I'm posting this extra early to hopefully catch some interest. Second Creek Raceway (SCR) is a 1.5 mile road course located northwest of Denver Intl Airport at 88th and Buckley Road. A few years ago, the Colorado Motorsports Council (made up of various car clubs, including SCCA, Porsche, BMW, ZCCC and vintage) rescued the track and took over the management. As a way of saying thanks, every week between Christmas and New Year, the track is open to the members of these clubs.

A word of caution: these are open lapping sessions and there are vehicles of widely differing speed potentials AND drivers of different experience and ability. My experience driving my car (and Shogun's Z) at this event last year was that each driver had to watch out for themselves. You must drive the line to be safe and not get too spooked when the faster cars pick their way through. Don't make any sudden moves when someone is coming up behind you- allow the overtaking car to instigate 'the move' and intersect the proper racing line behind them. Our 350Zs will hold their own on this tight and twisty track, but there will be some full-on race cars and others (loved chasing that F40 last time) that will be passing from time-to-time.

You can bet that the day after Christmas (Friday the 26th) and the following weekend will be CROWDED. I'd suggest we stay away from that mess and shoot for the following week. Monday the 29th through Wednesday (New Year's Eve) look like the best bets. I'd also be willing to give rides or lead a group (similar to the afternoon sessions we use at the PMI HPDE/track days) in multiple lapping sessions. This will not be a 350Z HPDE day as the track is much too busy. But for all those who have attended at least one of the past HPDE or track days, this is a great opportunity to exercise those skills!

So please post here and let's see who is REALLY interested and what day(s) you can go on. If the weather gods smile on us, we might even have two or three days track days to PLAY with! Keep in mind that, due to zoning and leasing restrictions, SCR will soon be passing into history. A new track is in the planning stages, but will be hugely expensive (rumoured to cost in excess of $6.5 million) and not ready until 2007 at the earliest. Don't miss this opportunity- it remains the most fun you can have with you clothes on- so get those helmets ready and your ZCCC or SCCA memberships paid up!

 

I'll be there. The only days during that week that I'll be in town are the 30th and 31st (Tuesday and Wednesday,) and I think it would be great if we could get a group of 350s out there.

I have to say, though, that I'm really curious to see what a track day with dissimilar cars is like when the ZCCC's overtaking rules are nowhere to be found. If this is going to be F1-style outbraking into T1, I'll just hang out and watch. But hopefully there will be some lulls in the action (or at least some gaps in the traffic) where I can fit the Z in without too much worry.

If everything turns out, it would be great to get multiple days out there. I'm looking forward to it; I just hope the weather is good.

Gary

 

Awsome thanks for the info Dkmura! I've never been to a track event so I would definately like to check this out. But I can't really tell if it's open on the weekend, you mentioned the 26th, 29th - 31st. Is it also open on the 27th & 28th by any chance?

 

Gary- What? You want more F1 action, already? And at SCR???
LOL- I think there will be some passing on the main straight, but it's the other corners that may be concerning. You might recall last year I tried to hang back and only pass on the straights, but when someone doesn't drive the line and holds you up, it can become a problem. That's when knowing how and when to put on a proper pass comes in handy! Let's definitely plan on a Tues and Wed session (or both) and I'll try to elaborate on more "how to's".

Juztin- SCR will be open on the weekend days you mention. The problem is that the track will be quite busy. More cars= greater risk of damage and less track time. Probably not the best of situations for someone who has never been on a track before. Still, you could go down and just check it out over the weekend...
Are you not available the following week?

 

David - I want nothing even remotely resembling F1 action. If I'm on the track and someone wants to pass me into a turn, I'll just back off and let them have it. It's getting caught up in 2 other cars' out-breaking maneuvers that has me worried. Well, that and not being sure how other cars will react to being passed. This hasn't been a problem at the Z club track days, but I get the feeling it could come up at a free-for-all day, though. Hopefully we can talk about some overtaking (& being overtaken) techniques that may come in handy at an event like this.

If the weather holds up for 2 days, then I'll be up for both Tuesday and Wednesday (assuming work allows it, which shouldn't be a problem.) For what it's worth, I'd like to make it out there on Tuesday, and if that goes well, then I'll probably find myself back there again on Wednesday. I guess I should order some extra brake pads, just in case.

Gary

 

Gary- I hear you. Sometimes it's being in the middle of a pass that gets us all into trouble. Hence my recommendation that we leave the crowded weekend alone (put down that rattlesnake, boy!). There's a fine line to being too passive and that, believe it or not, can also cause problems.

I don't want any of us to put one scratch on our beautiful Zs!

 

I'm hoping to come out, although I desperately need new pads for my Z. I have the stock brakes. What pads do you reccommend, and does anyone have a suggested source? I've been having a little bit of difficulty finding some good pads for the car.

I was thinking of using Porterfield R4S pads on the street, and then the P4 pads for track days in the spring. I've also heard good things about Hawk and Carbotech pads. Any thoughts?

 

I'm running Carbotech Panther Plus fronts and rears at the track, and so far they've performed well. They're high dust and they're pretty loud, but they feel better than the Axxis Ultimates I had on the fronts before, and they feel MUCH better than the stock pads. Also, Carbotech is the only vendor I know of that makes pads for the non-Brembo rears. The biggest downside to the P+ is that they take a little warming up at the track to get up to their best operating temps, so you've got to take easy the first couple of laps. Visit their website (www.carbotecheng.com) or give them a call if you want more info about specific compounds. If you go with Carbotech, be sure to mention you saw them on this site for a good discount. Good luck!

Gary

 

Hey there David, only problem is I work during the week, and work gives me like christmas day off and new years day. So going on the less busy days would be tough for me. I know better than to get on the track bro lol. I definately wanna go watch though, maybe someday I'll fire it up and take out on the track, but I need to do some work to it first to get it there .

Take it easy bro,
--justin

 

Don't wait too much longer to get some new pads- you don't want to nick those rotors. I've been using Cobalt Technologies Sport GT compound on my track model and give them a strong recommendation. Not sure if they offer it in the stock rear size, however. Maybe compare them with gary's suggestions; their toll-free # is 877-562-9237. BTW- I just ordered some stock rears from Porterfields, their R4S compound is available. We'll have to get Joe (Shogun) to give us a report on them since they're going on his Enthusiast model Z.

We need to get you to come out for an early season HPDE on the weekend. I'll be looking at January-February possibilities...

 

thanks for the suggestions. I personally know a guy who sells Carbotech and Porterfield pads, and I know both companies make pads that fit on the tiny stock rear brakes. I can't wait to swap up to the Track model brembos. The stock rears are just anemic.

A Jan/Feb HPDE sounds great. I'm just a little hesitant to take my car out to SCR with a bunch of experienced drivers in other, higher-powered cars, especially with passing, etc. I'd rather get a few more HPDEs in and gain more experience.

 

David, I have a special guest coming for Christmas. You've already met my special guest and maybe I can convince my special guest to join me for a drop-in visit.

Would Joe be coming? He met my special guest and my special guest would enjoy seeing him again. Not sure why.

I love this job.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Bob

 

Bob-

You bet! Your Special Guest would certainly be welcome and I'll talk to Joe and let him know.

We just LOVE Special Guests!

Merry Christmas everyone!

David

 

I'm currently out of town for Christmas and won't be back in Denver for a couple more days, but I'm curious what they're saying about the weather in CO for the next few days. The Weather Channel down here mentioned snow in Denver on Sunday. Hopefully this will melt by Tuesday.

David, do you know what time the track opens for the free sessions? I'm going to try to make it out there as early as possible on Tuesday morning (weather permitting) to start getting some laps in before we get too much traffic.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Gary

 

Gary-

I believe the track will open at 8:30 a.m., based upon my experience in the past. The weather report is somewhat changable- they forecast snow Friday night, but nothing much came. I've looked at two forecasts that predict clear, but cold weather on Tuesday (high in the 40's).

My thanks to Shogun, who again allowed me to take his PP White Enthusiast Z out to SCR yesterday. It wasn't too crowded in the late afternoon (another option) and we turned 8-10 laps in a brief session. Believe it or not, it started to rain and then sleet slightly towards the end, so we allowed discretion to be the better part of valor and ended our quick run. Joe's car ran very well, quickest over a 996, M5, various Hondas and Acuras and we had quite the exciting pass over a Sentra Se-R. Joe said it scared the $%#&! out of him!

See you on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. I'm trying to get some friends to come out and "enjoy the ride".

 

Hey David, I was at second creek Friday as well. Although I had my day cut short when the fan went through the radiator in my 240. I need to find out why it did that. I think it might be my transmission mount sliding forward under hard breaking. I guess I will be putting the 5 spd in new yrs weekend along with a new transmission mount and maybe the 280z motor mounts.

 

Darrel-

Sorry to hear about your radiator woes. Hope your New Year's weekend includes some answers as well as some fun.

Gary and everybody else who's interested in a Tuesday track day-

I found out today that SCR will be open from 9am- 5pm this week, so let's plan on meeting there at around 9am. The weather is supposed to be pretty good, with highs in the low 50's on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For anybody that has any time off this week. Get down to SCR and take advantage of this time. In all likelihood, this will be the last free set of track days for years to come. And SCR will pass into the mists of time before you get a chance to experience it!

 

lol, did Joe get his pass over the se-r on video!? Awsome performance, I've unfortunately been unable to take a day off in such a short notice to go the track. Oh well, catch you guys around though!

 

Here are the pictures from Tuesday's session-

David thanks again for the ride along.

See you guys at the next track event.


Colorado Track Pics

 

Tim-

Thanks for posting the pics. Just returned from the last day at the track. Beautiful weather and lots of Porsches (and BMWs, Mazdas, etc.) to play with. For those that disn't make it, you missed a great time.

For those that did (and yes, I mean you Gary and Dennis), you acquitted yourselves well. The skills you were introduced to at the start of the year have truly begun to blossum. From this point on, you will find yourselves integrating them into your own unique driving style. While there's still plenty to learn, you can take pride in knowing that you've come a long way in 2003!

Happy New Year, everybody!