Had a great time. It was great meeting Fatbillybob, Viper10, Jeremy, Qvb, and Ernie. Took a few photos, and the willow springs people got a great shot of my car, so I am posting below. Dom Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
It was a great day -- good meeting all you guys. Dom, that's me behind you in the pic you got from the Willow Springs people.
it was a pleasure meeting you all! i hope to see you soon at the track or crystal cove, in the meantime, drive safely. ernie
hey guys, just wanted to let you know that there is another event on june 4th at willow springs (big loop), this time being held by speedventures.net. i hope to see some of you guys there again! ernie
Well some of you guys have me at a disadvantage. I could not remember the screen names and thought there would be more FC people at the track and there was! However, I only met Dom 308gt4 and opps I forgot blue WRX. It was a great day at WSIR. A cold morning and cool day prevailed. The wind was extreme enough to require tying down my blue canopy. The 348 ran flawlessly. Redline ran a 1/2 full event with 3 run groups so there were perhaps 10 cars on the track at any one time. We were on the track so much that even with Dom pitting with me I rarely saw him except during lunch when I broke out my mini BBQ. The FC group split amoung the Redline groups scattered us. I expected a hot day at WSIR and was actually cold for the morning run. Getting up at 5am and a longish driver's meeting put me in sleep mode. Slowly getting my act together while the other two groups were kept in the classroom, I missed half of my first run just getting the 348 off the trailer and finding all my gear. I have tons of it... I travel heavy. Finally, firing up the Ferrari running on challenge type open exhaust and no cats I'm the loudest car in the paddock. There are a few other trailered race cars but most are prepped streetcars. I'm in a less conspicuous part of the paddock but how can you be low profile in a screming red Ferrari, lowered, loud as hell, "man you look and sound alot faster than you are", Ferrari! As quietly as possible I creap through the paddock at idle...this car attracts attention. I enter the track mid session with the other weekend warriors. I'm getting the car warmed up as some cars pass me by I'm thinking about a Starbucks coffee. This is bad...no concentration. This is how I can end up in the dirt. I crusin and crusin and I see no other cars. There is nobody on this track. I have only been on this track a few times and it was always loaded with cars. Personally, traffic congestion makes it fun for me. I like to get around traffic and have some laps with no cars but this is kind of quiet twilight zone spooky. Bad...Bad...Bad...I not concentrating. Looking over at the "streets of WSIR" daydreaming, what are they doing over there? Moving on to the fastest corner on the track I gaze over to the corner worker's station he's totally bored. It he cleaning his fingernails or is he asleep? I'm lapping the track, and lapping the track , ah there's the corner where I blew a tire in the turn last time. Crusin...crusin...there's where I almost spun trying to get back to the paddock with said blown tire. Crusin...crusin... "those are the blackest skid marks I've ever seen" as they depart straight off the track turn 8 the fast part. And many more sessions went by. I struggled with my concentration and tire pressures to find that happy place. As I approached the fastest turn on the track at about 115mph I'd see those damn black skid marks that kept messing with my head. Maybe I just got up too early this morning. Don't get me wrong I had a great time there was just something missing. I finally, found out what it was...a BMW M3! Earlier this morning that fully caged trailer race prepped M3 had blown by me and I could not catch him. When Rob Shermerhorn aka DeltaVee Motorsports asked me what my track goal was when he set up my spring shock combo I said "you know... I really want to be competative with those damn M3's". We have this little joke that you could have 4 people in the car sipping starbucks coffee and still lap that track in the mid 1:30's. The truth is...it can! The speed and balance of those cars is deceptive. At the start of my final session I'm lapping the track and lapping the track and I get by a car and to my surprise I enter the front straight exactly as I see the taillights of that M3 existing the front straight for the first turn. I have no idea how long that straight is perhaps long enough for a 1/4 mile drag strip and some run off. I decide to try and catch him. The straight makes for that perfect guage. It is hard to see if you are catching your prey with all the turns in most tracks. I kick it up a notch and by my straight guage I gain just a bit on him. I'm entering the stright and now I see his brake lights on for the first turn. That's a huge improvement from this morning when he blew past me. I actually did not expect to do any better than I just did. I can never concentrate well enough to put together good successive laps. But I did it again. Not only did I stay with him but I'm gaining on him. We go around again and now this is really getting fun! He must see me coming up and does not like it. I see him clearly bobble as he trys to go deeper into the first corner and his rear does a little dance. That costs him speed. I decide to take a little chance. Braking really late in to turn 1, damn....am I going to make it? The edge of the track is comming up fast. Stick! Damn it Stick! I can feel some marbles. Geeze! that was close...thank you Delta Vee if it weren't for you that one could have been a new paint job. I've seen cars roll when they go off there. I setle down and think, I want to go out with TCRA next week I can't wreck this car. The entrance to the straight is coming up. Oh my! the M3 is is really close. So that's what real racer do. O.k. now for sure he knows I'm there but you can't get away I'm reeling you in like a beaten fish. Did I forget to tell you, I'm really having some fun. I decide to take that turn 1 chance again. This time I do it with just a bit more control and not quite as deep I just don't have that big a cahones. But it is deep enough. The M3 is even closer. I'm going to catch this sucker. I decide to brake really deep into turn 3 where I lost that tire several trackdays ago. Boom! It worked I'm 3 car lengths from him. He is going for it and I'm going for it. We come up fast on turn 8 some number north of 115mph...I'm concentrating on him so hard I'm not looking. I see those deep black skid marks that have been playing with my mind all day. I keep my foot on the gas. I'm on his six. I just need another lap and I'll get past him. Geeze the checkered flag came out our session is over. Man that was fun I almost had him. In my book that was a victory for the 348. I'll have to ask Rob next time what he could do so I could keep up with a 360. Is that too much to ask? It turned out to be a great day. The M3 guy and I had a few laughs. It was 3pm and we both decided that was about as good as it gets so we trailered up our cars and decided to call it a day. I thought about asking to move into Dom's group so we could play but frankly, trying to catch the M3 wore me out. So I took pictures of Dom going around the track. The first picture is the end of the front straight. I figure he is hitting just about 100 here. The next is in the paddock. He has a really nice gt4. The gt4s are kind of heavy and they have no coolong to the front brakes. Dom's doing a one man bleed with his pressure bleeder. Dom's now in the middle of the front straight. I think he had a good time. I hope to see him on the track more and also Qvb? the WRX guy. Hopefully he will get his Ferrari out on the track next time.
fatbillybob, awesome write up! those m3s have amazing capability. i was also blown away by the mini coopers at the event; i know that they are excellent autocross machines but i didnt think they would be so competitive on a track like willow. i hope to see you at another track event soon (theres another one on june 4th being put on by speedventures.net if your interested). ernie btw, i was in the black m5
Ernie, I did not see an M5 in the paddock. Was that you who waved to me on the freeway on the way to WSIR? I am not sure about 6/4 since I'll be with TCRA http://www.touringcarclub.com/ next weekend at WSIR . But TCRA has openings next week I'm pretty sure. The run a great event and I am told have good schooling. The WSIR guys from FastLane come over I think. You should look at the TCRA site. I'm a tech inspector for TCRA and we run all kinds of cars from 4 door sedan streetcars on street tires to Formula cars. And yeah Saturday was fun. Looking back at this thread I see a viper10. Was Viper10 with the blue viper/blue tape on headlights sipping a Bud after the first session? I swear I saw a can of Bud.
Oh yeah. I guess we are all moving pretty quick out there. I asked someone what is this rubber on my rear quarter panels. The answer....Your getting the slick tires so hot that the rubber is melting off and whipping on the paint like cotton candy. Like I said I was trying to catch that M3!
billybob, i was the one who waved to you on the highway, but i was also there. we were at different ends of the paddock so we never saw each other. thats pretty crazy about the tires though! i never knew that happened! ernie
You ain't kidding about the mini's. During one of my sessions, I was feeling really good, since I was able to pass the burgundy 911. Next thing you know, someone whips by me in a mini. Really says something about driving ability as well... Dom
Hey Fatbillybob, Good description! Those M3's are great cars. But, I love your 348. Too bad you only have 1 seat, it would have been great to be a passenger with you. Then again, maybe I would have crapped in my pants I had a blast and can't wait to do it again. I'm trying to determine when my sister in law can come down for a visit so that I can "escape to the track" again. Hey, can you send me the full size of those photos to : [email protected] Also, if you want any full size photos of the ones I took of you, go ahead and shoot me your e-mail address. Dom
Uh oh, I've got to make a correction here. The GT4 is actually lighter than the GTB/S cars, and handles better. Also, there are air ducts which allow cool air to the brakes. The issues with my car were related to driver ability (or lack thereof). I believe I was using the brakes way too much (OK, I'm a pu**y), which lead to overheating and boiling of the brake fluid. Slow lap times are attributed to the driver in this case. I think if you put a better driver in the car, the lap times would have been much faster. Gotta stand up for the GT4 Dom
Dom, I did not know about brake ducts on the gt4. In fact I had to add the brake ducts on my 348! Anyway, you are right the gt4 is actually a better car than the gtb/s for racing. The chassis is stiffer and better balanced IMO. Also it is more driver friendly with a full cage. There was a really fast 308gt4 factory racer many years ago. I had the specs for it somewhere. It was in the 2500lb range.
Hey, It was nice meeting you guys, (Dom and Carl). Nice pictures, also. Sorry I missed the other F chatters. Jeremy- was I sitting next to you in the drivers meeting? I told you I was driving a Subaru WRX. I'm thinking of doing the California Speedway on June 25th, with Speedventures, http://www.speedventures.net/6-25-2004_event.asp That should be fun on the oval. See you all soon, John
