1 Baltimore, HON!

 

ah man.... is he coming, UH......



toolio that is

 

sounds like we might have a good weekend. i'm looking forward to it fellas. OK, now pay attention..........

chadtoolio, what about Brad?

car did great this weekend Thanks.

 

Knock Wood - Weather lookin' Good!

 

My car was broken into a few weeks ago and they took my video camera. If anyone who has a miniDV camera would like to use my in-car mount in exchange for letting me record a session or two let me know.

 

Yeah, he's coming.... bringing the trailer with the race car for some suspension/alignment testing and also a R56 with JCW tuning kit.

I worked on mine yesterday. Did the alignment, balance track tires/street tires, filled with Nitrogen. Had a miscommunication with Detroit tuned and had to 2 day ship my front brake lines. So Wednesday, I put on the brake lines/bleed and super blue, install the Carbotech pads(thanks Chris), and do a regular service. Drove the R-comps around to get the rubber off and rebalance with the new alignment and all I can say is wow, the cupholder is useless more than ever. I want to put the street tires back on and take it through some of the predictable turns that I know and see how she takes them.



Chad

 

Looks like that turdly system in the Gulf is throwing some more showers into Carolina tomorrow, but Sat. and Sun. are still looking good. Mayhaps I shouldn't have bothered to wash the car for the trip down. I looking to hit the Colony by 5:00ish. See ya when - dinner anyone?

 

I don't think I will be there for dinner, but David will. He has an '06 space blue now.

 

to any of you that think or knows they are an aggressive driver on the street be sure to bring some extra brake fluid. This track is a bit much on brakes and chances are you'll boil the brake fluid. always a good idea to have extra. I'm sure chad would be happy to bleed brakes for anyone in need. I mean tell you how to bleed them. See you all tomorrow and some tonight.

 

Alright, first day down....Pirelli's are pretty much smoked, time for the Rcomps. Thanks to my instructors(Bluesmini, and Jim) for the being brave enough to sit in the Passenger seat. Made some improvements and got some compliments from "S" drivers that we could put enough distance between us in the corners so that they couldn't catch us in the straights...WooHooo

I really owe it to the instructor though....the car is still much more capable than I am.

Chad

 

Thanks buddy. I'll right seat for you any time.

it was nice to be at an event that had lots of MINI's. I'm starting to see fewer and few at track events. If anyone had fun try to get out to the track more often. It's lots of good clean fun and our cars are quite capable. Although I doubt you'll ever be at another event where you have a dealership there doing warrany work on cars at the track. I've heard that either Subaru or Mitsubishi voids your warranty if they find out you've been to the track.


Thanks MINI

 

Back home now. Very fun and busy weekend. And what a learning curve for me in the Lotus, poor under-driven little car.
Ah well, more practice will help.
It was good to meet you blue S mini.
Sorry we didn't have more of a chance to talk. Mebbe next time.

 

queenB,
Cherie is still grinning ear-to-ear.

Thank You !!!!!!

 

I put a picture of the "autocross" time sheet on my gallery for anyone that wants to see it. They are in order that you went on track.

 

Thanks!

Are you on the list?

 

Good job on posting. I forgot to look at it after my stellar start.

Me: Did he just give me the green flag?
Starter: Yeah, you better go.

 

LOL!!!

I sat there spinning my tires at the start for about 2-3 seconds. They didn't hook up like my auto-x tires. Wonder why?

But no excuses, really. The whole weekend was a blast, as usual...

 

yup, i'm on there. Chris Thompson. I'm not used to using cold tires and being timed for it. very slippery. I think we'd all do a little better after a few practice laps and warm tires.

don't forget, Dimitri was in a vett with his sub 2 min. time.

 

check out these credentials

http://www.ccrscca.com/06dotyper.htm


In his defense, he's never been to that track and he was on street tires.

 

Really had a good time out there and nice to meet so many of you...Nice to put NAM names with faces...For any of you out there that I didn't meet, I was the guy with the Black 02 cooper w/white bonnet stripes with white wheels on day one and black wheels on day 2 from MINI of Charleston. The Solo-one race for such a large group was a blast. I was one worn out puppy after all that though. Although I made some big improvements at hitting the apexes, I can see that there is along way to go, after riding with Robbie in the MOC JCW-R56....The car was very impressive right out of the box, but the way that he was hitting the corners with speed compared to me was spectacular. I guess I need to go back again .

Chad

 

LOL, every time I looked at you, Chad, you had a HUGE grin on your face.

 

And Runflats at that....

 

I get to work on these cars for 45-50 hrs a week and am lucky to be in a position in a dealership that caters to the performance oriented customer as well as regular service work. Getting customers cars prepared for this event and just talking with them in general is what is about for me....I'm excited for everyone, not just me. To get out there on the track and learn about driving our cars with customers and friends, I don't think there is anything much cooler than that !

Chad

 

Tim Luther and I were the lone holdouts at the Colony Inn in Camden on Sunday night and much to my disappointment and dismay, a delicious Mexican meal on the Sabbath there must go beerless! But, the town carwash stays open then and I at least had a reasonably clean MINI for my Monday trek back to Baltimore. I made good time despite the "heat" trying to melt me down on about 4 separate occasions with their radar. Given some of the decorative schemes we put on our little rockets, I can't imagine what gives the authorities any notion that we might be exceeding the posted limits.

Thanks Chris for posting the AutoX times. In honoring Norree's request for everyone to "chill" while she tabulated the results, I too moved on to other things and completely forgot to check them out. Of course, they kind of confirm what I already knew - I still SUCK! In looking back on it I kind of wonder, for a cold tire event like this, if leaving the DSC "ON" might have been a better idea, as I know I lost a good 2 seconds just spinning my wheels at the start. But, as I seem to be slowly learning wth each track experience, it's the mistakes that provide the most learning for me. Like, missing the apex at the KINK and spinning at 100 mph - in which case one learns a) well, I certainly don't want to do that again! and, b) because of what you've previousy learned you can actually gather the car up a bit before exiting to the grass, missing the #3 brake point stick, get the pedals "in", and come up, unstalled, well short of the tire wall. WHEW! Congratulations, my unscathed lucky little son, you've just earned your first Black Flag! I guess that's what I get for driving at "81%".

Also, thanks too for the ridealongs - in particular Matt and Donna. Perhaps it's just my learning style, but I think I've gotten the most out of how to tackle a circuit by just observing, in car, how a more accomplished driver does it. Concentration is obviously the key ingredient to success in this endeavor and for me, that focus seems to fall somewhat when I must also share a dialogue (or the steering wheel!) with the instructor. I am not stating here that I can't or won't take instruction, merely that I think there's different strokes for different folks. As foolish as it might sound to my insurance agent, I'm very tempted next time to do a ridealong in my own car with Waylen at the wheel.

Hats off also to the over one dozen instructors who found a way to get there and lend their knowledge. And, super props to MINIs of Charlotte/Charleston for not only their $$$ support, but for providing techs like Chad to help save the day for folks with "issues". Thanks Chad for showing me the trick to removing the center mirror - providing me a bit better video view. And, not to forget Waylen - if ever there's a "git 'er done" pic in the dictionary, I nominate him!

Lastly, kudos to Phil, Norree and kin for all they do to make these happen. While I know there are some out here who will argue there are other clubs or associations who do this type of thing better, I would suggest that the camaraderie developed amongst an almost exclusively MINI group on the track (and at the motel!) is certainly worth more than a few quality bonus points. I think there's a bit of fraternity here, and I for one, would love to see it continue.

Give me some time and I think I can get some video from the NAMCC race posted.

David G.

 

It only took me once to figure out that they don't sell beer on Sunday in most of South Carolina. Sorry to hear you had to learn the hard way.

Ridealongs are a great way to learn a new track. that keeps the passenger from having to worry about gears, speed, traffic and whatever else can keep you from learning the line. It also shows a student what kind of potential our cars have. always ask for one early on.