Spoke to Aryan today, and he said he had several 350Z's registered for this coming weekend's HPDE. Anyone here? I'll be working Friday, and then driving Saturday and Sunday. See you there.

 

I may come over and see you on Saturday. I'll be over on the Jefferson track with some friends whose daughter is taking the accident avoidance course.

Is Aryan going to offer any price breaks like last year? His events are among the most expensive on my list. More track time than some, but there are many with at least as much time that are cheaper.

 

i'm working this weekend, but i'm definitely going to the one on july 10th.

 

James, not sure about price breaks like we saw last year. I'll be digging for info this weekend. At least I'm driving for free (finally) . Also, bring your camera... we'll have to go and check out the latest on the Shenandoah Circuit...

Sean, what organization will you be running with on 7/10?

 

i'm not going to be running...just going down to check it out. sounds like it should be a big turnout

 

What event are you referring to?

 

There's a NASA event at SP on July 10-11.

 

John, yes I posted this a bit ago in the regional forums. I will be there Saturday and Sunday as well.

 

Wow, what a weekend!

I flagged on Friday, but came out to play on Saturday and Sunday. All-in-all, I logged 250 miles on the track over the weekend!

Saturday's weather was pretty goofy. The first session was wet from the previous night's rain, so there was a lot of slipping and sliding going on. By the 2nd session, the track had dried out, and the pace was moving. The wind picked up, and the skies opened up, so again, the track was slippery, and I had a fun time trying to balance the car through the turns. Coming out of T3, I spun the car sideways, still not sure how I managed. The carousel was precarious, as the transition between the concrete, sealant patching and asphalt, had the car dancing everywhere. Guess my suspension was a little too stiff. The final session had patches of wet pavement, but I managed to escape wrecking my car. Oddly enough, my car liked the normal line in the rain as opposed to the wet line...

Today was beautiful. Got up to 60, track had dried up, and I was ready to go. Had a blast practing my threshold braking, and I managed to boil my ATE Superblue fluid. The Cobalt VR pads are extremely aggressive, and managed to engage the ABS nearly every time. At times I found that being lighter on the brake pedal decreased my braking zone, so yes, I need some R-compounds now. Going into T1 at just over 130mph, I was braking just before the 200 marker, and from what the corner-worker said, I probably went the deepest out of all the cars (with the exception of a select few, like the nasty GT3 Cup car). The same went for T5, and there were numerous occasions when I went too deep (ABS got a workout this weekend), not to mention when I had to drive off at 110mph at the end of the straight when I mashed the brakes, but my foot was dragging on the accelerator. Oops! But best of all, I was finally able to blacken the Brembo lettering on the calipers... Unfortunately, I think I melted an ABS sensor...

James, it was good to see that you stopped by on Saturday, and it was really nice meeting you Steve (EnthuZiastDrive). Hope your ride-along with me was beneficial, and I look forward to seeing you soon. I know you're addicted already....

 

Now, I'd like to make a few comments about my car setup. I had to soften up the dampening in the front since my car was bouncing on the concrete patching. Having the fronts at around 5 stiff seemed to work best, and the rears were on 8 (out of 16). When I had the fronts at 10, my steering wheel was bouncing everywhere, and the front of the car simply was gripping. I finally put the 350Evo bars on full stiff, and body roll was next to nothing... As for my brakes, to be honest, the Cobalt VR pads are overkill unless you have R-compounds. My S03s simply couldn't handle the incredible bite these pads have when they're up to temp.

 

Hey John, excellent meeting you as well. Yes...I will be coming out more...lol. Getting to ride along in one of your runs was very beneficial for me in learning the cars abilities thus improving my own.

Everyone: If you haven't, go to some track some time!

 

Great write up John!!!

D*mn, wish I was there. 250 miles.......that's a sh*t load!

2 events already, and I still need my Blizzak's!

Can't wait for Mid-Ohio!

 

John, you boiled the ATE? How old was it?

This worries me.

 

I'm embarrassed to say the ATE was several months old... errrr... as in before Watkins Glen last year...

4 track weekends with decent track time plus 8000 miles... I'd say it held up pretty well considering the conditions it faced...

 

I'm set for the May FATT.

Got my car up on jacks right now to do the G2 paint on the calipers. Pondering doing a fluid change and pads now while its up there.

Is there a place local to get Hawk Pads? And whats a decent fluid to switch to? I'll be doing street driving with occasional at best days at SP.

 

Use either ATE SuperBlue or Typ200. If you have the original fluid in there, you probably want to use the blue stuff first so that you can see when you've bled out all the old stuff. What kind of Hawk pads were you planning on getting?