asian312
20+ Year Contributor
- 678
- 4
- Sep 23, 2002
-
Houston,
Texas
First track day of '08 in the bag. And what an eventful weekend it was.
With the new year comes change. And in this case, MSC has dropped the five 20min. session format and moved to a four 30min. format. This means 40 more minutes of track time and a lot less headache for the organization. However this brought up a very interesting issue for my car. Could I make a 30min session without running below the critical half empty point.
So the story begins with session one. Actually it begins by being intimated by a ton of fast cars in the combined white and yellow run groups. White is the top tier group and yellow right below. Due to the attendance numbers it was feasible to merge the two groups, but this summed up to be quite a variance in speed. First up was a race-prepped Viper with some serious fangs. Then we have Martin's race-prepped M3 (hand controls combined with BMW's SMG gearbox, trick stuff), a NASA AI mustang, '01 mustang, and another race ready M3 for good measure. Following that is Sam's Cobra, Will's Camaro SS, and a baby-blue shoe (M3 coupe). All these cars are sub two minute cars with the Viper in the 1.47-1.50 range. The rest of the pack spreads out somewhere between 2.00 and 2.10. It was a good lesson in traffic management and keeping an eye on that rear mirror. The day was looking very promising as the Traqmate displayed multiple laps in the 2.06 range in the first session.
Right about here is where things go haywire. Session two is cut extremely short by that race ready M3 loosing a wheel on the warm up lap. It managed to sheer off all its wheel studs on the exit of turn five. It took a while to collect the car, but I remember hearing something about getting his tire out of a tree on the radio.
We managed to get a lap in on session three before it delivered another blow. The first car to cause an 'ALERT' condition was a 944 parked off on the short track between corner's three and four. One of the corners reported seeing smoke and this brought out the red flags. About this time I was exiting turn nine and just checked corner ten. No flag was present so I continued with my lap...hard on the brakes dropping from ~90mph to 45mph. As I look across ten I see a corner worker dancing about with the red flag. Immediately I check my mirrors and bring the car to a halt along the inside curbing. I'm waiting patiently to see the prognosis on the 944 when I hear 'Fire, Fire!' coming from the corner workers. I check my mirrors to glance at the 944 and that's when I notice a worker coming towards me with an extinguisher pointing at me. I've already got the door open and a foot out when I hear 'Get out of the car, your on fire!' I dash around the rear to see smoke coming from the wheel well. A quick blast from the extinguisher puts the flames to rest. Seems some of the grease from the CV boot that tore in Nov. was still on the dust shield and lit up with the hot pads and rotors.
YouTube - tws msc-eclipse brake fire
I get flat towed into the pits, give a call to my brothers to let them know I'm ok, and tear into that corner. My biggest fear was that the fire could have burnt through the brake line, but a few good squeezes of the brake pedal puts my mind at ease. There was no visible damage to any of the lines or bushings, so I slapped everything back together and took it out on the slalom course to give it a shake down. Everything feels fine, but I miss my next run due to the wheels studs still being warm (can't torque lug nuts). I chat with Misty and get the OK to take her out in the Blue run group. This would also allow me to make the last session of my group. About that time a smoke screen that would rival any of Q's inventions erupts on the front straight. I'll let the video do the talking.
YouTube - Don't let the invisible fire hurt my friend!
At this point I'm convinced to just make it through the last session and call it a day. It's also a fun opportunity to get to drive along side friends so I line up behind my buddy Ciro in his 1G. With the camera on we were off. The weekend ended with times consistently in the 2:06-2:07 range. And healthy reminder that what we do is still for fun. Of course that won't stop me at trying to go faster. Till next time.
YouTube - MSC - 01/13/08 @ TWS
PS: Texas World Speedway was mapped out by EA games and is featured Need for Speed: Prostreet. And a bonus video from the Dec. event
YouTube - MSC - 12/16/07 @ TWS
With the new year comes change. And in this case, MSC has dropped the five 20min. session format and moved to a four 30min. format. This means 40 more minutes of track time and a lot less headache for the organization. However this brought up a very interesting issue for my car. Could I make a 30min session without running below the critical half empty point.
So the story begins with session one. Actually it begins by being intimated by a ton of fast cars in the combined white and yellow run groups. White is the top tier group and yellow right below. Due to the attendance numbers it was feasible to merge the two groups, but this summed up to be quite a variance in speed. First up was a race-prepped Viper with some serious fangs. Then we have Martin's race-prepped M3 (hand controls combined with BMW's SMG gearbox, trick stuff), a NASA AI mustang, '01 mustang, and another race ready M3 for good measure. Following that is Sam's Cobra, Will's Camaro SS, and a baby-blue shoe (M3 coupe). All these cars are sub two minute cars with the Viper in the 1.47-1.50 range. The rest of the pack spreads out somewhere between 2.00 and 2.10. It was a good lesson in traffic management and keeping an eye on that rear mirror. The day was looking very promising as the Traqmate displayed multiple laps in the 2.06 range in the first session.
Right about here is where things go haywire. Session two is cut extremely short by that race ready M3 loosing a wheel on the warm up lap. It managed to sheer off all its wheel studs on the exit of turn five. It took a while to collect the car, but I remember hearing something about getting his tire out of a tree on the radio.
We managed to get a lap in on session three before it delivered another blow. The first car to cause an 'ALERT' condition was a 944 parked off on the short track between corner's three and four. One of the corners reported seeing smoke and this brought out the red flags. About this time I was exiting turn nine and just checked corner ten. No flag was present so I continued with my lap...hard on the brakes dropping from ~90mph to 45mph. As I look across ten I see a corner worker dancing about with the red flag. Immediately I check my mirrors and bring the car to a halt along the inside curbing. I'm waiting patiently to see the prognosis on the 944 when I hear 'Fire, Fire!' coming from the corner workers. I check my mirrors to glance at the 944 and that's when I notice a worker coming towards me with an extinguisher pointing at me. I've already got the door open and a foot out when I hear 'Get out of the car, your on fire!' I dash around the rear to see smoke coming from the wheel well. A quick blast from the extinguisher puts the flames to rest. Seems some of the grease from the CV boot that tore in Nov. was still on the dust shield and lit up with the hot pads and rotors.
YouTube - tws msc-eclipse brake fire
I get flat towed into the pits, give a call to my brothers to let them know I'm ok, and tear into that corner. My biggest fear was that the fire could have burnt through the brake line, but a few good squeezes of the brake pedal puts my mind at ease. There was no visible damage to any of the lines or bushings, so I slapped everything back together and took it out on the slalom course to give it a shake down. Everything feels fine, but I miss my next run due to the wheels studs still being warm (can't torque lug nuts). I chat with Misty and get the OK to take her out in the Blue run group. This would also allow me to make the last session of my group. About that time a smoke screen that would rival any of Q's inventions erupts on the front straight. I'll let the video do the talking.
YouTube - Don't let the invisible fire hurt my friend!
At this point I'm convinced to just make it through the last session and call it a day. It's also a fun opportunity to get to drive along side friends so I line up behind my buddy Ciro in his 1G. With the camera on we were off. The weekend ended with times consistently in the 2:06-2:07 range. And healthy reminder that what we do is still for fun. Of course that won't stop me at trying to go faster. Till next time.
YouTube - MSC - 01/13/08 @ TWS
PS: Texas World Speedway was mapped out by EA games and is featured Need for Speed: Prostreet. And a bonus video from the Dec. event
YouTube - MSC - 12/16/07 @ TWS
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I hope you've been realy enjoying it!!!!
. Per Chris, they must have been lost during one of the site changes. I'll try to repost some of the better ones, that showed improvments, soon.
.
