It's only money. You can always make more. And it's cheaper than a night out with the boys chasin' bootay, to say absolutely nothing about the costs involved if you actually catch one! Track days are the most fun you can have in your MINI with your clothes on.

 

I would love to go but have a Huge event planned that whole weekend. For anyone who is on the fence, go. I did the thunderhill on August 31 and it was my first event. It was a blast. I met Jerry and he was a great instructor. I can't wait to get back to one of these, definitely worth the $

 

Already caught one, there in lies the money issue.

 

I'll take the challenge...

Will be there with my Checkmate on Sat... we need more fast Minis on track!

 

Damn all you saturday guys..
Guess its just me and SA on Friday.
New RA1's getting mounted on my track wheels as we speak...full tread for the rain we will have :P

 

Sorry guys nto going to be there at this one. have a great time without me though. Hey Matt and Sid I think that we should have a site or forum displaying all the Norcal events that people an go to. Or wait is there something like that already?
Thanks

Racin

 

Sorry guy's.......... "No can do" this time around. Family issues to contend with. But I am planning on Buttonwillow Oct. 30th and hopefully TeamRacing at Thunderhill Nov. 17th.
See you soon............

 

Hee hee... my mom ROCKS!
She gave me a Phil Wicks Academy session for my (much belated) birthday present this week.

Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to make Buttonwillow on the 30th - work is getting way busy and I'm also taking a class this quarter. Ack!

I emailed Phil and he said they will be at AMVIV in March, so that's likely when Dylan & I will be hitting the track. After that... watch out, Sid!!!

 

More drama today at Infineon as apriorism followed me around closely snarfing up all my go-fast secrets. This guy REALLY wants the FMOD hat!

 

Keep yer eyes on the prize.



Fastest MINI Of the Day

 

What run group are you folks running in?
Jerry, what is the advance group like?

My last six track days have been at Infineon and I'm ready for a change.
Haven't been to Thill since August - missing that track.

Might make an 11th hour attempt to join all you folks at Thill. for the Saturday track event - if there are any openings.

mickey

 

Damn! kmickey! I knew I shouldn't have poked that sleeping bear with a stick! My chances at the FMOD hat are getting slimmer.

We'll be in the Advanced group, unlimited passing, no dive bombing on Friday and Saturday. I think there are some slots open.
Hope to see you there. It should be perfect weather.

 

FWIW, Nikki, I'd make the effort to do Buttonwillow. Vegas is flat, flat, flat, short, and from what Randy/Brian said, rough on tires. I really enjoyed my day at Buttonwillow.

 

Come on Mickey!! Join us on Friday, its going to be perfect up there...

 

OH yeah! The winnah and STILL champion (at least for today - I may lose it tomorrow). Both katmeho and steffin agreed they need more track time.

 

we all "need" more track time...

 

Friday was good. I wish I could have stayed for the rest of the event...and seen more MINI's. It was a bit sad, only 5 showed. more were coming on Sat I guess, but we really need to start getting more MINI's on track at these events. We are able to really embarrass other cars. I know I personally made two GT3 drivers want to cry and I made a WORKS Evo driver tremble in his sparco racing shoes...

We had one more MINI not mentioned, Jeff I think his name was... nice car, good driver...

Photos here..dont miss the Ruff at the bottom.

http://www.mattkehoe.com/trackdays/th-10-13-06.html

 

Nice pix, Matt! Friday was JCW day. I'll tell you, when Stephan gets his seat time in, he's going to be deadly! That car is a beast. And I love the Stoptech brakes.

I was trembling Saturday because I expected kmickey with his modded MCS and Clive (apriorism) with his JCW. Both are fast. And I thought maybe raisen was sandbagging us and would show up with some race rocket. But no Mickey and no raisen. Clive came with his wife, tightened down those pesky lugbolts that have been giving him such trouble and went out for his first session. Four laps later, the car puked a wheel in turn two. Gotta get some hardened steel lugbolts on that thing. Using the brake rotor for a wheel really slows the car down a lot.

Checkers (Randy) was also present. He's just starting up the learning curve. He did very well in his sessions and I OK'd him for solo in the afternoon, whereupon he went out and spanked a whole bunch of cars in the novice group in his MCSA (yes, that's an automatic!). Next track day he'll probably be ready for Intermediate group B after a checkride.

Bottom line: A great time was had by all (except maybe Clive, but he was very philosophical about the whole thing and promised to kick my *** next time). We had 6 MINIs show up which is 5 more than I usually see. Thanks for accepting the challenge, guys, but you know, that FMOD cap fits me so well!

Next up for me on the calendar:
October 19-22 at Laguna Seca:ALMS (spectating)
November 4-5: BMWCCA at Infineon (driving- first time with these folks)
November 17: T.E.A.M. Racing at Thunderhill (Instructing)
November 24 at Infineon: Checkered Flag Racing Assn (driving)

And maybe some in between as I cram all I can into this last quarter. Saturday was my 40th track day in 2006. Does that qualify as an addiction?

Cheers,
Sid

 

Sorry to hear about the mechanical. Now that theres a replacement due, maybe time for another to jump on the Stoptech solution? But i hope all is OK with car and driver.

Sounds like we would have a sweet day if we could get all of us together. Imagine 10 MINI's tearing it up and making it a sad day for all the P cars! Im really ready to do that, LETS MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!

Ill be at Laguna on Nov 3, if anyone wants to join me, get registered with HOD fast, as the events almost full. It will probably be my last event for the year, given the retail holiday season, but Ill be in full force in 2007 (with new brake pads too)

40+ events is not an additction, your certifiable. Now I dont feel so bad about loosing, given your home address should be the track...

 

katmeho, thanks for asking... car is alright (except the left-front hub will need to be replaced). i slowed way down when i felt that my wheel was about to leave me to chase that damn red radical whose driver wouldn't let me by for 2 whole laps...

the mini is at a race shop now... the cause of the failure is being investigated and i'll provide more details when available (so this won't happen to anyone again). the wheels are Kosei K1 Racing / RA-1 using stock bolts, tightened to around 88ft-lb; and no, the paint on the wheel is unlikely the issue because the wheel was used for about 10 track days and the paint around the mating surface was gone already.

will be back on track again with PDC on 11/13 and NCRC on 11/18-19.

 

Yeah, the Radical guy was way slow. He's new to the car and doesn't want to push it yet. Smart decision. I've seen a lot of those things spin off this year for precisely that reason. Still, he should have let you by . . .

 

Glad to hear that things are going to be OK. I really love the radicals, I didnt tangle with him on Friday though...

 

Man, wished I could of been there - but work/duty called.

Katmeho, what run group are you signing up in with HOD at Laguna?
I'm trying to decide which one to go to next.
NASA has a mid-week (Thursday) next week at Thunderhill.

Don't you just love Northern California with all our tracks: Thill, Sears Point, Laguna and Buttonwillow.
We have long seasons and plenty of great race clubs!

Jerry - what mods? She's a-stock-a-roonie . 40 track days! - yep, your hooked alright. btw, your wing is on up-side-down.

 

Ah, yer muddah wears combat boots! I think you're just dodging us!

(j/k)

I got to drive Alan's Elise on track for the first time Saturday. Man that thing jumps around! The front end feels really loose. You just have to breathe on the brakes now and then. It's easy to keep it on the cam though, just don't lift. So I did 6 laps and number five was a 2:12. I brought it in and Alan said,
"I thought you weren't going to push it."
"I didn't. I need more practice. I can brake a lot later and the tires weren't squealing on Turn 2."
"Maybe next time."

But if that time was lower than his, there probably won't BE a next time.

 

I run in group C, just below the race prepped cars...