Nice photos Louis!

Wait, wasn't your car the one with the custom tape job? I heard this all happened while you were at your novice driver's morning meeting. Terrible! And then the guy in the 80s Audi Quattro was seen painting the tongue graphic too. I hope they catch those two punks.

(Thanks for being a good sport Louis.)





[Photos courtesy of Allen (groove67) - yes, he was standing by watching so he must be an accomplice too!]

 

Oh man - no traction yesterday! My front tires were spinning so much! My left front was smoking through Turn1 and from Louis' photo it looks like it did in the off-chamber too.



I had to swap tires with my right rear. I was down to the steel belts! I should've went home but decided to run with my bolohead tires and ran more than a second slower. Here's my tire. One more SL left and I need new tires! Ugh! What to do? What to do?



It was expected to rain but the "race Gods" gave us a break (maybe it was the "golf Gods" as there was an LPGA event at Ko Olina down the street) and it was fairly cool and although it got cloudy at the end, it never rained. A lot of folks were saying Turn1 felt really slippery. A few spinouts - a yellow Elise spunout twice after the chicane (Lotus killer section delivered again) and a CRX spunout (but he put in another awesome run after recovering). Barry (bgrpph) arrived late, slapped on his race tires and got a few laps in before Time Attack - he was consistent again delivering his usual 41s. I think I scared Louis (cwloius) when I drove his car (and he rode along) to teach him the lines and braking points. He had to leave early to go to a 1st year b-day party so he could not participate in Time Attack. Allen (groove67) met Louis and I at Jamba Juice at 7am and stayed until he got "the call" from his wife (we know how it is man, we truly do ) but he was able to take some pictures for us.

 

i really had a great time, but i have to say...never had that kinda rush until dirk got behind the wheel ...and yes, my life did flashed by, but damn it was freaking insane! i think i even turn a little blue there... and wheni was heading back into town, i decided to drive on the surface streets...didn't want to drive fast after that....

 

Glad you had a great time....sorry I made you feel like hurling.

This was me driving cwlouis' car :




This was Louis before we drove-out :

&

This was blue-faced Louis in the passenger seat when we pulled back into the staging area :

 

Looks like I missed a great time. Thanks for posting the pic's!

 

--Hardy har har!! So THAT's who the DSM guys were talking about. They kept telling me about someone who mummified their car for the last race. I thought, "hmm wasn't me, but it sounds like me." Hell yeah I'm gonna tape my car up so much all you're gonna see is a wad of painters tape rolling down the track. Oooh but painting stuff on it with grease paint sounds kewel! Maybe I'll get yellow painters tape and make mine Pikachu.

 

oh my god, did you just say Pikachu..........

 

--Yeah you know the pokemon dude. Pika pika! Hahah I want to smack it everytime I see it but I can't stop watching the little guy.





Oooh and it's Roosevelt colors too. Heehee. Hey is that the sound of Keiki revoking my HMMC membership?

~pyratio

 

OMG! No, that was the sound of the SLS gates closing on you - NO Super Lap for Pikachu! What have you done to the Super Lap thread?!!!!!


Nah, we still love you Pyratio (just have to make sure it sprinkles in the morning so Keith will stay in bed).

 

--Hey! I caught that invisible text. Ooh da sneaky!

"just have to make sure it sprinkles in the morning so Keith will stay in bed"



I am SO turning Dirk's car into a Pokemon when he's not looking. j/k

~pyratio

 

I really hate to fuel this on, but.....

Painters tape is available in yellow.

 

KA-BLAM! (That was the gate closing on the limpy guy too!)

 

--Whoahahahaha! I'm going to buy the jumbo roll!!

--Thanks feedback!

~pyratio

 

 

Results from last month's Super Lap are posted (article to follow) : http://www.superlapseries.com/Result...bresults06.htm

Results seem kind of weird - maybe they are still ironing things out. Barry were you running in Group B? That's where you are listed.

 

I had them correct my scores as i've always been in group C. They're correct now. I need new RA1 tires. mine are bald but will get one more SL from them- Don't want to buy new sets if i've no track to run on.

 

Three more days until possibly the last Super Lap! I just pray that we get a break from the rain.

I have to thank two NAMers [Edit : three now] for making it possible for me to run this Saturday. Eastsidemini (Andrew), thanks for giving me your old front rotors (my drilled-out rotors were cracking to the edge of the rotor! ). Kohu'ulaMINI (Randy), thanks for the good deal on the R-compounds (my Hoosiers ate it for good at the last SLS). [Edit : Changed the rotors and found out my front inner pads were gone! Thanks bgrpph (Barry) for the Ferrodo 2500 pads to hold me through the one SL!]

Old timer NAMer Latka (Andy) is going to be there taking pictures. I saw some of his photos that he took at last week's drift competition and he's good! He'll be bring out his classic Mini.

I think Pyratio (Keith) said he was coming out. The usual SLS misfits (bgrpph, eastsidemini, and dakinemini) will be out there too.

 

Yesterday was an awesome turnout! It was sort of crowded but nevertheless it was a great final SL! NAMers present were pyratio, eastsidemini, bgrpph, dakinemini, and even latka!

Pyratio showed us how to really use blue painter's masking tape and put cwlouis' previous masking attempt to shame. Hopefully we will have pic up soon. Keith improved by knocking over four seconds off during the day! [Edit : remember to always hit the dead-mongoose mark before entering the chicane. ]

Eastsidemini showed us what too much spare time and a woodworking shop in your garage can do. It was an ESMHawaii original.

Bgrpph again showed his dominance with a first place Group C finish - congrats Barry.

Dakinemini died from DEET. [Edit : I laika-da PSS9 and Avons though! ]

Latka showed-up in his Mini - if you folks don't know Andy, it's quite a site seeing a 6ft+ guy in a Mini! The car is a beauty and it's for sale! Andy took choke photos (I think he said over 1000 shots) with his HUGE lens (don't know how he got that lens in the Mini! )!

 

--This past saturday was totally awesome. There were soooo many cars racing that there was no place to park for a lot of them. What was really cool was that Dirk, Andrew, and I pulled up to line up at the gate one right after another. It looked like a MINI invasion. We all came from different parts of the island but we ended up getting there at the same time. I bet people thought we planned it that way.

I was a little insulted when I pulled up to pay for entrance fees and they took one look at my roof racks and asked, "specatator?" But dat's okay.

My DSM buddies came out with me on my first few practice laps to show me some of the lines, brake points, and hazards. I looked at my timer and I started out with 63 second laps. Then when I pulled in to drop off my coach my other buddy kicked me out of the pitts and said "Get back out there!!! You need seat time, or you'll chicken out!!!" So I went right back out. MAN there were soOOooooo many cars out there. Superlap really HAS to do something about regulating the practice lap sessions so that the groups are broken up better.

On my first solo I got it down to 51 seconds but it was terrifying and I had to constantly let the 300 to 400 horsepower people pass me. They need to setup a newbie practice session. I counted at least 4 cars that illegally passed me after I waved 3 cars in front of them pass me. Passing in the braking cones is uncool. It kinda frazzled me so much I started to really push my car a little too hard and I broke loose all 4 wheels on the 180 turn. Felt like a second of hydroplaning.

I came back into the pits and smoked a dozen cigarettes. For the next practice session I asked Dirk to coach me by driving my car. Man I gotta tell you Dirk is an awesome coach! He understands the MINI like no other! When I was riding with him in between taking notes on braking points, throttle position(all the way down), and positioning lines I was thinking "wheeeeeeeee!" and "Man this is awesome, this is what I want to make my car do!!!!"

The time between practice and the final time attack race is rough. I didn't feel like eating any of the food I brought. Nerves and anxiousness take over to both do better and to not crash. It seemed like every civic that got on the track that day crashed bad or spun out. Two people lost their whole front end body work and one just bashed his front end in and called it quits before the time attack. Dirk, Barry and Andrew came over to laugh at my mummified MINI. They added to the artwork by writing on the dirt on the passenger side. I'll post pics soon.

What was worse was the line up for the time attack. The lines were SUPER long that day. I waited until the end of the line went halfway through the pit area before I started up my MINI and lined up. I still waited almost another 20 minutes before we got through. That waiting time sitting in the car with your helmet on is horrible. It just eats you up with anxiety. I was glad that they put an older gentleman in a Lotus Elise in front of me. If they put another newbie in front of me and he/she ate it in a crash in front of me that would probably have frazzled me bad.

When the run came the old guy in the Lotus left me on the first straightaway and he was gone. Cool time to play as if the track were all mine. The first lap I tried to remember all the key points Dirk had taught me. Not bad but not perfect. Second lap, things started to line up nice. Every brake point, every position lines, every flooring of the gas pedal came spot on perfect. Glancing at the timer on the straightaway I saw it was 3 seconds faster than last time. Pushed it harder on the 3rd lap and the MINI started to squeal. I was in the wrong lines before the chicane and I decided, "nope don't let off the throttle on the chicane!" so I floored it and flew through the chicanes, braking hard at the cones where 2 other cars had crashed earlier. Yanked the Cooper a hard left and floored the pedal all the way. I saw the checkered flag in the corner of my eye and floored the pedal throughout the last turn. I looked at my timer and it said 47.75!!! Not perfect but not bad for a totally bone stock Cooper S auto with a NOOB driver.

Thanks Dirk!!! You're my Qui-gonn Gin!!! I'll try to keep you from being skewered by a Darth Barry in this story. I can't guarantee he won't step on you when you're under a car though.

I was hoping for a 45 second finish but I just couldn't get enough practice times in with it being so crowded in those sessions. Next time.

I had a really good time despite being so nervous. I just have to listen to Dirk and trust my MINI to hold the turns when I feel like letting off the throttle. I learned a lot about the limits of the MINI Cooper and they are way higher than my driving skill. Despite sport mode being useless for the auto tranny, the car in just D mode is pretty damn good. Overall I'd recommend Superlap to anyone who always wanted to race but never knew where to start. I'd recommend everyone to at least check it out. It's $10 for spectators but it is something to see Barry, Dirk and Andrew tear up the track in their MINI Cooper monsters. When I grow up I wanna be fast like them.

Thanks again Dirk for your excellent coaching. Thanks to Barry and Andrew for your support too. I am definitely going to the next one if there is one. No matter which race track and no matter rain or shine. Oh yeah it was magical the way it was cloudy but it didn't even drizzle until we started to leave. It was a really great day.

 

That's classic! Nah, I think they remembered you from spectating in the past.

Garsh, I'm a bit embarassed after reading your post. Glad I could help a little. Next time let Barry take you for a spin and see how the champ does it!

You forgot to mention one important thing young Jedi..........turn the oofing DSC "OFF" EVERY TIME you go out. And don't forget to hit the dead mongoose before entering the chicane.

[Edit : glad you are hooked! Looks like Team MINI is starting to come together! ]

[Edit2 :
Ouch! Are we that much older than Keith? Yeah, I guess we are (though I am the baby of the old farts ). Lol ]

 

I got a few unedited photos from Latka (Andy) today and although I think he does not want me to post these yet (he's a perfectionist when it comes to photography), I thought I'd post these two :





In the second photo it looks like I am going Mach Speed!

Awesome photos courtesy of Andy K. (latka)
Numbers courtesy of Louis L. (cwlouis)
m7/ESMHawaii scoop courtesy of Andrew Y. (eastsidemini)

 

go speed go! the numbers looked awesome! i think it needs to be bigger!!

 

Larger?!?! Half the size please! Sorry I had to elimate the beautiful "0" that you made for the "08F".

 

i think by removing the "0", it shaved off even more time!

 

Unfortunately I was faster than Feb. but slower than Jan. Must be the weight of them BIG numbers.