This means Phu should be at the head of the caravan- with all the weaving and such, he's sure to attract the attention of the long arm of the law FIRST. Besides, he's got the credentials to get some real sympathy from the officer who nabs us. LOL

 

Joel- Very sorry to hear about the knucklehead clients. I hope things change and you make it, but if not, you'll be missed!

BTW- I didn't ask anybody about the return trip, but if this weekend is as busy as I suspect it'll be, I'll be staying over Sunday night. I'd be happy to caravan back with anyone who starts back on Monday morning.

 

Wow, that's too bad that so many people fro Colorado won't be able to make it. Oh well, maybe next time.

Dave and Phu: See you tomorrow at 9:30
David

 

Don't wait or stop for me in the Springs. I'm not sure when we'll leave, and you don't want to caravan with us. We'll probably be stopping every two hours to feed the baby or go to the bathroom. Kids. See you guys on Sat morning for sure.
Will

 

In order for me to make this event, I have to work Monday. Which means that I may have to leave around 4PM on sunday.

 

Roger that. With the agenda we have planned, you should get in most of your track time by then!

It's now Friday morning and it's almost time to leave. Weather looks fairly good for the weekend and we have 60+ cars registered. Looking forward to a great time!

 

I hate you all but have fun! Thanks Bamyi for the wake up call! You caught me right when i needed to get up anyway so no worries man. Hope you found everyone, have a great time! Bastards....

 

David (aka ),

Thanks again for organizing the on-track activities for this weekend. I had a blast with the students and they all seemed amazed by what they were able to do with their cars. Especially after the "line" started to really sink in. The ride alongs were well received and the semi race sessions at the end of the day sealed the deal. I think that you have converted a few more people into track junkies and I hope that they decide to attend the SWMS track event that is coming up soon so that they can feed that newly found addiction.

Let me know if you receive any of the photos or videos from this event.

 

I had a great time, of course. Thanks again Roy for your instruction. You are a great track guide- sorry to see you're selling your Z. David, thanks for letting me tear around the track in your car. Get that damper fixed, and I really missed the Tilton out there. Good to know it isn't very good for longeity though. I'l have to rethink getting it. David K and Phu, you guys are awesome. Thanks for coming out as well. It's nice to have friendly faces out on the track. Phu, thanks for offering me your ride when mhy tires were giving out, you're a top notch guy. For a free event, it was well worth the time and drive and doesn't really get much better. The last section of the day was the clincher with an almost empty track and plenty of time.
Will

 

Yeah, it was a great time. It was a good turn out. I liked how there was a decent variety of cars and drivers. The weather was good, a little too sunny. It was a neat track too. I kept saying that there was one part the reminded me of 2nd creek. The wall after the last turn made me nervous every time I passed it. Also the lack of run off kept me on my toes. It was a very flat track, but it had some good turns and a somewhat tricky technical line. It was interesting to follow the Miatas around. GaryM: you’ll be glad to know that the Zebra striped one that you drove is still running great. I even won a Dupont car cleaning kit at the Garcia Infiniti raffle, woot.

I wish that we could have stuck around for a few more rounds, but I'm glad we left when we did. It was a good drive back. I still can't believe that we got passed so many times on I-25 when the cruise control was set at 90. It was fun romping through the mountain section after Trinidad with our “Police Escort”. It was also a good drive out there too. One of these days I would like do that route again.

It was good and bad to have so many new people to the track. I liked how there were so many people were given the opportunity to see their car’s capability. I think some of them were a little over zealous and since they were new were a little confused, but I’m glad that there were no major mishaps. And I’m also glad that the mishaps that did happen didn’t lead to any major problems. Especially with that black 300Z.

Dave and Roy: Great job on putting this all together and with the instruction. Thanks again for all your hard work. Also that Mexican restaurant was awesome. Since you were asking for feedback, a few suggestions that I have is that I would have liked to be at the point when we left on Sunday to be the day before. Then have the full second day set up similar to the ZCCC track event. 15-20 minute sessions with Beginner, novice, intermediate, and advance groups. I also think it would be helpful for the instructors to select which driver went to each group (the example is how many first day track people raised their hand to go to the open passing intermediate/advance group). This may allow the beginner and novice groups to have more of the Instructor’s help and training. Then also allow for the two upper level drivers to have more open time on the track. If each group is set up specifically for the division (Follow the leader with Instructor for Beginner and Novice, limited passing for Intermediate and Advance, for example) then I believe that it would be more beneficial for all the groups. I also think it would have been good to suggest that the people who have driven that track before to ride along with the beginners or for the beginners to ride the advance or even intermediate drivers to show them the basics of track driving. That really helped me when I started. I don’t think that everyone took advantage of taking a ride with the Instructors or having them ride with them, I know that time and availability were limited, but having the beginners ride with another normal driver could have helped distribute the knowledge and training. I really liked the having the training events in series on the track. It gave a good intro to the track, was pretty fun, put everyone on the track, and was relatively quick and efficient. For some reason I had an issue with all the people showing up late, after noon, and unprepared. It seemed to always cause an issue to the instructors where they would have to specifically take care of them, taking their time away. Also something simple that I think helps is having copies overhead map of the track for everyone. That seems to help me know and plan where I’m going and also a good aid when I ask for help.

Will and Phu: Thanks for the help with swapping out the brake pads. My brakes are really squealing right now. The Receiving Dept at work came out when I was pulling up because they thought they were getting a truck delivery. I was good to have the Colorado guys out there.

I'll post some pictures when I get home tonight.
David

 

As far as suggestions go, I would recommend more open track time on Sunday. Like David said, similiar to the ZCCC track days. I also was bothered by the number of people that showed up for only the last day or came in after lunch with no prior instruction. I recommend that pre-registration be enforced and only those who attend Saturday may attend Sunday, unless waived by the organizers on a per driver basis. That way, intstruction can be done on Saturday, and then run groups can be re-sorted for Sunday's outing based on instructor feedback. The novice and beginners continue with a follow-the-leader approach, while the more experienced guys get limited passing rules in a run group with drivers of similiar abilities. I think an instructor should still be out with each run group, but this would allow the drivers who progress or have enough skill to open up their car and push their limits a little more, while keeping those who want a more restrained and safer environment happy.
Will

 

Since i didnt get to make it, i suggest that everyone does lowspeed follow the leader laps for both days. These benefit everyone and make me feel better about the fact i couldnt make it...

 

There aren't too many more rude things you can do in life then to be late to an appointment or event. What it shows is that your time is much more valuable then everyone else around you or the person you are meeting. This is a big pet peeve mine and drives me crazy.

Glad to hear everyone had a great time.

Mudd

 

Every thing David and Will said. Thanks David K. and Roy for the event. Also, thanks for letting me run in the intermediate/advance group. I learned ALOT in just that one session.

Will, always love your company and as always, you speak some weird techo language I will never understand.

David, glad to have your company as well. We need to hang out more.

PS. No one mentioned but there were two other Denver guys who came out.

 

I think that this event was a little different than most track days because it was sponsored by another party. Which in turn changed the focus to a marketing event vs a driving event. I also believe that many people were told to just show up when ever they want and being a free event there was no incentive to arrive prepared and on time. Where as that would not have been tolerated at a normal open track day.

In a way it felt closer to a Mazda Rev-it Up event. In that, there were new cars being shown off, vendor booths, and basic driving instruction. The Rev-it Up main event was two timed laps around the auto-x with the chance to win a new car. The Rev-it Up events had more vendors and glitz but I would gladly give that up for some actual track time. So kudos go out to Billy from Garcia Infiniti for actually trying to pull this thing together.

I think the idea of providing free track time is awesome and in this case it required some different rules (lead-follow sessions) to keep things relatively safe. It would have been even better if we had enough instructors to provide one-on-one instruction but that wasn't in the cards. Anyways, I think that this is still a great way to introduce newbies to the idea of high performance driving. I hope that they decide to take the next step and sign up for an actual track event. You never know, they may get hooked on it just like the rest of us track junkies.

 

The place in Eagle's Nest near Taos

Road to Taos

Dave holding court

The Event






The Dinner


The Event Day 2










On the way to Denver

 

LOL, I never saw you take any pics of your food while we were at Garduno's. That's pretty funny, in a totally unexpected, random way. Thanks for the photos David. I'll post some of mine when I finally get home.
Will

 

Will, you must be drunk at Dinner then. David even said he had to use the Flash and embrass us all! And when the flash went off, we all laugh.

I was glad you had a chance to get on the track and stretch your legs. When we said bye to you, you looked like a sad puppy. So, since you were able to use David's car, where was your braking point coming off the straight and into turn one?

Early on, I was breaking just after the wall and taking it smooth into turn 1. Then I started braking later at the cones and taking a harder angle to set a straight line into turn 2. Curious as to what you did.

 

How sad is it that I have no recollection of that at all? I must have been delerious from my massive, blistering sunburn.
Will

 

All I have to say is...



Honestly glad everyone had a great time!!!