Perfect!

And you know (or at least I hope you know) that I am just giving you a hard time about the 944 thing. They're all good people too. Heck, some of my best friends are 944 drivers

 

My wife will have her D-SLR and she takes decent pics. I also plan on buying my set of the Performance Imagery pics as well. They'll all get posted

 

Although this link is from a few weeks ago, it's got 350Z shots from Miller Motorsports Park. You'll see the garages in the first few shots and the middle has lots on track.

http://www.chevyasylum.com/nissansport/

Photo credit goes to 'Ray the Rat'- I kid you not!

 

Dave, let me know how you would like me to remit payment for my half of the garage (cash, check or otherwise). Gary, sorry I didn't see your post about the garage space right away - I took the evening off (away from the computer) and I haven't gotten any email notices from the forums! Looks like we're all sorted out though.

Update on my rig... Will generously helped me with installing new sway bars last Thursday. He also helped remind me that my tool collection is woefully under stocked. The trailer hitch finally arrived on Thursday as well - on the second try - unfortunately Curt Industries has mis-labeled the hitch and sent the wrong one! Hopefully the next one they send is the correct one. I have the wiring harness too - haven't looked at it yet but might start installing that today. Would you believe the interior of my Z is still covered in PMI dust?! I haven't even had a chance to clean it out yet! Which reminds me... What the heck am I doing wasting my time on the forums again? Later guys, I've got work to do.

Joel

 

cash is fine, I'll see you at the track. Hey, even if the trailer doesn't work out, it will still be a good weekend, especially with the new sways!

Busy weekend for me, as well. Movers were here yesterday, and now I am unpakcing as best as I can. PITA, thats for sure.

Dave

 

Update:

Trailer hitch won't be in until Wednesday. Cutting it real close since I planned to leave Thursday morning.

I'm looking at the wiring harness right now, I might as well be looking at a bowl of spaghetti - I haven't a clue what I'm doing!

 

Joel – sorry to hear about all the trouble. At this point, it might be worth it to take your Z and the electrical harness to a trailer retailer, or even an automotive electronics shop (Car Toys, etc) and see if they’ll hook it up for a reasonable price. That way, you won’t have to worry about it, and it shouldn’t take them long to just look at it, figure it out, and install it, since it’s what they do every day.

 

Thanks for the sentiments Gary. Actually, I'm quite amazed with myself, I've got the wiring installed and everything works and even looks good! I had to remove my entire bumper and have opted to leave it off until the hitch arrives for an easier install. Like most things I've done to my car, it was scary at first, but now that I know how everything comes apart (and hopefully goes back together) it's not such a big deal. I just checked the UPS tracking service too and the hitch is here in COS - if I'm lucky it may arrive today which would be awesome!

Joel

 

I think NASA hired out a different photographer for this event. http://carpixguy.smugmug.com/

 

Thats how you learn to work on cars!

Hopefully everything goes back together and there aren't too many extra nuts/bolts/screws. I've got a bin full of extra (not really extra.....) nuts/bolts/screws from my various things I've done. Anyway, glad to hear it is working out.

Thanks for the info about the photographer. Whoever it is, I'll buy some, if only because it's a completely new track to us.

 

Dave,
Check the welcome letter for the photographer info. His email is included there as well - I think it's carpixguy@yahoo.com (better double check me on that though).. I sent him an email this morning so he would have a heads up that I wanted photos. Hopefully that will get me a bit more recognition and more lens time.

Update: The hitch arrived at about 2pm. I took off work at about 4 and installed it to the bumper and all I need to do now is put everything back together... then test drive the trailer, pack, pack some more, etc., etc.

 

David,

I have a response from the photographer and have given him your name, number and group too. Here's a copy of his original reply to me.

"Hi Joel,
Yes I will be at Miller this weekend. Beautiful z!!

Also, I am only charging $30 for all pics at this event. NASA has been a dream to work with and did some advertising for me, so the discount.

As to payment, I prefer paypal after the event. I am not setup to take credit cards, but will take cash in advance at the track. I will also stake money orders, or cashiers checks, or personal checks after the event. Miller does not allow me to setup a booth at the track so this is mostly an after the event deal.

I will consentrate on your car and look you up at the track.

Thanks

Larry Knight

Carpixguy.com"

 

Awesome! Thanks, I really appreciate it. I'll buiy you dinner or lunch or something.

Hows the hitch going? All back together?

You're leaving Thursday morning, right, so you have Wednesday to fix any final details?

 

Yes, everything is back together, I just have to go pick up the trailer at my dad's shop and take it for a highway test drive. I've always had the 'clunk' noise in the rear at low speeds, I think it's getting worse or something else is loose. I'll poke around this morning to see what that might be. Tonight I'll pack everything up and do a quick brake bleed, then I'll be ready to go!

 

BTW Dave. More from the photographer. Can you imagine how I replied to his P.S.???

"Excellent, I'll shoot his car as well. I hope you enjoy the track, I've never been on the whole track, just the east track when they split it, but I hope you really enjoy it here in Utah!!
See Ya There
Larry
P.S. The Z is faster than the G35 isn't it?"

 

Nice!

Your Z, with you driving, is faster than my G, with me driving..... Switch the drivers, and we might see a difference. Of course, at Miller, with the long straights, things might change.

 

Day One:

O-M-F-G! Can I say that here?

To begin with, all of us Colorado folk (including our transplant to CA, David 90TT) arrived without incident, even in the face of 50 MPH headwinds throughout most of the 9+ hour drive.

I think I was on track at least 3 out of 4 sessions today - either driving, riding shotgun with David P., or instructing (with none other than Jo Anne Miller as my student ). An early morning scheduling snafu denied me my first session where I was planning to take it slow and learn the core line around the track. Fortunately, Dave invited me to ride shotgun in his group so we could explore this incredible facility in tandem. 'FAST' is the buzzword you hear most often, and MMP lives up to that description!

Not all has gone as planned though. Gary Miller has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune. The engine of his 20+ year old spec racer has revealed a fracture in the engine block - or rather, that's the early prognosis. He wisely chose to sit out this event in lieu of doing substantially more damage to the engine. The most disheartening part of this story is that he never even got the car on the track. I'll let him elaborate on the specifics. In the mean time, he may have the opportunity to drive the pace car for a few sessions tomorrow and I'm sure he'll do more ride-alongs With Dave and I too.

I don't know where I'm getting the energy to write this log, in fact I think I'm fading fast and should get some rest. I'll try to touch base again tomorrow.

Joel

 

Great post! And the description is very apt- MMP will do that do people. Have you started to learn most of the turns? I couldn't say I was 'on-line' until the second day! I wouldn't be able to instruct much either, there's still some turns I have yet to learn properly!

Very sorry to hear about Gary's weekend. This engine problem must have occurred during warm-up? If they towed all the way out only to discover the problem at MMP, it's a bitter pill to take.

 

From what I understand, the car always spit a small amount of oil but the source was never identified. Something must have happened during the tow to Utah because it "gushed" oil the moment they started it up for the first time. This was only moments after being dismounted from the trailer. The executive summary is... No, he didnt' even got a warm up lap in.

 

Day Two:

Confidence builds, limits are tested and Dave goes off track!

Okay, okay... I had an excursion off the proper track surface too. But what's important here is that Dave went off FIRST in a wildly spectacular spin full of dust, debris and controlled mayhem. 'Mr. TT Speed Racer', acknowledged that he was trying to find quicker way through T2 and I think it's safe to say THAT wasn't it! On the other hand, I was the unfortunate victim of my own driving skill, asking the car to do more that it was capable of. Tires roared, everything went pear-shaped and I learned better the next time out.

Gary had some track time in an AWD WRX and was pleased with the performance. Jen, Dave's wife, joined us last night and spent most of the day taking photos of everyone and everything that moved. Jo Anne, now a graduate from Group 1, continued with the Group 2 experience, driving solo around a multi million dollar race track! (Grrrr). AND, we became great friends with a bunch of Corvette guys - NOT!

Seriously now, we're all having a great time and as you can tell, dishing out a lot ribbing and kidding around. Until now, we've been driving the outer perimeter of the course - tomorrow the entire track opens up (all 23 challenging turns). I think we'll participate in the first few sessions before packing up heading home. More later...