Ooops! This just in. I got busted for driving too fast in HPDE 4 at Sears Point. I guess they won't allow me to do that any more.

 

Sid- Thanks for the clarification, makes a lot of sense. I guess what I was trying to understand is the term HPDE used in conjuction with Thunderhill, since there aren't anything posted in their web site that indicates the HPDE term per say but rather it's called HPDS.

NASA is the site that refers to the said "HPDE" and their different classes (1-4) or did I miss something?

Now, I understand that NASA along with Thunderhill have their designated events for instructional driving/racing if you want to call it that. It's just that Thunderhill's a little different.

 

Thunderhill is the HQ for the San Francisco Chapter of the Sports Car Club of America. SCCA runs what they call a High Performance Driving School there, which is identical to a High Performance Driving Event. To make it even more confusing, they refer to it as the Street School. They are all the same thing - usually 4 classes of students, Novice, Intermediate, Expert and Advanced. Instruction by experienced volunteer instructors is usually mandatory for novices and intermediates until the student is signed off for solo, and available for anyone else upon request (one can always use more instruction). Many more clubs run events at T-Hill in addition to SCCA. It's a great learning track; diverse and exciting with lots of room to make mistakes without damaging yourself or your car.

Don't worry too much about it making sense. The terminology is not as important as the experience. Just sign up for an event that fits your schedule and come on out. You'll figure it out pretty quickly.

 

Saddhartha it's not my chair cover. Oh i'm up to 190whp now, they had a little problem with the TQ read out. they said it showed 297 ft lbs.lookin for a little more!! No talent just horse power.

 

Hmmm. I think you were the only other person with folding chairs. Maybe it blew in on the wind.

Good news on the HP front. Now we have to work on tweaking that carbon unit!

 

You got that right. I'm going to TH on the 28th for a little practice.
I think with some new software i'll get a few more HP. Not bad for a automatic.
When's your next TT and were?

 

The next NASA TT is August 11-12 at Thunderhill. NASA new instructor training is sometime in September and I hope to be invited.

 

HOD event in 1 week!! I'm at edge motoworks right this second getting brake fluid flush, allignment and a bunch of other adjustments ..... So damn excited for 2 days in a row.

SharoSC02 - check out hookedondriving.com and ncracing.org. These are "clubs" that rent tracks and run driver education events. Great way to get good seat time with good instruction. Its either that or do what I did, pay tons and tons of money to go to SKip Barber/Russell race school and earn a competition license. Then go to the track and get beat by Jerry anyways, because as they say, seat time is everything. Im on year 4 of track day events and still trying to catch him, although I swear that stoptech brake kit is my real nemisis!

 

Damn it. Just bought camber plates...

 

Camber plates goooooooood! lovely turn in. tighten up your rear bar and you've got a tossable Mini! Who'da thunk it?

I'm not THAT hard to catch. We're just seldom on the track together. Let's change that!

And where the hell is Clive?

BTW, if you've got the $$, Jim Russell is excellent training! I'm a grad, too.

 

I have camber plates also, anything to help catch Siddhartha.

 

Katmeho- Thanks for the info. I think I will start going to the TH or the NASA events and get my feet wet there. Ijust finished modding my car with some semi-final parts and looking forward to doing the final stage of it early next month in LA.

Oh and by the way, is there a restriction in how much mods/whp you can have when joining the HPDE group 1 stages? I'm currently running close to 220 whp and looking in to being somewhere around high 230s low 240s by middel of next month hopefully.

 

Nah. There are no restrictions or rules on car specs until you start racing. That's a ways away. Nobody looks at what mods you've got or how much HP. Your success all depends on the carbon unit anyway. Ba-ring it! I'd love to see it! I'm stock at 210, but I'll try to keep up!

 

I had such a great time coaching Stephan yesterday at Infineon! His car is a killer. Stock HP but wicked suspension setup and 235 tires with Proxes RA-1s. It was his first time at Sears Point. The first session he turned pretty consistent 2:15s - a reasonable time. By the last session, he was turning consistent 2:05s. That's a 10 second drop, and that's huge! So that gave me an idea.

Maybe I've been going at this all wrong. Would anybody be interested in taking a Master Class with me at Sears Point, Thunderhill, Laguna Seca, Buttonwillow or Willow Springs? I promise to improve your times around the track - maybe not 10 seconds, but I'm pretty sure I can wring a good performance out of you that will result in you feeling more comfortable at speed and also improve your lap times.

This would not be available to beginners. To qualify, you must have some track experience with your Mini, be running at least in Intermediate with clearance for solo and carrying a passenger, be willing to learn, and be willing to be pushed past what you might consider your limits.

It would be all about you. I sit in the right seat as your passenger at the trackday of your choice. I would not be an official coach, but there is no proscription of my right to ride around with you, as far as I know.

Open to discussion or PM me if you want to try it. There will be a fee.

CV:
Jim Russell Racing School graduate
4 years of trackdays as driver and coach in California and Nevada
San Francisco Region SCCA Certified Driving Coach
Past instructor for SCCA Street School, HOD, T.E.A.M. Racing, Phil Wicks Driving Academy
Currently Chief Driving Instructor, Club Sportiva, San Francisco
Currently running in NASA's Time Trial series (the only Mini), holding second place in the season point standings in TTD.

 

Jerry,
Izzat you making the hand gestures?



I was up there yesterday trying to figure out how my new camera works!

Jim

 

I've looked at some G2X lap data from thunderhill of his driving. Puts many an experienced drivers to shame.

Matt

 

Yeah, friday will be interesting, but 2 full days back to back should get me tuned into the new setup. Im really excited...We will do more events together soon. You forget, I ran a season at Russell already, and they screwed teh pooch with their new adventure into Formula 3000 cars. At $60K per season, theres going to be a lot of old fat people driving karts instead! Its BS what they are doing up there, but I guess if you want to try to get more than one Marin based kid into F1, someone has to get some more competition into the Bay Area. On a positive note, the Audi Sports Car experience is coming soon. Where else would they let me loose in an R8. Im already on the list.... (and if they build an RS5 or a TT-RS, the MINI is going on the sales block)

 

Nice to see Stephan out on track again, Arai helmet and all

Hope we can all sync up again soon. Jerry, Ill take you up on some training...lets figure out when and where...and oh yeah, tell that guy at Sportiva that just bought the Elise that he needs to setup a stable of "trackday" cars that members could take to HPDE's. He does that, I stop my obsession in trying to buy racecars that I dont have space for and Im sure his membership numbers go through the roof....Just needs to keep the price below the $30K skip barber season price and hes golden...

<me with JCW wing and Stopetech envy>

 

Does anyone else love the fact that this thread has almost 400 posts and 11,000 views?

 

Nice day!

 

I do! I guess this is where the NorCal guys come to get their go-fast fix. I wish we could get more of them to quit lurking in the weeds and post up.

Hey, you out there! Yeah you! Tell us what you want and we'll help you get it.

Don't worry about me. I boast a lot, but it's just for show. I'm really just a big pussycat.

 

I dunno Matt. If I teach you to go any faster, you might be faster than me!

he needs to setup a stable of "trackday" cars that members could take to HPDE's

He'll never do it. He's afraid of the track, the liability and the dings the cars would inevitably get.

But that sounds like a great idea! If we could find an angel to pony up for the cars, and keep them at Thunderhill . . .

 

Have you ever seen an Audi TT at the track?? I haven't. It seems like it would make a terrific track car.

 

Hmm

I see a business oportunity...Im sure we could get someone to insure the cars, and they dont need to be lambos. A few MINI's a few elises and maybe some Radicals or Formula BMW's (oh wait, they already have schools for those!) I really just wish we could find a fleet of shared cars. I guess that a "race team" and I should just find one of those and pay for a seat. sucks.

 

The older TT's with the 3.2 engine were better than the R32 on track because of weight, but the new ones have a totally different suspension and are supposed to be more agile. I think that with a little tuning the new generation of TT is going to be wicked but we will see. They still need more power to take advantage of the AWD