Hey Sidewinders,

One of our favorite track events is coming up at Willow Springs  (http://www.willowspringsraceway.com/trackinformation/maps.asp)on October 22 & 23, 2011.

West Coast Racing (http://www.westcoastracinginc.com/WCR/Welcome.html) will be running the big track and is offering 5 Sessions per day!

Run groups include Green (novice), Yellow (some track experience), Blue (passing experience) and Red (extensive passing experience).

Track fee is only $245.00 for the weekend and instruction is available.

When the track goes cold at 5:00 PM Saturday, come to the snack bar for free Beer and Soda!

Contact Jim Saxton via phone for more info at:  626-285-2515 or via email at:  [email protected]

Click here for..... Sign Up Sheet. (http://www.westcoastracinginc.com/WCR/Welcome_files/OPEN%20TRACK%20EVENT.pdf)

Mail checks to:

Jim Saxton
1967 Wellesly Road
San Marino, CA 91108

See you at the track,

Dan  <2


FYI: Here's where we're planning to stay:  

Hampton Inn & Suites Lancaster (http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/hotels/index.jhtml;jsessionid=EZDOPPVJ10OQWCSGBJC3UKQ?ctyhocn=PDLLCHX)
2300 W. Double Play Way
Lancaster, California 93536 (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2300+W+Double+Play+Way,+Lancaster,+CA+93536&hl=en&ll=34.702565,-118.17048&spn=0.008644,0.014516&sll=33.690656,-117.660785&sspn=0.017068,0.017316&vpsrc=6&t=m&z=17)
1-661-940-9194


Driver's list:

Dan E - Red
Chris P - Red
Scott P - Blue?
Mike B - Red
Ben K - Red
Peter H - Red / Blue?
Jim S - Blue
Larry F - Blue / Yellow?
Gary G - Red
Angel C - Yellow?
Carl A - Red
Samy S. - ??
Ken A - Blue?
Lena A - Green?

Thanks Dan for posting - it's likely Chris and I will be making this event. 

Looking forward to the new season!

Talk soon,
Scott

I'm in for this one.
See you there,
Ben

Hey Scott,

Did you guys go to Laguna last WE? Did you try that new special exhaust Chris was having developed?

Terry.

Bummer this is the same weekend as the Sedona run  =17

Dan,

See you there.  I'd like to go to the West Coast event earlier in the month but maybe too close to this one.

Mike

Dan:
    Add one more to the list.

Larry F

Hey Larry,

See you at the track,

Dan  <2

Sweet Count me in!  Lets get into the 1:20's

WA HOO we are getting a good group for this one!  This is going to be EXCELLENT!

I just signed up.   See you all there.  Where is everyone staying.  I'm looking into the Oxford Suites as Saxton suggested.  Don't know anything about it but it can't be any worse that other places I've stayed up there.

Catwood,

Staying at the Hampton Inn as above.

There have been a few cases of "bed bugs" at some of the other hotels.

Dan

What various groups is everying running?

I'm signing up for Red since I have a red Viper

Carl,

I made my "best guess" at which group everyone will sign up for.

Pretty sure on the Red group guys.

Other guys, I could be incorrect - no disrespect - but we have a couple of guys who are not new to the track but new to Willow Springs and a couple others who have not tracked much in a while (including me).

I'll be taking it easy the first session, then hope to be able to keep up with the rest of the Viper gang as the weekend progresses.

Anybody interested in a Group Dinner?

The Mexican Restaurant near the track is actually pretty good.

If so, let me know.

Dan

 Dan,

I'm in the red group.  Looking forward to it - weather's looking good!

Scottp

Sweet...I have a ton of work to do this weekend, hopefully I can get it all done.  The new springs arrived last night along with a set of tires.  Prep  time!

Dan,

I don't have a Fire Extinguisher for this race.
Do you know of a good setup for a street Viper?

Thanks,
Angel

Hey Angel,
You can put the typical fire extinguisher that mounts right in front of the passenger seat. These usually run about $140 - 170 (I have one that I took out of my car I'll sell you if you want)

The best way to go is the plumbed halon system.

(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/acr/DSC_9684.JPG)
Bottle mounted next to the battery

(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/acr/DSC_9691.JPG)
Fire pull

(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/acr/P1000014.JPG)

(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/acr/P1000016.JPG)
hard lines to the front of the car

(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/acr/DSC_9693.JPG)
Engine bay nozzles

(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/acr/DSC_9689.JPG)
Nozzle in the foot well


Keep in mind that the fires systems are in the cars for the primary reason of giving you the added minute or two to get out of the car before it is totally engulfed in flames.  They generally are not designed to save a car from fire.

Quote from: VIPER28 on October 14, 2011, 06:18:07 PM
Dan,

I don't have a Fire Extinguisher for this race.
Do you know of a good setup for a street Viper?

Thanks,
Angel

Angel contact Scott Hirko. He can also fix you up with a passenger seat set up this week.
      speedtactics.com       Glenn........

Hi Angel,

The fire "bottle" that mounts to the passenger side front seat "bolts" will satisfy most track outfits if you're just running time trial or lapping sessions but not if you are racing.

I ran with the bottle for quite a while and have fire bottles in Cathy's car and in my black convertible.  Just makes sense.

I had the Halon system installed in my ACR as Lance and others have.  Brian Kono did a very nice job.

I hope I never have to use it!

Dan  <19

Thank you guys for of all of your input and the pictures posted.

It makes sense to run the fire bottle on this car. The fire supression system looks great, and wouldn't mind running that system when I get my ACR.

See you at Willow Springs.

Angel

heads up!
I buddy that races stop by tonight while I was prepping the car.  Says Willow has been repaved now HOWEVER, his group, the porsche club ran a couple of weeks ago. They had more offs that weekend than ever before and the track was slower than it was before.  Let's all be safe.  If you have an off, both feet in.  Clutch and brake....get the car stopped. 

Carl,

I've heard the same thing.

Track repaved recently.  Traction / feel different than before.

Let's all start out at a medium pace and move up from there.

D

Carl/Dan

thanks for the heads up!  I hear you Dan about taking it easy, haven't been there in 18 months.  I'm going to start in blue and see how the traffic is between blue and red then adjust.  Also with your comments I'll be careful not to push others from behind in the fast corners

I'm going to stay with my cousin Friday night in Pasedena, then see you guys early Sunday

Dan, hope you grab that end garage so I can park my trailer close.  I'll get a room at your hotel, how about suggesting a dinner spot for all of us?

Carl, looking forward to catching up with you!  It will be great to see your red ACR in action, don't think I've seen Dan track it for at least 3 years?

Mike

Hi Sidewinders
I`m all signed up and look forward to drive Willow Springs my favorite track after a two year break from it.Was hoping to drive the first time on hoosiers to improve my best lap time (1.33)But had to settle again for Toyo`s R888. Could not find any used or new 315/30/18 Hossier (called Jb racing weekly for a couple of months) Tirerack out till beginning of year.
Is everybody just meeting at the track on Saturday morning at 7:ooam ?
Peter
Aka Swisspower

I have some extra shaved used Toyo R888  305/335 both 18".  I have 2 fronts and 2 rears that I'll have at the track.  They are a little old (slow) but will last the weekend.  I'm bringing them as back up but if someone wants them I might be convienced to sell them.  I would suspect the tire shop would be open but if not there is a tire shop in town.  I think both will mount for $15 a tire.

I'll be at the hotel Friday afternoon.  I don't know if I'll drop off the car at the track on Friday night or not.

Carl

Angel and I are driving out Sat morning. We plan to be there about 7:30. If anyone wants to cruise up with us let us know and we can meet off the 405 or 5 fwy.
I'm staying at the dumpy Carl's motel near the track on Sat night.
Ben

Ben, I just booked into Oxford too.  I'm staying  in Pasadena Friday night, I'm sure you and Angel will fly by me on the 14 Saturday am.   Mike

Guys,

Cathy and I are driving up Friday and should be at the track by 4:00 PM.  Will drop the trailer, then head back to the hotel.

When you guys get up there, look for my Graphite trailer with "Viper" on the sides and back.

Scott P will be in his motor home and should be up Friday PM too.

Could not get a good garage this time (we tried), so no garage at all.

We plan to "Circle the Wagons" somewhere towards the back of the paddock.

Anybody up for dinner on Saturday night at the local Mexican Restaurant?

If so, let us know and we'll try to hold a few tables.

See you at the track,

Dan

cool, I may drop off at the track Friday night also if I can get there early enough.  I'm meeting my friend Steve from SLO.   Dinner might be in the cards though steve for what ever reason wants to go to Barones.  Maybe we can do that Friday night and hook up with you all for mexican.

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

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

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

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

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

Quote from: Banzai Ben on October 18, 2011, 10:47:00 PM
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.

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

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

Angel

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.

Quote from: ViperX on October 19, 2011, 07:54:18 PM
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

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

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

LOL...see ya there

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.

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?

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

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

YIKES !!!

That is a SCARY sight.   

Good luck finding Kuhmo's....if you do, please let me know where.

Hi Ken,

Yep, you did a number on those.

Haven't been able to find new Kumho V700's for a while.

I'm pretty sure I have a used set that I'll let you have for $50 per tire.

You could likely get a track weekend out of them, maybe more.

Kumhos are very tough tires and I'm sorry to see them go.  I've corded a couple of sets of them and while the traction fell off pretty dramatically, they always held air.

Good luck,

Dan  <2

Thank you for the info.  Too bad the V700's seem to be a unavailable!  I believe I've only got a couple of weekends on mine - very unfortunate.  I got them at tire-easy.com in May, 2010 for a great price ($150?) maybe because they knew they were getting discontinued - I see that they don't have them now.  I even drove from Goleta to Long Beach to get them shaved.  I'm in Washington State for the week (amazing in today's age how we can be racing around the track one day, and in another state for totally different reasons the next; I obviously don't travel much) so I don't have any way to look things up right now to verify all this.  I'll probably be contacting you guys about used ones before Spring Mountain!  Then I'll have to decide what I want to try next; probably Toyos, although I hear they are not as predictable.  I don't know anything about the V710's - thoughts?  I REALLY liked the V700's (although I don't have any experience on anything else but 10-year-old Michelin PS2's ;-)

Oh - and I nearly went through a front set of Brakeman III pads on this event (nearly, but not all the way).  I usually get 3-4 track events on a set of these and this was only my second event (per memory) on this pair.  I guess slowing for turn 1 really eats them up.  Wow.

Attached are some more pictures of our misadventure.  It was much more complex than just switching to the pizza-cutter as one of the lug nuts was bonded to the wheel stud and it snapped when I tried to take it off (second picture).  I don't think it was cross threaded; strange!  Perhaps it is time for new studs and lug nuts all the way around as they look rusty.  Also, after putting on the pizza cutter, the only way out of the gas station was so goofy that I nearly high-sided the Viper and somehow managed to break the bead of the spare tire and let all the air out (fifth picture).  The aweful scraping sounds eminating from under the Viper when backing it up made my hair stand on end (apparently, some explicatives escaped as well).  I was sure I had ripped the exhaust system apart until I got the Viper jacked up (yet, again) and saw that huge skid plate down there (forgot about that) - thank you Dodge.

I was suprised Lena was able to get everything back into the trunk, especially after I dumped that that HUGE tire in there (third and fourth pictures).  The last picture is just to show off those huge meats up front ;-).

Ken, what a story and I'm glad you guys got home OK.  I was real surprised at how torn up the left front was when you took it off.  As a side note, when I pulled the tires yesterday my left front was also corded at the inside edge  Mike

Ken,

Replacing your wheel studs is a good idea on your car due to its age.

In the future, pick up some anti-seize, made by Permatex, at Pep Boys and put it on all of your wheel studs.  The studs and lug nuts will be much easier to remove and last much longer.

Dan  <2

Wow Ken!  You always have a misadventure, I remember your mountain climb to get to Buttonwillow, then your 1.5 day trip back from Spring Moutain and this latest one, nothing can hold you back or keep you down!

Ken and others,

The Brakeman III's don't seem to hold up very well up front once you start driving faster.

There are a few other choices that are better.

Dan

Art - I forgot about the 1.5 day misadventure-you have an even better memory than I!  Although, you forgot about the one where I had to get towed from the gas station only two blocks from home after getting back from Vegas due to the oxygen sensor wiring short (hmmm... maybe that was the same trip..).  Fortunately, none of them have ended up being a big deal - I have not gotten stranded yet or needed to be towed more than a mile.  Still fun and a great learning experience!

Dan - thanks for the suggestions, as always.

Ken,
You and Ben can start the corded tire club.  <2