willhave8

You folks all seem to almost as much fun planning and anticipating the events as you do running at them. Have fun, keep it safe and tell lots of stories for those of us in the NE who are looking at no more events this year.

I would like to join you all Roebling next year combing it with a visit to see my Brother who lives nearby in Beaufort, SC.

TrackAddict

We do work ourselves up into a frenzy leading to a track event that's for sure! We'd love to have you join us for an event anytime. LAst year we had Chrles Hill drive down from Detroit (I think) for an event at Road Atlanta. This year we had BlueRenesis and RedSheDevil drive down from Chicago to track with us.

SilverEIGHT

willhave8, this is the GZZ (Georgia ZoomZoom) fraternity and we are open to everyone, No matter what part of the country or type of car you drive. We are all in it together like family and we have fun! Look forward to possibly joining you at Robling next year as it will be my first there as well. Ya'll come on down!

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

Beaufort S.C. is a beatiful undiscovered area imho. Brother in the Marines? I'm, an old jar head myself and heck I may want to go see your brother with ya! Hope you can come--the folks that have joined us in the past still communicate with us. Once you are in this family we dont let go!
One of them is possibily joining us again next spring.
olddragger

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

Guys I am packed and getting on my wife's nerves--ya'll better hurry up! Beatiful day.
olddragger

willhave8

Thanks for the invite.

Okay, I am now excited about next year - This is going to be a tough winter

OD, my brother is retired Navy (20+yrs), sister-in-law is a Navy commander at P Island... I am into track time and he is into building hot rods now in his retirement. Latest effort is a '34 Chevy.

Have fun guys!

SilverEIGHT

Hot rods will definately be a topic of discussion with OD.

SilverEIGHT

Come on guys! I'm dying here. Can't wait to hear the stories and see the pics.

whiterex

phlash, how were the tires?

SilverEIGHT

Tap, tap, tap!

TrackAddict

Well boys and girls - I guess I am first to report back from the weekend. First a thank you to OD, Phlash and L8APEX for the great company and camaraderie we had over the course of the weekend. We had a great time hanging out together on track and off. It was also good seeing Whiterex Friday evening as he did a special tire delivery for Phlash. I can tell you that Phlash liked the tires a lot. He'll comment more about that I am sure.

Friday afternoon - Phlash and L8APEX spent the morning getting car stuff done while I pretended to work from home. My 12:30 - 3:00 phone conference was cancelled so I was able to meet up with them on I-75S just outside of Atlanta. We drove down to our meeting spot in Macon and picked up OD. While there we met a guy in his Mustang Cobra who was also heading to Roebling and had him join our caravan. Unfortunately, a small plane had landed on the interstate just south of where we stopped causing some bad traffic jams. With OD's expert knowledge of Macon, we were able to take back roads and avoid that cluster. The boring drive was made interesting by using walkie talkies to chat along the way. We finally reached Roebling Road around 5:45pm, set up our canopy, unloaded tires, got teched and caught up with fellow track ho friends. Good stuff.
Then, it was off to get checked into the hotel and grab dinner. Did someone say Hooters Phlash and OD insisted we sample the delicious treats at Hooters so we did. They were a mouthful indeed and quite succulent. After dinner we had to watch some Pulp Fiction in memory of our last Roebling trip. That was a charming MF trip!

Saturday/Sunday - finally track day. For some, it had been a long time since their last hit off the go fast crack pipe. For others, it still felt too long since the last time. He had 2 RX8s in HPDE3 and 1 in HPDE2. I was in Instructor Clinic which runs in HPDE3. Yes, that means someone got promoted to HPDE3 and it was none other than our beloved race control guy - Phlash. My student was L8APEX and he was an excellent one too. I could not have asked for a better student my first time out officially instructing for a race club. I'll let him post about his impressions. L8APEX went from being a guy who always wanted to start in the back of the grid so he wouldn't impede anyone on track to a guy that wanted to be one of the first on the grid. He made huge increases in speed and confidence learning to explore the limits of cornering traction and learning to steer the car with a single steering input and using the throttle to get the car tucked in or track out. It was beautiful. I got a chance to take him out for a ride with me on Saturday. It was then he said that he didn't think he would be able to handle being an instructor in the future. He also passed up the chance to ride with me again. I wonder why... Phlash and OD did great and I'll let them comment on their weekend. In short Phlash made huge strides in increasing his speed and using the cornering grip his car has.

The Roebling surface - this track is all new y'all. The surface is very smooth and was quite easy on tires. It is wicked fast and has excellent grip compared to the old surface. It still got a bit slick on Sunday afternoon when it was a little warmer.

My weekend - I had a blast. I was on track for 8 sessions each day (split between instructing and driving). I also was in class for a part of the day taking the Instructor Clinic course. I am now an officially certified NASA instructor and have the hat to prove it. Part of the course was role playing with the 2 other guys taking the clinic with me. I got to play the role of a hot head driver being very aggressive and over driving his car. That was fun. My "instructor" was supposed to get me under control while I was supposed to just drive how I wanted and not listen to him. Ultimately he had to make me pit in to have a talk with me. He did great and pulled me in after just 2 hot laps.

The future - I plan on continuing with the IC classes until I am level 3 certified. I will also seek out other clubs next year and see if they offer instructor classes. I'll be at Rockingham in a few weeks for sure. If they run an IC level 2 I will sign up for that, otherwise I'll be there as a full fledged instructor.

I'd like to say thanks to the GA RX8 Club community for supporting me and encouraging me in pursuing this passion. (STF - you are part of that group too you know!).

I'd also like to thank OD, Phlash and L8APEX for the good times we shared this weekend.

L8APEX

I will write up my review of the weekend, and post it a little later. Needless to say, I had a blast.

L8APEX

OK, where to start. We all get back from these track weekends, and then do our own write up. Some of us are good at it, some of us are not. I am one of the latter. I usually just say I had a good time, thanks for the good times, the camaraderie, and the memories that were made. But then I had this weekend.

First of all, TrackAddict, thank you so much for being my instructor, I really do appreciate you doing that. For your first time as a NASA instructor, you did a phenomenal job, and in my opinion better than 2 of my previous instructors, and as good as another, who has years of driving instruction under his belt. And that was just on the track. Out of the car our discussions and debriefings were invaluable to me. It is really important to know what one does well, what one does ok, and what one does really poorly. To some it might sting to know that they are not so good at something, but to me, it gave me something to work towards for future events. So thank you, for your tutelage, both on what I did right, and what I did wrong.

Now, on to the track. I started off on Saturday, in my usual roll, as the rolling chicane, for everyone out there, from the Miata’s to the Mazdaspeed6. Of course, the 911 and the Z06 made short work of me, and before too long, neither of us could see each other. That lasted for two sessions, both lack luster in excitement, and full of me sticking my left arm out the window, and giving point by’s like the were going out of style. Then, that was enough of that. TA figured, I have had enough of this, you have had time to learn the tires, the new surface, it is time to go haul some ***. And haul some *** we began to do. We set goals, and then we set about making them happen. By the end of the day Saturday, I was not pointing everyone by, but rather, getting the point by, as I was now filling their rearview mirror. Then Sunday came, and we continued on the path that we started down on Saturday. The tires were now at full wail through the corners, and I had developed an addiction to planting the *** end coming out of turn 7, and the feeling of controlling the car at a point closer to the limits of adhesion than I had never known before. And before too long, being at the front of the grid to go out on track, was not scary, or something that I tried to stay away from, but something I relished, because I wanted open track. In class, the people that passed me so easily before, were now asking what happened, and how is it that they can not keep up anymore. That Mazdaspeed6, that so easily handed my own *** to me on Saturday, wound up spinning in turn 6, in an attempt to keep the pace. We had fun tracking with each other, us Mazda’s, we had a few out there, and we enjoyed it. We tried to grid near each other, to go out and have some fun. But the best compliment of the weekend from a fellow driver, of that Black 400 WHP Z06, “ you sure are making it really hard for me to stay in front of you, I am really impressed with that car and the way it handles the track and flies through the corners.” I was really proud of that, and then he found out it only had 1.3 liters of pure Rotary power, and he was even more impressed. And I finally felt good about being out on the track, rather than just having fun and trying not to get in the way of those that knew what they were doing. Now I felt like I actually belonged out there, rather than just being allowed out there. I like that feeling. I owe that to our very own, newly NASA Certified Instructor, TrackAddict. Without him pushing me, I would have never gotten to where I was this weekend. Congrats on getting certified, you are well suited for it, and I am confident you will do a great job, no matter what car you sit in. I had fun, I had more fun than I have at any other track event, even our one day at TGPR. This was fun, I was faster than I had ever been. I enjoyed myself tremendously.

I would be remiss if I did not send out a big thanks to Phlash and olddragger too. Some minor mechanical issues had me concerned that my second trip to Roebling Road would be cut short just like the first trip, but these two guys stepped up and helped me out, and got me back out on track again. Thanks a ton. It was also fun to watch the two of you in your red cars zoom zoom around the track, playing cat and mouse. You guys were really flying out there, I can’t wait till I can get out there with you guys.

And of course, the four of us just had a hell of a time. We were always laughing, joking, and enjoying the weekend, from our wonderful waitress at the Waffle House, who was just as ornery as she could be, and played our games well, to the h00t h00t service staff. And no, OD, she can not come back to the room with you. Twinkie man.

While the trip home was beset with trouble, and it did get me down, and soured the ending to an otherwise great weekend, I will still remember this trip to Roebling as an awesome one, and I hope to repeat it again next year, with a bigger group of RX-8’s, because the more the merrier.

I will work on getting some video from Sunday sessions up, I plan to post my entire last session, as it was the most clean, full speed ahead track I have ever had. I will also post some shorts of other things, parts of session, and that sort of thing.

One word sums it all up…and it comes from phlash.


STOKED!!

MoodDude

Write ups are great, and I read every word. How about some pictures, I really want to see TA in the passanger seat for his first offical instruction!

L8APEX

there were not many cameras out there with us, I know Phlash took some, but I was too busy, and the camera I had could not really keep up with the cars, so I only got a couple pictures. But I am sure he will post some later.

Phlash

Here ya go.....

Phlash

a few more....

L8APEX

we always put on a good showing. that is a great paddock spot too, except for all of the sand, the inside of my car is full of sand. I guess it is better than the current condition of the front end, but oh well.

Phlash

Well, Unofficially of course, according to a couple sources, my best was 1:30 and some change......OD and TA ran 1:29's and I have no doubts that they beat on the door of 1:28's.....L8 was running 1:32's back to back to back....very consistantly.

SilverEIGHT

Great job L8. I'm sure TA told you to hold your foot into the gas a lot longer than you thought you should. Funny how the car likes that... aint it!

TA, did you have a student in HPDE 1 as well?

The sand reminds my of home in South GA. We used to rake the sand in the yard to clean it from debris. No grass was supposed to grow in the sand as you plucked it clean. Sand was a way of life and the sand spurs were hell on bare feat. OD... you know what I'm talking about, don't ya!

I like this shot:

Phlash

OK, my turn........

My oh my what a long, busy, fun filled weekend.......

Thanks again to Chaz for putting up with me and putting me up Thursday night. What a huge help that was in terms of me not having to get up and leave home at 4:00am to make my 7am appt at the dealer. Got the new flash (can't really tell any difference), new coils (three were burnt, so all four replaced), a new tail light (rust), got a full tank of gas, a wash and outta there to Mazcare for gear oil changes. Thanks once again to chaz for allowing me to borrow the van to go drop in on my brothers new baby while they were working on my car. Got back to Mazcare and my car and L8's were being finished up. Geez, all of this before noon......then L8 and I headed out, got a call from TA that his afternoon meeting got cancelled and we all met to drive on down to Macon and pick up OD. Got to the track, checked in, got tech'd, and at the insistance of TA went to hOOters.......damn good choice man.......I tried to talk him into Spankie's but he would have nothing to do with that for some reason, but I tried. Then back to the hotel for "...say what one more time...."

Saturday started with the must have breakfast of all track ho champions, at the Waffle House. Good for any early morning colon cleansing......awesome waitress that was there both mornings and played along with anything we threw out.....she grounded TA the first morning (yeah, he forgot to mention that). At the track all of it started to settle in and I started having some reservations about accepting the invitation from Jim and Julie to step up to 3. We got the class sheets and I saw that I had 26 cars of all sorts of flavors that I was going to have to deal with in this open passing group that I was now a part of. Additionally, I was going out on new tread that I knew nothing about, a new surface that had covered up all the items that I used to use here to mark my place on the track, I was the newbie in the group, etc., etc. First session out I took the honor pointing most of the others around me (now on both sides). But, to my great surprise, for the most part, I found new track markers quickly, the point by's went very well, traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and by the end of the session, all the crap I had made up in my head earlier was gone. I spent most of the session trying out some new and old lines with a spec miata and a spec 30 BMW. We'd swap back and forth, follow, lead......cool......this is gonna be OK. The rest of the day was much of the same all the while learning what I could do with the new V710's.....Oh my....what a sticky *** biocth's they turned out to be. I ran with DSC on all weekend, and except for a couple instances where I really fubbed a turn in or didn't carry quite enough speed through a sweeper, it was non-existent. Sunday was a continuation of lead follow with different folks. My oh **** meter was way off Saturday in terms of carrying more speed in key places like turn 3 and the turn in on 1. So, Sunday, after being left alone for the most part, OD came to me the first session and stated he was going to follow me around for the day. He should have said, "I'm gonna crawl up your *** unless you get movin" He stated to me that I was way under driving the set up I had and it was time to push a little...thus the recalibration of my oh **** meter began......he ran behind, pushing a little more each time. We'd come off track, discuss it, and do it again. By the end of the day Sunday, I was quite a bit quicker. Not enough to get away from OD, but enough keep the point by's to a minimum. We're coming out of the carousel consistently in three digits, into one in the high 70's low 80's, three at 85-90, and generally just getting around better. Thanks OD.........the push this weekend helped to remove the gremlins I had early on and helped me to step it up a notch or two in the process. I did somehow manage to get a cross threaded lug nut on a wheel that had to be beat loose but it was a GR8 time!! This is going to be a great group to be in next season.

I also take with me from this trip OD's 5:30am Walmart shopping trip with a fire drill, The two nights at hOOts with six pages of menu items and we ordered the same darn thing both nights, the damn gator on the way home, the kickin' cookies from the kitchens of Mrs. TA and OD, OD whining because we woke him up to go to bed. Comments that will stick forever...."say what one more time.....", "wOOtwOOt", "hOOt hOOt", "I got your point by", "My, that's a big stuffed breast", "Twinkie man!", "Bioth" and of course ......."STOKED!"

Thanks everyone!! From a great track (new surface ROCKS!) to great company and friends, it was a great weekend all the way around. I met new folks in DE3 that now give me a higher level to live up to but they are there to share, push, and develop the same goals. Chuck, thanks for delivery...they are awesome. TA, congrats on your hat (certified instructor) and your new role. The lead follow really helped. OD, damn it, I really can go faster through that turn...thanks for the extra push and for splitting the room. Travis, my oh my...they say that set backs help build character and make one stronger. With the string of things this weeknd, you must not only be strong, but you must have all sorts of charming mother f#@!ing character!!!!......

It was a pleasure guys!! Rotor on!!!

SilverEIGHT

Next year!

whiterex

Wow, glad you all had fun. I'll be back to the track soon...

SilverEIGHT

L8, how did the camera mount work for you?

L8APEX

don't know yet, I am going to download video tonight.