Road Racing Memories...

[ErikW]

I hate to see this listed as a topic that has "Never" in it. So I thought I'd cristen it.
I really want Paul, Erron, Erik, or others to tune in and flash back to those good times and recall a good story or three to post about here.
On this topic. Sort of. I have been to 2nd creek only abour 3-4 times. I've only ran the car on the track (before it closed for good) two times.
My best 1.6mile time was a 1:22 with my old 18g. At that time I was using Yokohama A520's on 17x8"s. I was a 12.6qtr mile car at Bandi then and I had little experience how to handel any car on a non policed road. It was a blast and I eagerly look forward to when the "next track" will be made and open.
But that could be many years from now. :(
Even though Auto-X may be the solution, It's not my favorite. I prefer a road corse.
I'm not sure where and when these events take place. And what rules are there for them. If you know of a link and additional info/recomendations how to get into this, please post a reply.
Thank you.
ew

[BlueVelocity]

Ah yes, the good 'ol days of SCR. Thinking back, there were many, many good times out there. I can chime in with a few of my favorite quotes throughout the years...

"YOU'RE A LITTLE HOT!!" I yell to Erik A. are we spin through into the dirt on the up hill right hander.

"TWO HANDS, TWO HANDS!!" Jake Latham yells at me as we drift through corner 1 losing control. (got that one on video)

"How is it everytime I see you at the track, you don't have your car?" Paul said to Mike B. :D

"OH MAN! That guy flipped twice landing on the roof, that can't be good" -me from the tower, suddenly behind me you hear a little voice of a 10 year old boy, "that's my daddy". (sunbeam tiger flipped, they were ok)
:eek: I didn't want to turn around...

"OH ****!! RUN!!!" Jake said to Paul and I as a yellow miata gets out of control and comes straight toward our corner station. (never seen ya move so fast Paul! LOL

"Mike just crushed that viper through the esses, oh wait, LOL, he baited and switch him! What a meat ball.. Hey, (to a lady sitting in the tower with us) what car you timeing?" She replies, "My husband....in the viper". LOL

A rogue member gets yelled at... "With driving like that, you're gonna hurt someone!!" Other guy, "With driving like that you should be in the slow group".

From the Time Trials National..."..and Erron Spalsbury with a blistering 1.14.xx, ....in a 4000 pound car!" Crowd just moans.... Paul laughing, Jake just smiles.

Ahh, good times... So many good times.

Erron S.

[ErikW]

Nice.

[Paul]

I just thought this should belong on the road race forum.

I never understood why that corner station was an aiming point for cars.

I remember my first event. Forrest Thompson was working grid. He walks by me a couple times looking for the next car (cars are fastest to slowest). Finally he motions me to grid - "I was looking for something more exotic".

Following the Viper with Erron telling me to keep good lines. He finally let me pass.

Jake riding with me because it would be "safe and uneventful". Lots of oversteer and a snap spin in the dirt.

Beating Gary Grillo's CP Trans Am in the last event after he was on my butt out of every corner.

Running a 1:18 with Jon Fuerst in the car with me. He was timing. He told me once he told Larry of Champagne motors that a DSM could beat his racecar.

Finally being faster than Carl in my own car.

Being faster than Jake in my car. Wondering how many laps he was going to take to try to beat my time.

Watching Steve Wells (AKA - one handed driver) drive it like a video game. No Steve, you can't downshift THAT early.

Guy at Mead telling me I make some unusual sounds on the track.

It was always fun to give rides to first timers.

Almost driving Max's car in the dirt.

John Salmi in his Supra on the track.

The peanut butter/brake discussions.

Of course my favorite - WOT on the back stretch.

I think it is quite impressive to see the improvement of all the Time Trials participants.

1:17 on a transponder
1:16 on a stopwatch at the last free week

Paul

[BlueVelocity]

I moved it to the road course section...

A couple more came to mind.

After about 5 laps with Dave Landry, we're coming down pit lane and we see smoke. I get out and walk around, kneel down, and WOOF! The entire caliper/pad combo ignites in yellow flame. I tell Dave to drive around a bit. :D

Spinning out with Shawn in the car, twice. Then drifting the house turn with muddy tires at what seemed to be 30 mph.

The Nitrous ride with Hal around SCR. (quite honestly the only time I was -scared- on that track) :eek:

Of course this is without mention, but some of the best times at any track was working the corners with Paul and Jake. It was always a 3 ring comedy show and the fun never stopped. Man, I miss it already.

Erron S.

[Paul]

The Nitrous ride with Hal around SCR. (quite honestly the only time I was -scared- on that track) :eek:

Of course this is without mention, but some of the best times at any track was working the corners with Paul and Jake. It was always a 3 ring comedy show and the fun never stopped. Man, I miss it already.

Erron S.

A ride with Jon Fuerst was boring. I always said riding with Hal or John Salmi would be more entertaining than riding with me (a few exceptions I suppose).

Who would have known that working corners could be so much fun.

Paul

[BlueVelocity]

There were days that I enjoyed the company more than the racing.

Erron S.

[Jason]

Hauling butt through the esses, thinking I may actually have this racing thing down, only to have to wave by a Woman in a Jetta. (it was a Jetta race car, but...)

Getting passed on the OUTSIDE in the house turn by Mike Pettiford in one of his Mazda Proteges with two other people in the car!

Following a Porsche 911 race car around the track and losing NO ground to him.

Hanging sideways from the 5 point harness in Erron's car. And then Erron mentions he's still warming up the tires!

and the bad..

Coming around the corner to see my Dad's '82 Corvette pushed up against a tire barrier.
And never wanting to drive my street car that close to the limit again.

I'll still miss it.

[BlueVelocity]

Hauling butt through the esses, thinking I may actually have this racing thing down, only to have to wave by a Woman in a Jetta. (it was a Jetta race car, but...)

Getting passed on the OUTSIDE in the house turn by Mike Pettiford in one of his Mazda Proteges with two other people in the car!

Following a Porsche 911 race car around the track and losing NO ground to him.

Hanging sideways from the 5 point harness in Erron's car. And then Erron mentions he's still warming up the tires!

and the bad..

Coming around the corner to see my Dad's '82 Corvette pushed up against a tire barrier.
And never wanting to drive my street car that close to the limit again.

I'll still miss it.

Seeing the Corvette jammed into the tire wall was a sad day. I sure was glad to see everyone just walk away.

Erron S.

[Carl Morris]

Hmmm, it's all faded a bit for me, but Paul's mention of the peanut butter brake pads and finally beating me in hiw own car brought back a few memories. My first time at SCR with my own car was in my Mustang. I still have in car video of it that Dave Nugent filmed. I was running about the same speed as Mark Phillips' car at the time. I think that day or the next time I was there was when David Lesser blew up the motor in his 1g. My only previous experience was driving Paul's car when I "peanut buttered" his Metal Masters. I made the mistake of believing him when he said to go for it, that the brakes would be fine. :-) I think I ran a 1:24 that day in Paul's car? I was running 1:26s in the Mustang.

The first time I took the GVR4 out there I figured it would be very tough to beat the Mustang's time with a mushy suspension and 205/55-15 all seasons. Turns out horsepower makes a big difference and I definitely was faster in the GVR4 than I was in the Mustang, but brakes were definitely an issue. At some point in there I got a leak in my boost gauge line and ran 20psi for a whole day out there, definitely not tuned for it. Hello burned exhaust valves. The Quaife center diff was VERY nice though until I broke it at the dragstrip.

At the end the car was basically dialed in to run 1:23s as long as I took a slow lap between every fast lap to cool the brakes, driving around the now-welded center diff. That's when I figured it might be fun to give Jake L. from RMDSM a hard time and see if I could sucker him into coming out on his high-power stock-brakes winter setup to try to outrun me :-).

I went out to the CSP track last Saturday to watch Dave run in his EVO. It's nice that at least there's still *somewhere* to run, but it definitely wasn't the same :-(.

[Paul]

I went out to the CSP track last Saturday to watch Dave run in his EVO. It's nice that at least there's still *somewhere* to run, but it definitely wasn't the same :-(.

Any airborne pics? I have heard about the "bump" but never really talked withsome who has witnessed it I trust.

I remember David blowing his engine. I think I left before it happened. IIRC S-AFC settings for drag racing don't work well.

What is Jake's specialty now?

Paul

[Carl Morris]

Any airborne pics? I have heard about the "bump" but never really talked withsome who has witnessed it I trust.

What is Jake's specialty now?


Dave (Nugent) was actually trying to get it airborne at the end but would have needed at least another 10mph in our estimation...I was thinking even more. He was hitting the bump at about 110mph in the last session and the suspension was starting to compress pretty hard on "takeoff and landing", and he was starting to get just a bit of wheelspin at the crest. He learned a lot in one day, it was his first time ever on a road course but he got faster quickly.

I'm concerned about how my car would deal with the bump considering my much softer suspension.

I don't know what Jake has been up to...I haven't paid enough attention on RMDSM.

[Kibo]

Seeing the Corvette jammed into the tire wall was a sad day. I sure was glad to see everyone just walk away.
A few tidbits from SC...

First time around the track was as a passenger in a 944 Turbo. I was pretty woozy by the end of the session, and I swear I left imprints of my feet in the footwell and my hand on the door handle. I was astounded to find that we had been running a few seconds slower than the times that Paul was running at the time--I couldn't imagine going faster!

My first time in Paul's car was with Jake L. at the wheel, right after Paul had installed the 6-pots. Jake practically put the car on its nose at each turn for the first few laps with the new-found braking power, and we bogged out of half the corners because we had lost all cornering speed! He figured it out after a few laps, though--just in time to cool the car down. :p

Riding with Paul was like going for a Sunday cruise: smooth and pretty uneventful. It was by no means slow, however! I was always impressed with how much better Paul's car stuck than my 2G. Accelerates faster, brakes faster, turns harder...I'm jealous!

My rides with Erron were always a blast. Anyone that has been a passenger in Erron's car at SC has probably experienced the giddy feeling that comes from drifting the house turn (especially CCW). I must say, the cage and harness went a long way towards making me feel safe. Plus, there's just something cool about being in a race car!

I never got a ride in Doug's car at SC, but I remember when he was first shooting for a sub-1:20 with all of us timing him. He was gunning so hard for the time, he held WOT a little too long on the front straight and locked up the brakes before turn 1. The car got squirrelly, but he didn't go off-track and we all got a good chuckle out of it. I think he flat-spotted a brand new Hoo-Hoo with that one. Doug took me on a ride in his car on the twisty roads east of Boulder with the 2.4 / FP30 combo before it puked, and I must say that is the most fun I've had in a street car!

As for my driving experiences at SC: first time driving, at one of the SC "Free Days", reference Erron's "YOU'RE A LITTLE HOT!!" story above...I spun my 2G on that same turn only a few laps after the Corvette was moved off the wall, only I lucked out and ended up tail-first just off the track instead of in the tires. Sure got my heart beating... :eek: I really felt bad for Marcus and the 'vette. :(

Time Trials were much more fun. Even with the stock T25, I had a blast. It was also great fun to watch Michelle driving. How does one flag the driver to turn off the A/C (squealing belt) as she goes by...? Even with hot tires and brakes and fewer laps due to all the heat I put into the cooling system during my session, Michelle's times were right on my heels...and she beat me by 0.003 seconds! That's my girl. :D

[Jason]

I think the funniest thing I ever saw was Jonathan Barton's taxi-cab minivan out there running consistant 1:30's with three passengers. All wearing helmets.

The brakes never faded.

[JakeL]

Some great times for me:

- Running 1:16 that first year at the coDSM get-together in my Eclipse

- running ~5-7 laps back-to-back with Jeff Brauch's Supra - both of us just hauling ass.

- Watching Paul's aforementioned "Safe ride" driving turn into "desparate n00bie" driving after he saw Erron enter the track. What's an Apex?

- Sucking up *most* of the passenger side seat cushion (no hands) from Erron's stealth as he does a huge tankslapper in T1, while fiddling with the VPC or some damn thing. TWO HANDS!!!

- Basically *any* time spent with Paul and Erron at the corner stations *grin*

- First time out in the C5....WOOF!

- Finally cracking 1:10 in the Radical

- doing lap-after-lap glued to Jeff's gearbox in the Cheetah, the first time we headed out to SCR together to play with the DSR's.

- The very last day, finally convincing myself to be 100% flat through Kamikazee and the back esses, and getting into the 1:08 range. I was having so much fun, I was laughing inside my helmet on the straights!

-Jake

[JakeL]

Odd Question: Why am I being credited with 16 posts, when I have just this one?

-Jake

[Paul]

Some great times for me:

- Watching Paul's aforementioned "Safe ride" driving turn into "desparate n00bie" driving after he saw Erron enter the track. What's an Apex?


- Basically *any* time spent with Paul and Erron at the corner stations *grin*

-Jake

I was never fast in that corner after that. For sure made that apex late.

Maybe some good 'ole days are ahead of us?

Paul

[BlueVelocity]

I was never fast in that corner after that. For sure made that apex late.

Maybe some good 'ole days are ahead of us?

Paul

Sure hope so. Things are starting to look up. Maybe with the MSCC track actually happening, CAMA will take note and say,"if they can do it, so can we".

No clue on the post count thing Jake?

Erron S.

[BlueVelocity]

Some great times for me:

- Running 1:16 that first year at the coDSM get-together in my Eclipse

- running ~5-7 laps back-to-back with Jeff Brauch's Supra - both of us just hauling ass.

- Watching Paul's aforementioned "Safe ride" driving turn into "desparate n00bie" driving after he saw Erron enter the track. What's an Apex?

- Sucking up *most* of the passenger side seat cushion (no hands) from Erron's stealth as he does a huge tankslapper in T1, while fiddling with the VPC or some damn thing. TWO HANDS!!!

- Basically *any* time spent with Paul and Erron at the corner stations *grin*

- First time out in the C5....WOOF!

- Finally cracking 1:10 in the Radical

- doing lap-after-lap glued to Jeff's gearbox in the Cheetah, the first time we headed out to SCR together to play with the DSR's.

- The very last day, finally convincing myself to be 100% flat through Kamikazee and the back esses, and getting into the 1:08 range. I was having so much fun, I was laughing inside my helmet on the straights!

-Jake

Ah yes, it was little too lean down the front stretch, needed to be "fiddled" with. (I love on the fly, seat of your pants, hope this works A/F changes during turn in on a high speed corner) :D


Oh! Or when we had the restart at the National after Steve wadded up the Z06 and were coming around the house turn and get the green flag. I hit the *magic* button and say, "come here Jake", only to watch the Radical walk away at 10 feet a second. "byeeee Jake..", I said to myself. (I actually looked down to see if the boost changed, lol) :p

Ahhh...good times!

Erron S.

[Kibo]

I left out my one and only ride with Jake in the C5. It felt like we were out for a casual yet spirited drive (i.e. smooth and uneventful), and yet the time was faster than most DSMs. I was very impressed with the capabilities of the mostly-stock 'vette. :)

[Paul]

Sure hope so. Things are starting to look up. Maybe with the MSCC track actually happening, CAMA will take note and say,"if they can do it, so can we".

No clue on the post count thing Jake?

Erron S.

CAMA will still be "discussing" who has the lion's share!

Post count is so you can sell something if you want Jake.

Paul

[steve_gee]

Don't forget the "When you hit the back straight, Don't lift till the end."
Open wheels come screaming buy so low to your mirrors.