Ferrari Challenge

hey I went there today too along with a bunch of friends. One in his 360 CS, was an eventful drive to and from the track from north jersey
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It was cool, but I gotta say that all that dust made me feel bad for the exotics sitting in the parking lot. My car is so dirty right now lol

 

NJMP has a lot of work ahead of them. They need to fix Pit in, pit out, dust, and some barriers. Many drivers felt it was dangerous, and there hopefully will be changes/improvements made for future events.

Anyone get any video?

 

Agree.....Great Event! One of the best views at NJMP is turn #14!

Sharif....were you with the group of the Blue M3 and the 360CS?

 

What were the thoughts on the new track?

 

Hey, yeah that was us : ) did you see us driving there ?

we also had a black range rover with us. The drive there was A LOT of fun.

 

Figured it was you guys...leaving I was a few cars back in a BMW X5. Was trying to catch up to you but got caught in the traffic from that rolled over SUV on 55.

 

I don't have much experience with tracks in general... I liked the layout of the track, had a bit of everything. Turns, straights, elevation changes. There didn't seem to have much run off incase things went wrong for cars on the track.
Not much seating area for spectators. No covering from the sun.
Like someone said, too much dust. You can feel it on your face by the end and your car is covered by the time you go back to your car. The parking lot is all light, loose dirt. They water the dirt to keep the dust down, it works but then you have to walk through mud.

All in all I'd never go again as a spectator, was nice seeing all the cool cars but to watch cars go around a track all day ain't my thing, ridiculously boring in my opinion. If I was the one tracking my car I'd live there.

Yeah, pretty bad seeing that SUV like that. I'm hoping those were the occupants sitting by the side of the road cause they didn't seem too "bad" all things considered. If I didn't see them there I would have said for sure the occupants couldn't have survived that.

Would have been nice to drive back with more company, maybe next timee

Is it crazy to say that a CS can NOT pull on an m3 ?

 

I agree with the comments on the parking. Everything (people and cars) got really dirty.

I drove down from LI and met up at exit 8 on the Turnpike with a red 430 spider (Tom from LI). Traffic to LI on the way back was a nightmare and I left at 1:30pm!

Here are some pix my buddy took:
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I'm thinking that was was a different range rover, no one in the range had a ferrari shirt. but you never know. If it was a black RR sport following the 360 and m3 then I don't think there were too many combos like that leaving at the same time. if so I apologize on behalf

 

Looks like he was up in the spotting tower, probably 2-3 spots down from me judging from that last shot lol

Here's a link to my pics: http://asianguywithacamera.com/images/2008events/GrandAm_083008/

 

Hey Guys!

I was actually there racing in the Grand-Am race, driving a Daytona Prototype (#09). Great track and layout, just not ready yet for racing. The course itself was very fun and challenging, with the first half being a very high speed, flowing section similar to tracks like Lime Rock and VIR, and the second half being slower and more twisting very much like Barber Motorsports Park and Portland - and a corner or two like Laguna Seca. Unfortunately the facility just hadn't been open long enough (or opened too early) for them to sort out what the place really needs. Needs exit curbing at most of the corner exits, paved runoff on the other side of that curbing, a redesigned and wider pit entrance, and definitely needs a different pit exit, as it's way too easy to slide off the pit exit road, wind up over the apex curb at turn one and in the middle of the traffic flow... Of course, a little more time for grass to grow and the whole place will be much cleaner and more appealing.

I managed to grab some in-car footage from one of my practice sessions on Friday - check it out!
http://www.guycosmo.com/video-gallery/

If any of you are interested in driving the track yourselves in your own cars, I've got a 2-day event booked there in October - one day on the Lightening circuit, one day on Thunderbolt. Fun place, and should be much nicer by then!