Anyone here doing the NASA event at Texas World Speedway this coming weekend?

I just signed up and got my reservation at the HoJo.

 

we have an evo meet that weekend.

 

Mike and Kevin will be there, of course. I sure would like to come down, it's been too long since I've run TWS, need to get back down there.

 

Bring a sleeping bag and I'll let you crash on the floor in my hotel room!

(I've only got a reservation for Saturday night, though. Last time I drove out Friday night. This time I'm gonna try driving up early Saturday, just to see if it's worth saving the money. I have a hunch it won't be. )

Were "Mike and Kevin" the guys in the (other) silver Evo? (Man, I suck with names.)

I got my new brake pads installed yesterday (Ferodo DS-2500 all the way around).

And it looks like we'll have rain all weekend from Son of Ivan, so those Dunlop FM901's will be just the ticket.

Man, I'm soooo ready to go.

 

Mike and Kevin are the instructors, with dozens and dozens of wins under there belts. Kevin might show up with one of his Porsches or Vettes or some other race car, you never know. I think Mike will be racing his Camaro this weekend. For the rain those Dunlops should be just fine! Have you had a chance to run any hot laps with some slicks?

 

Duh! Of course. Mike Patterson and "Kevin with the purple Porsche" that lifted the inside front tire going through Big Bend and whose last name I stll don't remember.

No, I've still not run anything other than the Dunlops. I don't think I'm ready yet. But I've caught myself looking around my apartment and wondering where I could store an extra set of rims.

 

It's Kevin Mixon, and guess what ahowed up at the ranch a couple weekends back.. Carrera GT. It ran 700 large!! The owner is from down around central TX, maybe he'll be out at TWS this weekend. 612bhp Normally Aspiratted torqeuy V10...

 

The weekend was great!

MY FIRST SPIN
The Evo and I again emerged unscathed, though I did have my first 4-wheel off. And it was a good one: I spun 180 going into Turn 8. Once I realized I wasn't recovering it, I just hammered the brakes to lock everything up, and slid off backwards. The car stalled and wouldn't start at first (crash intertia switch thingy, perhaps?). Once it did start, the Service Engine Soon light was on for a while, but eventually reset itself.

TIRES
My right front tire is just about gone. I think it could handle a clockwise day at TWS, but definitely not another counterclockwise day. An instructor driving a 350Z with the same Dunlop FM901 tires (he's sponsored by Dunlop) took a special interest in my tires. He thought it was great that even though they were worn, the wear appeared to uniform across the tread.

FAST?
I didn't get any lap times this weekend. But I went into one classroom session and an instructor (John Cole?) told me, "You're fast out there." In fact, he was a little concerned about how fast I was going into Turn 1. My new (stock) exhaust gave me another 10 mph top speed on the straight, so I was hitting 125 before braking and taking The Transition at 105. Then I had to brake again (hard) before going into Turn 2. I think the fact that there was no real margin for error there was bothering him. I noticed that the NASA guys warned us about the ditch you'd hit if you went off there, while the TWS Club somehow neglected to mention it. Hmmm....

Later in the day the instructor with the 350Z took his car out and I went out right behind him. I was almost able to keep up. He told me later he kept looking in his rearview and was suprised to see me back there.

That was a good feeling when he said that. But I think he was also being a little generous. Had he really put some serious effort into it, I think he would have pulled away.

OTHER CARS
We had a nice contingent of AWD vehicles. My Evo, and Audi S4, and VW Golf R32, and the car that made me jump up and down when I saw it pull into the garage area: an '84 Audi Quattro.

The Quattro was beautiful, in original condition (even the harnesses were from the factory). I'm not up on my Audis, but the owner said it was one of only 6 (six) short wheelbase versions in the country. He was a great guy. Unfortunately he was down there on the spur-of-the-moment just to check the track out, and stayed for only the first two sessions of the first day. I never saw him get up to speed. He said he had to deal with some serious turbo lag, so needed to get to know the track so he could plan his throttle application well in advance. He was an experienced driver, though, so I have no doubt he'd be formidible once up to speed. He respected the Evo a great deal, and invited me out to the Audi day at MSR in November. I'll have to think about it.

SPEAKING OF AUDIS
An race-prepped Audi running out with the American Iron guys put his car on it's roof in Turn 9. He walked away, and Cliff (NASA race director) told me it had a serious cage in it which appeared to be undamaged, so some body panels might be all the guy needs to get running again. Side note: he was running 2nd to Kevin Mixon's Vette at the time.

4TH GEAR
My Turn 8 spin happened while I was downshifting to 3rd attempting to teach myself to heel-and-toe. In the last session I tried just leaving it in 4th for the whole infield (the straight still required 5th), and I was surpised to find that it worked well. Even through The Carousel I kept up enough speed that I didn't bog. I'll definitely try that next time.

SPEAKING OF NEXT TIME
I'm thinking about hitting The Driver's Edge event at TWS in a couple of weeks. I'd really like to experience at least one of their DEs. But if it's counter-clockwise I'll need to do something about tires.

Anyone else thinking of doing it?

 

Sounds like a great weekend! and best of all a spin you can drive home after is a good learning experience.

How'd the early drive there work out?

 

The early drive was fine. But only because I went to bed about 8:00 pm the prior night (which I usually can't make myself do).

I left at 5:06 am and got there about 6:45 am. Kevin Mixon got there about 20 seconds before me (I saw him on the overpass coming from the North as I exited coming from the South). He'd driven down from Plano that morning! Too hardcore for me.

I didn't discover the breakfast tacos until the Sunday morning. Highly recommended.

 

Sounds like a good time. I have been wanting to participate in an event there but my schedule never seems to coincide. Bummer . I have competed there many times on my motorcycle (1:49's) but never in a car. I do have track experience, No Problem Raceway(local track), Road Atlanta, but no car TWS experience. I would love to pick your brain about specific EVO to TWS track knowledge and just general coversation with a fellow enthusiast would be great.
Hopefully in the near future I can meet up with some of you guys and get involved more with other people that share the same passions as i do.

Stephen

 

Wow. A 1:49 in anything would probably make me sh*t myself!

(Not to further hijack my own thread, but I noticed you have an RC51. What do you think of that story of the kid ticketed for 205mph on an RC51? Could he have done it with a tailwind?)

I know what you mean about wanting to talk to people. It's a kindred spirit kinda thing. After my first track event at MSR in July I was trying to talk to people at work about it, but no one really gave a damn.

Later this week I'm having dinner with a guy a met up there at TWS last weekend. Basically, his wife set us up. I was talking with her and she found out where I lived and immediately turned to her husband and said, "Honey, he lives really close to us." I guess she's been hearing just a little bit too much about cars lately.

If I ever head out to No Problem I'll drop you a PM. I'm sure I'll eventually want to check out some other tracks. Hallet and No Problem are the closest ones of which I'm aware.

 

Thanks for the reply. Funny you mention that 205mph story. Back 2 seasons ago when Nicky Hayden was riding an RC 51 at Daytona, he registered the highest trap speed of the whole race weekend. he was clocked at just under 200 mph at 198mph. Now this was a bike that was roughly 80 pounds lighter than that probably close to stock RC, and Nicky's bike had a 195hp at the crank and gearing to propel him and his bike as fast as it could possibly go. The probability that the RC 51 in question was actualy doing 205mph is slim to none. I am not saying that it is not possible, who know, maybe this bike had a turbo or nitrous are some kind of performance level of tune that i have never heard of for an RC51.

Now, as a person who has been arrested for doing 125mph in a 55mph zone, in my 86' 911 Carrera. (My younger not so smart days). I can tell you he is in for a world of hurt. Also someone that undertands the judicial system, if he wanted to spend alot more money and fight it in court. With the rite lawyer he could easily prove that his bike could not p[ossibly even come close to reaching that velocity.

My motorcycle racing buddy's and myself had a discussion about that the other day.

I know what you mean about feeling like the odd man out. not many people that I come in contact with on a day to day basis are interested in motorsports as I am. Lord knows my wife gets tired of hearing it, but she is a good sport about it. I am fortunate enough to have a few friends that are as enthusiastic as I am thought. We have a good little gaggle of performance cars amongst us.4 EVO 8's, STI, 350Z track ed., 03' SVT cobra. We all compete in the local autocrosses and track events together when our schedules concide which is far and few between.

I surf here often to get information about track days close to me that i can attend. So, if I here of anything happening at NPR I will be sure and post it here to let everyone know. Hopefully, when the next track event comes up in Texas or any other close area i will definetly make an effort to attend.

Thanks for the reply and looking forward to meeting you at the next track event.

Stephen

 

Well, here's a heads-up: the ConeCrazy guys are planning a track day at TWS for the weekend of November 27-28. Basically they just register for the TWS Motorsports Club DE as a group. If they can get together more than 12 guys, they each get a 25% discount off the normal $250 fee. If you're interested in getting in on it, just e-mail the guy who runs ConeCrazy (name: Shing; handle: shingle).

When the time gets closer I'll definitely post a notice here.

Disclaimer: I can't in good conscience recommend the TWS DE to someone who's never been on any kind of track anywhere. But for people who have track experience and just want track time, this is a pretty good deal.

Hope to see you out there sometime!

 

I want to go back to TWS but can't afford to track my car these days. It's a shame, I had a blast driving there earlier this year.

The guy who runs the The Drivers Edge events, Rick, has an older Audi Quattro. I think it's beige or gold. Maybe it was him there?