It's always a great weekend when we get together for an adventure. Gordon, Thanks for your hospitality.

I get the impression that I missed a hell of a lot. "Skidpad"... I really wish I had seen that. Nabil must be trying to get rid of that last bit of tread on his tires. I suppose you guys got the heavy rains on Sunday? We had a thunder storm at home.

I've been working on Saturdays photos all day. I just finished prepping them all and have sent a few to Jim Pantas to put up on the NASA site. I have over 300 to post on my site.

Maybe I'll get my wheels out on the track this fall. I can't wait. But...who will take photos?

Pam, great to see you again. You've been real quiet lately.

Val, you really looked the part of a track official. I was impressed, you had that authoritative look. I must hand it to you guys, that was one hot day to be standing out on the asphalt like that.

Lego, I promise I will give you the opportunity to pass me a couple times on the track. I listen to what you guys say all the time and I can't wait to put your knowledge to use in my car. I really want to make that approach to 10a with my brakes on the verge of ABS.

I missed Charlie, OD, rxeightr and Charles Hill. Just seems like they needed to be there.

OK, what's next! :D

 

OK boys and girls... the pics are up on my site!

SilverEIGHTStudio.com

 

It was an awesome weekend. I am grinning from ear to ear, every time i think about anything from: approaching turn 12 and then flooring it going under the bridge, braking down the hill to 10a, to inhaling smoke from doing a 360 on the skidpad. :D That was too much fun. If only the camera had been set up.

Gordon, as said, your hospitality was top notch, thank you very much. You put up with me having my head up my *** the whole weekend. (read pants, schedule, tape,) Thanks.

To everyone that was there, thanks for being there, for the advice and support. It was appreciated, and I can say, I am no longer a track virgin, and I drove the car home in one piece, minus a little rubber on the tires.

I will work on the video a little this week, and see if I can get some of it to silver for his site.

Thanks everyone, I had a great weekend.

 

Something about that disturbs me......

Lego, Nabil, Silver, Travis, Pam, Val, Franswaaaaa(sp),

Thank you, thank you, thank you, once again for a most fantastic weekend. Thanks for the food, the good times, the humor, taking me along to the 360 club :D, helping with the camper, etc., etc.....

Damn it was hot, but what a cool time! RC turned out to be one of the most overwhelming but satisfying things I've ever done. Two to three of us calling the shots at any one time and trying to balance out who's taking care of what calls and services............hell yes, I can't wait till next time! What a hoot!

Can't wait until Savannah!! Only six weeks away!!! Woohoo!!

G

 

Yessir. Another great weekend spent with friends watching fast cars and hanging out. The weather was certainly as advertised, Hotlanta. But everything else was COOL.

Gordon- As always Chateau Plash gets a Five-Star rating. The BBQ was excellent as were the brauts. So are you still a race control trainee? or have you moved up the NASA ladder to apprentice?

Nabil- Watching you pinball throught the trailer door was priceless. Glad you left your checkered thong at home this time probably couldnt have handled it.

Levint (sp?)- My paper geometry certainly has to take a back seat to your racing geometry experience. I look forward to watching your line at another event (Roebling?). I am happy that your car came out ok. The body guys did an excellent job and it looks great.

Pam- Nice meeting you this weekend. Never even saw a Nordic green car before Legockens and now I know two people that own that rare color. Are you gonna run Roebling as well? Or work it? Ive heard the summer temps in Savannah are cooler than Atlanta.

Don- Photographer Extraordinaire. Really impressive watching you lug all that equipment around the track to snap pix. Just checked out your web site and the pictures are fantastic.
Thanks for the watermelon. Really nice treat after a day in the hot sun.

Francois- Nice meeting you, too. I could tell you were itching to go fast on the track as evidenced by your squealing tires through turn 10 during TOURING laps.

And Travis or Trevor- No longer a spectator but a racer which is cool. I now wish I had run with ya, but oh well, next time. Your pre-track excitement was fun to watch. You took all the good-natured jibes in stride and did great on the track. Your zip tie belt was classic.:D

Ok. Before this past weekend, I kinda wondered how fun tracking your car could be. Spending time with all you track vets gave me an idea that it is not to be missed. Also, my "hot" touring were really a tease as I wanted to haul the mail myself. Watching those crazy people do 360's on the skidpad late at night really cranked me up.:p

Can't wait for the next big event. Thread?

 

Can't imagine who that could have been, I think it was the guy in the silver one, and the lady in the green one. I was asleep...

 

When I got home, I made it to the shower then got in bed. No RX8Club postings for me. I had to wait until I was at work

Phlash - the accomodations were excellent. Thank you very much. I don't think I can open a fridge without thinking what it smells like inside it.
Trhoads - great job out there. It was fun being there supporting you and cheering you through turns 5, 7 and 12. I thought you looked good comming through and your car sounded great. It was also fun scaring you on Friday night over booze and cigars.
Legocken - great seeing you again and glad to see the nordic green fully rebuilt and looking perfect. I loved the late apex discussion!!
Val - it was fun hanging out with you again working a race. Looking forward to Savannah! Glad you got a kiss from doilly girl with her "fake @$$ strakes".
Pam - it was great that you showed up. Totally surprised us! Glad to know you may be quiet on the forum but still out there lurking and still have passion for the track.
SilverEight - man you looked beat lugging those cameras around. I admire your excitement for all things RX8. THe watermelon was excellent Saturday night. It hit the spot after sweating out about 10 bottles of water over the course of the day. Missed you on Sunday. Hope you had a good day. We sweated more but had fun. The racing on Sunday was fast and exciting.
Francois - I know he doesn't read this forum but damn did he define track touring. It was more like make as track "much noise with your tires" touring. As his passenger I can tell you I saw the fear in the eyes of the Boxster in front of us as we barrelled down towards him in turn 12. New rule for turn 12 - don't brake! Hell, you shouldn't even lift...

Everyone - thanks again for a great time.

 

Nabil, legokcen, Phlash, SilverEIGHT, Trhoads, Valpac and Francois...
What a great weekend, I had a BLAST despite the heat!!!! It was wonderful seeing you all again and sharing the excitement!
And what a set-up with the "hotel" on a hill overlooking the Track! Sittiing up there Saturday night, drink in hand, with a cool breeze (finally), and with such good company, the day couldn't have ended any better. Or maybe it could have, if I had been included in the unscheduled evening excursions.
Thanks Phlash for the hospitality (great BBQ!) and thank you NASA for the experience!
Pam

 

Yea Pam!

 

The late night excursions, way too much fun. It did put a good cap on the day. Just don't drive lego's car, if you know what I mean.

And thanks to Don, I have yet another new avatar. Now I can join the ranks of the cool people with track avatars.

 

I hate you all.
olddragger

 

jk-- I was stuck at soccer games and peeling wallpaper from a bathroom. enough said. If it is not too hot in savannah maybe I can make that one.
olddragger

 

we hated that you were not there. it was way too much fun, can I say that again. I don't know that I need to.

 

Peeling wallpaper...yeah, I've heard that one before. Kinda like the "I have to wash my hair tonight" one.
Missed you!

Pam

 

Thanks for the posts all -- almost makes me feel like I was there ..... almost.
Glad to hear all was safe.
Hope to catch another driving event soon.

 

Dang, I hate I missed it. I REALLY wanted to be there, but the Evo needs brakes, and none, NONE of my freakin stuff came in yet. I am glad to hear everyone had a fun and safe track experience. That track is so fun and challenging. Anyone have vids or times? I would be interested in hearing what improvements folks made from last time RA day.

Also, I AM heading to Roebling week after next, if anyone is interested with Seat-time. I should, (Lord willing) have my new springs, underbraces, V-braces, and the corner-weighting redone. The car 'should' be fast, provided it holds boost this time (freakin boost controller).

 

I was the only one driving, and I do have in car video. I have not processed any of it yet, maybe tonight. silverEIGHT shot some from outisde the car. As for times, I have not looked back at the video to clock it, I was trying to learn, since it was my first time out. I think I am hooked.

 

If it was your first time out, then you definitely don't need to worry about timing. You need to focus on being smooth, and better each lap.

Timing comes WAY down the road, especially on tracks like RA where there is little margin for error. For newbies, I always say, less is more, if you are driving the car smooth, the fast lap times will take care of themselves. It is so easy to overdrive a car.

Oh, and an addition to open-tracking makes a haroine addicts cravings seem like a small yearning for some saltine crackers.

Once you are bit, well you never look back. I am on my ? number track car now, and when this one is done, I am going to do a RX8 next. Now power mods, just insane chassis and suspension mods.

One word of advice, if you haven't already, get some good fluid and pads on your brakes NOW, before you get to a point where you need them. Typically, this happens at the track, during a run, where it is too late to make adjustments. I speak from experience, 'cough' turn 11 CMP 'cough', if it wasn't for second gear (8500+RPM), I wouldn't have slowed enough to slide off the track in control.

Another word of advice, plan your track events wisely, if you look around, you can find some cheap events like seattime, or others where you can get alot of track time for around 100 bucks. Also, you can go in with others and rent tracks too, small ones like TGPR, where the cost is negliable too. I am putting on a private day for some advanced folks here pretty soon, and we are talking of making a second day for intermediates, where we teach corner-weighting and the importance of all the different components and what they do. More of a clinic than a school.

 

you have that right. it was obvious that I need to work on that part of the car before the next event. I have a few months though. On my last lap of my first session, coming into 10a, the pedla went soft halfway through the braking zone. It was the only time it happened all weekend, but it got my attention.

 

I've had that happen on turn 7 once. It only messed up my line thank god and didn't put me too much off track. DOT 4 will take good care of you.

 

who brakes!? lol
OD

 

That was pretty funny. I have to hand it to you. I didn't expect that.

 

Yea, he has one. I downloading it from my server right now so I can check it out and make a link on my website. Should have it before too long. What are you doing... reading my mind? That's scary.

 

OK, Travis... she's up!

Session 6

 

It all depends onhow many Silver wants me to send him, I don't want to use up all of his space.