Hey Gang,
Come out to Willow Springs and run with the Touring Car Racing Association on March 22 & 23.
Check their website for details: www.touringcarclub.com -- Click "Next Event" to register.
This is a very good group to run with. If we get enough Vipers to attend, we can get our own run group.
Hope to see you there.
Dan <2
HOTEL INFO:
Best Western Antelope Valley Inn – Willow Springs Raceway rate $79 per night
44055 Sierra Highway, Lancaster, California, 93534-4412
Phone: 661-948-4651
- Includes 2 cocktails/sodas each evening you stay over for you and your guest;
- Includes hot buffet breakfast each morning for you and your guest.
Click here for map HOTEL to TRACK (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=44055+Sierra+Highway,+Lancaster,+California,+93534-4412,+United+States&daddr=3500+75th+Street+West,++Rosamond,+CA+93560&sll=34.78453,-118.206355&sspn=0.206685,0.32135&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=34.730045,-118.183365&spn=0.244349,0.310364&z=12)
You gonna go Slow Eddie ?????
Art ????
Peter ????
Noel ????
Bruce ???
My calendar is slammed.....but I hate to get left out...so if you guys go....I'll bring the camera !!!
D'oh! I'd love to go, but I'm doing my confirmation that weekend <1
I'd be interested in seeing how "Slow Eddie" does at the "Slowest Track in the West".
For those that cant make Sat & Sunday due to Easter, NASA will be at California Speedway running Friday and Saturday (Not running Sunday due to Easter.)
Dan, I shot an email over to Ryan about the overly long download sessions. I'll keep you posted.
Thanks Manny. Just be gentle - I know you can - as I don't want to get sideways with NASA. It sure would be nice if they could cut that session way down though.
Looks like Bruce and I will be tracking our car at the Fastest Track in the West <t
We need more <E 's to join us. Who else is going?
I need more seat time in the car and less at the desk.
Lance
Hey Guys,
Pascal (the main guy at TCRA) is a Frenchman and a friend of Terry Rossi's. Terry will be in France during this event, so he won't be there to instruct.
Pascal has allowed me to instruct in the past. I just requested an instructors wrist band for this event, so I should be able to help you guys if you'd like and at least offer a ride in my car to show you the driving line.
Not sure who else is coming yet but Mike Buckingham will likely be there too.
Glad to hear Lance and Bruce are coming.
Should be fun.
Dan <m
PS Any chance we could be our "original root" out to the track?
Hey Dan,
What group do you think I should sign up in? Intermediate or advanced? This will be my first time with TCRA.
I plan on Saturday only.
Thanks,
Ben
Hey Ben,
You should be in the advanced group - that's where I've run with TCRA.
You should consider helping Lance, Bruce or some of our other guys.
You are faster at this track than I am and know this track well.
Neat that you can make it. See you at the track,
Dan
PS The new main guy at TCRA is now Emil, a friend of Pascal.
My goal is to learn the track.........by staying ON IT !!!!
Is there a Granny Group ??
That's probably a good idea Lance. On Saturday, a guy I know went off and rolled his car! He was okay but his car was pretty bad.
I have slower lap times now than I've had in the past because of what I see. I've become more conservative and don't push it as much.
Our cars are street cars and don't have all the safety equipment that race cars have so we are at greater risk of injury.
So my advice is to just have fun and go as fast as you feel comfortable.
Ben
<2 <2 <2
I might just drive up for the day <2 >2 I'll need a nap when I get there though ^8 ^8
OGO O O O
Hey Guys,
The beginner group at TCRA has been pretty slow in the past. You guys should have a good time learning the track without any pressure.
OGO, should I bring a cot for you???? HE, He, he.
Dan
Hey Guys,
Bob Blizzard has become available to coach / teach / ride along with a few of us on Saturday at this event. As you may recall, Bob is the chief driving instructor for Viper Days, so it doesn't get any better. His cost for the day should be about $600.00 ($500 plus gas). I'm in for splitting his cost with our group if we can get three other guys to go for it ($150 each for the day). I'm guessing that Ben and I will run advanced (so we could each get Bob to ride with us for two sessions). Lance and Bruce could also split Bob's time if they ran in other than the advanced group.
Please let me know if you guys are interested and I'll set this up with Bob and TCRA.
Thanks,
Dan <2
Quote from: ViperX on February 27, 2008, 10:12:45 AM
Thanks Manny. Just be gentle - I know you can - as I don't want to get sideways with NASA. It sure would be nice if they could cut that session way down though.
Dan, I expressed your concerns about the long download sessions to Ryan (National Chairman of NASA) and he says the sessions should never be running that long and he will look into it. If you get a chance, it might be worth it for you to drop him an email as well. And if you attend a NASA event again where that is happening, you should certainly go talk to Ryan about it. The classes should be short and to the point.
I sure would love to see more of the Viper guys out at these events.
There will be 4 Viper GTS's in the SUper Unlimite Race at Cal Speedway in 10 days, and that's about 2 to 3 more than there usually are ;-) Should be great.
Quote from: ViperX on March 10, 2008, 05:57:33 PM
Hey Guys,
Bob Blizzard has become available to coach / teach / ride along with a few of us on Saturday at this event. As you may recall, Bob is the chief driving instructor for Viper Days, so it doesn't get any better. His cost for the day should be about $600.00 ($500 plus gas). I'm in for splitting his cost with our group if we can get three other guys to go for it ($150 each for the day). I'm guessing that Ben and I will run advanced (so we could each get Bob to ride with us for two sessions). Lance and Bruce could also split Bob's time if they ran in other than the advanced group.
Please let me know if you guys are interested and I'll set this up with Bob and TCRA.
Thanks,
Dan <2
Dan, I hope the other club members take you up on this offer. Instruction is the best way to go faster. Spending a day with a good driver will make you faster than spending $2,000 on go fast parts for your car, that is for sure. If you haven't been consistently tracking your viper for at least a year, than you're likely at 70% of the car's potential at best, even if you think you're at 100%. If you don't think so, on a day when Bob Blizzard or Terry Rossi is instructing, have one of them take the car out and you'll likely see several seconds knocked off the time.
I've had both Bob and Terry instruct me. Bob scared the crap out of me at THunderhill when he drove my car because we were going so fast (this was when I first bought my car and was learning to time trial.) Then I took him out in a Lotus Elise at Texas World Speedway to show him how much better I got and we went flying off the track (Oh the terrors of being an instructor.) Then after I went to wheel-to-wheel racing I had Terry spend 3 days with me at Willow Springs and while I didnt get scared (you finally do get past this) I learned some good stuff. Not only that, but he aligned my car to where we knocked off 3 seconds per lap, confirmed via GPS and HotLap Timer by both of us running 1:23's there on 9 cylinders (1 plug was toast.)
Anyway, glad you are trying to get the group to buy in to one of these guys for each event. Good stuff and good guidance by the club. Learning one or two things somebody is doing wrong on the track may eventually save them from harming the car or themselves.
Manny
I'm going in on the instruction with Bob Blizzard. Looking forward to it.
Thanks for the great info and advice Manny. 1:23! Wow! That must be one scary ass ride!
Ben
Hey Guys,
Looks like we have our 4 club members for in car instruction by Bob Blizzard at this event. Ben, Lance, Mike Buckingham and myself will split Bob's time with in car instruction.
We've rented a garage for the weekend too, so we can spend time off track with Bob continuing to work with us.
Hope to see some other club members come out to drive and / or watch. You guys that are coming but aren't going to have Bob ride with you can always do a lead / follow, i.e. follow that car that Bob is riding in.
Dan 8)
Dan, thanks again, just got back from the NY auto show, nice to be back in SC. Diann will be coming up so I hope Cathy is going to be there also. We'll probably get up there around 9:30 pm or so Friday night. Hope to catch up for breakfast. Mike
Hey Mike,
Glad you're back.
Yes, Cathy is coming. We're going to try and get up there in time to park the trailer at the track and head over to the hotel. We'll be in the Connor garage.
We're staying at the Antelope Valley Best Western.
Driver's meeting is at 8:30 AM at the track.
We'll likely meet you guys for breakfast at about 6:45 AM at the hotel. The breakfast is pretty good for an "included" breakfast.
See you there.
Dan ^2
Great, we're at the best western also. I need to get tech'd so we'll probably try to get out of breakfast by 7:15, see you there!
We need to get tech'd too, so breakfast will be quick (it's buffet style).
Dan
THANK YOU Dan and Cathy !!
It was so nice having the garage to hang out in with drinks and snacks ! We are so spoiled.
I can't say enough about how great an instructor Bob Blizzard is.
I'm so glad Dan was able to get him to spend the day with us. I learned so much and had huge fun !!
<2 <2 <2 <2
I also need to thank Diann for taking pictures while I was out on the track. There are some really great shots !
I posted pictures on my site www.kouchicentral.com (http://www.kouchicentral.com)
Here are some of the pictures from Saturday
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0055.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0053.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0068.JPG)
OGO was there to keep an eye on us rookies. Thanks for all the tips.
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0088.JPG)
Diann and Deb
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0207.JPG)
Track pictures
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0120.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0123.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0128.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0143.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0162.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0179.JPG)
A few more
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0195.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0250.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0253.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0281.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0200.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0202.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0183.JPG)
(http://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20willow%20tcra/IMG_0074.JPG)
Hey Lance,
What do you think of "Sidewinders" as a name for our track group?
Dan
Dan
Really a great time, thanks for all the work and hospitality you and Cathy did for us!! It was great to have Bob there for us also! Hopefully we can get him out again. How was Sunday? I figured you and 5 other cars in your sessions?
Lance,
Great pictures, Diann wants your camera! I'll show here the link tonight.
Mike
PS, I think I broke the RR KW either on the 405 going up (the two bumps that my rear tow hook scraped -I'll never go that way again) or finally on the track? Any advice on a shop closer then DC or A&C?
I'd also like to thank Dan and Cathy for again providing such a nice place to hang out at in between runs. Thank you Dan, for arranging the instruction by Bob Blizzard. He knocked two seconds off my lap times! He is awesome. I bet you probably ran faster too. Did you try some more of his tips on Sunday?
Thank you Lance and Diann for the great pics. Lance and Mike, you guys looked great out there on the track.
It was a pleasure spending the day with all of you.
Thanks,
Ben
P.S. Dan, I like the name.
Sidewinders is a good one.
I'll get to work on some designs.
Hey Ben, I was just glad that I stayed ON the track ! Did you make it to the show? I was dead tired by the time I got home.
Lance,
No, I never made it to the Hot Import Nights show. I was beat too. I had a hard time staying awake on the way back from Willow. I don't know if you noticed, but I kept sticking my head out of the window to try and keep myself awake.
You did great for the first time on that track! Are you hooked now?
Ben
Ben,
congratulations on your 3rd place finish!!
Mike
Thanks Mike. That was the closest thing to racing that I have ever done. It sure was fun.
Are you going to Vegas?
Ben
Nice pics guys.
Ben, nice driving. Congrats on the trophy.
Lance, way to stay on the track!
I think Mike had fun too.
On Sunday, we had something in common, I was really too tired to do anything fast (including drive fast) but didnt' try the head out the window trick! I corded my rear tires on the first run in the morning, and almost missed the second run trying to get new tires mounted, so I put some old Hoosiers on and they were kinda slippery - really should have been in the trash. The next run my rear brake pads starting acting / sounding funny (they were pretty worn out). Time for new tires and brakes.
I did drop a couple of seconds too and was smoother and more consistent. I was able to run consistent 1:37's on old tires and worn rear brakes without getting loose. Bob is a very good instructor.
Mike Burgoyne come up on Sunday and ran some really fast laps in his SRT-10. I'd guess his best times were in the 1:32 range. Ahh, to be 30 and fearless again.
I'm going to Buttonwillow April 12 and 13 with Speed Ventures. Hope you guys can fit that one into your schedule. It will be getting a bit hot for me after April but I may do one more track event in May, depends on the weather, then Viper Days in September.
Question for you guys. I'm thinking about trying to set up a "Car Control Clinic" at El Toro or Fontana later this year / first part of next year. The idea is to see if we can get Bob to come out and talk to our group (maybe we could get Sam Hubinette?), maybe do some demonstrations - set up a few stations where we can do some hard lefts (and corrections), hard rights (and corrections), hard stops (ABS), a skid pad, maybe a 0 to 60 competition and perhaps a slalom. I think this could be fun under controlled conditions in a large parking lot with cones where we can't really hurt anything. I would suggest we limit speeds to about 60 ish mph max.
I know there are some guys (and maybe some wives and kids) in our group that would benefit from this.
Your thoughts / input would be appreciated.
Dan <2
Quote from: ViperX on March 25, 2008, 03:21:42 PM
Question for you guys. I'm thinking about trying to set up a "Car Control Clinic" at El Toro or Fontana later this year / first part of next year. The idea is to see if we can get Bob to come out and talk to our group (maybe we could get Sam Hubinette?), maybe do some demonstrations - set up a few stations where we can do some hard lefts (and corrections), hard rights (and corrections), hard stops (ABS), a skid pad, maybe a 0 to 60 competition and perhaps a slalom. I think this could be fun under controlled conditions in a large parking lot with cones where we can't really hurt anything. I would suggest we limit speeds to about 60 ish mph max.
I know there are some guys (and maybe some wives and kids) in our group that would benefit from this.
Your thoughts / input would be appreciated.
Dan <2
Hey Dan,
That is a GREAT idea which would be very beneficial for us.
Bob Blizzard is not only extremely knowledgeable, but is great at instructing in a way that even a rookie can understand.
Car control is KING.
Sam is a great guy.....but make him bring his OWN car to do a demo in.....MINE is out of rubber !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dan, I also think it's a great idea and I would be interested in participating.
Lance, Wow! Looks like a burnout contest. Now you can get some R compound tires for the track. Was that today? How did your car do against the Superformance coupe?
Ben
Hey Ben,
The picture was from the TV shoot on Tuesday. I was tooooo tired when I got home last night to post up the pictures. I'll do a write up and post hopefully tonight.
I was going to try your head out the window trick to stay awake...but didn't want to get one of those huge yellow bug splats on my forehead.
Lance
Hey Lance,
Now that's a great picture ^8 ^8 ^8 ^8 ^8 >2
OGO O O O
Dan,
We'd be in for the clinic, I need to get Diann to drive the SRT-10 or at least drive her 911 hard in a controlled environment.
I'm thinking about returning to Willow at the early May event, are you going, anyone else??
Lance,
Holy #$%T, I think I see the cords in the second picture.
Ben,
Wish I could get to Vegas but...
Mike
Quote from: redtanrt10 on March 24, 2008, 09:50:52 AM
PS, I think I broke the RR KW either on the 405 going up (the two bumps that my rear tow hook scraped -I'll never go that way again) or finally on the track? Any advice on a shop closer then DC or A&C?
Hey Mike,
For something like this I would talk to Andy Weiss at Impulse Engineering. They did an great job on my alignment and lucky for me they are only a few miles away.
Impulse Engineering, Inc.
15321 Transistor Lane
Huntington Beach, California 92649
714-895-1000
Lance
Lance, thanks!!