest bit of wind resistance catches my trailer and turns it into a huge sail. That's what 8,200 lbs of Z racecar, 2 1/2 sets of tires, full toolbox and spares will do for you. Still, the Titan is a pleasure to drive, even as I dodged the massive traffic jam through Kansas City with folks celebrating the Royals World Series title. The drive across Missouri and into Illinois is always a relief after the never-ending rolling plains.

There are always strange sights to see on a road trip like this; today a Honda Accord sedan burned furiously on the side of the interstate, and a fire truck did a 180 behind me to get to the site quickly. Outside of St. Louis, a brief view of the arch was quickly obscured by fog, just after sunshine seemed destined to rule the day. I lost an hour to CST and will lose another when I make it down east tomorrow. The days seem so short, and now the advance forecast predicts rain for qualifying and the race. Guess I'd better make sure those rains are aired up before I get to the track Thursday...

 

Hope the rest of your trip is flawless! I believe track conditions should be dry for Friday and Saturday. See you after lunch Friday!

EDIT, 40% chance of precip Friday morning.

 

The "Royals" who? What? "Whirled Cheerios?"

That's how much I'm into ball sports.

But mention "road race" or "Road Atlanta" or "Dave Okamura's 350Z T3 racer" and I'm all over that!!

Have..... Safe drive down, safe/fast drive while there, safe drive home!!

MicTheCheerleader
(And I know some of you would PAY to see that!)

 

Thanks, guys! Wish I could transport you to Illinois today- another 450 miles through thick fog on I-55 and my achin' back is feeling it today. Ah well, another day in paradise for this racecar/tow truck driver and chief bottle washer! THIS is no 'arrive and drive' deal and I get to experience every detail.

BTW Mic- don't look for any "Okamura" in the results, but David Muramoto might appear!

 

Oh doy.... I knew that. Dah, senility is a bit*h.

 

I live in the A and sorry buddy the weather has been **** for a while now! 40% Thursday, 40% Friday, 60% Saturday and 40% Sunday! Wish you the best tho! Hope you brought rain tires.

 

Thanks for the weather reports, guys. And yeah, Stolly, you bet I've got rains ready to go. Actually ran them back in 2012 during a qualifying rainstorm at Road America, so they're well-seasoned. I usually enjoy racing in the rain, but we're up so early (first race on Saturday morning) that getting some heat into the tires could be difficult.

 

Best of luck!!

 

Finished my tow today with a drive through the north Georgia mountains. Rather than endure the traffic congestion through the Atlanta beltway, I headed east and SE from the town of Dalton and marveled at the fall colors, changing weather and small town charms of some of the places I went through.

It's also amazing to see how much has changed since I first started competing at Road Atlanta back in 1990. Some of those rural areas now boast gated communities with huge estates. Even the area around Road Atlanta are built up now, and I hope this venerable track survives the expansion of suburbia in Georgia.

Managed to get registered and teched for the race weekend. And while I originally wanted to get some practice in the Z, the track was so wet, I weighed the risk of getting some quality laps in vs. the possibility of damaging the car. Decided to pass and left the Z in the trailer overnight, while I aired up the rains and got ready for qualifying tomorrow.

 

Best of luck Mr. Muramoto!

 

I'm headed to the track in an hour, forecast says dry till 2.

 

I'm jealous, then again I'm only 5 hours away, hmm...

 

Had a good day today. The rain quit as I got to Road Atlanta for morning qualifying and I ran slicks for that session. With swaybars still attached, the Z had too much oversteer for the conditions. The afternoon was better when it decided to REALLY rain and soak the track. There was a small stream running through my pit as I swapped over to full rains. The afternoon qualifying went better as I could take advantage of the increased grip immediately. Particularly under threshold braking, I could keep the Z under control and transition to the throttle sooner.

Ended up being the fourth fastest in that session, but with several cars turning faster times in the morning, I'll start 8th out of 33 racers in what looks to be a wet race on Saturday morning. Better yet, I got to meet jhc at the track to talk Zs and take a tour of Road Atlanta. Good to meet a local enthusiast at one of my races and he even had time to go get dinner and talk about My350Z!

 

Very impressive, DK! Thanks for having me in the pitt, and the restaurant suggestion. If I may.

You represent racers, enthusiasts, and my350z.com like no one I've ever met. Your passion, drive and knowledge run deep. Had a fabulous afternoon, thank you! Cleaning up after a long day -
Have an awesome run tomorrow!

 

Wow, jhc joins dkmura at Road Atlanta....

Is jealous so I is.

Good luck!! Based on time diff between CA and GA, guessing you've already run for the morning and hope you did well!!

 

Despite the weather and a 1400 mile tow,
dkmura WINS Road Atlanta T3 class. The man is my boss! Very. Nice.

 

Seriously, Dave, I don't fanboy over a lot of things but your racing efforts give me much to cheer about!!! Congrats on the win and keep on doin' it!!!!

Full report, soljer!!

And thanks for the result, John, our man on the spot!

 

Congrats David. Well done sir.

 

Congrats!

 

Thanks, everyone! Here's a few pics from this weekend to give you an idea of what it was like:


Saturday was such a tease; it rained cats & dogs just before the race, then stopped completely. I didn't try to outguess it and started the race on rains. That was the right call, although I didn't make a good start and lost two spots to more aggressive racers. I settled in and started to find my rhythm for the first half of the race.


This photo shows how wet the course was during the race. This is the last section of Road Atlanta's awesome back straight. You are at WOT for a LONG time and drafting and passing is a big part of racing here. I pushed the braking threshold a bit too much about 3/4 of the way through the race and was fortunate enough to avoid getting stuck in the grass and mud!


Maybe the main thing to remember is how much FUN it is to drive the Z at speed! My T3-spec Z33 isn't blown or have a V8 conversion, most of the magic is in suspension parts, setup and tweaks to help the VQ put the power down. You might be surprised by how close your own car is to the one that's won the ARRC title in back-to-back years. And yeah, racing in the rain is tricky, no doubt about it. But the better you get at driving and walking that fine line between traction and disaster, the more you enjoy it!