Buttonwillow Raceway, April 21-22, 2001
This was a mixed event of sorts. I did not like Saturday (too crowded), but I liked Sunday (less people showed up even though it was sold out).
* This was my first experience with open passing and I really like it a lot. This is as close to racing as you are going to get w/o actual racing. Fun stuff indeed. I just think that the participants need to be selected a bit better. On Saturday there were 4-5 people in the open-passing group who never ran at BW. Yikes. Sunday it was much better and a few people who registered for open passing opted to leave to the restricted groups.
* I was occasionally dropping two tires in the dirt (once all four) coming out of turn 1 and coming out of the bus stop. Sorry for doing that to you guys. It was not intentional. There are two cause that I can think of for this: 1. I have a tendency to focus on the car behind me and forget about my proper line when I have a car in my rear view mirror. That is a very bad habit. Paul told me that as well. I will work on that. 2. The RA1s cannot handle the punishment of 7 hard hot laps. They give way after 3-4 hard laps and you have to ease back and allow them to recover. I do not like that. I think this will be the last set for me. I will try the Kumhos next.
* I was also having a hard time relearning the track after driving it too many times CCW. This was my second time driving it CW. I struggled in Cotton Corners and in the Grapevine. But Paul Godutti helped me get those right eventually. My best time was a 2:13. It was unofficial. We were no given transponders. They were reserved to the race groups.
* I was constantly trying to induce oversteer on the car. This car is so oversteer resistant. It is amazing. I wanted a bit more oversteer for better turn in. I had to lower the rear tire pressure by 4 psi. I had to lower the stiffness of the front shocks 2 clicks on compression (8 to 6) and 1/4 turn on the rebound (1.5 to 1.25). I had to increase the rear stiffness from 4 to 5 compression and from 1 turn to 1.25 rebound. I also increased the tire pressure on the front by 2 psi. I had a pyrometer and I was taking temps and measuring tire pressure after every session. Here is a sample of what I had:
****Front Left Temp******Front Right Temp******
out****center*****in****out****center****in
174***159******165***159****166****175
174***180******180***160****171****175
192***185******196 ***174***180****189 (this line is higher cause I measured in between
the tread)
* I also did the rears but I am not going to list them. I know that the inside usually run 10-15 degrees hotter than the outside. but since the track was running clockwise, most of the stress was on the front left tire and in some occasions it was running hotter than the inside. Increasing the tire pressure helped increase the inside tire temp. But I think I do need more negative camber. 2.5 is not enough. I do need 3. I could not get 3, cause one of the strut bolts is hitting the sliding plate of the camber plate. I will dremel this plate to get 4 mm off and that should get me the 3 degrees that I need.
* I gave a ride to Alex
in my car. That was his first time ever on the track. He was a bit scared to say
the least. He told me
that his heart was ponuding at first. Then he got used to it. Kit was in his Bimmer behind
us and Carlos riding shootgun took the following pictures. As you can see as we were
coming out of Magic Mountain we see a Ford Contour SVT flipped on its roof. Here is what I
believe happened. The guy went off at Magic Mountain. The dirt was very soft since it was
raining the night before. He tried to correct (big mistake). The car dug one of its front
wheels deep in the dirt and it flipped on its roof. To the right you can see the damage to
the car. Yes Virginia this is a dangerous sport.
* I had very interesting battles with a lot of cars. But the battle with Kit and Sheening on Sunday was the best. Kit happened to line up behind me on the grid and behind him was Sheening. And off we went. It was simply awesome. I loved every minute of it. Kit was finally able to put a pass on me that I will always remember. I felt like a fighter pilot in a cockpit trying to find out where he is coming from. He made the pass at the very, very, very end of the straights just entering into sunrise. It was brilliant. But I was so happy that my 147 hp SE-R could hold its own against the 280 hp sausage ;-) Wait until I get my cams and ECU :-) But it still was a great pass. Kudos to Kit for pulling it.
* The battle with Sheening was different. Sheening is one of the smoothest and cleanest drivers that I have seen drive. We had two battles, one on Sat and one on Sun. On Sat I was following him and trying to pass him. He was so smooth. Simply amazing. I was finally able to put a pass on him, but I do not remember when. I also saw that his brakes were fuming and giving sparks. I made nothing of it, thinking he was running different pads. But on Sunday when he was behind me and trying to pass me and just at the end of I-5 I hit the brakes really hard (as usual) and he comes flying by on my right and passes me in the dirt just before Cotton corners. WTH, I thought. Was Sheening upset with me to make such a pass? Then I remembered the flaming brakes. And that is what happened. He lost the brakes and had the presence of mind to go off and prevent a collision. Thanks Sheening. Apparently Sheening and Jim were running stock pads. I did not see the caliper but I was told that it was horribly disfigured :-)
* I also had a nice battle with Paul in an Integra Type R. That was during the first run on Sunday. He came and talked to me after the session and was very impressed with the car. He could not pass the car and had a hard time keeping up from the Bus Stop on, only to catch me by the esses and Cotton Corners. And so it went lap after lap. Until the final lap when we were three wide on the front straight and he was at the rear quarter panel and then the checkered flag come out. It was a blast. Both of us agreed that it was total fun.
* Tom was there on Sunday and took my number :-) We had two battles. He tried to pass me when Paul Godutti was with me in the car but he could not. In the final session of the day I line up behind Tom. He is chatting with Paul Godutti which is odd. Then just before the cars take off Paul comes over and tells me to be careful of the Red Mist. Hmmmmm...So I take off give Tom some slack and then reel him in and put a pass on him at the end of I-5 just before the turn in to Cotton Corners. That was a fun pass and I enjoyed every minute of it. * It was a good event overall. But too many cars if you ask me.
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Red Mist, gifted driver with big cajones
Fast 1998 SE-R http://www.geocities.com/n_dahi
Slow 1996 G20 (AGXs/G20t springs, K&N drop in filter)