Mrsideways

Hehe. Look at my Name here being straight and settled Just isn't fun. And yes the tracks here are pretty boring. Moroso, Sebring (just to name a few) sebing in the miata felt like. Brake, turn GASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, shift, GASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS (play a game of chess) GAAASSSSSSSS brake, Repeat as follows. I had some incar video around sebring and no joke at one point I actually yawned in the video. It took 2 or 3 laps to figure out the absolute latest point I could brake for each corner and honestly after my first session my Lap times leveled off. Believe it or not There is a point where you can get no faster for how that car is. Once your lap times start only dropping in the .01 sec range then it gets boring and you try to see how close you can get the corner workers to pull out the yellow flag before you recover. I found roebling road to be pretty entertaining but I liked it alot more when I did a Solo 2 on it with cones.

Yes Solo2 is a very ineffecient use of car time but So is 9 corners for 2 miles of track. A good autox course will have about 75-100 corners on a .7 or .8 mile course. I usually get about 6 laps at an event around here so thats at most about 600 corners (all back to back) That would take about 66 laps around roebling road. Or 35 some odd laps around sebring. With each lap being almost 3 min (just for easy math, I think I was lapping in the 2:40 range in my miata) It would take almost 2 hours of straight laping around sebring to = the same amount of corners you get in 6 autox laps. And you don't get nearly as much varaity. That;s just the way I look at it. Different things for different people. I have friends that Do track days every chance they get and I have friends that Autox every chance they get. (I don't know anyone who rallies but God I wish I did, My checking account said NO). But the odd thing I found is when most of us started we were pretty close to each other in driving skill. NOW all my friends that Autox are Signifgantly faster then my friends that do track days, on tracks and at Autox's. There is no question in my mind that you become a far faster driver doing Solo II events.

Now as for your sacraficeing gears. Thats true to some extent. But not true enough to cause you to be down a 1500 rpm EVER. I just watched some in car video from my track days and in a miata with a redline of 7K it never dropped below 3700 rpm. I'd hardly call 3700 rpm bottom end power. I've never had my S2000 on a track other then SoloII's around tracks but it's fairly easy to keep the car in Vtec. The only time I can see it coming out of V tec is in corners below 40 mph where you won't shift to 1st. I'm thinking about running a track day again in the near future but In my wagon. It doesn't handle worth a damn but it sure will surprise some people down the straights. It traps in the 115mph range. I attempted to autox once for kicks and it was a waste of time. Autox is all about handling and the wagon was all about Understeer followed by a one wheel PEEEL.

Shogun

Bob--

I'm not that crazy about the commercial, it's the first "dancing" ad girl that I am enamored with. Sick?? Perhaps.

Joe

S38

Ideally, you want a close ratio box that allows you to keep the motor right in the sweet spot. Regrettably, the M5 has too much of a spread from 2-3. I believe this is because it was primarily designed to be running in 3 and 4 most of the time. To be honest, I hate corners that are so slow you have to go to 2cnd.

I do enjoy autox and will do some events this year for fun. It is always fun to see how I compare to much smaller lighter cars. Plus, a Mini Cooper S may be on the horizon.

I drove one yesterday that has about 200hp (new blower, exhaust, etc. from some German tuner). Oh my, what a fun car. It just doesn't feel like fwd car and it is turning with even the slightest movement of the wheel. All for $23k plus $2k for the mods. Hard to beat that.

Mrsideways

I had the opertunity to Autox a Mini cooper Non S. I was amazed at the times I was putting in with it. Your right it doesn't have the FWD feeling as much as most FWD cars. My only complaint was 1st gear in corners was all wheel spin (yet even in my buddies open diff maxima we don't have a 1st gear wheel spin problem, It will do it but it's easy to control) and then when I shifted to 2nd I wanted to get out and PUSH. Protege's have the same feeling. Nice car. I"m yet to drive an S even though I have some friends with them here in town.

John

iTrader: (17)

While I haven't driven any tracks in the Florida, I haven't heard one good thing about them. When the opportunity manifests, you should drive farther north and try some of the tracks in the Mid-Atlantic, especially VIR.

Mrsideways

I've heard VIR is fun. I'd like to give it a try some time. Lime Rock would be another neat one. I almost did a skip school at Laguna 2 years back. At $2K+ I couldn't swing it. I have so many laps around there on Tourismo I'm completely bored of the layout.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Just got through registering for Speedventures Buttonwillow event on March 21st. This track is located just outside Bakersfield, CA and I figure it will be about a 1,300 mile trip (one-way) in my Redline track model. Almost like Shogun's break-in trip to Florida in his Pikes Peak White Enthusiast!

Like our day at PMI, Buttonwillow looks to have a good combination of high and medium speed turns. I'm certainly looking forward to learning (for me) a new track! Check out the website at Speedventures.org and take a look at the tracks they will be racing at this year. I plan to do 4-6 events with that organization and take my new Z around the country in '03.

Wish me luck- I'll do us proud!

publisher

Wish me luck- I'll do us proud! [/B][/QUOTE]

Hey D,

Bring home the gold and pleeze let me know if I can be of any help.

Bob

Oh4aZ

DAMN!!! I am so mad at myself for missing this whole thread. I can't believe I missed the Feb 16 thread.

When is the next meet??

publisher

Stay tuned...