Sonoma Hooked on Driving May 24, 2013

What a fantastic day!! My hat is off to David Ray for what he has done with Hooked on Driving here in Northern California. It is great to have a group where I and others are comfortable bringing their Ferrari's to the track. Joe, sorry the Challenge car was not ready. You missed a good one. It was great to see the 458 Speciale out and running. What great fun.

The first 4 minutes of the video is shot out of the back of my F355. You can see the Speicale approaching and eventually passing me. The rest of the video is shot out of the front of my F355 trying to keep up. We are running in the "D" group.

F355 and 458 Speciale at Sonoma Raceway - YouTube
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

355 sounds grand! Awesome video, my GF said your a much better driver than the 458 Speciale driver. She said his driving looked nervous.

 

Cut him some slack. The Spec drivers car is pretty new. Was flown over for the Challenge race a few weeks ago. I'm sure he's not used to the car yet. As a comparo, I ran 1:59 to 2:01 when I first got the 9114s with that layout but 1:53-1:55 only a month later. Given the Specs new software including the side slip control, it's going to take a lot more practice to understand the increased speed he can take in a lot of those corners. The big sweeper in particular he could have gone a lot faster without worrying about grip. Some of those corners were nicely done by him particularly the first three turns. Yes it looked a tad nervous and throttle was a bit pulse like but I'm pretty sure he'll get there.

 

I think my heart skipped a beat at 10:23!

Your 355 sounds awesome, it was nice meeting you,

Chris
Red 12c

 

Could not agree more. It is a new car and it takes awhile to get to know the limits and characteristics. It is just part of getting to feel comfortable with a new car, even with great limits. With a car like that you do not want to throw it off the track into the wall pushing it too fast. We are just out having fun. He is a great driver and can burn up the track in a 430 scud.

 

That was awesome! Thanks for sharing your weekend with us Love watching and hearing Ferraris on the track. That exhaust tip shot clearly shows a happy engine!

 

+1 !!

 

Chris, it was great seeing you out at the track in your gorgeous car as well. Sorry we did not get a change to run together a bit more, although you would have probably left me behind pretty quick!

 

Well done, A! Your car always sounds amazing. And as I always say it's not the car it's the driver......

1:55.37 is a great lap time in your car. Bravo. The Speciale driver needs some serious help to figure out the fast line at Sonoma.

 

Great stuff, SK!

A 355 gives a Speciale some heat. And keeps a nice line while doing so. Gotta love that! Was so bummed not to be there with you, but the Challenge is getting some upgrades. BTW, how did the brakes hold up?

 

Great question. As you know I burned through (literally from what you said) the last set of brake pads in 20 min. For the track day this weekend I ran the Hawk blue 9012 which worked great. NO brake fade. Which is incredible. I do wish they had a little more bite, especially at the end of the back straight. I have a set of Hawk HT-10s coming that I might try. Not likely that I will be there this weekend. The alternator actually went out fairly early in the day and by the last session my battery was virtually gone and with all of the lights going off on my dash it looked like Apollo 13. I hardly had enough juice left to get it back off the track. I am going to drop it off at the shop in the morning and should know more. Unlikely it will be ready but you never know. Is the Challenge going to be up and running?

 

A couple of other clips from this weekend.

355 Challenge car at Sonoma - YouTube

Stock Car at Sonoma - YouTube

 

Fingers crossed it will be there!

 

Just confirmed. Will be there! Hope you can get things lined up in time.

 

Awesome video, and the sound of that 355 is just fantastic!

 

my contribution:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz-ztc7BrXE

 

Nice driving and wonderful car!

 

Will you be there this Saturday?

 

Vraiment, I wish I could go, but I'll be on a plane to japan for vacation. Have fun!

You were missed last weekend. Are we going to see your car with the evo body next time!?!?


Skusa, it was great meeting you. Your car sounds and looks great (great heel toe downshifts)!

 

Chrigel, thanks a lot!

 

We figured the cash would be better spent on two future sets of rotors … for now

 

Things did come together at the last minute. I am in Marin now and will see you at the track in the morning.

 

come and join us on Sunday too.

 

Great day -- although not for some folks - car to car contact, a full blown car on fire at the bottom of the carousel, a fuel line dysfunction. FYI on Sunday the format is a bit unusual -- big Socal contingent --Cadillac racing -- yep! - racing, and then all the others -- big wait times between session so bring a chair! Look for Daniel in silver GT3 form LA - about 6' 3" -- great guy who may well join us on the Rally in September in his Scud.

I'd be there but about 10 of us are going to go do a "Wish Reveal" with Make-A-Wish for a youngster who loves Ferraris.

 

This is my first time posting on FChat, but I should really start posting more of my Ferrari Videos. Anyway, I wanted to share the video I produced for the driver in the 458 Speciale. It's the last 4 laps as he catches/passes the F355 with the ensuing battle the F355 brings to the 458 Speciale! Great stuff and one of my favorite video edits! 6 in-car Contour HD cameras + Track Side Video from Turn 8. Enjoy the video and I'll see about starting a thread for my Ferrari track videos which include... Ferrari F1 cars (an F2003GA & 1979 Villeneuve Ferrari F1), Enzo, F40, 458 Challenge, 275 GTB... and many more!

HOD Sonoma Raceway - Ferrari 458 Speciale Video - YouTube