Vegas racers take on CalSpeedway
03-14-2005, 01:24 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Vegas racers take on CalSpeedway
Las Vegas Racers Go To CalSpeedway
3/12/05-3/13/05
Thom Silbaugh ('00 Mustang), Victor Beraja (BMW M Roadster), Patrick Michael ('04 350z), and myself (CRX) go to CalSpeedway to compete in NASA's Time Trials series, along with support from Pam, Dave Clark, Megan McGowan, and Victor's wife (sorry, forgot her name). We run the "roval" course at CalSpeedway, which consists of a 3rd of the oval and the road course.
Victor was running the HPDE class, as he's still getting the kinks worked out in his BMW M-Roadster, although he'll be joining us shortly.
If you don't know what TT (Time Trials) is, it's essentially a place to compete against other cars in a timed environment, on a race track, without the requirement of a cage/roll bar, fire suit, etc (although HIGHLY recommended!). Any car is allowed, as long as it passes tech.
The Good, the Bad, and the Unfortunate
My weekend started off by enlisting some help from friends. I was looking to tow my CRX down, but lacked a trailer and truck. Made some calls to Brian Stickney (SUV/truck), Steven Wright (trailer), and Mark Zana (tow hitch and assistance).
Previously, I had made arrangements for GPTMotoring to have some shaved Toyo RA-1s at the track, so I can mount them on some recently purchased 15x7 wheels. Unfortunately, when I gave Marty a call on Saturday morning, he had given them away. What a great way to start the morning. I arrived at the track at 6:30a, the driver's meeting was at 7:45a, first session at 8:20a. It was 6:45a and Marty gave away the only set of tires i could run on, as the wheels/tires I trailered the car with were worn/corded Victoracers. Thanks GPTMotoring.
Luckily, Sierra Tire was on hand to provide track-side tire service....except they didn't show up until 7:30a. They didn't have any shaved Toyos, but they did have some full thread RA1s... which i promptly purchased.
I miss out the first session, but the first session is cancelled due to fog... it's not exactly safe if you cannot see the corner stations.
The next session, i get out and immediately realize my lack of courage is turning 2:06s. Thom's gremlins would creep up and crack his intake manifold. Apparently, Ford thought it'd be wise to make the intake manifold out of plastic, as well as the water jacket that the intake manifold includes. Due to racing stresses, the jacket cracked. Dave managed to expertly remove and replace said intake in a few hours, allowing Thom to only miss on session.
During one of the lower HPDE classes, a Ford Lightning somehow found a wall or a tire barrier and made use of it's front crumple zones. The lightning was a total loss, but the driver was said to be ok.
No other crashes occurred, except there was a Mustang that caught on fire, and a few other mechanicals (I blew a shock).
Well, What About The Racing?
Thom was running in TT-B, Patrick was in TT-C, and I was in TT-D. We all ran together in a group that made up of like 30+ some odd cars. Getting a clean, fast run was difficult, however we all managed to put down some respectable times.
Thom's fastest at the end of the weekend was 2:01.xxx, with a 2:07? for day 1.
Patrick's was around 2:05.xxx or 2:06.xxx. However, Patrick thinks quading in the middle of the desert is more important than racing...and left Saturday night.
I ended up with a 2:02.0xx for day one and a 2:01.0xx for the weekend.
Well, what does that mean? Thom's class is extremely fast. Apparently, the class winner did a 1:56.xxx or faster. Patrick's class wasn't much better, with the class leader also in the 1:56s. Patrick was edged out of 3rd place by a few seconds. Thom's placement is still undetermined for the weekend. I believe he placed 4th for both days, but that is to be posted later this week. I managed to take 1st in my class both days. My competition wasn't as nearly as stiff/fast as Thom's and Patrick's, but we're in different situations, as their cars start much higher in the class structure than my car.
The classes are essentially based on the original performance of your vehicle and are moved based on modifications done to the car. my car is originally a 60hp CRX, placing me in the slowest class. with all the mods, I move up 4 classes. most of the cars in the same class either started in the class or only moved up to the class with a handful of mods.
What Else Happened
NASA tends to run A LOT of races during the course of the weekend. American Iron was out there, Spec 944, Pro7, Honda Challenge, and a few other race classes were running. Watchin these races in person gives you a whole new perspective on grassroots racing...and wheel-to-wheel racing.
Being a Honda owner, I watched the Honda Challenge race and was overwhelmed by the closeness of the race, as well as the times (the 1st and 2nd place in H4 turned faster times than me, with 1st beating my time by 2secs). It was quite entertaining to watch them. I just wish we had something like this in Vegas...
Overall Impression
CalSpeedway is worlds above LVMS in terms of professionalism, quality, services provided, etc. Everything about the track is awesome. They had drifting and karting happening the same weekend that we were running, all ran independantly.
It's an awesome track that I'd like to go back to when my car is a bit more setup. I ran out of courage (and rpms/gearing) on the main oval. I saw 8000rpm at 5th gear on the oval (est. 147mph)....high speeds + twitchy CRX + lack of courage = fear! I spent $310 for entry and timing, got 2hrs and 40mins of seat time and had a blast.
Video coming soon. Can't wait until Buttonwillow.
3/12/05-3/13/05
Thom Silbaugh ('00 Mustang), Victor Beraja (BMW M Roadster), Patrick Michael ('04 350z), and myself (CRX) go to CalSpeedway to compete in NASA's Time Trials series, along with support from Pam, Dave Clark, Megan McGowan, and Victor's wife (sorry, forgot her name). We run the "roval" course at CalSpeedway, which consists of a 3rd of the oval and the road course.
Victor was running the HPDE class, as he's still getting the kinks worked out in his BMW M-Roadster, although he'll be joining us shortly.
If you don't know what TT (Time Trials) is, it's essentially a place to compete against other cars in a timed environment, on a race track, without the requirement of a cage/roll bar, fire suit, etc (although HIGHLY recommended!). Any car is allowed, as long as it passes tech.
The Good, the Bad, and the Unfortunate
My weekend started off by enlisting some help from friends. I was looking to tow my CRX down, but lacked a trailer and truck. Made some calls to Brian Stickney (SUV/truck), Steven Wright (trailer), and Mark Zana (tow hitch and assistance).
Previously, I had made arrangements for GPTMotoring to have some shaved Toyo RA-1s at the track, so I can mount them on some recently purchased 15x7 wheels. Unfortunately, when I gave Marty a call on Saturday morning, he had given them away. What a great way to start the morning. I arrived at the track at 6:30a, the driver's meeting was at 7:45a, first session at 8:20a. It was 6:45a and Marty gave away the only set of tires i could run on, as the wheels/tires I trailered the car with were worn/corded Victoracers. Thanks GPTMotoring.
Luckily, Sierra Tire was on hand to provide track-side tire service....except they didn't show up until 7:30a. They didn't have any shaved Toyos, but they did have some full thread RA1s... which i promptly purchased.
I miss out the first session, but the first session is cancelled due to fog... it's not exactly safe if you cannot see the corner stations.
The next session, i get out and immediately realize my lack of courage is turning 2:06s. Thom's gremlins would creep up and crack his intake manifold. Apparently, Ford thought it'd be wise to make the intake manifold out of plastic, as well as the water jacket that the intake manifold includes. Due to racing stresses, the jacket cracked. Dave managed to expertly remove and replace said intake in a few hours, allowing Thom to only miss on session.
During one of the lower HPDE classes, a Ford Lightning somehow found a wall or a tire barrier and made use of it's front crumple zones. The lightning was a total loss, but the driver was said to be ok.
No other crashes occurred, except there was a Mustang that caught on fire, and a few other mechanicals (I blew a shock).
Well, What About The Racing?
Thom was running in TT-B, Patrick was in TT-C, and I was in TT-D. We all ran together in a group that made up of like 30+ some odd cars. Getting a clean, fast run was difficult, however we all managed to put down some respectable times.
Thom's fastest at the end of the weekend was 2:01.xxx, with a 2:07? for day 1.
Patrick's was around 2:05.xxx or 2:06.xxx. However, Patrick thinks quading in the middle of the desert is more important than racing...and left Saturday night.
I ended up with a 2:02.0xx for day one and a 2:01.0xx for the weekend.
Well, what does that mean? Thom's class is extremely fast. Apparently, the class winner did a 1:56.xxx or faster. Patrick's class wasn't much better, with the class leader also in the 1:56s. Patrick was edged out of 3rd place by a few seconds. Thom's placement is still undetermined for the weekend. I believe he placed 4th for both days, but that is to be posted later this week. I managed to take 1st in my class both days. My competition wasn't as nearly as stiff/fast as Thom's and Patrick's, but we're in different situations, as their cars start much higher in the class structure than my car.
The classes are essentially based on the original performance of your vehicle and are moved based on modifications done to the car. my car is originally a 60hp CRX, placing me in the slowest class. with all the mods, I move up 4 classes. most of the cars in the same class either started in the class or only moved up to the class with a handful of mods.
What Else Happened
NASA tends to run A LOT of races during the course of the weekend. American Iron was out there, Spec 944, Pro7, Honda Challenge, and a few other race classes were running. Watchin these races in person gives you a whole new perspective on grassroots racing...and wheel-to-wheel racing.
Being a Honda owner, I watched the Honda Challenge race and was overwhelmed by the closeness of the race, as well as the times (the 1st and 2nd place in H4 turned faster times than me, with 1st beating my time by 2secs). It was quite entertaining to watch them. I just wish we had something like this in Vegas...
Overall Impression
CalSpeedway is worlds above LVMS in terms of professionalism, quality, services provided, etc. Everything about the track is awesome. They had drifting and karting happening the same weekend that we were running, all ran independantly.
It's an awesome track that I'd like to go back to when my car is a bit more setup. I ran out of courage (and rpms/gearing) on the main oval. I saw 8000rpm at 5th gear on the oval (est. 147mph)....high speeds + twitchy CRX + lack of courage = fear! I spent $310 for entry and timing, got 2hrs and 40mins of seat time and had a blast.
Video coming soon. Can't wait until Buttonwillow.
03-14-2005, 05:02 PM
#2
Thread Starter
S2000 related:
There were a handful of S2000s at the event. the HC s2000 looked pretty nice. there was a white s2000 on temp tags with a big brake kit that was there.
in my class, there was an AP2. His fastest was a 2:05.xxx, unless he got faster in the last session...
There were a handful of S2000s at the event. the HC s2000 looked pretty nice. there was a white s2000 on temp tags with a big brake kit that was there.
in my class, there was an AP2. His fastest was a 2:05.xxx, unless he got faster in the last session...
03-15-2005, 01:06 AM
#5
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Originally Posted by Ludedude,Mar 15 2005, 12:25 AM
are you finally coming to an SV event? 
Well except me and any other s2ks running in comp-stock. 
Kam would become all the fast guys traffic excuse 
j/k Kam but yeah you need to get out to an SV event!Good to hear you guys had fun. Also nice to hear all the LV people who went made it back in 1 piece.
Any idea who won H1 this weekend? Here is some video of the H1 race from Buttonwillow last season https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=275450
Karim
03-15-2005, 04:41 PM
#7
Thread Starter
Yeah right you know Kam is too chicken to run with a group that gives you more open track time than you know what to do with.
8 sessions at 20mins a piece.
plus, NASA has tire service, contingency, prizes, and money for Time Trials... SV typically doesn't.
but, I may run a SV event if they ever come back to Vegas/SMMP.
The only benefit of running SV over NASA is, entry fee and/or track time.
and i have NO problem with being slow. i had guys passing me like i was standing still and i was doing 130mph.
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03-15-2005, 06:41 PM
#8
Administrator
capitalist tool 
BTW, SV has tire service...it just depends on what track we're at, but WSIR, Cal Speedway, Buttonwillow etc. all have tire shops open on-site during SV events. SV pays winners in speedos (not bathing suits, the speedo is the SV monetary unit)
BTW, SV has tire service...it just depends on what track we're at, but WSIR, Cal Speedway, Buttonwillow etc. all have tire shops open on-site during SV events. SV pays winners in speedos (not bathing suits, the speedo is the SV monetary unit)
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