Funny you should mention that, my brother just built his coolshirt system this week. He's running the 24hr at VIR in august.
Funny you should mention that, my brother just built his coolshirt system this week. He's running the 24hr at VIR in august.
I had a pretty epic July 4th @ VIR with dirt biking, skeet shooting, and a track walk.
On Saturday I gave the car a shakedown on some private roads near my house. I was surprised with a massive coolant leak from here:
I slathered JB Weld where the T fitting met the thermostat housing and replaced the hose that connects to the bottom of the T. I was tight on time so I did not make a test drive. 5 hours of sleep later, I hit the road.
To my delight, there were no signs of a coolant leak after driving to the track. Go time!
This was taken after the first session:
I pushed really hard in the first session. I don't feel like I learned as much as I should have at my last track day. Maybe I wasn't driving fast enough. This time I went for it, I wanted to beat my records... heh, and my dad. When I got back to the paddock this was said:
Half the fun of doing track days with my dad and brother is our competitive nature. My dad can usually catch me in a 25 minute session. He couldn't believe he didn't pass me this time.
I'll leave it there for now. I have hours of video rendering right now.
kung fu jesus (07-08-2014),MX595 (08-30-2014)
That's awesome. I was the only one of my siblings who really took to the racing bug my father had. It's always more fun being on the track with people you know and have a friendly competition with.
shooooot, i never have anyone in my family to enjoy racing and cars with. I'm the only one in my whole family(including relatives) that has an interest in cars.
MX595 (02-18-2015)
In the second session of the day I let my friend ride with me. He adds about 10% to the total weight of the car. While solo that morning, I was braking at the 3 on the front straight and a little after the arrow on the back straight. The car was really stopping good. With a passenger I quickly learned I needed to back off a tad. Nothing too scary, I just had to trail the brakes a little too deep into T1 on my first hot lap. Ruined the lap but no brown pants.
My dad picked up a passenger too so our relative speed didn't change much. Towards the end of the session I finally did it. I caught him. Bragging rights acquired.
I've got the full video of happy hour uploading now. My brother and I had a decent battle and later, a very cocky GT-R driver almost loses it in front of me. It was a pretty exciting session with a couple brown pants moments.
kung fu jesus (07-08-2014)
Love how your dad points you by, then accelerates.
Here's the full happy hour. The GT-R moment is at about the 54:15 mark. I pass a lotus exige somehow the lap before. The lap starting at 33:15 is worth watching. That's how I drive when my brother is chasing me.
As usual, it's recorded on my mobius dash cam. 1080p
kung fu jesus (07-10-2014)
The fastest lap of the day.
feel you on that, it's a lonely road when you have no one to share your passion for cars with...
Not too bad for a 1.6. Good job!Originally Posted by Pyr0monk3y
Martin (07-23-2014),Pyr0monk3y (07-23-2014),WASABI (08-31-2014)
I love these videos and the position you have mounted your camera is exceptional!
I know I have mentioned this to you, but you should try other tracks. It can give you a fresh perspective on the ones you frequent most often, gives you the opportunity to test your mettle through new situations and layouts. Sometimes when I drove certain tracks too often, (Gingerman for instance) I was going through the motions. I found myself getting better after being on other tracks that were less technical, more emotional (Grattan), maybe required more balls? It allowed me to feel how the car reacted in different corners that made me rethink my approach and techniques. Grattan has more elevation and off-camber blind turns, so it gave me memory of how the car felt and I started applying what I learned from either to the other. Then, as I stared doing other tracks, like MidO, Road America, it gave me confidence.
Come to think of it, the blind off-camber left at Grattan made the entry to the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca seem like a cake walk.
Just food for thought.
JSanker (02-09-2015),Pyr0monk3y (07-24-2014),tsingson (07-23-2014)
I don't know if I've linked this before, but my friend codrove my car back in April and it's pretty interesting to be able to have 2 people in the same exact car and see how the little stuff adds up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0jgboOEoi4
I'm on the right side. My T3 was awful but shifting early through snake caught me up into T7. Don't equate noise and vibration for speed.
I love these videos and the position you have mounted your camera is exceptional!
I know I have mentioned this to you, but you should try other tracks. It can give you a fresh perspective on the ones you frequent most often, gives you the opportunity to test your mettle through new situations and layouts. Sometimes when I drove certain tracks too often, (Gingerman for instance) I was going through the motions. I found myself getting better after being on other tracks that were less technical, more emotional (Grattan), maybe required more balls? It allowed me to feel how the car reacted in different corners that made me rethink my approach and techniques. Grattan has more elevation and off-camber blind turns, so it gave me memory of how the car felt and I started applying what I learned from either to the other. Then, as I stared doing other tracks, like MidO, Road America, it gave me confidence.
Come to think of it, the blind off-camber left at Grattan made the entry to the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca seem like a cake walk.
Just food for thought.
I agree, and I want to, but I've just got too much going on right now. I will probably only do one more track day this summer before buttoning the car up to commute to school.
There's been some talk of scrapping our dragon trip this year and saving money to go to Spa next summer. We'll see.
RDU Miatas road trip to Road Atlanta?
Today was a pretty special day for me and the Miata. As luck would have it, as the clock struck 200,000 the car was at redline in 3rd gear on Purnell road.
My whole life, as a car enthusiast, I've heard stories and anecdotes about the things one does and goes through with their first car. I don't think anything could replace the memories attached to my Miata. I've watched my Miata be sick, just as it has watched me. I've slept in as well as under my Miata(it was 5am and the shop floor looked comfy). With my Miata I went on my first road trip, my first date, I did my first drift, and I drove to the tail of the dragon with 3 of the best friends one could ever ask for.
This week I'm buying a '95 civic, and today I decided for absolute certain that no matter what happens, I am not selling the Miata. Believe it or not it was up for debate for a while. College has demanded a lot of my time and effort. I don't see myself doing any track days anytime soon, but the Miata is staying with me regardless.
Demon I Am (09-11-2014),kung fu jesus (09-10-2014),Martin (08-31-2014),MX595 (09-01-2014)
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