nukblazi

Here are a few of the 130 pics I have from the weekend. I have video too that I need to get onto the comp..

nukblazi

yup... in that last set I passe dthe M Coupe. That's my now gold Eisenmann race. I guess heat makes chrome gold ??? And in this set is a pic of me passing a C32. I posted a pic of the brakes after 2 hours total of track time run in chunks of 20 -30 minutes each.

If you are faster in the corners, they have to give you point-by in the straights. No drag racing ahead and slowing up the field because you can't handle the corners.

Tom

brabusCcoupe

Cool pics. So what place did you end up taking?

nlpamg

nice! thanks for the pics. definitely looks like fun.

I have a question though. For these type of events, does your regular auto insurance cover it? Do you need to get supplemental insurance? Do they offer insurance at the track?

Capt Nemo o2

Nice... Im guessing thats not a SCCA event, no roll bars!

THATS MY BOY!!! I see a Cobra in the background in one picture!!!

You got a Mini, a BMW and Porsche running against a Firebird?! It handles like ***** in the turns, the Imports must have killed!!!

I want to get on to a track, even by myself and learn more... But being in NY, The Land of NO, where our moto is "That looks like fun, STOP IT!" They closed down the last drag strip out on the island. Now all we have is illegal street racing (which I dont do, I dont drag!) Or we have to go to Englishtown, Watkins Glenn, or Lime Rock...

nukblazi

Hey there-

This wasn't a race. It's a High Performance Driving Event that was held by NASA. They don't group by HP but by experience with NASA. So, there were some good and some REALLY really bad ones.

In our run group, me, the red K20-S swapped civic and a Nissan 240 with a Silva motor were the fastest in the group. The Nissan was probably the fastest. 300whp DETUNED ???? It was crazy...

The rules are no passing in the turns, so even the 351 and the M Coupe and the C32, although they blew me away in the straights, I was all over them by the second turn of the next sequence. That's what makes road courses so awesome.

Capt. - I will likely be at this event next. Hook it up and sign up. http://www.pdadrivingschool.com/ Lime Rock, 3/24 I'll take you for a ride in the coupe. I got my headers on Monday... lot's more go fast to come. Need more HP, have to at least hit 250whp.

Here's another. Rob Plafta is a great photographer. Check out his site for more automotive pics! http://www.plaftaphoto.com

Capt Nemo o2

Thats awesome! Thanks for the invite! I'll have to see if I'm off from school or not... Definately considering joining though!

Outland

So how many people said "what the heck is that?"

gaiex

nukblazi, your sport coupe is more sport than all here !!!

nukblazi

I got a lot of comments about "never seeing one of these on a track before" "I didn't think these could handle that good" I pissed off a couple non-turbo porcshe's, got video of me pressuring a stang to lock up into oak tree... The battery died in the beginning of the third run of Sunday. Which of course was the best run, having less people on the track and more room let it all out. On Rob Plafta's site, under VIR 2-18 2-20, the HPDE and enduro pics (middle icon), there's a great sequence of a red porsche spinning coming out of turn 4. This was full course event, all the way around the outside, 3.27 miles.



Chip and cams next with a diet... for the next run I am going to pull the rear interior, as much as I can anyway, and remove all the wheel well and under cadding. I do not have enough HP but I was able to hit 130 on the straights. The wind noise in the vids is insane and the car is just squatting. It's weird how slow it "looks" in the videos. Between rushing to get spares, new wheels and tires I ended up not using, a hotel, gas, pre-tech inspection and Misc., I spent a lot of money this weekend. I will be taking donations to save my *** from my fiance soon

Outland

The black, silver and red SCCA car is in a lot of video you see on Speed channels shows. A few people at work, who are Nascar dorks, and watch Speed channel religiously even asked me if mine was the same kind of car. Yes, which prompted, "aren't those too expensive to race?"


I can't wait to see your video!

nukblazi

Not sure how soon the vid will be. Someone I spoke to said to get it from the mini tape it may need to be transfered to DV first? No clue. Hopefully soon.

feropont

Hey nuk I told you last summer 'come along' you will have lot of fun. You finaly did it. Good for you! My favor is a sweeper on 17a.
How was your tires for this cold weather, that was my biggest worries, if I would drive in cold weather like this takes too long time to warm up. What brake pads did you run? I had to detune my car too, by closing my auxuluary boost controler complitely and feel up gas tank with 109 gasoline. Temp at the track was close to 100 and car started to detonate and ESU was pulling timing. Now I connected Intercooler water spray to my ECU
On the other hand I went to Johnstown, NY, frozen Caroga lake and had a lots of fun 2 weeks ago. No worries with hit soaking intercooler :p
There are plenty of photos on Rob's site. There is was even one old E 190.
Event runs the same as HPDE.
Serge.

nukblazi

Hey Serg! It was a lot of fun. I ended up using P-Zero M+S tires and still pulling off 2:35 runs in HPDE 1 traffic . Sat. was in the high 40s/low 50s, Sun was damn cold, but tires were ok. Those ice racing pics are BAD A$$!!!

Here are some more pics from the HPDE.

nukblazi

a few more

zishan03

This looks awesome. How much do events like this cost?

I am in the UK, we have a few similar events but the altogether costs of doing such a thing is a bit too much for me right now.

Nice pictures tho.

Zishan

nukblazi

Thanks Zishan, my fiance took the pics. I thought she did a good job too. It cost $299 for the event, $40 for the membership to NASA, then $2300 in wheels and tires that I ended up not using, and another $1k in spare parts and fluids "just in case" something went wrong. $59/night for the motel.

Thing is though once you have the base of spares, you don't need to spring for them again until you need a replacement. Additionally, you don't really need all the spares to do just one event, I needed them for auto-x and track days for the rest of the year. I also have a spare trans and diff from last year, "just in case" something happens.

I really recommend you do at least one. The improved ability you gain from both classroom and on-track and how much better you will know your car afterwards, is invaluable on the streets with the common maniac behind the wheel.

Thanks again.

5150_C32

great photos!

looks like you guys had a nice mix of cars (Cobra, Z, Audi TT, MB's, Mustangs, etc).

how'd the tires stick in the cold weather???

nukblazi

There was a good mix in the group. There was also many drivers and some cars that were a real impendence on the runs.

I used Pirelli P-Zero M+S 225/45/17s. They held up well and provided consistent grip. I would lock them up a bit under braking and squeal them like pigs in the turns I just had to ensure I warmed them up as to not rip the tread blocks off. I had PS2s on SSR competetion wheels but the front 235/40/17s rubbed on my front strut so I couldn't use them Would've been faster on the wider summer rubber.

Are you the black C32 that was in my run group?

5150_C32

no, but it does look like my car

I have not been to the track since buying this C32, but would like to if I could get another set of wheels/tires....now my E36 M3 was a different story.

C55NOVA

Looks like you had a lot of fun. VIR is an awsome road course. I take my RX-7 down there a couple times a year with the washington Mazda club. They do so the same thing as NASA, you get 4 20-30 min. sessions each day with an instructor riding shotgun. If you prove yourself worthy they solo you for the rest of the event. No passing in the turns and you may pass in the straights with a point by. Cost is somewhere around $350 and you don't need to be a member. Ussualy Mazda's make up about 50% percent of the cars with rest being all different kinds of makes. I am heading down again the last weekend in March, I am tempted to bring my C55 this time to see what it can do. www.mazdadrivers.com

nukblazi

I really enjoyed VIR. Please keep in touch and let me know about Mazda event. I would love to hit that track up on fresh shaved RA-1s and my new set up.

KW V2s are here in my livingroom, header and intake, going to order a BBK, and speedybnz is building me a bunch of custom suspension parts. I want to do some headwork and get the schrick cams for the extra umph. I've been talking to a few people about Sunbelt Performance Engines. Might get in touch with them.

nukblazi

There is a guy in an e36 who turned out a 2:14 in the GTS Challenge. That's the series Iike to rookie in with the coupe. Getting closer

zishan03

Did you have ESP on or off?

Or even Dyno mode?



Zishan

nukblazi

Hehe, I am crazy but not nuts. I left ESP on for the first 2 sessions at the track. Once I had a good feel for both the car and the track, I disabled ESP at the dash and monitored it under cornering and and braking the best I could. I am not going to run in Dyno-mode until I have a lot more experience. The ! in the triangle didn't blink often, but since I was on M+S tires, I locked the fronts up a little under braking, but got the triangle to blink twice under braking, and once excelerating out of the Oak Tree turn!