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Buttonwillow Raceway, August 10-11, 2000 My third track event. Now I am done with being a rookie. No more group 3 for me. I had a blast. I was driving at the limit 95% of the time. I pulled a 2 :19 running clockwise. My previous best was a 2:23 running counterclockwise. I am told that clockwise is faster. I also like it better. The only hard time I had was entering the first corner after the sweeper before the esses. I could not master that corner. Heat!! What heat? My car did not overheat one bit. Temps were in the 95+. I was running the new Carbotech Panther street and race pad. No brake fade at all. I will be checking on the pads to see if there is any flaking on the edges. If not, then these are the pads to have. I thank the person who recommended them to me in private. If you hate changing pads at the track after a whole day of racing, then get those pads. So far they are impressive. On Saturday, I was the only SE-R. It felt pretty lonely. David showed up in his G20t, but he did not run. Carlos showed up in his 199,000 Miles great looking Classic. The SE-R is simply amazing. On Sunday Andrew, Tom (video) Paule, Adam Kim, and Sheening Lin showed up and ran their cars. David ran his G20 and Carlos was spectating. Guys, I am sorry I did not get a chance to sit with you in the same pit area. My significant other has a thyroid condition. Heat is bad for this condition. On Sat we sat in the open and she got sick when we went back to the hotel room. On Sunday we had no choice but to sit under the huge shaded area to protect her from the sun. I do not want you to assume that I did not want to sit with you. The most exciting thing was my competition with Scott's Integra Type R. Later I learned that the car is a racer and Scott is an instructor. It has header, exhaust and full coilover suspension. So I am in my run group and I see him in my mirrors. So I decide to see what my car can do against an ITR. I know I should have let him through, but you need to have some fun. I was amazed. In the front straights it was a drag race. He could not pass me. In the slow corners I would pull in second and make distance between us. He would later catch me and then on the back end of the track I would pull again. On the second lap I signal for him to pass on the front straight and then I stay behind him, only to pass him on the back section on the track. This lasted for about two laps. The next day I see him at pre-grid. He was waiting to ride with one of the newbies. He asks me if the SE-R is mine. I say yes. Then he says "what are you running in this thing. I had a hard time passing and keeping up with you." I tell him that I have all of the bolt-ons and Pro-kits/AGXs. But on the inside I was so proud of my car and my rookie abilities. This car rocks. It is so forgiving. It is hard to make mistakes with it, even at the limit. As Carlos put it, the SE-R never ceases to amaze me. Two cars lost their engines, a 2000 Contour SVT (build Ford tough) and a 2000 2.5RS. The latter became a close acquaintance of mine. He has a Leda suspension and RA-1 tires. He and I ran at the top of the grid on Saturday and we would run away from the rest of the pack. On Sunday it was a different story. I was putting a lot of distance between my car and his. He was disappointed that he could not keep up. Two laps into the second session, he totally disappears from my rear view mirror. After the session someone tells me that Ryan came into the pits with his engine making a lot of clanking noise. It seems that he hit the rev limiter (6500 rpm) too many times and he blew a rod. I hope it is not serious. The next event will be at the end of September. I will be in group 2. I hope to get my car ready for the SI/SE-R shootout. I am hoping to get the Quaife tranny in by this Friday. As for the True Choice suspension...the waiting continues Last of the SE-Rs, http://www.geocities.com/n_dahi
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