Reno-Fernley, Full Track (4 Miles), Aug. 26-27

[MikeK]

Sure thing!

[JonnydaJibba]

How was it? Anybody have any swell pictures?

[doubleurx]

It was a great time. The track is amazing.

Sorry no pictures. Scott and his beast owned on Saturday.

[sperry]

I never busted out the camera either. Too busy wrenching on the car between each session.

I will say though, that 4.1 mile course is too friggen long. It's tons of fun, but you get like 5, maybe 6, hot laps in a 20 minute session. Even with 2+ hours of track time per day, that's not a lot of laps to learn the course. It wasn't too bad for me since I've driven like 80% of the track already, but for the folks who've never been to RFR before, that's a *lot* of corners to learn, which explains why so many people had such slow lines all weekend.

For reference, here's the configuration we ran:



They really need to drop the turn numbers and simply name the different sections the way Buttonwillow does it... it's too hard to discuss the course by number, since the numbers are different every time I come to the track!

And having run so much of the course now, I have to think configuration B is the best setup:



The slide turn is crappy... off camber, downhill, LF tire eating, and not fun. It looks cool from the stands, and you'd think it'd be corckscrew-esque, but it's not. I'd much rather eliminate that turn, along with that "mid-straight" (which isn't a straight at all... it's a long blind right hand sweeper). There is a chance that this will be the configuration we run for the NORPAC Divisional time trial.

[JonnydaJibba]

Racing's Field of Dreams huh? That is a looooong course. I have to come out and watch/take pictures next time.

[tysonK]

Turn 16 was scary in the passenger seat of Scott's Car, The Slide was very fun the passenger seat.

I liked the 10-14 complex from the ride along.

[MikeK]

I thought turns 15-16 were the most fun, especially 16 since it is blind as you approach it

[sperry]

Originally Posted by MikeK

I thought turns 15-16 were the most fun, especially 16 since it is blind as you approach it

Meh.... climbing the hill is *by far* the best part of that track. It's like you're bombing up the hill at Bathurst.

[MikeK]

On RA-1s maybe. On street tyres it's a little nerve racking. I would completely lose traction as the car got light, then when it landed I was never sure which was it was going to go (this is at turn 7).

Sometimes the front would hook up first and the car would swing to the right, sometimes it would be the rear, and the car would swing left.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by MikeK

On RA-1s maybe. On street tyres it's a little nerve racking. I would completely lose traction as the car got light, then when it landed I was never sure which was it was going to go (this is at turn 7).

Sometimes the front would hook up first and the car would swing to the right, sometimes it would be the rear, and the car would swing left.

Um... that's why it's fun!

[Bonster]

Next year I think we'll try course B instead, if not the former 2.4 mile course. I really like the 2.4 course -- even in a Miata, I got really high speeds and had a blast. We'll see. I will want your guys' input, for sure. After all, these events are put on to make YOU folks smile. I'm just there to see it through so we can have fun.

BW

[MikeK]

Most of us have done the lower 2.4 mile course eleventeen billion times. Having the top section open definately made it more fun.

My vote is for course C:

[Bonster]

Wow . . . course C looks almost as crazy as course A. Let's keep this tread going. I can always make plans early for next year once we come to an agreement. I think next year, though, we should do a weekend in mid-September or something. What do you all think? Last year we did it in October. The weather was great, but everyone ran the chance of it snowing over Donner Pass. I don't think there's much of a chance of snow anywhere in September, and we'd still have decent weather.

BW

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Bonster

Wow . . . course C looks almost as crazy as course A. Let's keep this tread going. I can always make plans early for next year once we come to an agreement. I think next year, though, we should do a weekend in mid-September or something. What do you all think? Last year we did it in October. The weather was great, but everyone ran the chance of it snowing over Donner Pass. I don't think there's much of a chance of snow anywhere in September, and we'd still have decent weather.

BW

I was pretty happy with the weather last weekend... though it's hit or miss year to year... we're having a dry August, we could have easily been out there in thunderstorms.

As far as the course, B has my vote. It's got all the fun parts but takes out the slide and the bumpy braking zone into T20 (old T12), which I'm not a fan of since it's the only place I've ever gone off at.

On a side note, Bonni, thanks a ton for putting together that event. That was the most fun I've had out at RFR... ever. 'Course every other time I've been there it's been test-n-tune where I have an agenda for working on the car, or an event where I'm running timing and scoring, or the track day that SECCS put on where I was doing your job (which is an *awful* lot of work!) So, thanks again for running the show so I could just go an play... it's nice to have a break *and* get more track time than the car can handle!

[doubleurx]

Thanks Bonni. That was a ton of fun. Next year I'll try for both days.

I'll try to keep the hungry pair in check this time also.

[Bonster]

The 'hungry pair' doubleurx -- does that mean what I *think* it means? ROFL!!! Yeah, I give some interesting speaches when folks get goofy on the track, huh? Lol. Glad you all had a good time. I know what you mean, too, Scott. When you're the organizer you don't get to play much. But that's okay . . . that's my 'job' and actually, just seeing folks having fun is enough for me.

This Friday we're down here at Thunderhill. We have a low turn-out, so I get to go play for a change. I get to drive an Elise again, too.

BW