For what its worth:

Lately, in reading about track tires, I am regularly seeing that people say that the Falken RT660s need to be heat cycled before running them out on the track. The latest talked about the center rib of 660s delaminating and that heat cycled helps to mitigate that. Have not seen anything about the latest version of that tire, though.

 

Hey, I’m looking to go to LRP on 9/6, Saturday, full day, jointly hosted by Patroons and CVC.

Anyone interested in joining up with me?

 

I would but I'll be in Acadia, biking, hiking and paddle boarding. Have fun!

 

Go you!

 

Well Saturday (yesterday) was interesting and pretty good. The event came off pretty well. No particular issues, except for one person who didn’t understand the rules of passing and didn’t lift when I pulled out to take the point-by and almost crunched my door when he turned down almost into me going into T1. Yes, he and I ran side by side all the way down the front straight. I was able to brake a little later than him going into T1. I thought he was going to tuck in behind me. But, no, he didn’t even know I was there. He told me later that, when I didn’t pass him (because he didn’t lift), he thought I decided to not take the pass. What!? Kind of reasoning was that? Yes, I did report him when it happened. And he did apologize at the end of the day when he realized who I was; not that I was looking for an apology.

The event didn’t attract very fast cars/drivers. I was one of the quicker cars and had the joy of passing cars. Cars that should have been quicker, but I’ll take it.

Morning and into the early afternoon was really good. Perfect weather, though a touch humid. Then the weather front came through. Thunder, lightning and torrential rain…


Which shut the track down because of the lightning, which was close/overhead

Rivers of water all over the place. T3 apex was a pond when the storm passed. We lost about 2 hrs as a result.

Because of the anticipated winds, they asked that all pop ups be taken down. Ugh! And some of my stuff got soaked.


Smokey all nicely “washed” and other stuff drying out

The track did open back up after the storm front passed and I did one more short session. So 2 full sessions in the morning, in which both Smokey and I had a really good time. A a short session early afternoon, during which they shut the track down for lightening in the area. Then a short session once they restarted. So, what? 3 full sessions? Not too bad considering the storm.

As tired as I was when I got home, I must have had a good day…

 

To VIR and back again…

Yes I finally made the journey down to VIR to see what all of the fuss was about. I remember this being a conversation amongst us whenever we would get together. slinger688 was many times the instigator of those discussions. But it seems that that we never could put it together to make that trip.

It is a huge commitment to do this. For me, 6 days of driving; 2 days there, 2 days back and 3 days on the track. I opted to join the TarHeels chapter of BMWCCA for their 3 days event and talked my way into their Friday open track day. This event was run much like the GVC event at WGI and Friday is relegated to their instructors and A-Plus students (equivalent to GVC’s Group S). Having no experience at this track, I didn’t qualify for A-Plus so I was given my own run group designation - “X” and was assigned an instructor. That was really good as it afforded me a mentor with whom I worked with to learn the track.

I took the JCW and the car was pretty much flawless. In preparation for the event I had a set of Vorshlag camberplates installed with the camber set to about -2 deg. Definitely pros and cons to these, but worth it for tire longevity.

3 days on the track made the trip down and back worthwhile. I did a more extensive writeup here on my Albert thread. It goes on for several posts. In those posts is a link to a YouTube video with me chasing a GT3 around the track… Fun!

 

Sounds like a blast! Glad you had fun in your bespoke 'X' run group!

 

Y'all are so smooth and precise in Albert that the in-car is boring!! My sincere compliments. ;-)

Charlie

 

I’ll take boring, as long as I can drive the car home.

And, thanks…

As for a little less boring, how about day 2 of me out on the track, while still working on figuring it out, with the likes of Advanced and A-Plus students, and instructors. I posted a video with this on my Albert thread. A lesson of traffic management and point-bys.

 

I did not say slow... ;-)

 

Happy New Year!

Enjoy and Motor On!

 

And it is the start to the 2026 track season. And, it looks like I am about to kick it off with a trip to LRP on 4/25 (a Saturday) to join up with CVC BMWCCA for a day of blowing the cobwebs out of the old brain and car.

Any takers? For those wanting to run in the Intermediate and have a Solo sign off for the season, it appears that they are doing that now.

It also looks like SCDA has a track day on Monday 4/20, if that is more of your flavor of event.

Now comes the fun part… Oil change and inspect the car over.

 

I met up with Slinger688 yesterday for a couple of hours of catching up with life since he move to halfway around the world. He is the originator of this tread and the person who was highly responsible for getting me addicted to this hobby. He and his wife are in the States for a little while to visit with friends. It was great to have had a chance to see him. He is doing well.

As for this hobby, the 2026 season for me starts next Saturday for some fun at LRP. Anyone up for a ride is welcome to meet up with ZRE and myself.

 

wow - so cool you guys got to get together! That must have been fun…..is he still in the Philippines? Good luck at your opener, I’ll be at COTA for my one race this year…

 

Yes it was great to get together with him. Still the ever enthusiast, effervescent and passionate person he has always been. Great to talk with. He did reminisce about doing track days with you. He has been somewhat limited as of late as to what he can do but is taking it in stride. Latest hobby - photography. As to where he is living - Singapore, where he has been for a while.

At COTA, will you be crewing? I seem to recall that you have crewed with BimmerWorld. Still the same?

 

Yup - crew duties for BW. They only need me once a year and I’m ok with that. They been on my running GT4 sprint racing the last few years so need for refunding. It’s just the once a year 3hr enduro they do now..

 

Up at 5:30 in the morning to head off to LRP for some fun on the track. However the weather predictions were iffy at best. Cold with showers coming in mid-afternoon. Mid 30s when I left the house and it stayed in that range for the drive. Spectacular sunrise with not a cloud in the sky as a drove eastward into Massachusetts. And yes there was a very low sun shining right into my eyes. Arrived at LRP at about 7:30 and the paddock was quite full. Sorry no pictures this time as it seemed that I was in a rush the whole time. Plus, by this time the clouds had rolled in and turned everything gray.

As for interesting cars, there was a gorgeous BMW, which I understand is their latest version of their hybrid. Then the Camaro ZL1 1LE (hope I got that right) in come-catch-me yellow whose owner said he was doing with this car what it was made to do; run it on the track. A really nice looking Lotus. I guess I could have managed pictures, sorry.

40-ish when we hit the track. Not pretty as there seemed to be a lack of understanding what that meant for the track tires that most people were on. Unfortunately one driver learned his lesson the hard way by stuffing his M2 in the guardrail on No Name straight. The report from the person following him was that he hit the gas pedal way too hard coming out of T4, to which the car responded by doing a couple of tank slapper. This then resulted in the car launching itself headlong into the guardrail, then back onto the middle of the track facing the wrong way. Ugh!

Then there was the engine that blew going into T1 that put oil on the driving line. I was wondering why I lost it going into that turn. Then there was the guy who passed me and went too hot into T1 and didn’t stay on the track. This led to him not being happy with me. Not my fault, which he later admitted. But in the advanced group I would think that the drivers would know how to take a corner off line. Apparently not. Then there was the guy who spun coming out of T1 right in front of the car that was in front of me that blocked my view the spin. The avoidance action of that second car put the spun car right in my path perfectly in line for me to T-bone it. Fortunately it rolled out of my way resulting in a miss, which is better than a hit. Ok, time to end the day on a non-bad day.

Along with that, Steven King showed up with The Mist. A cold, damp mist. But, as for the day Smokey did really well. The setup is forgiving. Avoiding a spun car was possible without even thinking about having problems myself. By the 3rd session, I was motoring comfortably well. With the mist, I ended the day at that point and decided to get home early.