Is anyone else going to the NASA event Feb. 24-25th. Also to the BMWCCA event March 3-4th? I seem to be seeing less and less MINI's out there.

 

You're a lot more hardcore than I. I did VIR last March and froze. I'm doing CMP in March, hopefully SC will be a little warmer. Then the Alfa club at VIR in May, and Mazdadrivers grand course in June. I'll probably be at the BMWCCA VIR north in July.

 

Which CMP event will you be doing in March?

 

I'll be there Mar 3-4 if I can dig my car out of the snow. Not in the Mini though unless my wife is not looking.

Hard core will be
June 14-15 with BMW/Audi/M-B (Full Course)
June 16-17 with Mazda Drivers (Grand East)

 

Cobra club invited Tarheel MINIs to come run with them March 10-11. I decided to do that rather than BMWCCA at VIR because I haven't done CMP in a while and I wanted to get back down there. There's 4 or 5 MINI's signed up so far. Wish we had a few more.
http://www.svtcobraclub.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=13293
Come on down and make the Mustangs think!

328ti -- You gonna be at Mazdadrivers Grand course in June?

 

If i have the money.:impatient
They put on a good school. But 4 days, 4 nights in a motel plus dinners get expensive.
It's not like I have to do 4 days though. I can stop doing DEs anytime I want.
It's not like I'm addicted or anything.






Really.

 

Sure you can, Steven, sure you can. Deep breath, sit down for a little bit.
It's ok, you can quit any time you want!!

 

I will be there this weekend, was also there on the 10th

 

dkstone -

How you like running with NASA? Are the DE's any good? As good as BMWCCA?

 

I have been running with NASA-MA since 2004, its a well run HPDE and you get to see some racing thrown in, the class room sessions are very good, and most of their instructors are certified by them.

I have attended their certification school, they do a great job with coaching instructors on things such as listening and communicating, I have been to quite a few instructor clinic with a number of clubs, NASA-MA instructor clinic is on par with BSR, the best certification clinic that I have attended is the one sponsored by the NJ BMWCCA chapter, its the standard used for most BMWCCA chapters.

 

That sounds like a hearty thumbs-up for NASA! That's good to hear, I joined NASA-MA this year with the intent of trying them out, but just haven't gotten to it yet. So many tracks, so little time. (and money)

But I can quit any time, too!

(let's see, there's Road Atlanta, Roebling, Summit Point's not too far, maybe a junket to Florida, always wanted to do the Glen. Oh, gawd, somebody help me. )

 

Hey, Great time this past weekend with the Tarheel BMW club. Looks like i'm going to go next Wednesday too with the Ferrari club. Anyone?

 

Just did the CMP run with BullFrog, had a blast! He taught me about momentum cars, (I'm used to having HP and Torque ;-0 ). I'm not addicted or anything, but I was the last car on the track Sunday and only stopped when my gas warning light came on--I'm sure the corner workers were relieved! ;-)

 

Good looking car Dave. I do have one idea you might like or not. Your color car looks great with legal tint. I'm not a teenager or anything. The red and legal black tint looks awesome on your car. I recomend it....

 

Hi Blue,

Did you run the full course at VIR or North? How were your times? I am a member of the Tarheel BMW club but never seem to be able to get signed up before the event is booked.

DJDport66

 

Don't believe him. They declared open track at 3pm, and at 4:30 they had to flag him down to get him to come in. He would have stayed out until he ran out of gas.

I think he's hooked. Don't tell his wife.

 

Just saw this thread. I was at the VIR event in February. bluesmini, was that you I met?

I do love to drive at the track, and have done around 30 track days/weekends, most of them with NASA. Here I am in happier days:



Unfortunately, on Saturday the 24th I went off the inside of the uphill esses and munched up the side of my Evo pretty badly. I wasn't hurt. It was sure scary, though.

I'll probably get the '07 Cooper S on the track one of these days, but I think I'll take a six-month hiatus...

I do like the way NASA runs their events. They're fast-paced, always something going on, and tightly scheduled. If your start time is 1:20, you'll be driving at 1:21, you can be sure! They have good instructors, on the whole, and the atmosphere is pretty laid-back.

--Dan
Mach V
FastMINI.net

 

I went out the session after you hit the tire wall with my student and saw the car glad you are OK.

 

I'm glad you're ok. I have seen an Elise and a 325 over there in the same tire wall, so I kind of tip-toe up thru those esses. Scariest part of the track, IMHO.

 

The uphill esses are super fast. It's South Bend you gotta watch out for. It's the place where physics and fear collide. Lots of cars have ended up in the tire wall on the left. I wish they'd move that tire wall back just a bit. So many times people could have gotten away with just a car wash if there was another 10 feet of grass.

 

So many questions. I'll try and remember them all.

Mach V
I don't think I meet you. DKstone has a darker blue MINI than me. I was instructing the session you hit the wall. Sorry to hear that. At first I couldn't tell if you were with the BMW club or the group that was running on the Patriot course and had gone over the wall. Glad to hear you're OK.

djdport66
My lap times at VIR full are 226-227 on a clean no traffic lap. My fastest that weekend was a 224. I was there just yesterday with the F-car club and couldn't get below my regular times. It was day 11 on those tires. They are officially dead now. The Tarheel schools are very hard to get in. Registration is now online with motorsportreg. To get in you have to register the first day they open or it's filled.

If anyone is looking for a great cheap track tire I have to recomend the Nitto NT-01. I got 11 days out of a set of those. Last year I was using the RA-1's. I could only get 2.5 days out of those due to the front left getting corded on the outside. The Nitto's are the same compound with thicker sidewalls and bigger tread blocks and only 6/32's factory tread. And they are 30 bucks cheaper a tire than the RA-1's

NASA vs. BMW
I've been with BMW for the past 4 years and NASA only this year so take that into mind when reading my review.

BMW's main concern is saftey. They will not let you do anything they deam unsafe. Very strict on passing zones. You must attend class. You can't be signed off until the second day run two.

NASA is competitive school. They have races through out the day mixed in with the DE. Lots of cars go off track with NASA. I was amazed to see the amount of cars spinning with no repercussions. With BMW and Porsche if you spin twice your done.

People always want to know what i've done to my car to make it so fast at the track. Someone yesterday at VIR with the Ferrari club was told that my car had two superchargers on it. It does not. My speed It comes from good instruction. Get as much seat time as you can with an instructor in the car. If your instructor wants to sign you off tell him you'd rather he stay in the car and work on somemore things.

p.s. i'll be at road atlanta this weekend instructing with NASA. Anyone?

 

eMINI, The uphill esses are my favorite part of the full course. Just this past year I started doing them flatfooted in 5th. going under the bridge I go to 5th gear and hold it to the floor all the way up then brakes and back to 4th at southbend. That sends me up the esses at a solid 110 the whole way. That and the brake zone at the end of the back stretch are where I catch most people.

 

I couldn't agree more. I've had some hairy moments in South Bend, but doing the esses flat is a great way to catch other drivers. It sounds like we'd be pretty evenly matched through there.

I won't be at VIR until the Tarheel school in July. Are you instructing? It would be fun to go out together.

 

I tested quite a bit there last year and we saw only a few MCSs as well. I'll be there this weekend setting up a GTS car for a customer. !!! BMWCR JP lap times need to be sub 2:14 just to be competitive. I think we had the lap record at one time with 2:12 or so in our E30 M3. If you want to run D-mod you're talking about sub 2:08s.

 

I can run solid 225-226's all day. Remember, this is my daily driver with nothing removed and that big giant glass sunroof. I weighed my car last weekend at Road Atlanta. with me in the car it's 2950. that's a pig. Most of my track buddies are in M coupes for E46 M3's. The guys in M3's can bust out 2:08 laps all day. These are also daily drivers. They just have to much pull for me in the long stretches to keep up.