Trackmaster's event at RFR, May 28/29

[MikeK]

That sucks! First scott, now you

[sperry]

According to the TMR policy, you have to cancel 15 days prior for a refund. I didn't bother to contact Doug about getting a refund, since I'm sure the answer would be "we don't have anyone on the waiting list, so we can't give you a refund."

[tysonK]

Originally Posted by sperry

According to the TMR policy, you have to cancel 15 days prior for a refund. I didn't bother to contact Doug about getting a refund, since I'm sure the answer would be "we don't have anyone on the waiting list, so we can't give you a refund."

Yah I know.

But it doesn't hurt to try.

[Kevin M]

Eh, didn't have all info. Sucks balls for you guys.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by BAN SUVS

Eh, didn't have all info. Sucks balls for you guys.

Yeah thanks. I'd be there in my car if I had that driveshaft.

[Pat R.]

So who is still going?

[doubleurx]

Originally Posted by Pat R.

So who is still going?

I am, I think Matt, Mike K and Tyson for one day.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by doubleurx

I am, I think Matt, Mike K and Tyson for one day.

I'm still in, because Dean is the man.

Red > Blue... at least for this weekend.

[doubleurx]

Originally Posted by sperry

I'm still in, because Dean is the man.

Red > Blue... at least for this weekend.

Great news!. That is so generous of Dean. Wow!

[MikeK]

Wow, nice Job! Dean, what are you going to drive at Hawethorne?

p.s. White > *

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by doubleurx

I am, I think Matt, Mike K and Tyson for one day.

I am there for both days

[Dean]

Originally Posted by MikeK

Wow, nice Job! Dean, what are you going to drive at Hawethorne?

Another red car. Can you say B Stock? Thanks Debbie.

[MattR]

Sweet , Dean, you are a true friend, awesome work...I think you'll be damn fast in the RX-8 anyway though..

Also, I'm signed up to run Saturday and Sunday, but I will likely only run for an hour or two sunday, as i have to get somewhere in the afternoon.

I will have the Titan, so if anyone needs anything hauled out there, you'll need to run it by my house Friday night. I am personally taking a spare set of tires, the easy up, 15 gallons of gas. But I should have some room for a few more things if anyone needs..

oh, is anyone going to try to make early registration Friday night? I think it would be a good idea to do that. any thoughts?

[sperry]

I prolly won't make early reg. I'll prolly have some stuff for the Titan as well... a set of rims (though they prolly fit in the car okay) and some gas... but I'll try to make it fit in the WRX 1st.

[doubleurx]

That would be to much driving for me Friday. I will just haul out there Saturday morning.

Thanks for the offer on hauling stuff.

[MikeSTI]

so is there still a brake bleed Friday night???????

[sperry]

Dean already bled his brakes recently, and I just swapped out to my race pads, so I think the red WRX is good to go.

[doubleurx]

Originally Posted by sperry

Dean already bled his brakes recently, and I just swapped out to my race pads, so I think the red WRX is good to go.

What do you guys think - 10,000 miles, stock fluid?: I think I should be OK for this event, but will do new fluid, pads and lines for the Audi event.

[tysonK]

Me and Matt went and got the gas!

So ready for pit stop re-fuel action tommorow.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by doubleurx

What do you guys think - 10,000 miles, stock fluid?: I think I should be OK for this event, but will do new fluid, pads and lines for the Audi event.

So did they last the event? I'm guessing not, unless you weren't breaking that hard...


How did it go guys? Got an update from Scott SAt. on my cell voice mail.

[MikeK]

It was a lot of fun, and VERY fast. We were easily the fastest cars in our run group. By the end of today Eric was beating us all. We should have a lot of good video footage from the two days.

On a related note, my brakes sucked. Nick, Eric and I all suffered bad brake fade. Eric and I ended up bleeding again saturday night, which helped for a session or two, but now my pedal is almost to the floor again, and my rotors are warped or have pad material stuck to them or something

Tyson got a hole in a radiator hose on saturday. We thought it was just a loose clamp, so a few zip ties later he was back out on the track, but when it became clear what was wrong he had to sit the rest of the day out. Scott went on an off-roading adventure ... the video of that should be good.

Overall an awesome event. It is amazing how much speed everyone picked up from saturday morning to sunday afternoon. In the first session I was braking to about 90 mph for turns 1-4 ... by the end of today we weren't even lifting, going in at 120 - 125 mph! I can't wait to hear the instructor reactions at the audi club event in 2 weeks I just hope I can find a solution to the brake problem in time!

[Dean]

Originally Posted by MikeK

Scott went on an off-roading adventure

WHAT?!?!?!? Where?????

Originally Posted by MikeK

... the video of that should be good.

or incriminating.

Originally Posted by MikeK

by the end of today we weren't even lifting, going in at 120 - 125 mph! I can't wait to hear the instructor reactions at the audi club event in 2 weeks

Great....

Originally Posted by MikeK

I just hope I can find a solution to the brake problem in time!

What pads are you running? They can make all the difference.

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by Dean

What pads are you running? They can make all the difference.

Ferrodo DS2500. I am going to ask Nate what can be done. I might try some higher temps pads and steel brake lines for the audi events, but I am not confident of being able to last the two days on one bleed.

Today the pads were still biting OK, it is just that the pedal was as mushy as hell, and it got progessively worse as the day wore on. Even after 3 bleeds in the last week I was never really happy with the pedal feel. I have used 3 cans of the ATE stuff just for this one event

[Dean]

I can't speak to the Ferrodos, but I tend to run High performance street pads, and seldom have brake fade. Even on my stock brakes, I knew how far I could push them. I have not riden with you on a track recently, so don't know where you are in your learning, but, I have a guess as to what is happening....

I'll get into it more in the morning when I'm more awake, but what you are running into now is the resource wall. Your car only has so much to give, and you are asking it to do to much, just like pushing in a corner does to the tires.

Fast is easy. Stand on the pedal. Turning is pretty easy. Consistantly putting the car withing 4-6"s of where you want it, being smooth and managing your car's resources are the next steps and are harder.

A pasenger in your car should have little sensation of when your foot comes on and off the brakes as you enter and exit a braking zone. They will know you braked because of the pressure on the belts, and the deceleration, but the actual transition points will be hard to pinpoint.

You caused the brake fade, not your brakes, or the fluid, or the pads. I doubt there is a brake system, even F1 Carbon-carbons that cannot be overworked. Look at the WRC drivers. They have puny brakes compared to yours, yet they last 2 or more stages of some of the hardest driving imagineable. Heck, they can loose only tenths of seconds due to poor brake performance by managing what little they have left.

You may be surprised with how fast you go when you smooth things out...

Edit: Sorry if this sounded preachy. I'm tired. All I'm trying to say is that the fix may not to be the car, but to how you are driving it, or a combination of the two.

[sperry]

Dean, your car now has the "4 wheels off on 12" mod.

..don't worry, I already vacuumed out all the weeds from your fog lights and lower grill.

Here's my version of the story:

I finally got a clear track after being stuck behind some traffic for a few laps, and I was running pretty quickly. It was late in the day, and I was starting to feel a little (over)confident. I got a good run off turn 7 and carried 8-11 flat out, so I was going quite a bit faster than usual down the *extremely* bumpy back straight. I missed my braking point by a split second, coupled w/ my higher speed, I just ran out of room into 12. I got slowed way down before going off, and I went off in a pretty smooth line, so it wasn't all that bad.

There are about a million things I could have done to have made the turn once I realized I was in too deep, but in the heat of the moment, I fell back on the wrong instinct. Since I was essentially trail braking into the corner w/ no hope of making it, I probably could have just gotten on the throttle to turn the car, and lightly drifted around the outside of the corner... however, if I didn't make it then, I'd be off sideways, so I'm glad I just rode it out.

My appologies to Dean... I feel bad I took your car for a little bit of an unauthorized ride. Even though I didn't break anything... I know I could have. I shouldn't have been driving so hard late on day 2... that's when you're concetration wanes... I'm proof. However, there was no damage, just a metric assload bunch of those little burr things piled into the lights/lower grill. I hit the car w/ the shop vac and got 99% of 'em out after I got back...

I've got the off on video. The best part is me realizing there's no way I'm gonna make the corner... "Ehhhhh!" You can be the judge of how bad it was once I get the video off my camera.