First off - Sorry I did not make the drive this past weekned, it sounds like it was a blast.

However, I got tempted to go burn some rubber off my tires. Gloffer and I did a track day with NASA at PIR. So up on Sunday morning at 5:30 (for me) after doing a brake fluid flush on Sat night (do I know how to have fun or what) and off to the track.

PIR is an oval track with a road course through the infield. When you run the road course, you use about 2/3rd of the oval. Anyway, we got two sessions done in the morning. This was my first time on the track, so I had an instructor ride with me on the first two sessions. Late in the morning, it sprinkled for about an hour, so the track got pretty wet. Since I was on shaved tires, and the car felt really squirrely in the wet when I went to get gas, I did not run the third session.

A lot of people left when the track got wet, so the day's schedule completely changed. They had an open track day for about 2 hours in the afternoon. It stopped raining, and the sun came out in the afternoon, and it cooled off quite a bit too, so the track was GREAT.

I went out for some additional laps after I made sure the track was dry. It all felt like it was coming together (first time i have been on a real track in 15 years). So I had a great time.

Low point of the day - getting passed and walked (big time) by a Jetta. I don't know what that guy was running, but that was a damn fast Jetta.

High point of the day - Pushing a Porsche 911 around the course. I was right on his tail (probably could have passed him in the corkscrew) all through the twisty bits, and stayed with him on the banking.

By the end of the day, Gloffer was timing my laps in the 1:20's and on my best lap, I saw 115 at the end of the straight.




As an aside, I'm still working on getting my tire pressures right. I'm running much lower pressures than I anticipated. I guess the Kumho's heat up fast, so the pressure builds fast and you can run lower cold pressures.

Another aside, I am running Porterfield R4S pads and superblue racing brake fluid. With that combination, I had no brake problems at all and the car felt like it would stand on it's nose if you really got into the brakes. Only problem - DUSTY (my tires are almost black)

 

Just reread my post - one correction- in the last line it should read - my WHEELS were almost black. My tires ARE black!!!!

 

sounds like a good time. How much does something like that cost?

 

Annual memberships in clubs like NASA, PAS or ASRA usually run around $40 per year.

I am a member of ASRA and the track days are $110. If you take the instructor led classes (which I highly reccommend for new drivers) they cost about $165.

If you are interested i know that ASRA offers a program called 30/20. For $30 you get 1 20 minute session on the track. That way you can see if it is something that you might be interested in.

 

The NASA membership is $35/year. One day at the track (4 sessions of 25 minutes each) cost $149.

In addition to Adam's suggestion, you could try an autocross. You wouldn't need new brake pads, or different brake fluid, or really any modifications to the car to try it. In addition, it only costs about 20 dollars, to sign up for an autocross. The downside is that you get three runs, and they are only 40 to 50 seconds long, but you are on the edge of car control the whole time.

The other good thing is that is if you screw up in an auto-X the only thing that suffers (typically) is your ego. On the track, you make a bad enough mistake and it can mean something broken.

 

P.S. Some of you guys may think you're a hotshoe driver, but you should come out to an auto-X and see what a good driver (Mark and Dave McCombs (sp?)) can do with a B stock 04 S2000.

 

Hey John,

It was nice meeting you and Mike (Gloffer) on Sun at PIR. You were doing great when I was riding along with you and it sounds like you got quicker throughout the rest of the day. I had to leave a little early cos I had other appointments but it sounds like you got the track down!

Oh and if you're talking about the black Jetta, it's an instructor (Robbie) piloting it. He's a good friend of mine and he's an awesome driver who's familiar with the track so don't feel bad! He also has quite a number of mods done to it (suspension, track rubber, lightened flywheel etc) that might have helped.

In any case, hope to see you and Mike (and others) out at the next NASA/ASRA/ProAutosports events!


Mervin.

 

Mervin

Thanks for all your help with the track. You really gave me some good pointers on the track, and it was nice meeting you. I will definitely be doing this some more.

Yep, I did get faster through the day. A few little changes here and there and I was carrying speed all the way through to the hairpin.

Yes it was a black Jetta. I let him by and tried to keep up and he pulled away like I wasn't even trying. He was dicing with a brown Porsche 911. Who woulda thought it - a Jetta and a Porsche going at it.

He passed me coming off of turn 3. I thought I could keep up with him through the corkscrew, but he was gone. I thought for sure I could at least keep him from gaining on me through the corkscrew, but he took a tight line and his car stuck and he was able to get power down really early.
Very impressive.

 

Hey track guys,

I don't mean to change the subject, but I am told that the next NASA event is going to be out in New Mexico at the end of March.

I have been invited to go for the two days for $300 (that includes both days on the track and hotel for 2 nights).

Do any of you guys know what track it is going to be run on? I would like to get a look at the track map and decide if i am gonna make the trip out there. It sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Thanks,

Adam

 

I overheard someone talking about it at the track on sunday, but couldn't hear what track they were talking about.

Sorry