just wanted to get an idea of other Z's headed up there.

i can hardly wait to get up there and let her go.

sean

 

I'll be there. I also met 2 other guys from Greensboro last weekend that will be there as well.

 

let me guess...

matt and richie?

i met them at an autocross. matt was also at VIR for viper days.

good to know we will have several there.

 

Yeah. By the way, I learned my lesson about tires. Last weekend was my 2nd time at VIR south and I used my stock wheels/tires to scrub them off. That is the last time I will use them on the track. I have T1s w/ TE37 as well and will use them instead. The Re040s were greasy every time about half way into each session. I was getting some great noise out of them at every deep turn. See you there...

 

good to hear that about the tires. makes me more confident about my decision to go with the volks and the toyos.

sean

 

Good luck guys!! Sean, give me a full report!!

 

Flyingscot changed my mind re: tires. He said he has put 6000 street miles and 6 track weekends on his T1s and they still have 1/2 the tread left. I know on the short coure at VIR south I needed all the grip I could get.

 

Assuming the hurricane allows, I'll see you guys there. I'm stoked!

Are y'all staying in the area or commuting?

 

hey brian.

it does look like the damn hurricane is going to be our biggest enemy. hope it decides to go somewhere else.

i am staying at the comfort inn and suites, the headquarters for the thing.

sean

 

Latest forecasts has it past by the weekend. I'm hopeful.

I decided to try commuting this time. It's only about an hour's drive from my house. I may regret it, but I've heard several people say they do it.

 

I'm worried as I live in Wilmington, but we should know for sure by Tuesday when and where landfall will be. bhob- I stay in Chapel Hill every time I go, the drive is exactly 54 miles, a very easy commute.

 

Looks like we are still on! Hopefully I won't get too banged up. I would hate to leave my wife for the track with trees on the house!

 

me and rich are running. we will be their around four friday afternoon so we can get through tech. so it sounds like we have four for sure. i hope we will be in the same run groups.

 

I expect to be in Green; this is only my second event. Wouldn't surprise me if Rob (mcclaskz) is in a higher group; you've run a few times, haven't you Rob?

 

Just got back from VIR, had a good day! Full course is just incredible! Chased a few 3rd-Gen RX-7s around, some faster some not. The course was a little crowded, but I was one of the last admitted, so I have no room to complain!

It was a pretty warm day in the sun, but humidity wasn't too bad, overall a good day weather-wise. Bigdaddy had his first day on a road course and was just blown away. After his first run, he said something like "that experience is going to turn out to be very expensive in the long run". I think he's hooked! He also had a good time riding in his instructor's turbocharged Miata.

I didn't take many pictures, I'll try to take more tomorrow. Here's one of mcclaskz heading for the grid:

 

I posted on the Triangle Z Club forum:

Report from MazdaDrivers VIR Full Sept 20-21

 

I was tired and didn't think about the fact that some browsers might not want to register at Triangle Z. Here's a repost:

What a great road course! What a great weekend!

Quote of the weekend, from a disgruntled Mazda driver: "What is this, a freaking Nissan event???"

We had six 350Zs at VIR Full this weekend, two in Green group (bigdaddy and I) two in white group (mcclaskz from Wilmington and Ritchie from Greensboro), one in Yellow group (Matt from Greensboro) and one instructor (I didn't really meet him; he was Rob's instructor, apparently a pretty serious racer.) I won't say we dominated, but we made it very clear that the 350Z is a force to be reckoned with.

I heard a report of one M3 driver saying "I think I'm gonna trade this thing in on a 350Z".

Weather was excellent; maybe a tad warm, but not horrendous if you had shade. The event was very well-run; there were a couple of inevitable wrinkles to be ironed out, as usual. The main problem all weekend was that the instructors group kept getting black-flagged due to wrecks or mechanical problems, thus throwing the schedule off.

Observational note: One problem with VIR Full as compared to VIR South. With South, it's small enough that it's very easy to spectate, to keep an eye on the run groups, to know what's going on. VIR Full is so spread out that I felt out of touch. I don't really know as much about what happened there this weekend beyond what happened to me and my little circle.

Personally, I feel I progressed a lot in my second outing on a road course. Two major accomplishments: I did a good job of driving my own line, not the line of the person in front of me, and I solo'ed for the first time, in the last two runs. I felt very comfortable driving solo, and really kicked *** in the last run!

I also enjoyed watching bigdaddy in his first time out. A lot of the things he was saying I remember from my first time, too. The first thing he said after his first run cracked me up; he said something like "that will turn out to be a very expensive experience". I think he's hooked!

Here are some pics:

Web pic gallery

 

Was the Turbo Miata White, Driven by Doug Gubbins?

 

Great pics bhob! That was a great weekend.

 

hehehe Eric took most of the pics! I just gave him my camera and said "fill 'er up!" DId you see the movies at the end?

Brian