A bit late to share this, but figured I'd throw it up to tide some of you over until the racetracks reopen and you can get back out for some spirited driving!
March 6-8 - MotorSport Ranch Cresson (1.7 CCW), NASA Texas March Madness event
Time trial is the next step up from HPDEs so I decided to finally get the car prepped and compliant with the relatively simple rules: weight, dyno, SFI inspection (for the harnesses), buy a transponder, and then get the check ride. Due to an instructor shortage, I wasn't able to get the check ride until late Saturday and was forced to run HPDE 4 all day (still had fun). I passed the check ride and was able to run TT all day Sunday -- ended up taking third place in the TT3 class behind two heavily prepped BMW M3s on Hoosiers versus my 200TW street tires. Here's the third session from Sunday.
I've done lots of laps at this track so I was very happy with being able to take another second off my previous personal best. I credit that to being behind some of the faster TT2 cars that made for a good "rabbit".
March 14 & 15 - Eagles Canyon Raceway (2.75 CCW), Chin Track Days
Saturday was utter [censored], on-and-off rain that kept the track slippery and led to some frustratingly slow laps. Every time it started to dry out, the rain came back and we got sheets of water on the track. Tons of people had offs and had to be flat-bedded out due to the soft clay; we lost a lot of time because they had to black flag the course every time this happened, and then you lost the heat in your tires that was drying the track out. Fortunately, the weather on Sunday was totally dry though a bit cool. The video below is from the last session of the day that's called "Happy Hour" where they just open the track for a full 60 minutes to everyone. My coach brought out his track-prepped NSX and we had some fun chasing each other! My camera battery died about half way through but we stayed out for roughly 50 of the 60 minutes...came into the pits pretty sweaty and tired, but it was one of the most fun sessions I've ever had.
I was on a brand new and different tire so there was a learning curve with using all of the grip and finding its limits, it was my first time at this track, and it was recently completely repaved so not much tire buildup to provide extra grip. There's a few more seconds to be had...
March 6-8 - MotorSport Ranch Cresson (1.7 CCW), NASA Texas March Madness event
Time trial is the next step up from HPDEs so I decided to finally get the car prepped and compliant with the relatively simple rules: weight, dyno, SFI inspection (for the harnesses), buy a transponder, and then get the check ride. Due to an instructor shortage, I wasn't able to get the check ride until late Saturday and was forced to run HPDE 4 all day (still had fun). I passed the check ride and was able to run TT all day Sunday -- ended up taking third place in the TT3 class behind two heavily prepped BMW M3s on Hoosiers versus my 200TW street tires. Here's the third session from Sunday.
I've done lots of laps at this track so I was very happy with being able to take another second off my previous personal best. I credit that to being behind some of the faster TT2 cars that made for a good "rabbit".
March 14 & 15 - Eagles Canyon Raceway (2.75 CCW), Chin Track Days
Saturday was utter [censored], on-and-off rain that kept the track slippery and led to some frustratingly slow laps. Every time it started to dry out, the rain came back and we got sheets of water on the track. Tons of people had offs and had to be flat-bedded out due to the soft clay; we lost a lot of time because they had to black flag the course every time this happened, and then you lost the heat in your tires that was drying the track out. Fortunately, the weather on Sunday was totally dry though a bit cool. The video below is from the last session of the day that's called "Happy Hour" where they just open the track for a full 60 minutes to everyone. My coach brought out his track-prepped NSX and we had some fun chasing each other! My camera battery died about half way through but we stayed out for roughly 50 of the 60 minutes...came into the pits pretty sweaty and tired, but it was one of the most fun sessions I've ever had.
I was on a brand new and different tire so there was a learning curve with using all of the grip and finding its limits, it was my first time at this track, and it was recently completely repaved so not much tire buildup to provide extra grip. There's a few more seconds to be had...
