NOR-CAL General Chat.

[Wh33lhop]

do the track day ya ninny :p

[jayuuey]

do the track day ya ninny :p

i should! especially after seeing your laguna ride along vid.. looks like way too much fun. when is your next event?

[Wh33lhop]

Likely not for awhile--I'm going to the e30 picnic this year so I've gotta prep two cars, and I think my company's going under, so I've got a lot on my plate for the time being. But if it's between an autocross and a track day I would pick a track day every time. That said, it's a lot harder on your car and more dangerous, so it depends on where your preference lies.

[BlackbirdM3]

anyone signed up for autox with track-masters this coming saturday at infineon? theres also a cheap track day Monday. not sure which one to do.

Travis is going to be there, and I'm running the event. Last I heard there were 40 people signed up. It should be a good day. We have had people do as many as 40 runs in a day. Sears Point is not the place for you to do your first track day. There is no room for error. K rails don't do nice things to cars. Thunderhill is a better spot to do your first track day. Lots of runoff, and its very fun track.

Will

[Wanganstyle]

anyone signed up for autox with track-masters this coming saturday at infineon? theres also a cheap track day Monday. not sure which one to do.

If you have no prior track time sonoma is not the place to be a noob.....

If you have gone on track alot then you really really would not like going to a race track and not driving it.

[ohthejosh]

Do they let you just show up and drive without experience? I thought there were classes and what not for varying degrees of experience? Like less experienced drivers have to have a qualified and experienced driver riding shotgun for their runs

[BlackbirdM3]

There is no instruction officially allowed at Sears Point thanks to a contract that the track has with Russell Racing. Effectively, Russell has a monopoly and doesn't allow ANY track group to offer ANY official instruction. The kicker is, Russell doesn't offer any outside their programs.

With our autoX, we simply leave it as "if you have any questions, talk with those of us wearing Trackmasters shirts" We attempt to instruct on the very down low.

If you have never done any type of high performance driving, come out to the autoX and learn how to drive before going out on the big track where mistakes tend to cost lots of $. With the autoX, if you hit a cone, odds are, its not going to break the car. If you have a giant off on the big track and hit a K wall, well, you can guess the results. I'm happy to ride along and give pointers, and or take people for ride a longs in my car.

Will

[Wh33lhop]

Sears Point is not the place for you to do your first track day. There is no room for error.

Agreed--I saw "cheap track day" and I just assumed he meant Thunderhill since Sonoma doesn't do cheap track days :p Do not start out at Sonoma. Do a couple days at Thunderhill before you go anywhere else, then you can venture into Buttonwillow and Laguna, and then do Sonoma only when you're super comfortable with it.

That's super lame regarding instruction. Will you ever fix that M3? ;)

[BlackbirdM3]

Agreed--I saw "cheap track day" and I just assumed he meant Thunderhill since Sonoma doesn't do cheap track days :p Do not start out at Sonoma. Do a couple days at Thunderhill before you go anywhere else, then you can venture into Buttonwillow and Laguna, and then do Sonoma only when you're super comfortable with it.

That's super lame regarding instruction. Will you ever fix that M3? ;)

The M3 is better, but an engine rebuild and all the rear bushings still need to be done. New throttle body gaskets made a world of difference as did modern injectors. I'll have it out for the autoX. I didn't have time to go get the roadster out of hiding in St Helena. I did get new tires on it. I even got the screw that was forgotten in the passenger seat (that holds the back to the bottom on the left side) installed. That only took me 3.5 years to do.

Will

[2mAn]

Im itching to get out on the track, but really think my place is still on the autox. Im hoping to finally get one track day this year

[jayuuey]

I haven't been on track for over 2 yrs but when I was more active I was in hpde3 or solo point by groups. Looks like Monday is sold out so I'm likely signing up for Autox. One issue though, I swapped in pf08s to prep for the track.. And haven't bedded them in. Will my rotors get destroyed if I try to auto x with them?

[BlackbirdM3]

I haven't been on track for over 2 yrs but when I was more active I was in hpde3 or solo point by groups. Looks like Monday is sold out so I'm likely signing up for Autox. One issue though, I swapped in pf08s to prep for the track.. And haven't bedded them in. Will my rotors get destroyed if I try to auto x with them?

You shouldn't be using the brakes that much. We are building the course this afternoon, but I highly doubt there will be an excessive need for brakes. The courses tend to be quick and hard stab on the brakes then off. There will be some technical tight areas, and possibly others that are 80+ mph. We are looking to build a course were TTOD is about 65 seconds.

Sounds like there will be a decent collection of E30s out tomorrow. Cool.

Will

[BlackbirdM3]

I just got this message about tomorrow...
"One reminder. About "instructing".
We cannot do anything or say anything that even resembles such. There may be track spies registered as drivers that are trying to trip us up to end our event.
Yes, it's that pathetic.
No ride alongs with customers that includes commentary about the course, their car set-up or driving technique.
We'll have safety oriented drivers meetings in the morning and before the afternoon runs."

This is how bad the politics are at Sears Point with Russell Racing. No one wins.

Will

[kronus]

are they trying to sink the track, or what? that's the biggest bullshit i've heard.

[ohthejosh]

I dont get why thats not allowed.