I'll look into it. I know my wife really wants to do one.

That's a few days after the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland, so my track runnin' juices will be flowing.

 

Cool.

I think I will sign up for this one now so I don't miss out like the BMW day.....

 

I want to do all of them all!. I will have the new sway bar installed for this next May7 track day and I cant wait to feel the difference in the car. I cant wait to get rid of the runflats.

 

Which bar did you get?

 

I ordered the H-Sport Comp Bar and it should arrive any day now. With all of the instruction thats found on the net, Im hoping the install is relatively smooth and intrinsic {knock on wood}.

 

It really will help if you can get someone to assist with the install tho.

 

WORD!

That's a royal PITA if you're alone.

Our dear freind John could help, if they weren't so swamped with spring cleaning at the homestead. That's a big yard!

 

it can be a one person install if you have a full lift, jackstands would be a huge PITA, you really need to get under the car in a big way.

 

The bar will be hear tommorrow and I think I can recruit my dad to help with the install this weekend. Ive watched this video a few times and while a pain, it look do-able. Look for a panic post mid-install soon.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...80665043683682

 

Haha! Success! Drove to and from the coast this morning and did the sway bar install this afternoon. Thank goodness for this awesome weather. Immediately driving the car through some local twisties the turns feel different and more confident. Driving at the track next week will be fun. The install went smooth and because of the lack of a 21mm socket, we didnt remove the strut assembly as ive read makes things easier. I think i'm another satisfied 22mm sway bar owner (set on soft).

 

NICE! It certainly does make a difference. Our red MINI still has the stock bar, and man it's feels different when you toss it around. I was out yesterday in it, and it's certainly not like the black one that has the 19mm bar (hard settting).

 

7 or 8 MINI's were at the BMW track school today. There we a lot of cars, 4 groups total - plenty on track at the same time; but they were very effeciend and organized. I spun going to fast into turn 1 after I lifted off the throttle, a nonincendantal hello from my big fat rear sway bar. By the end of the day the car was going much faster through the turns and I was driving much smoother. Talking later with the driver of the black modded mini w- the cage, he had spun in the same place. This helps my ego.
My instructor told me I would appreciate better tires. Grr runflats. Hmm Cascade Car Club...

 

Glad you had fun ! !

I was a bit late in my app for this event and was put on the wait list. Got the bad news Fri that they had no cancellations.....oh well !

I am signed up for next months Cascade Car club event on the 15 tho ! WOOOHOOO !

Bronson, you need to come out and play next month. Help me "convince" John R. to join us will ya !?

 

icekid:
Was Rick out there today? He's got a black MINI named Alfalfa. He's got a cage in it too. Last time I was out there with him (I was riding shotgun that session) his supercharger belt went phooey! That was interesting. He limped it in and managed not to overheat it (the iron block came in handy that day... heh heh)

Scott-

I'll look into the Cascade day. I think Johnny Rock has left the track days behind. Hard to top what he did racing, back in the day. I think he just likes to observe nowadays. I certainly wish he'd come out and teach me a thing or thirty. Lord knows I could use it. Tim V said he realized just how much better a driver JR was, after trying and failing to keep up with him on a road that he'd driven countless times, and JR was driving blind, as he'd had never seen or driven it. And Tim has plenty of hours in race cars.

One late night at his house I asked him waht's the highest horsepower car he's ever driven, assuming it was a racbred Porsche Supercup GT3 or something similar. Nooo.. a full on LeMans spec 917. I about spit out my bloody mary.

BTW, JR's B-Day is this Tuesday, so fire off an email to him. He's 39....again.

 

Hmmmmm.....and JR told me to keep bugging him about the track day last time we were there. LOL


And looks like he is finally catching up to me in b-day numbers............haha

 

Well if he comes out for one, that would be durned swell. I've asked him before.

Maybe the itch is coming back.

 

[quote=JCW Driver;1511569]
Was Rick out there today? He's got a black MINI named Alfalfa. He's got a cage in it too. Last time I was out there with him (I was riding shotgun that session) his supercharger belt went phooey! That was interesting. He limped it in and managed not to overheat it (the iron block came in handy that day... heh heh)

Yep that was him! Nice Guy. He came not signed up for the event but they were able to squeeze him in with the intermediate group. I rode through with my instructor during his session with his M3 on stickies and was again amazed at how fast you can run that track. Im not ready for trailbraking yet, but sliding through turns quicker than stink was a blast!

 

I'm interested in a day at the track also. My new 2007 MCS is just about broken in and ready for some over 5k revs. :-) What's the skinny? Is it best to join a club (like BMW), then do their events? I hear that's more cost effective than doing a "track day with PIR". JCW, Please put me on the list and keep me informed, thanks!
-Doug

 

mmm R56



I would also be interested in a track day, but would prefer a weekend! (yeah I know... good luck)

 

I would love to see an R56 out for a track day ! You don't need to join the BMW, or most other clubs, to be able to participate in their track days. The PDXMINI club is considered "part" of the BMW club. You can check out the PIR schedule for upcoming track days. If you have never done one before, I would recommend the Cascade Sports Car club ones. They will req. a classroom session the night before the trackday, but it is very beneficial. It goes over all of the basics of driving on track plus info on what to expect at the track itself.
To be kept up on future events you should consider joining the PDXMINI club. Just click on the link

 

Well I just got back from my first track day and I had an absolute blast ! !
Woke up to unforcasted rain so was a bit upset as that I had not packed any kind of rain gear for me. Got to PIR a little before 7am for tech. Got thru tech with no hassles and went to the drivers meeting. Was given the basic instructions for the day ans was introduced to my instructor Jeff Penick.

The novices were first group fo all sessions of the day, so we got to go out and see just how slick a track can get with a bit of rain on it. Wasn't to bad, my Goodyear F1's were holding much better than just about any other car out there. Jeff drove me around the track for the first session just to point out the line, any problem areas, and to get an idea on how the car handles. He told me after that this was his first ride in a MINI and he was very impressed with the handling and power.

Second session started and the rain had just about stopped, just a bit of a mist. Was able to get up a bit more speed and figuring out the right line. By the end of the session I was feeling very comfortable with the car. I now know how to drift my car thru turn one in the wet. Wait really late on braking, tap brakes as you hit the turn in point, then find yourself sliding a bit sideways thru the turn with just enough grip to get the car to rotate into turn 2. Was a bit of a pucker moment, but Jeff said "nice save" so I guess all went well......LOL

Third session started after lunch with nice blue skies and a dry line on the track. Started getting a bit more aggressive with the braking and accellerating thru the turns. Was definitely getting quicker as I got comfortable getting to the limits of the brakes and the line around the track. As the session wound down Jeff told me that he was impressed with how smooth I was. He got me to a point where I was able to really take the car to the limit. I was able to get into 5th gear on both the front and back straights. The speedo was showing 112 before I had to look up for my braking point on the front straight and was showing at least 115 on the back. Was easy to determine how well I was doing on each lap by how soon I could get into 5th on these straights.

By the 4th session, Jeff told me I was free to go solo after a couple of laps with him. Got rid of my ballast and really had a good time.....LOL. Was able to get real close to 120 at end of both straights by the end of the session. I had 2 very good clean laps after he got out. I was even able to get thru turn 10 in 4th for the last 4 or 5 laps. Man those tires were awsome !

Got done way too early for me. I think they cheated me out of at least 10 mins of the session......by my internal watch anyway LOL !

I have to say that the school put on by the Cascade Sports Car Club was an absolute joy. Very well run, organized, and manned. Had one incident during the day where a Celica turbo lost his bottom end going into turn one and oiled down the majority of the track. This happened in group 2 and was cleaned up very quickly. By the time group 1 was ready to go out again it was a clean track.....so no "moments" for me.....LOL

If anyone is interested in doing their first trackday, this is the club to do it with. Check them out, you won't be dissappointed.

Oh, about my recent suspension mods........HOLY CRAP ! ! No understeer and very well balanced. Also the brakes held up very well.

 

Very Nice write up on Cascade, I hope to drive with them some day. Driving the PIR track in the rain really helps explore the limits of the car at lower speeds. It definately puts a divide between our cars and others in beings able to maintain speed in the turns and twisties. Right now ill probably be going to the next Team Continental Day in August. Im daydreaming about new rubber for the wheels but will enjoy a safe fun day regardless. :-)

 

I will probably do the Cascade Car club day in Aug. You should do this instead of the Team Continental one.

 

Time to start planning on what track days we will be doing this year. I am already getting reminder notices in my inbox and these things fill up fast. Maybe we can coordinate and get a few of our cars together at one of these HPDE's this spring.

Team Continental Dates (2008): Mar 7, May 16, June 28, July 30
BMW CCA Dates (2008): April 28, May 19, August 25, September 22
Cascade Sports Club (2008): 3/15, 4/25, 6/6, 8/15, 9/12, 10/24

 

My wife really wants to do one this year and so do I!

There are lots of track days this year and with the new configuration of the turn complex, banked corners and all, it will be a learning process for all, instructors included.

I can email you all a copy of the new design that I found on the net. Very cool stuff. It looks like T6 and T7 are totally new and it looks like they were planning on a new chicane just before T10 but it was deleted. Oh yeah, one final note, T10 and T11 have no curbing that you can drive up onto anymore, at least they didn't have them for the Winter Night Lights, just curbing that you really don't want to drive up on.