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Well the autocross was wisely cancelled due to weather, so that did not go to plan. Perhaps I'll try again, maybe in May.
Mini of Peabody is doing an outing this coming Sunday, sending a gaggle of Miniacs around Cape Anne, which is of course my home turf. I reckon I'll spiff Gollum up and put the full set of warpaint on (numbers, classes, required adverts, and a nod to Evo) on him and join in the fun at least for a while.
So today we did the spiffing up. The oil change was the last free one under a contract I bought when this wee car came off the initial Maintenance Contract - it's proven a bit of a money saver that, although they get the 10k, and I get the 5k intervals - still. Gollum passed all inspections - still 8mm of brakes front and back - but I've an advance notice to consider, not to act on for a while . That is my sharp eyed friends found a wee seep at the balance shaft covers - so that'll be coming, and while doing that I shall refresh front main seal and harmonic balancer. Don't need to pull the motor, but it's still a bit over 2k. But not yet, just a warning.
The bottom liine is Gollum is gorgeous and running like an express train and it's spring in New England! I am blessed!
I thought I might join a gathering hosted by MoP to circumnavigate Cape Ann last weekend with a gaggle of Minis (mess of Minis?, myriad of Minis?).
I cleaned behind Gollum's ears and showed up on the day, and it looked like a merry entourage was forming.
Gollum however, anti-social critter that he is, objected firmly to being squired around his very own playground, so we departed the fold - leaving them to their cheerful outing and wand'ring off on our own.
I know Charlie has had to deal with that upper engine mount issue. That is the one thing that I am keeping my eye on. And as is well known - oil change, oil change, oil change… and motor on.
Damn no dip stick - so I can’t check the oil whenever I want to. In my book, that will be my most likely point of failure on that engine, running out of oil. Mine uses very little, but don’t want to starve it at high cornering loads.
Speaking of high cornering g’s - WGI is coming up next weekend ….
Charlie,
Like any gift, it is not yours to refuse. Clearly it was extremely thoughtful and Lovell thinks highly of you. I can appreciate your frustration, as I remember like it was yesterday my first day driving on the track and the overwhelming nature of that experience. But, I hope, like my first track experience, you can close your eyes and picture, with a smile on your face, what you accomplished in those “5” minutes. I did see a marked improvement from the start of the video to the end.
Charlie,
Like any gift, it is not yours to refuse. Clearly it was extremely thoughtful and Lovell thinks highly of you. I can appreciate your frustration, as I remember like it was yesterday my first day driving on the track and the overwhelming nature of that experience. But, I hope, like my first track experience, you can close your eyes and picture, with a smile on your face, what you accomplished in those “5” minutes. I did see a marked improvement from the start of the video to the end.
Go you!
No indeed the day was dedicated to accepting Lovell's gift with grace and warmth, and that we did.
Regarding the experience, I'm afraid I have not been clear, or at least not sufficiently so.
Imagine that you are given a lovely car, on a track you know well. Now imagine that you cannot shift gears, because the paddles cannot be touched. Now you know you are going to be in the wrong gear at every apex. Now you know that you cannot properly control weight distribution with the throttle. Now you know that this lovely car has to be treated like a limousine or a Buick - as trying to drive it properly is pointless.
Imagine that you have a cheerful and polite stranger in the right hand seat, who assumes you have no experience whatsoever in a high performance car on a track, and whose purpose is to provide guidance to a complete rookie.
Now imagine that the "Instructor" repositions the rear view mirror so that he can see it and you can not, and warns you that if another car comes from behind he will instruct you how to behave and grab your steering wheel to prevent you from causing a collision.
Now imagine that all points of reference and points of timing that you have on this track have been overridden by such a swarm of cones as to obscure the racing line and conceal your own landmarks, forcing a pointless learning curve downwards from optimum to beginner's approach.
Now imagine that you are cautioned not to approach ANYTHING - track edge, cone, curb does not matter within 3' so as to reduce risk.
Now imagine that you have three laps to (1) put this poor instructor at ease, while appearing to attend to his endless stream of unnecessary and distracting speech, (2) learn which of their cones are flat-*** wrong, and which actually make sense, (3) stay the heck away from the true beginners whose behavior is utterly unpredictable, and oh yes (4) drive fast and have a good time.
So, the way I understand it, your experience was as if you were on a track you had never been on before. Ok, not fair. I do feel your pain, though. But I also understand the pain your instructor is in, who has to take everything that any driver who gets into the car says with a grain of salt (“I’m an excellent driver”)… and make sure that car gets back in one piece.
I, also have been there, for a different reason. I was at LRP on a LRP Club day with the lead instructor for the LRP Club in the right seat making sure that I, in my MINI, didn’t make a mess of any of the 1/4 to 1/2 million dollar cars that were out on the track with me. Yup, had the grab on the steering wheel, the moved mirror, etc. I knew the track well at that time, but it made no difference to the instructor.
That was a pretty serious run around the ‘Ring in an F1 car you posted on YouTube.
And, successfully managed a tank slapper with only flat spotted tires to show for it. Then, for good measure, tried for the guardrail a second time and missed again.
Nicely done.
Looks like I am off to WGI again at the beginning of August.
That was a pretty serious run around the ‘Ring in an F1 car you posted on YouTube.
And, successfully managed a tank slapper with only flat spotted tires to show for it. Then, for good measure, tried for the guardrail a second time and missed again.
Nicely done.
Looks like I am off to WGI again at the beginning of August.
Glad to see you've had some luck with tires and brakes, and I wish you a very good visit to WGI!
So my friend and fellow racer - both iRacing and Autocross - Wiley *** provoked me.
I put up my fastest EVER Nurburgring lap - in the Toyota-Williams FW31 which was damned good in 2009 - and I got 'round the Ring in ONLY five minutes and thirty-nine seconds! Wiley just pointed out that (1) he had personally done a 5:23, and (2) he had used the Mercedes W12 (circa 2021) to do it.
Well damn Wiley. So much for my brag.
So I bought the damn Mercedes - I had not realized what it actually was until Wiley poked me. $11.95 thank you very much.
Then I loaded it into a test session and looked at the myriad of tuning parameters that car supports - from modes, to chassis settings, to aerodynamics, and despaired. So I ran it out of the box.
Driving - REALLY PUSHING - a modern ground effects car requires me to ignore everything I know about physics, traction, prudence, and self preservation. In a car of this type, the faster you go, the better the handling. Such cars will go around a corner at 150 miles per hour but slide off the same corner at 120. Commitment is essential.
And driving this car in particular, on the Nurburgring, requires me to continuously visualize the next several corners, and project my mind forwards at a breathtaking pace, because if I don't the car will overtake my mind and the result is cataclysmic.
In an odd way, the final experience is curiously reminiscent of an autocross. The corners arrive at a tremendous pace, and the ability to keep visualizing ahead of the car is the essence of tidy speed. It makes my brain sweat.
So here ya go Wiley, and thank you very much. I'll settle for this 5:24, and I salute you for having beaten this time, and for the provocation!
13 years ago Tony Stewart and Lewis Hamilton did a “seat swap” run at WGI in each othe’s cars, which I got to watch. It was a miserable day. Mid 50s and drizzling for a good part of the morning. Tony Stewart got to drive Lewis’ F1 car and Lewis Hamilton drove Tony’s NASCAR. Tony was on a damp track on rain tires, had never driven an F1 car before and had never driven the full WGI track. He was down in the 1:30 time range after a couple of laps. Now I understood that the F1 car Lewis brought was his championship car from 3 years prior. That would put it the same vintage as your Toyota-Williams car. I wonder what you could do with that car at WGI?
PS: the night before this seat swap my cousin got to sit in Lewis’ F1 car and has a picture as proof. That was the day of a Patroons track event.
13 years ago Tony Stewart and Lewis Hamilton did a “seat swap” run at WGI in each othe’s cars, which I got to watch. It was a miserable day. Mid 50s and drizzling for a good part of the morning. Tony Stewart got to drive Lewis’ F1 car and Lewis Hamilton drove Tony’s NASCAR. Tony was on a damp track on rain tires, had never driven an F1 car before and had never driven the full WGI track. He was down in the 1:30 time range after a couple of laps. Now I understood that the F1 car Lewis brought was his championship car from 3 years prior. That would put it the same vintage as your Toyota-Williams car. I wonder what you could do with that car at WGI?
PS: the night before this seat swap my cousin got to sit in Lewis’ F1 car and has a picture as proof. That was the day of a Patroons track event.
Dunno about the Toyota-Williams, but I uncorked the Mercedes W12 on WGI just now, for a quick four lap giggle. The 4th lap was a 1:22. The chicane is 5th gear!
Now on to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to prepare for this weekend.
