Buttonwillow Raceway, June 9-10, 2001

Let me just say that those of you who did not go to BW missed quite a
weekend. Why? Because it was such a lightly attended event. We had a lot of
empty track time. During some of the sessions you could go flat out for all
7 laps. You hardly encountered any cars in front of you or behind you. On
Saturday my run group had only 12 car and on Sunday it was down to 9 cars.
It more than made up for the traffic Jam during the April event. Now for the
recap:

* I arrived at Motel 6 on Friday afternoon and proceeded to work on my car.
In the rear I noticed that the rubber bushing between the motivationat
mounting plate and the strut cap had busted into four pieces, Yikes. The
threaded of the shaft had rubbed on the hole of the mounting plate changing
its shape from round to oval. It was not too bad. But I was prepared and I
had another set of ES bushings. I zip tied them together and put them in and
I was ready to go.

* I installed the new brake pads and went out and bedded them on Hwy 58
using the Rob method. Worked like a charm. Got some grub, Parked the car and
went in to watch the Lakers game.

* Boonie calls and then he swings by and we bleed his brakes and they become
better. I think he needs new calipers. Whenever you get them I will help you
put them in. Then we go for dinner and hang out for a while. We had very
interesting chats.

* Saturday we head up to the track from the Motel. And I am told that they
are running CCW with the STAR MAZDA TURN. I never ran that way and I did not
have a passenger seat for instructor instruction. Damn.

* I go out for the first session and I take it easy and I manage not to make
any errors around that turn. But I knew I had very bad lines around that
corner. We come to the download session and we find out that we almost
pulled a first. The drivers missed a perfect session with no offs or spins
by one car. That car was a race prepped Corvette that went off behind me on the
turn in to the straights. He did it again in front of me during the second
session. Eibach Dave tries to give us instructions on how to take the Mazda
Turn. But words do not instruct me well. I needed to ride with him to see or
at lease follow him.

* In the second session while battling with Dave in the green Corvette I go
in too hot into the turn and lock the brakes and the car slowly goes off
into the dirt. Damn. I was so upset at this turn by now. So at the download
session I tell Dave to please give me a ride in his Celica GTS. And we go
out with group 1 and 2. And then the secrets of the Mazda Turn were
revealed. Cool. Words cannot describe it. you have to be in the passenger
seat to see it. But I will try. You have to stay all the way to the left
entering the turn after the esses and onto the small straight before the
Mazda turn. At the end of the straight your car should be at the extreme
right of the berm and then you turn in, late apexing the turn. This puts you
in an almost straight line out of the turn and you floor it. It worked like
a charm. Now I was having fun.

* After the third session. I start hearing a light brake squeal. I make
nothing of it, thinking it was some dirt from the off that I experienced.
But after the 4th session it gets worse. So I ask Boonie to walk beside the
car while I hit the brakes while driving slowly. He says it is the rear
brakes. And he was right. I remove the rear pads and they are done. The
indicator was rubbing causing a squeal. But I DO NOT HAVE REAR PADS with me.
Damn. I get on the cell phone and call Bakersfield and locate a Pep Boys
that SAYS he has rear pads for an SE-R like mine. I talk to them twice to
make sure that they have what they say they have. The rear OEM brakes have
lasted me for 3 years of street and hotlapping. So I figure that the
Raybestos that Pep Boys sells would last in the rear because there is not
much stress in rear braking anyway. I remove the indicator on the worn pads
to prevent squealing put everything back together. Pack all the shit in the
SUV and drive to the Motel leave my friend, get in the SUV and I am off to
Bakersfield. I get to the Pep Boys around 6:45 and they close at 8. But When
I go to the counter the guy gives me brake SHOES and not pads. I was fuming.
I told him that I called twice to get the correct info and you give me
SHOES. So he checks the downtown store. And gives them the part number. The
guy in the DT store says he has them. I take the part number get
instructions and run out to the SUV. I get to the DT store at 7:15. I get in
give them the part number and THEY HAVE IT. YAHOOOOOOOO. I buy them, buy
needle nose pliers to turn the rear piston calipers and head back.

* I go to dinner and then come back and start working on the rear
pads and rotating the tires for the next day. Boonie drops by with Mike's
hard lemonade six pack. Let me tell you that working on your brakes with a
buzz from that stuff is pretty cool :-) No monkey mistakes were committed
despite the buzz ;-) Then Boonie and I sit on the bumper of the SUV and
consume another bottle of mike's finest :-) After that I test the brakes,
fill gas for 1.99 premium and I am ready for Sunday.

* On Sunday there were more SE-Rs than Sat. Jim and Shannon showed up in
their NXs. Andreas and Tom showed up in their Classics. Tom got his car
trailered by Jeff King. Lucky bastard :-)

* The most exciting thing of the weekend was my little battle with the USTCC
Honda Civic. This car was not supposed to run in our group, but for some
reason he was let on the track. I saw the car coming form a distance and
then it was on. He was on me like a bee on honey. The car was awesome around
the corners, but he could not muster enough passing power. I could hear his
wailing VTEC by my rear quarter panel, but he did not have enough to make the
pass. The nice thing is, I did not make any mistakes under all the pressure.
I just kept my line and he was trying to pass, but he could not make it.
Eventually he gave up and headed to the pits after his testing was over.

* At the end of the session I headed over to his pit crew to chat. When I
told the crew who I was they pointed me to the driver and he came over and
shook my hand for such a great job holding him off. He was actually
impressed. The crew asked me If I have a turbo, I replied with a grin "just
bolt-ons." I inquired about the car and it has a Civic SI engine with
headers and intake putting around 165 crank hp, an H&R Bilestien shocks, a
750 lb/in front and 1000 lb/in rear spring rate, 3.5 negative camber front
and 4 negative camber rear. It weighs 2100 lbs. And I held him off with my
SE-R with around 165 crank hp 2430 lbs and lower spring rates. Got TORQUE???
And yes I got Blue flags informed me that he was trying to pass. And yes I
asked Dave about these flags on Saturday and he said they are simply to tell
you that their are cars behind you. It is up to the car behind you to make
the pass. So no flames please.

* It seems that my car does not like the track nor me :-( It happens like
clockwork. Everytime I am on the track I get a check engine light. It lasts
for a while then it goes off. There is no effect on performance, so I can
only think that it is emissions related. These cars did not pass emissions
in 1997 in CA and I think they are operating on the edge of emission
acceptability. When modded the car crosses over the threshold of emission
acceptability every once in a while and triggers the MIL light. This is
speculation on my part. But it is the only hypothesis I can come up with.

* Moreover after changing to street tires and brakes on Sunday and while I
was loading the SUV my car rolled on me and trapped my knee between its
bumper and that of the SUV. I did not engage the hand brake since I did not
want to warp the rear rotors and then forgot all about it. I was lucky that
my knee is a bit sore.

All in all it was a great event.

Naji