Anyone else going to be there?

mb

 

I'll be at Summit Point.

 

This was, as always, a great event. I won't go into "gnatster" level detail here, but I'll give a quick synopsis:

- perfect weather
- first day with the wilwood 11.75 and poly B's - very impressed
- Second day in "experienced" group with patroon BMW CCA. Last time I was slowest in the group, this time I was top 5.
- some dude bought himself a porsche GT cup car (you know, the ones you see on tv) and crashed it. He's OK, the car is NOT.
- my instructor signed me off to go solo but I rejected it - he was very helpful.
- I had fictional people taking hypothetical lap times for a car that looked just like mine and they ranged from (with no traffic) 1:09 - 1:11 fairly consistently.
- I finally figured a way around big bend that I like - miss the first apex by about 1/2 car length (wide) then carry that momentum all of the way around.
- I defeated my fear of the left, although it's still a weak corner for me.
- I found the members of this group VERY courteous. One one session I was in front of a 993 carerra 4s and an e36 M3. We were all going the same pace, I'd pull away a bit in the corners, then they'd catch up. On the straight it was clear I was holding them up, so I let them by. We stayed with each other the entire session. Afterwards, the m3 driver came up to me to ask me if he was holding me up, and I said no. I was right on him on all corners, but he was fast enough that even if I overtook him, he'd be right on my *** again in the straights. It was really fun to drive with those two cars and learn from them.
- Taking my track rims off after the action was finished revealed a very loose bolt in my lower left suspension - the one that attaches the control arm to the wheel assembly. That was scary - I tightened it, but now the tire's got a lot of POSITIVE camber. Tip-toed it home.
- 2 other minis, but not in my group.

All around great time.

mb

 

Must be a nice feeling knowing how much you and your car have improved.

 

I am happy you had a great time, and that your driving keeps on improving as well as your car, as always it was a pleasure chatting with you.
Yes it turned out to be a great day rain wise but the track was still pretty cold and did not warm up much, traction was ok but its been better, still there was plenty of grip.
THDUKE ran perfectly all day long, was able to run @ 7.5K in fourth down the front straight all day long (Thanks Jan), was off my best lap time by 1 sec could only muster a .07 but still very good as the 914 race car could only lay down .04 as his best lap as we played tag in the second session, funny thing is after the first session I was warned about my exhaust being too loud, 1db over 89 db max, so I kept it at 6K on the back straight where they were measuring.
Third and last session out for me was just real fun as I was asked to take a new club member for a ride, this person had never been on track so this was a great experience for her, just so happen that another instructor in an E30 buzzed me in big bend without a point by turned out he had no where to go but to tuck in and hope that I saw him which I did, from that point on I stay glued to his bumper the rest of the session. My passenger had a great time and told me afterwards that she was now hooked and would be tracking her next year.
One more person addicted to the track, do I love being an instructor.

 

Absolutely. And the best part is that there's so much more to learn and so much more improvement to make. This time out I was finally feeling the limits of the stock suspension. Contrary to what many immediate modders will tell you, those limits are very high (my opinion).

Trevor - As I told you, your car looked a lot faster as you were exiting the esses. No clue if that's true, but MINIs, driven well, all look similar coming out of that corner (from the deck in the paddock), but yours looked like it was powering out very well. It probably has something to do with the driver

mb

 

it might have something to do with having 52whp more than he had last time

 

Yes that definitely has something to do with it. One day I'll be interested in actual engine mods... Well, I should say one day I'll have money for actual engine mods - right now I'd rather spend the cash on these schools and tweeking the suspension. Ha, and at the rate I'm going, I'll need a new rear alignment every time I go to the track!

mb