SilverEIGHT,

It was either sell or drop a few bucks into it. You know how sometimes several items tend to hit at once?

It just seemed time. Good thing, too, because that sale paid off all my debt right before 9/11 took my industry out of commission.

I really miss it, though. Did you check out the videos on the site?

The RX-8 is tiding me over, plus I have a daughter now, so it's probably best.

I should have the images all uploaded late this evening if anyone is interested in the different groups. There are more images here than you will care to look at, I promise!

BMW CCA at RA

Hey guys, I was the one in the black RX8 here. First of all, thanks Silvereight for the great pics, I will be buying 1 from you soon. Sorry I am just logging on but with a new baby, it's tough to get any time to freely peruse the forums here.

Let me first say that this was my first track session and it was simply amazing. For $400 you get four 20 minute sessions per day for two days and 3 classroom instruction per day as well. The in-car sessions were amazing as the instructors were simply fantastic and you can't imagine how insanely cool riding in their personal autos on the tracks were (one of mine was a 2005 EVO MR the other drove several late '90s M3s completely stripped and set up for racing).

I heard from many people there that of all the schools they've been to (Panoz, NASA) this was the best and to me, $400 for such a weekend was WELL worth it.

That being said, people were there to race their autos. Mostly production cars but a few semi-pro race vehicles. And in that respect there were quite a few accidents. I never worried about getting into trouble or losing control as the instructors knew my limits and then once I got comfortable, pushed me as those limits evolved.

A good friend of mine was an M3 racer and was instructing. He had me on the edge of my seat and pushing my RX8 to the VERY limit of racing. I couldn't believe I was hitting 120 on the backstraight and then drifting in the turns at such a high speed. Once I got the hang of it, I was blowing past other M3s and even a 540i as I found out it is maybe 85% driving skill and 15% the car. This was confirmed when I rode with my instructor and his 1995 M3 was misfiring on 5 cylinders and still was smoking cars with 100 more HP than his. I uploaded a video I took in his malfunctioning M3 here:

www.dps-online.com/bernardo_payet_m3.wmv

Also, his car caught an electrical fire towards the end of his run and we had to exit the track asap:

www.dps-online.com/car_fire.wmv

I am now hooked and will probably be at the March BMW event. BTW, the only upgrades I did was install new EBC Red Stuff brake pads. They were well worth it because after 3 laps, those brakes were SCREAMING for mercy. The pedal was spongy by then and my car was loving every stinking minute of it! I can't reccommend a school like this enough. It gave me such an immeasurable appreciation for the RX8 when once it was driven to it's utmost, I was hanging with the fastest cars out there. Not sure if you noticed Silvereight but that round of shots you took when I was behind the police 2005 Mustang GT, he couldn't shake me from his tail! But by the end of Sunday my brain was a bit fried (when most of the accidents happened) and my nerves shaken as well.

trainoffools, I had a blast watching you on the track and I did notice you going at it, especially in turn 12, I was laughing my ass off. I talked to the cop later about flipping the blues on how that made a great picture and he asked me if I got a shot with him and the RX8! I thought that was funny. I watched you progress and get more comfortable in the turns. I enjoyed talking with you in the paddock as well. Glad you made it online with us. Check out this SE Forum closely because we always have things going on. We have a picture session coming up next month. You should try to make it if you can.

Thanks for your report on the event and it was a pleasure meeting you.

train, when was that session video inside the BMW. Coming out of turn 5 you guys went around the Silver BMW Z3. I was riding in that car in the Sunday PM Instructors session and I thought he was going fast! Then a Vette, M3 and EVO came flying around us there. Took me two days to get over the 2 wide in turn 6.

That was the last instructor session on Sunday so I guess we smoked you! One of the key speed factors I noticed in my buddy/instructor was that he was the only one really using/riding the gators. He used a controlled drift onto the gators and accelerated during that drift. That was the hardest thing to get over; your first instinct is to let off the gas or brake when you feel the car sliding sideways but by pushing the gas, you pull the car forward and out of the turn. It really made a big difference catching other cars.

Man I wish you caught a pic of his lightbar flashing behind me! Actually I was screwing with him on the backstraight; first I acted like I was going to pull over with my blinker on, right on the track, then I punched it and hit 100 or so. Made me feel like I was running (legally) from a cop car!

LOL... Now that's just too much fun! :blue: