John

iTrader: (17)

Wow, what a weekend!

Albeit the ever-changing weather, this weekend proved to be one of my favorite HPDE weekends yet. 12 Z owners showed up in all, all at different skill levels with different setups. I enjoyed meeting new faces, EnthuZ, Joyia, peptidbond, Jason H, Dennis, Jim, Steve, Igor, and Buff (the rest of you I already knew ).

Friday was wet, but as the day went on, the track started to dry up. This was my first time at Mid-Ohio in the wet, and I must say that the wet line is counter-intuitive for me since I'm used to concrete being grippy, not slick. After a short first session, I started to get a feel for the car in the 2nd session, and had to relearn everything in the 3rd session as the track dried up. Mid-Ohio definitely has a very dynamic wet line.

Saturday wasn't warm, but at least the track was dry (except for the HPDE 4 1st session). As the day went on, everyone picked up speed, and everybody was in good spirits. This was my first time in HPDE 4, and I had to get accustomed to open passing, plus this was the first time I got to run with James. Had a blast! Even though James and I were the only ones on street tires, we held our own, even though I was getting rolled by the select Panoz' and 911 Turblows... Yesterday reminded how much I love this track!

This morning it was snowing, but the track was only wet. The first session was pretty boring for me, but my 2nd session was a blast, as I went all out in the wet, snow blowing through my windows. I finally felt like I had acquainted myself in the wet with the car, four-wheel drifts through T1, the keyhole, through the esses, and in the chute, counterlocks included. I decided to end the day with a smile on my face, as I had a long drive home (as well as other things to accomplish). From what James told me, I should have stayed as everybody left, HPDE groups were combined, and there was lots of bonus track time.

I really don't have any photos, mainly because after playing with James' camera last year, I realized mine was insignificant and not worth using anymore...

Long live the 44oz. margarita!

jcan

Hey Guys and Girls,
Wanted to tell all of you how great it was to find so many Zs at this event. I showed up Friday not knowing any of you were coming and, obviously, not knowing any of you personally. I can't tell you what a pleasure both surprises were. You are a great and generous bunch. I feel the Z's all made a good showing for themselves on and off track and I hope you all consider BeaveRun w NASA in June. I may be making Putnam in May as well. Please let me know if any of you are going to either of these.
Igor, I'm sorry we couldn't get a session in, but if you're going to either of the above-mentioned events, you can request me as your instructor and we can get out as much as you want.
Lastly, special thanks to James for supplying me w new front brakes. By the way, they performed perfectly w just a hint of squeeking. I did "bed" them according to the instructions and I did put the shims back in. In the past, I have had brakes that have started out quiet and become noisy later so I guess we'll see if they stay quiet or not. More importantly, they performed extremely well w great, consistant stopping and no sign of fade. I'll keep you posted.
Hope you all got home safely and, for NASA, I want to thank you all once again for coming. See you soon.

EnthuZ

iTrader: (2)

John, great write up! Yes, the weather was sh*t, but I still had a great time! Sorry that I wimped out and didn't run with you 2 wild & craZy guys on Sunday!

It was very cool meeting all the attendees! We sure had a great group of Z enthusiasts show up.

I think one of my most enjoyable moments was the ride-a-long in Joe's(Joyia's instructor) VERY fast 930 Porsche! Not sure I'll get all the mud off my jacket though!

Wish I could add some pictures, but I can't find my d*mn camera!

Mid-Ohio sure is a fun track! I don't remember running a track with as many elevation changes and off camber hill cresting curves! Tons of fun! MADNESS!

Now, if they would only move a certain tire wall back about 3 inches............

peptidbond

iTrader: (2)

HA! You and that tire wall made friends, didn't you.

I was going to come here and post all of the secrets from this weekend (crashes, meetings with tires, almost backing one's door off), but you guys are nice so I passed.

At any rate, I was only there on Saturday and it was a blast. Thankfully, I did not have to race in the wet stuff. The track was dry and as the day went on it got faster. By the end of the day, I was hitting my top speeds.

The group there was also great. Not only did we get along with each other, but we made a nice, polite showing. We raced well and fair and did not have any issues. I tell you one thing, if you are racing in the future, go to Mid-Ohio with these guys (and Joiya who is one of the guys). It is an absolute blast.

Now, how about the same place, same people, on August 20th? I think I am signing up.

Oh, and for anyone interested, I am going to Beaver Run on May 9th for an open lapping day. You can find info at www.beaverrun.com and call them for a registration form. Just fill it out, include payment, and send it in.

Redline350Z

peptidbond, either you're going to put your Z on a ski lift, or you intended to type this address: http://www.beaverun.com/

Any casualties this weekend? I'm hearing hints, but nobody is spilling the details.

igor@af

Hey everyone,

Here are some photos I've put up: http://www.automotiveforums.com/350z...0204/index.htm

As for casualties, I was the first

My first session Friday morning, when the track was quite wet, I did a combination of dumb things....

As I was coming out of the carousel and into the straight by the stands (people that have been on the track may recall the slight elevation hump), my rear end broke loose on me big time, going around 60 mph. I did a full 360, with my rear end inches away from the outside concrete wall, and ended in the forward going position right by the wall... I tried my best to steer the **** away, but regrettably I did hit it a little:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/350z...C00719_jpg.htm

I've got to say, I got really lucky - had my rear end hit the sidewall during the 360 spin I would have been ****ed

Factors contributing to the rear end breaking loose:
- wet surface and possibly an extra slippery spot under the inside tires during my throttle
- throttle that was not smooth enough (my error)
- VDC off (my error)
- 350EVO rear swaybar set to Hard (front was Medium) (my error)
- only about 6 gallons in the fuel tank, which made the rear end lighter (my error)
- absence of the spare tire, mats, and tools, which made the rear end even lighter (my error)

My audacious attitude put me in this position and I definately paid for it, but I am very glad that it happened as it allowed me to settle down and really focus on racing while being smart for the next two days.

As soon as my first session ended, John helped me out and set the rear swaybar to Medium, which totally changed the balance of the car to being significantly better in the wet (duh).

I had a blast nonetheless, and my biggest problem ended up being stuck behind significantly slower cars in my class (HPDE1).
My instructor commended my cool during the incident above and signed off on me on the first day (maybe he just got scared and didn't want to ride with me anymore ).
On Saturday, I was really flying and found incredible lines and braking points, but was getting stuck behind cars at every turn and limited passing got a bit frustrating.

Time wise, I am pretty sure I was well under 1:50 by the end of Saturday.

It was great to meet all the Z owners out there, and I look forward to seeing you all again!

I won't be able to make Beaver Run on June 5th as I have Players Run '04 from June 5-12th.

commasense

I want to thank everyone who left early on Sunday for making it possible for those of us who remained for the whole day (Steve in the white Z, Jason, and me) to have some extra track time, and yet leave earlier than planned. (Nyaahhh, nyaahhh!)

I hate to say I told you so (okay, I enjoy saying it!), but my advice about dealing with weather at the track turned out to be exactly right. Namely, don't stay away from the track, or leave early, because of the threat of bad weather. Be at the track no matter what, because you never know what will happen. Other people will probably be scared off, so there will be fewer cars, and if the weather gets better you're in great shape. And even if it doesn't, go out and run in the wet. All time on the track is good time. You'll learn a lot more about yourself and your car than you would on a dry track. Just take it easy, be smooth, and try different lines.

So anyway, at around 11:30, after John and EnthuZ had left, Lawrence announced that, since there were so few people left, all the HPDE groups would run together for two more sessions at 12:30 and 1:30. That gave me four half-hour sessions, instead of the planned three. By about noon, although it was still cold, the sun came out and the track was almost completely dry. I ran my best lap of the weekend in the last session, a 1:51.7, better than my best recorded time of last year. So we got an extra half-hour on track and were finished by 2 pm instead of 4:30. Steve and I had a great time jousting with each other in the last session. He's very quick, even though he's only been running a relatively short time. (I think we can expect to see him here on the forum soon.)

The bad news was that Dennis, Jason's uncle, pranged his black S2000 at the end of the back straight in the 12:30 session. It looked pretty bad, although it may be mostly cosmetic. The silver lining was that he was able to use Jason's trailer to get it home to Columbus while Jason ran in the last session. (Unfortunately, his accident also cost the rest of us all but five or six laps in that session.)

My front S-03s are practically slicks now, after only 4,500 miles and ten track days. I got 11,000 miles and 13 track days out of the RE040s, and had more tread left on them when I got rid of them than I do on the S-03s now. Needless to say, I'm not happy. I think I may go for Jason's setup: Toyo RA-1s, 245/40 all the way around.

It was great to meet you all, and I hope we'll have a chance to meet up again some time. If you haven't already seen it, check out my list of East Coast HPDE events here for possible re-meets. What about the NASA-OH event at BeaveRun on June 5-6? I'm also seriously thinking about the Car Guys trip to VIR (Full Course) August 13-15. Lime Rock (CT) and Pocono (PA) are my other two priorities for this season, but I haven't picked any serious possibilities yet.

Let's see if, in the next few weeks, we can arrange and confirm a few more track meets for this season. I'll start a separate thread in the Racing forum tomorrow or the next day.

I have pictures, lots of pictures, of everyone who ran in Group 2-3 on Saturday (taken at the approach to Madness), and a few other shots from the garage, out group shot, etc. I'll post a few of them here tomorrow. If you PM or e-mail me your postal address, I'll mail you a CD with all of them on it.

Particular thanks to John for arranging our group discount.

Thanks again to everyone for making it a great weekend, despite the weather, and I hope I'll see you again soon.

igor@af

If anyone is interested, I will be going back to Mid-Ohio on April 23rd with the S2k Club of America: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=210064
The cost will be a bit steeper - $235 but that's for 160 minutes of track time. (5 20 min sessions and 60 minutes during lunch).

EnthuZ

iTrader: (2)

So it's picture time!

Since Igor posted his oops, I'll show mine. I listened to my instructor and slowed to allow another car, a Mustang if I remember, to pass going into Thunder Valley(not an allowed passing area). Bad move. Off camber, cresting a hill, and letting off the gas to facilitate the pass, I unloaded the rear tires, and the ensuing 360 took us for a ride to the tire wall. A VERY light tap, a dent that John kindly popped out and a few scratches that should buff out.

EnthuZ

iTrader: (2)

Joyia's instructor kindly took a few of us for rides in his 500 HP twin turbo Porsche 930. On about the 5th lap of my ride, he gave it a bit too much gas coming out of the keyhole, and we did a 180 into the inside of the turn, throwing mud all over me and his race car.

Here is a shot of Joe cleaning it:

ellisnc

Hey everyone!

Good to see a group of owners using their cars as the designers intended. You guys were like the plague out there this past weekend. Also glad to see only minor casualties.

James, sorry again for holding you up some in the 2nd session on Sunday. I totally didn't know I was walking away from you guys on the back straight. Before I talked to the guy in the white Z I thought it should have been pretty easy for both of you to ride me all the way down the straight if you wanted by (290hp + 6MT vs. ~260hp + 5MT) The combination of the wet braking zone, S2000 wreck and cold race tires as well as lack of laps that session was my weak point. Hope I stayed more out of your way the 3rd session The tail was wagging on the Impreza a couple times the last session down into that braking zone so hopefully you don't think I'm a total weenie. Wouldn't mind one of those CD's after I saw the results from last year.

I was actually kind of peeved that I didn't have the lap timer beacon out the last session because I didn't anticipate going that fast or having the track be that open.

One thing I noticed is that if you are going way faster than a few of the cars on track, there's no sense in pitting in because you'll just catch them the same lap back out on track. It's better to just work through it and then have to go all the way around to catch them again. I lapped that one white T/A 4 times the last session, crazy...

Anyway, hopefully I'll be out at the end of August too so I can get on track the same time as John.

EnthuZ

iTrader: (2)

On a happier note, a shot of John, James, and our groupie, in our garage:

EnthuZ

iTrader: (2)

Last one for now, a shot of the beautiful weather Sunday morning:

EnthuZ

iTrader: (2)

Another oops!

commasense

I'm glad to see you found your camera, Bruce.

BTW, was that your large white towel on the work bench? If so, I owe you a serious apology, because I thought it was one of mine and used it throughout the weekend to clean off my car, John's, and then mop up some spilled brake fluid. When I went to pack it away at the end of the day and saw it was gone, I realized my big one was still in my plastic box. So I'm really sorry about that.

Nate, you didn't really hold me up, except by your very cautious braking at the end of the back straight, but I understood that.

I'll post some pix a little later today.

peptidbond

iTrader: (2)

Yea, I meant BeaveRun.com. At any rate, any one in the area is welcome to join me on May 9, 2004 (Sunday). It all starts at 8am. We will be running the North 1.6 mile loop.

Can't wait to see some more pictures.

commasense

As promised, some pictures.

John and I drove through two hours of snow on Thursday to get to the track. I had never driven in the snow so long in the Z, and had never seen this pattern:

commasense

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commasense

Jewelz350 and EnthuZ in the garage on a cold, wet Friday.

commasense

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