Ludachris
Founder & Zookeeper
- 8,843
- 4,672
- Nov 12, 2001
-
Newcastle,
California
So I made it through a full weekend of working/driving at NASA's first event back in the Rocky Mountain region. The event took place at Pueblo Motorsports Park in Pueblo, Colorado this past weekend. It was a great turnout for the first event, especially considering the weather reports that were circulating before the weekend. There was a slight chance of rain, or maybe even snow in the forecast. Aside from a few small flakes and some cold wind on Sunday, it was a perfect race weekend with no interruptions.
We drove down friday evening with some friends who brought their Integra for the event and we checked into a motel. The next morning we got to the track just before 7am. It was a bit cold but the sun was shining bright. I helped work the gate in the morning and then headed in to the drivers meeting. Lot's of 1st-timers in there. We had about 65-70 cars the first day, which was more than I had expected. Anyway, everyone teamed up with their instructor, though we didn't have enough instructors to go around for HPDE 2. Oh well, it just took me a bit longer to learn the track.
The first and second session out I took it easy, taking different lines, and feeling the car out. I decided to keep the all-season tires on the car instead of putting my other wheels. I'm planning on selling them so I didn't want to risk scuffing them up and eating the tires more. The all-seasons did surprisingly well (Kuhmo 711's). As I started speeding up the car felt great. I could definitely use more brakes, but I already knew that.
During the 3rd session I had a little scare. Between turns 10 and 1 (the front straight), I was getting up to 125mph pretty regularly. I came up behind a slower 240sx at the end of the straight. Going into turn 1 (which is a pretty fast left-hand 180* turn) he seemed to be carrying a bit too much speed and was trying to brake into the turn. He started fish-tailing it and ended up losing it completely, spinning all the way around about 30 feet in front of me. I locked up the brakes for a split second and avoided him by hugging the inside of the turn tight. Damn that was scary. But I also probably shouldn't have come up on him so quickly going into that turn. I'm sure he saw me coming and probably tried driving a little harder than he should have.
Aside from that, there were no other scares. The fact that I was working grid and driving made it so I was always late getting out on the track for my session, which actually worked out well. I ended up having a clear track in front of me for much of my four sessions. And there didn't appear to be any fast drivers/cars in my group, as I never got passed. At the end of the first day I was exhausted. We had a BBQ and helped clean up before we headed back to the motel.
The next day I ended up working the grid and the gate the whole day. Before going to the track that day I noticed my pads were just about done. What's one of the first things you do before you go to a track day? Yup, replace your pads if they're more than half gone. I didn't do that and ended up parking my car for the day to avoid any problems, and so we could have a safe drive home. I did get a ride-along with the lead instructor in his fully-prepped Mustang. I had a nice grin on my face after that, and REALLY want new brakes now! Riding with an instructor really helps in so many ways. It's amazing how much you can learn. If any of you have a chance to do a NASA event, I highly recommend it. It's worth every penny.
At the end of the day we loaded up the car and headed home. It turned out to be a great weekend and the weather was good, up until the drive home of course. What began as a 1.5 hour drive down to the track from the house ended up being a 2.5 hour drive home due to snow and traffic. I'm sooooo glad I picked up a new set of all-seasons last week. My left leg got more work on that drive home than the whole weekend combined. Made it home with no incidents and I can easily say that it was all worth it. I'm now trying to get ready for the next autox in 2 weeks and will be planning to have new brakes, wheels and tires on for the next track event. We'll see if I can get it past the wife!
Here's a couple pics from the event:
http://static.flickr.com/45/112080653_4e31082304_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/34/112080652_46ecdd808c_o.jpg
We drove down friday evening with some friends who brought their Integra for the event and we checked into a motel. The next morning we got to the track just before 7am. It was a bit cold but the sun was shining bright. I helped work the gate in the morning and then headed in to the drivers meeting. Lot's of 1st-timers in there. We had about 65-70 cars the first day, which was more than I had expected. Anyway, everyone teamed up with their instructor, though we didn't have enough instructors to go around for HPDE 2. Oh well, it just took me a bit longer to learn the track.
The first and second session out I took it easy, taking different lines, and feeling the car out. I decided to keep the all-season tires on the car instead of putting my other wheels. I'm planning on selling them so I didn't want to risk scuffing them up and eating the tires more. The all-seasons did surprisingly well (Kuhmo 711's). As I started speeding up the car felt great. I could definitely use more brakes, but I already knew that.
During the 3rd session I had a little scare. Between turns 10 and 1 (the front straight), I was getting up to 125mph pretty regularly. I came up behind a slower 240sx at the end of the straight. Going into turn 1 (which is a pretty fast left-hand 180* turn) he seemed to be carrying a bit too much speed and was trying to brake into the turn. He started fish-tailing it and ended up losing it completely, spinning all the way around about 30 feet in front of me. I locked up the brakes for a split second and avoided him by hugging the inside of the turn tight. Damn that was scary. But I also probably shouldn't have come up on him so quickly going into that turn. I'm sure he saw me coming and probably tried driving a little harder than he should have.
Aside from that, there were no other scares. The fact that I was working grid and driving made it so I was always late getting out on the track for my session, which actually worked out well. I ended up having a clear track in front of me for much of my four sessions. And there didn't appear to be any fast drivers/cars in my group, as I never got passed. At the end of the first day I was exhausted. We had a BBQ and helped clean up before we headed back to the motel.
The next day I ended up working the grid and the gate the whole day. Before going to the track that day I noticed my pads were just about done. What's one of the first things you do before you go to a track day? Yup, replace your pads if they're more than half gone. I didn't do that and ended up parking my car for the day to avoid any problems, and so we could have a safe drive home. I did get a ride-along with the lead instructor in his fully-prepped Mustang. I had a nice grin on my face after that, and REALLY want new brakes now! Riding with an instructor really helps in so many ways. It's amazing how much you can learn. If any of you have a chance to do a NASA event, I highly recommend it. It's worth every penny.
At the end of the day we loaded up the car and headed home. It turned out to be a great weekend and the weather was good, up until the drive home of course. What began as a 1.5 hour drive down to the track from the house ended up being a 2.5 hour drive home due to snow and traffic. I'm sooooo glad I picked up a new set of all-seasons last week. My left leg got more work on that drive home than the whole weekend combined. Made it home with no incidents and I can easily say that it was all worth it. I'm now trying to get ready for the next autox in 2 weeks and will be planning to have new brakes, wheels and tires on for the next track event. We'll see if I can get it past the wife!
Here's a couple pics from the event:
http://static.flickr.com/45/112080653_4e31082304_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/34/112080652_46ecdd808c_o.jpg
Once the word gets out it's gonna be huge. It sounds like you had a blast Chris, especially with your fish tailing folly! You'll have a full cage and racing suit in know time, I just know it. I talked with Greg Greenbaum last night and it looks like they're gonna expan the PT group to include cars like mine. That should be a kick!
wannabe #2296
