WILLOW SPIRNGS with WEST COAST RACING Oct 22 & 23.

[Banzai Ben]

Hey Dan,
Dinner sounds good, count me in.
Thanks,
Ben

[ViperX]

Carl,

If I remember correctly, you and I have eaten at "Barones" and it was good.

Cathy and I might be interested in joining you Friday night.

I'll check with her.

Dan

[kenalker]

I'll be there, and Lena is even thinking of trying it out with an instructor in the green group!  Anyone know who the instructors will be and if any are particularly good with a first-timer (no track experience, other than watching) driving a Viper?

Ken

[swisspower]

Hi Dan !
I`m in for Mexican food Saturday night.
Swisspower >q

[Banzai Ben]

Hey Ken,
One of the instructors I like is Rod Bean. He has a Black C5 Z06 and is usually there.
Glad you can make it.
See you there,
Ben

[PCH VIPER]

Hey Ken,
One of the instructors I like is Rod Bean. He has a Black C5 Z06 and is usually there.
Glad you can make it.
See you there,
Ben

I've had Rod as an instructor too.  He knows this track like the back of his hand and I really liked his in-car coaching.

[ViperX]

Ken,

Rod is a good guy and a good instructor.

I should be able to help point you in the right direction.

You really don't want a Miata or other low horsepower car driver as an instructor for anybody driving a Viper.

And, actually, we have a few good instructors in our group.  Ben would be good, Chris P would be good, Carl Atwood would be good among others.

We can talk about this more when we get there.

See you at the track,

Dan

[VIPER28]

Dan, I'm in for dinner Saturday night. Thanks!

Angel

[catwood]

I told Saxton I'd sign up as an instructor but never heard back.  You can't take passangers unless you are an instructor so he says.  I'll be glad to do what I can though.

Ken,

Rod is a good guy and a good instructor.

I should be able to help point you in the right direction.

You really don't want a Miata or other low horsepower car driver as an instructor for anybody driving a Viper.

And, actually, we have a few good instructors in our group.  Ben would be good, Chris P would be good, Carl Atwood would be good among others.

We can talk about this more when we get there.

See you at the track,

Dan

[PCH VIPER]

To all the Sidewinders,  Have a great time out at WSIR !!    Be safe, have fun and do a lap or two for me !

[catwood]

http://forums.viperclub.org/threads/648790-As-David-Bowie-said-quot-Let-s-Dance-quot?p=3009532#post3009532

LOL...see ya there

[kenalker]

Lena and I had a great time!  Rod Bean was a fantastic instructor and Lena was all-smiles.  He gave Lena an incredible amount of one-on-one time; what a great event and very well run.  I would have enjoyed being over with the rest of the gang, but sharing a car across run-groups got pretty hectic so we were in the pit area the entire time.

[kenalker]

So I figured out how to get 18+ MPG in a Viper.....  flat spot a tire at Willow Springs, drive home until you feel unsafe, swap for your match-box size spare, then drive the rest of the way home at 50MPH in 6th gear.  You'll be amazed at your gas mileage after swapping to the spare ;-)

But, all jesting aside (although everything above is true), check out the pictures I've posted here and tell me - is this what one refers to as a "flat spot"?  At some point while racing around Willow Springs yesterday, I managed to cord my tire.  Note that I did it in two separate places on the tire.  The first picture shows one of the spots, while the second picture shows the other.  The final two pictures are just more shots of the second spot.

When thinking back about my day, I might know when this happened.  I recall an incident when I braked hard and got a little loose and then felt a bit of a "flop flop" as the tire went around.  I figured I'd "flat spotted" the tire, based upon having done this once before at a previous event.  The last time, however, the flat spot went away after a few more aggressive laps, as it seemed to this time (or so I thought!).

I noticed that turn two seemed much "rougher" my last two sessions but I was also going faster than I had the rest of the weekend, so I assumed I was just feeling the aggregate in the asphalt a little more.

Now I'm really wondering if perhaps what I see in the pictures has nothing to do with the flat spot I thought I had, or if what ultimately happened to the tire started out with the flat spot and perhaps I was supposed to do something special to keep the tire from cording.

I first noticed that I'd corded the tire after packing up to go home while I was setting my Moton shocks for a softer ride home.  I may not have even realized that I'd corded the tire if it weren't for this.  I'm shocked I had just been going 125mph+ on these and I didn't get in big trouble (and had not felt something seriously wrong).  After Ben managed to drive home from Streets of Willow on a corded tire (successfully) in March, I decided to give it a shot.  However, when I pulled over at the 76 in Castaic for gasoline (70+ miles from Willow Springs) I noticed the second area had gotten worse.  I probably would not have left Willow Springs if it had been this bad at the track.  I really wonder if I could have made it home on that tire.

One final question: Can I just buy two more Kumhos for the front, and continue using the back ones even though those now have several sessions on them?

[Banzai Ben]

Wow! I can't believe you were doing hot laps on those tires! You're lucky nothing happened.
Check your tires after each session to catch this earlier.
I would get new rears too because they may not have much left on them and you don't want the rear to get loose.
You probably could have limped home on them as long as they held air.
See you in Parhump with 4 new tires.  >v
Ben

[catwood]

holy crap!

I have a set of used Toyo' R888 used that I'll sell if you're interested.  I have 6 tires, one full set, though a little old, good for a couple of track days and two spares, either two fronts or a rear and a front.  I need to check.

shoot me an email to [email protected]. 

305-18 and 335-18