mdw1000

I thought I might do the autobahn day with NASA, but looking at schedules now I don't think it is going to happen. I may do a test and tune with Mac and Red Devil near the end of September, probably the 27th.

FYI - looks like we might get some scattered showers this weekend, so we went out last night and bought a waterproof tarp to put over the sun canopy thing.

devildog1679

Well it seems they got a drivers side door instead. He pdf'd me a copy of the order form to prove they ordered the right part. I guess the supplier messed up. Now I won't get a door until early Friday. He said he can have it done by Saturday evening. So my event this weekend is no more The good news is that Nasa gave me a full refund as did the hotel. Sorry Guy's, this really pisses me off. I guess I have to wait till next season to run Gingerman. My NY trip the last weekend in September has to be cancelled so I will indeed be running Autobahn that weekend (either Sat. or Sun.) I need to get atleast one more track day in before winter comes.

mac11

iTrader: (1)

Its too bad. you are going to miss a good show. My tires (OEM bridgestone's) have 20k miles on them (10k from me) and still have really good tread left but I think they are starting to get hard, therefore useless. I may just make Gingerman end of the line for these tires.

devildog1679

I'm pissed it looks like there is going to be allot of seat time 5 sessions per day. This could not of happened at a worst time.

Red Devil

You may have got lucky with the rain in the forcast and all...

mdw1000

In case you haven't seen, the schedule is posted.

http://nasamidwest.com/docs/2007/sep_gingerman.pdf

DD - that really stinks!

mdw1000

DD and Mac - do you guys want to meet at my hotel parking lot beforehand, or do you just want to meet at the track? If so, what time are you guys thinking about being there?

mac11

iTrader: (1)

Being that the drivers meeting is at 8:15 and our first session isn't until 10, I don't plan on getting to the track very much earlier than the drivers meeting. There will be plenty of time for myself to get my car unpacked and ready to go while the group 4 and 3 guys are on track. If you want to follow suit, thats perfectly fine. If you are more comfortable getting to the track and getting ready before the drivers meeting thats fine with me also. I plan on getting off the expressway (i-196) at 8:00. From there it is 5 miles EAST on Phoenix Rd to the track and its a pretty wide open country drive.


EVERYONE REMEMBER THEY ARE ON EASTERN STANDARD TIME WHICH IS 1 HOUR AHEAD OF CHICAGO LOCAL TIME.

mdw1000

I think that being group 1 I have to do some classroom stuff in between the driver's meeting and the first track session. I thought I remember reading where group 1 guys have 3 classroom sessions the first day, and one of them is before the first track session. So I'm wondering if I should get there a bit earlier to at least get a spot and get registered, get my car numbers, etc. Of course I guess I could send the wife off to do some of that stuff too

If you look at the "primer on gingerman" doc on the event page, it says registration is pretty light so far. Given that, do we need to worry about getting there early enough to get a decent spot in the paddock area? Or is there plenty of room there that we don't have to worry about that.

mac11

iTrader: (1)

The paddock area is pretty small compared to like an autobahn type of place but w/o having the TT or racers there we should be ok on space. I am also in group 1 because I wanted to be guarenteed to have an instructor at least one or 2 runs. I know there is some classroom time that goes with it but I have generally found that I sit around too much between runs at NASA events and get bored (if there's not a car to fix). 20-25 mins in the classroom and 35-40 minutes to get everything else setup should be plenty, for me at least. Again if you feel more comfortable taking more time by all means get there early. If you do I would advice getting there early enough to just do these things:

Get a spot
setup the cannopy
empty the car
get checked in
get numbers, put on car

You probably don't need more than half an hour to 45 mins to do all that, tops. And that should have you and the car 98% ready to get on track. If you get there earlier than me try to get a spot on the edge of the grass/pavement on the right hand side as you drive in, if possible and try to bogart room for 2 - 3 cars if it looks like there is going to be heavy competition. You, Me, RedDevil should be coming later in the day, Mac's parents on Sunday. After the drivers meeting - if you would like - I will go through the tech checklist with you as a "pre-flight inspection" then your car should be ready to go. After that it should just be getting familiar with your instructor and talking to him. I don't want to try to give you too much before hand and contradict what he has to say. He's an instrucor (and I'm not) for a reason.

I am going to go through my tool box between now and friday night and get it all organized and see what else it is that I need to make a complete set. MDW, can you please bring that 3/8" to 1/2" socket reducer? Other than that I really am only going to have probably 2 boxes with extra fluids and the other track essentials and 2 spare tires to have to unload so that is going to take me all of 30 seconds.


I just got off the phone with my parents. They suggested a cookout on Sunday on the way home from the event. If anyone has any suggestions on food let me know and I'll pass that along. They have a boat docked in New Buffalo, Michigan - about 45 minutes south of the track, right on the Michigan-Indiana boarder - less than 5 minutes off the expressway. It's a pretty decent stopping off point to eat after a long day, just ask BR and RSD from the last time we all went up to gingerman.



wow, that was all kinds of helter skelter. ask questions as needed.

mdw1000

Just took it out and put it in the car now. In case I forget where I put it, I put it in that black Crescent toolbox that you saw last Saturday. Figure I'd bring those in case we need extra tools or it happens to have something you don't have. I figure by bringing it that means we won't need it, which is a good thing

The cookout on sunday sounds like a really good idea. It will just depend on how I'm feeling (if I'm feeling rough on sunday, we'll probably head back early) and what my wife's work schedule looks like for Monday. I sent her an email asking for food requests, suggestions, etc.

Even if we end up not being able to make it, thanks to you and your folks for inviting us! If not this time, I'd like to do it some other time if they are willing. Sounds like a lot of fun, and I love being near the water.

Is there an accepted method for reserving space for multiple cars? Like when people in Chicago put chairs in the parking spaces that they've shoveled out in the winter? Want to make sure I'm following protocol. Or should I just spread our stuff out over a large area?

How far is the area you want from the "Hospitality Pavillion"? Just asking because I know I'm going to have several classroom sessions, and I don't want to have to hoof it a long distance from our spot back and forth all day.

I'm guessing I won't have any problems getting there a bit early. If anything it will be tough to get my wife moving, as she is definitely not a morning person. I'm not either, but I'm getting pretty excited about this. Did I mention that my parents moved opening presents to Christmas Eve from Christmas morning when I was a kid? I'd start bugging them about 2:30 am to open presents. Then I'd come back about every 20 minutes and bug them some more until they'd get up. I'm suprised they didn't kill me.

mdw1000

I was emailing a bit with Jeff, the HPDE guy, and he said the first HPDE1 classroom session is immediately after the driver's meeting.

I'd love to have you look over my car for me! I took it to DID Racing last week to get the tech form filled out, but I think it would be a good idea for you to give it a good inspection Saturday morning as well, just to be sure.

mdw1000

Right now the forecast looks about perfect to me...

http://www.weather.com/outlook/trave...opnav_business

I knew we would scare the rain away - after all we went out and bought a waterproof tarp, my wife bought a new raincoat, and I put RainX on all the windows last night.

(Knocking on wood that I didn't just jinx it...

mac11

iTrader: (1)

awesome, thanks.

decent, we'll just play it by ear then. I'm thinking we should backed up at ready to roll out sometime between 530 and 6pm sunday night(eastern time) which would put us in New buffalo no later than 630 and probably back on the road by 730ish. And then you will gain the hour going back home.

Basically just spread out. Like pull off the road onto the grass and set the canopy up next to the car instead of in front of it. Maybe open a pair of lawn chairs on the opposite side if there aren't too many people crowding in. That should pretty much cover it.

I'm guessing the "hospitality Pavilion" is going to be building C, D or E in this chart and 'F' is the bathrooms. If you can try to get somewhere in the red square box and just pull the entire car off into the grass and stop don't go all the way to the center. That way the walk would be roughly the same as the walk from the sidewalk to the bathroom at your crib.



I'm pretty stoked myself. It's been quite a while (too long) since I've had the car on the track. I've been out at a few events watching these guys all summer and its been killing me. I'm going to try to change the oil and get most everything ready tonight when I get off work so I can relax tomorrow night.

mdw1000

Cool - I'm all about being close to the bathrooms!

We've got that tarp too, so we can spread that out with some stuff on it. It is 12x16 so that will cover a spot for one car at least.

So they are ok with you parking on the grass? That's cool.

mac11

iTrader: (1)

yup, just don't start a fire.

mdw1000

My wife says that she is fine with going to the boat afterwards as long as we aren't too wiped out. We are fine with whatever you want to do for food; we are not picky eaters. Let us know how much they spend so we can chip in.

devildog1679

This Sucks

mac11

iTrader: (1)

Just to rub it in....the forecast for this weekend has turned around as compared to the thunderstorms they were predicting on monday/tuesday.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/trave...opnav_vacation

devildog1679

Have fun Guys

mac11

iTrader: (1)

Was good to be on track with you. Had a good weekend. Hope you stick with it. And get that wife of yours a track car, too.

devildog1679

So I take it everything went well. I see you guys had great weather. Man I wish I could of gone

mac11

iTrader: (1)

Great weather, wish you could have been there. Would have been great to have another rotary car on the track.

What did you end up goin with for new tires?

mdw1000

Thanks! Definitely enjoyed being out there with you too, maybe next time I'll be a jerk and make you run behind me for awhile

I had a real good time and learned a lot. I definitely think I improved from my first session to my last. I ran 7 sessions over the two days of 20 minutes each. By the end I was hanging the tail out a bit going through turn 9 and loving every minute of it And I actually passed a car my second day (mac and rd - don't tell them it was a crappy civic I also had a session today where I didn't get passed at all, so I felt that was quite an accomplishment

Definitely going to have to think about sway bars now.

Yeah, I could definitely see her being very good at it. I'm guessing she'd be a lot like that instructor's wife - first couple of sessions very slow and struggling a bit, and then by the third session tearing up the asphalt and running faster than half the people out there.

Thanks again to everybody here for all your great advice! I seem to have found myself a new addiction...

Mac - got that new water pump in the mail while I was gone. If you are interested in helping me out with the install, I'd love to have your expertise. I haven't decided yet if I have the guts to do it myself or not... but I'm sure it would be a good learning experience for me. I can probably get everything apart, putting it back together will be the trick... I'm not in any big rush to get it on there, especially since I think most of our hot weather is behind us until next summer.

BlueRenesis82

Hope you guys had a blast. Sure was great weather up by me too