Your race Carreer (real life)

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 03 Apr 2014, 15:08

A Ferrari test at Zandvoort, I can't even begin to imagine. There must be many pictures when this occurs! When are you going for your license?

W12 · Post by **W12** » 10 Apr 2014, 12:36

I do karting races for fun sometimes, but it's not fun that I always win my friends by 2-3 laps :roll:

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 10 Apr 2014, 15:45

W12 wrote:I do karting races for fun sometimes, but not usually, because it´s not fun that I always win my friends by 2-3 laps

Oh sure it is. Bragging rights for months after!

Post by **tommykl** » 14 Apr 2014, 13:38

Wallio wrote:
W12 wrote:I do karting races for fun sometimes, but not usually, because it´s not fun that I always win my friends by 2-3 laps

Oh sure it is. Bragging rights for months after!

Just months? I did that with a few friends once for my birthday and still brag about it five years later

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 29 Apr 2014, 07:25

I mainly just do open track days and canyon runs with friends. Currently, I'm trying to get used to a new Elise SC. A few more events and I think I'll be comfortable with it.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 01 May 2014, 14:16

LionZoo wrote:I mainly just do open track days and canyon runs with friends. Currently, I'm trying to get used to a new Elise SC. A few more events and I think I'll be comfortable with it.

A Lotus over here in the States? Lies! Lies I say!

As or me, I binned the new car two weekends ago. It all started off so nice too. We unloaded, and I immediately went to P1 on the table for our class, with a 9.846 @ 130.64mph. Quickest and fastest I've ever gone. Despite traction problems through our other three quali runs, I stayed P1. I have never been #1 qualifier before, it was pretty cool.

However, in addition to the bad traction, there were other problems during quails. Run #3 the steering wheel came off right at the hit. Being only 20ft out, I got it pulled over, reattached the wheel and got off the track. My Old Man took the blame, saying he didn't double check the wheel's safety (it is removable and has a lock). We made our last time shot and it stayed on. No biggie, a simple mistake, no harm no foul. We even joked about how my old man's always trying to kill me.

That's the picture the track put on there website for being on pole. Just before I binned it. Look what a happy fat kid I am!

First round of eliminations saw me run the slowest qualifier, a Foxbody Mustang. I was giving him a 4.6sec head start. After having a cigarette waiting for my side of the tree to come down, I set off. Everything was fine until the 1000ft timing cone. Then the wheel just dropped away! At this point we're pretty sure I was going between 115-120mph. The car pulled hard left (which was good, as I was in the left lane) and left the track.

Now Luckily, my home track, unlike any other drag strip in PA, has grass outside the track before the Armco. This was good. However, what I didn't know, was that the tarmac was a good 5 inches above that grass. So I caught air as I left the track, then being a hardtail, jumped after I bottomed out. I blitzed through a trackside sign, which tried to rip off the funny car style body (the latch holding it on was bent at a good 80+ degree angle) and jammed the throttle open. This sent me back on the track, now past the finish line, and toward my victorious opponent, who was slowing down and of course had no idea an unguided missile was trying to seek him out.

Luckily IHRA rules for my class require a hook on your gas pedal to unjam it, which worked flawlessly, and I managed to lock the rear brakes and spin the car (I'd rather roll my own heap, than take out some poor guy just having a good time) and that sent me back off the grass, which bottomed me out again, this time sideways! I honestly thought I was going over that time. However, it landed somewhat straight (another miracle) and with no more signs to hit, I managed to eventually stop it shortly afterwards. Climbing out the escape hatch, my first sight was the driver of the Mustang (who had pulled off to the side) sprinting towards the car. He had seen my ordeal in his rear view and was coming to get me. They say racing is a family, and Lord knows that proved it.

When I told him what happened, he turned white. To try to make light of the situation, I said "Hey, you can brag you knocked off the number 1 qualifier!". To which he said "Not like this man, not like this". At that moment, the scene from ET where they stormed the House was replayed, as every ambulance, tow truck, quad moped, etc. on the track came ripping down. The tower had announced I rolled it! The safety crews were on me in a flash, but I assured them I was ok, and the car stayed upright. My crew had commandeered the photographers van and was there too, horrified at what occurred. My fathers hair, no word of lie, has a nice white streak in it now, that we all agree wasn't there before.

After we got the car back to the pits, we checked it out, the body is smashed pretty good, and the hinges that allow it to open and close are shot, the nose cone is bashed in, and there's a vibration from the rear end. Plus we need a new steering wheel of course. Amazingly the chassis itself is fine, somehow. I ended up with a sore head (I hit the roll cage twice, and helmets and padding only do so much) a tweaked back, and a sore wrist from pulling on the handbrake. I also got to keep a piece of the sign as a memento. So I was of course very luckily.

We have already started repairs, and hope to be out again by the end of May. Stay Tuned. Below find one of the last action shots taken before I binned it.

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 01 May 2014, 17:36

Wallio wrote:
LionZoo wrote:I mainly just do open track days and canyon runs with friends. Currently, I'm trying to get used to a new Elise SC. A few more events and I think I'll be comfortable with it.

A Lotus over here in the States? Lies! Lies I say!

As or me, I binned the new car two weekends ago. It all started off so nice too. We unloaded, and I immediately went to P1 on the table for our class, with a 9.846 @ 130.64mph. Quickest and fastest I've ever gone. Despite traction problems through our other three quali runs, I stayed P1. I have never been #1 qualifier before, it was pretty cool.

However, in addition to the bad traction, there were other problems during quails. Run #3 the steering wheel came off right at the hit. Being only 20ft out, I got it pulled over, reattached the wheel and got off the track. My Old Man took the blame, saying he didn't double check the wheel's safety (it is removable and has a lock). We made our last time shot and it stayed on. No biggie, a simple mistake, no harm no foul. We even joked about how my old man's always trying to kill me.

That's the picture the track put on there website for being on pole. Just before I binned it. Look what a happy fat kid I am!

First round of eliminations saw me run the slowest qualifier, a Foxbody Mustang. I was giving him a 4.6sec head start. After having a cigarette waiting for my side of the tree to come down, I set off. Everything was fine until the 1000ft timing cone. Then the wheel just dropped away! At this point we're pretty sure I was going between 115-120mph. The car pulled hard left (which was good, as I was in the left lane) and left the track.

Now Luckily, my home track, unlike any other drag strip in PA, has grass outside the track before the Armco. This was good. However, what I didn't know, was that the tarmac was a good 5 inches above that grass. So I caught air as I left the track, then being a hardtail, jumped after I bottomed out. I blitzed through a trackside sign, which tried to rip off the funny car style body (the latch holding it on was bent at a good 80+ degree angle) and jammed the throttle open. This sent me back on the track, now past the finish line, and toward my victorious opponent, who was slowing down and of course had no idea an unguided missile was trying to seek him out.

Luckily IHRA rules for my class require a hook on your gas pedal to unjam it, which worked flawlessly, and I managed to lock the rear brakes and spin the car (I'd rather roll my own heap, than take out some poor guy just having a good time) and that sent me back off the grass, which bottomed me out again, this time sideways! I honestly thought I was going over that time. However, it landed somewhat straight (another miracle) and with no more signs to hit, I managed to eventually stop it shortly afterwards. Climbing out the escape hatch, my first sight was the driver of the Mustang (who had pulled off to the side) sprinting towards the car. He had seen my ordeal in his rear view and was coming to get me. They say racing is a family, and Lord knows that proved it.

When I told him what happened, he turned white. To try to make light of the situation, I said "Hey, you can brag you knocked off the number 1 qualifier!". To which he said "Not like this man, not like this". At that moment, the scene from ET where they stormed the House was replayed, as every ambulance, tow truck, quad moped, etc. on the track came ripping down. The tower had announced I rolled it! The safety crews were on me in a flash, but I assured them I was ok, and the car stayed upright. My crew had commandeered the photographers van and was there too, horrified at what occurred. My fathers hair, no word of lie, has a nice white streak in it now, that we all agree wasn't there before.

After we got the car back to the pits, we checked it out, the body is smashed pretty good, and the hinges that allow it to open and close are shot, the nose cone is bashed in, and there's a vibration from the rear end. Plus we need a new steering wheel of course. Amazingly the chassis itself is fine, somehow. I ended up with a sore head (I hit the roll cage twice, and helmets and padding only do so much) a tweaked back, and a sore wrist from pulling on the handbrake. I also got to keep a piece of the sign as a memento. So I was of course very luckily.

We have already started repairs, and hope to be out again by the end of May. Stay Tuned. Below find one of the last action shots taken before I binned it.

At one point earlier this year, I actually had two Lotuses. Both 2011 Elises. I owned something like 2% of the total US population of 2011 Elises. You can find some pictures of the two at my shared blog here: http://www.canyonrats.com/ It also contains some general misadventures of my friends and I.

Glad you're okay. Did you figure out how the wheel came off? That seems to be an odd happening. Remember, when the car is broken it's just an excuse to make it faster.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 06 May 2014, 16:59

The heel failed because the safety pin locking thingy is sticking, for whatever reason. Good news is we replaced it, and fixed the body. Bad news is the front rims are bent, and are a $1000 a set. Bathplug.

Sweet Elise, although I would have kept the British Racing Green one myself, it just seems proper. I can easily believe you had 2% of the total, if not more! I only see them here on the East Coast at the Atlantic City Auction. I almost bought a 2-Eleven there a few years ago in fact, but we get too much rain/snow for a car without a roof!

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 10 May 2014, 09:49

In my teens and twenties, I used to compete with other members of my family in our very own private bicycle competitions which we "staged" just for fun. I must say we were all not very competitive which is best showcased by the fact that almost always when we had guest starters come in, which we did on occasion, a guest starter won.

But I haven't ever intended to run a motorized machine in a race and still don't.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 05 Jun 2014, 10:44

Not exactly a race career, but I did my first ever track day yesterday, on the 1.226-mile Brands Hatch Indy track. I was clearly the slowest, but I managed a lot of understeer, front-tyre squealing, and ran wide at Graham Hill Bend once near the end. No idea how many laps I ended up doing, but it was a tiring 20 minutes... Slightly scary, but at least I feel confident that my mirror use is good!

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 05 Jun 2014, 11:02

dr-baker wrote:but at least I feel confident that my mirror use is good!

Exactly, at least you're good at something that former Grand Prix winner Rene Arnoux can't do

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 05 Jun 2014, 18:32

dr-baker wrote: I did my first ever track day yesterday, on the 1.226-mile Brands Hatch Indy track.

Really? Fantastic.
How was T1? Difficult? Do you get butterflies in the stomach during the elevation changes?
I have always loved that corner in every game it is in, it's pretty hard to find the best braking point on entry
and to go flat or near-flat mid-corner and through the exit there.

I wouldn't say it's like Eau Rouge in reverse, but it is similar at least.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 05 Jun 2014, 23:23

Jocke1 wrote:
dr-baker wrote: I did my first ever track day yesterday, on the 1.226-mile Brands Hatch Indy track.

Really? Fantastic.
How was T1? Difficult? Do you get butterflies in the stomach during the elevation changes?
I have always loved that corner in every game it is in, it's pretty hard to find the best braking point on entry
and to go flat or near-flat mid-corner and through the exit there.

I wouldn't say it's like Eau Rouge in reverse, but it is similar at least.

Graham Hill Bend was actually a bit harder. The approach into Paddock Hill Bend is actually slightly uphill. The difficulty is that the entry is blind, but there are marker boards, and the grandstand and pit lane exit are useful markers, as is the crest into the bend. My arms ached rather a bit afterwards, and my right arm still aches just over 24 hours later.

I would like to drive through Eau Rouge to compare the difference!

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 15 Jun 2014, 17:05

I've got some digital photos from the track day!!! Ordered them from MSV Track Days - they emphasised that they are for personal use only and NOT for commercial use. As this forum is entirely non-commercial, I trust you guys not to exploit this. However, if it is ever considered to be beyond personal use (particularly if MSVT see this), then I would be OK with this post being taken down.

Anyway, with that stated...:

At £15 a time, I was only going to order one photo as a 24" by 16" print (could have got one at £25 for 36" by 24" but I thought the one I got would be big enough), so this is what I got printed:

It was a choice of either that or this:

I have put most of the 11 photos I ordered here, leaving out those featuring predominantly other cars. I'm not sure I'm in any hurry to do it again - at least not on the Brands Indy track, where you're nearly always going into or exiting a corner - a lot of concentration and effort. Oh, and to explain an earlier post - Graham Hill corner was harder I think because it was downhill all the way into the corner, whereas the entry into Paddock Hill and Druids had an uphill section into them, and required more speed to be shed.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 17 Jun 2014, 15:42

Sweet photos baker. The track photographer is often a bigger money pit than the car itself, at least for me. My office is full of photos of my exploits. Is the Mini yours? Or was it a rental/track car? And what, if anything was done to it?

As for me, I finally got my heap back out this weekend, and I was curious to how I would react getting back in the car for the first time after a wreck. The first run was eventful, as we had throttle issues, so we had to make a banzai pass on our final quali run just to make the show. This proved a welcome distraction, as I was so focused on going fast, I forgot everything else. The 9.838 et we ran was our quickest ever, so I guess the car and driver haven't lost it. Yet. :lol:

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 17 Jun 2014, 20:31

Wallio, the Mini is mine - I bought it with money that my grandmother left me in her will back in 2007. One reason I wanted a photo print of the car - that'll last longer than the car and will be a kinda reminder of my grandma. No modifications whatsoever, might explain in part why I was slow... Would love to go back and do it in a DeLorean at some point - just need to get one!

The following weekend, was at Brands again for the track's second American Speedfest with EuroNASCAR. Had a couple of dragsters parading at approx 10 mph along the cambered, curved Brabham straight (start/finish line). Couldn't go faster due to the track not being flat or straight, so it was suggested next year, using the back Cooper straight that would be more suitable for a faster demo run.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 17 Jun 2014, 21:49

dr-baker wrote:Wallio, the Mini is mine - I bought it with money that my grandmother left me in her will back in 2007. One reason I wanted a photo print of the car - that'll last longer than the car and will be a kinda reminder of my grandma. No modifications whatsoever, might explain in part why I was slow... Would love to go back and do it in a DeLorean at some point - just need to get one!

The following weekend, was at Brands again for the track's second American Speedfest with EuroNASCAR. Had a couple of dragsters parading at approx 10 mph along the cambered, curved Brabham straight (start/finish line). Couldn't go faster due to the track not being flat or straight, so it was suggested next year, using the back Cooper straight that would be more suitable for a faster demo run.

Indeed that will be a nice remembrance. I have a soft spot for Mini's myself. My cousin had a 6-speed Cooper S, fun little car. How were the stockers on the twisties? The speedcar series (or whatever its called now) gets too little PR over here. I know the Euro-champ gets a proper NASCAR test, but that's about it.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 18 Jun 2014, 15:46

To be honest, the EuroNascars get very little coverage in Britain. Even Autosport only seems to report on the British round in any real detail. But they race well on the Brands Indy track - much better than any single-seater or DTM, on a par with BTCC. Must be due to lack of aerodynamics.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 23 Jun 2014, 02:38

does getting a bigger speeding ticket than the guy that you are racing count? [/sarcasm]
a lapse in my own judgement, i will say.
we were at a meeting of mutual interest(meaning a late-night, amateur, unsanctioned contest of horsepower, legality not a concern). i did not bet money on it, but i did win. i regret doing it. i wish this itch to go fast hadn't overcome my common sense.

i will also admit the fine i had to pay was way lower than i thought.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 23 Jun 2014, 09:39

nome66 wrote:does getting a bigger speeding ticket than the guy that you are racing count? [/sarcasm]
a lapse in my own judgement, i will say.
we were at a meeting of mutual interest(meaning a late-night, amateur, unsanctioned contest of horsepower, legality not a concern). i did not bet money on it, but i did win. i regret doing it. i wish this itch to go fast hadn't overcome my common sense.

i will also admit the fine i had to pay was way lower than i thought.

Is there no race track or drag strip near you where you could take your car? Or even a go-kart track? Might help get it out of your system (albeit temporarily!)...

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 25 Jun 2014, 15:42

there are strips around here but the entry fees for the open test days are a bit more than the police who pull us over claim. but in all honesty, tickets and fines add up quicker than say, a monthly or bi-weekly test at the track. also i think not knowing the exact horsepower of a car is a safety hazard. dyno facilities have fees and such for using their equipment. so, most guys just whack-out their engines with huge turbos and a vague ecu setup, then just plant their foot down.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 25 Jun 2014, 18:46

I'd be lying if I said I had never done it before, both for money and pride (I had the quickest car in high school by a long shot and knew it) but really it is stupid. I found its not terribly hard to out run the cops, but its damn bloody difficult to out run a radio signal....

While the fines are not as bad as you would think, its the ancillaries. Here in PA a street-racing conviction is a instant 6 points (loss of license) and impounding. Plus your insurance bill will skyrocket. That's what I'd check if I were you.

And hey try legit racing. My old man prepared our '68 GTO and got me licensed in it (while he won't admit it, I'm sure he knew of my late night escapades and wanted to save me before I got caught) and I've been racing ever since, 11 years on.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 25 Jun 2014, 22:00

I don't know how far apart you guys are, but if it's manageable, maybe you guys could actually do an American branch of this as-yet-to-be-established team?

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 25 Jun 2014, 22:04

i don't currently have a car worth calling a high-horsepower monster(at least not until the money starts flowing again), but i have been a "driver for hire" of sorts.

other than drag track-fees and such, i could spend 20 bucks for 14 laps at the indoor "Autobahn Speedway" gokart track near my house. i show up every month or so, set a blisteringly quick couple of laps, and i'm on my way. no series, no pay, just a roadside amusement kind of deal. couple famous pros have been there for some promotional stuff, like Kurt Busch and Vaughn Gittin Jr.
i am saving up to do Skip Barber's 3-day and Advanced Car Control classes to obtain a racing license.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 26 Jun 2014, 19:30

dr-baker wrote:I don't know how far apart you guys are, but if it's manageable, maybe you guys could actually do an American branch of this as-yet-to-be-established team?

I race in Maryland down at Cecil County and Mason-Dixon on occasion. Next time I'm down that way, if nome wants to meet up I'm always game.

And hey, according to that like, I qualify for an F1Rejects Super license! Winning!

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 22 Aug 2014, 04:40

nome66 wrote:
Wallio wrote:
Damn, that quite impressive. And don't sell yourself short, balls go a long way in this business, and really are an undervalued "skill".

As many of you know, I drag race a Nova. Not terribly quick (low 10s high 9s, depending on whether its NOS or no NOS race) but I've been improving bit by bit this year. We ran the York Nostalgia Nationals, and Finished 16th out of 74 cars entered into A/Modified Production (and made the races website!). We only lost because we couldn't answer the call for round 3 as the water pump failed . The Labor day finals saw us finish in the Top 40 with 130+ cars entered into A/MP. Last year we ran the Super Chevy Show and while I'm not sure how exactly we did (there was over 1400 entries total!) Racing started on Wednesday, and cars started being sent home Friday. We made it all the way until Sunday afternoon. We've been lucky enough to pick up two local companies as sponsors, and while the money isn't F1 levels, it certainly is a HUGE help. Between that and me selling my Charger this month, I'm going to run the full points championship at my home track (26 races!) next year and go for rookie of the year. The Top 12 in A/MP go to the bracket finals, where the top 120 drivers on the East Coast run for big money. That might be ambitious year one, but hey, a guy can dream right?

As for other racing, I did some hillclimbs and some indoor karting, and was honestly a mid-packer at best. My only claim to fame was coming third overall in a short (8 or ten race) kart championship, behind two graduates of skip barber. But I was waaayyyyy off their pace. Then I started dragging, and got hooked. We'll see how it goes.

i've also been indoor karting recently, at the grand prix of baltimore to be precise.
there was an indoor high-powered electric kart track inside the convention center. i landed the second best time out of the whole weekend!
they had these karts from Autobahn Indoor Speedway in jessup, MD on a replica of the Indycar track. they gave two warmup laps out of the pit lane, and 4 timed laps. not sure of the exact scale realtive to the full size track, but i ran a 38.55 for my fastest time. first was 37.93 or something i skimmed past the leaderboard on sunday(my laps were on Friday) and they had "today's times" then the next were "weekend leaders" mine was on top for about four minutes until someone else lapped slightly quicker. i'm not sure of how many entrants there were overall, but it was in the 90s

Since August 8th, two weeks ago, I've now been a track floor employee, or "Pit Crew" at Autobahn Indoor Speedway! So happy i got the job there! My Manager recognized me from the Baltimore Grand Prix attraction they had set up inside the convention center! It was only that much easier to get hired! since I've started working there, I've met Streetbike Tommy(a member of Travis Pastrana's Nitro Circus extreme sports crew), Jordan Wallace(amateur Kart racing driver), and in two weeks from now, Kurt Busch will be there! He's doing a wounded warrior charity thing. Also, since I've started working there, I've already beaten the track record on the shorter "lemans" course. the previous fastest time was 18.84 seconds, my time was 18.26! my lap times remain consistent at about 19.1 to 19.0 seconds. on the longer and twistier "Monaco" track, the record is set at 22.1 seconds, and my times remain at repetitive 23.3's which is decent, compared to some of my coworkers' best times, which don't appear to go below 23.6 seconds. we do host an indoor kart racing league where professional kart drivers, autocross drivers, and regular old businessmen with heavy feet come in for some casual racing. they bring their own helmets, which is good because we only have so many balaclavas to give and wash for customers using our helmets.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 05 Sep 2014, 16:30

While I'm still down with transmission issues (The casing itself spilt, a remnant of my early season accident) the points seasons have ended. Now we entered 2 championships. And the one, despite missing nearly 75% of the races due to various calamities, we still finished 27th out of 38 in points. To put that into perspective, the Top 15 in points go to the Division Finals to race for over $100,000. If we had made just one or two more races, we probably would have qualified.

If I can get a car next year that holds together, I think I have a shot.

mrfakeboullier · Post by **mrfakeboullier** » 06 Sep 2014, 10:29

For my birthday me and some other friends went karting at my local track with a load of really really bad adults who kept on spinning out. I also was involved in a crash when someone who I was trying to overtake spun in front of me. He rebounded and I hit him. I was the fastest by over a second. In the second session we were in a group of people who made Chanoch Nisanny look like Senna by weaving on a straight (very delatrazian) and then squeezing me into a wall on the fastest corner on the track. I hurt my writ and thy were black flagged. I was going to scream at them when they came out of the kart but they turned out to be seven

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 06 Sep 2014, 21:19

this past labor day, i got paid a time-and-a-half for working the holiday.
my manager walks up to me and says "who'd have thought you'd be working here one year later".
until that moment, it never crossed my mind. i love my job. i love driving those karts. i love racing. next week is pay day and i'm grabbing myself a Bell Vador Sa2010 auto racing helmet, just because. I'll also probably get a Hans Device for it(and end up drilling the holes myself, i'm a DIY guy) because the neck braces we have are too thin for my tastes. i was wearing one when i got hit up my left side, but my head and neck still got shaken pretty hard, plus the shoulder muscles that hurt after i totaled my dads car started hurting right away, so i'm going to play it safe.

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 08 Sep 2014, 01:41

Heading to Buttonwillow Raceway (13CW configuration: http://buttonwillowraceway.com/pdf/brp- ... ace-13.pdf) at the end of the month. I'm undecided as to whether to take the Elise SC or the beater Miata. The Elise SC is of course faster, but this will be my friend's first trackday and he has a very similar Miata to mine, so it might be more educational to take him for rides in the Miata rather than the Elise. But then, the Miata needs a bit of work to get it ready for the trackday...

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 10 Sep 2014, 15:01

nome66 wrote:this past labor day, i got paid a time-and-a-half for working the holiday.
my manager walks up to me and says "who'd have thought you'd be working here one year later".
until that moment, it never crossed my mind. i love my job. i love driving those karts. i love racing. next week is pay day and i'm grabbing myself a Bell Vador Sa2010 auto racing helmet, just because. I'll also probably get a Hans Device for it(and end up drilling the holes myself, i'm a DIY guy) because the neck braces we have are too thin for my tastes. i was wearing one when i got hit up my left side, but my head and neck still got shaken pretty hard, plus the shoulder muscles that hurt after i totaled my dads car started hurting right away, so i'm going to play it safe.

It's an awful drug isn't it? Just as expensive and twice as addicting as heroin. Say goodbye to friends, a social life, free time, money, any chance of romance, all in the quest to go faster than people you never met.

LionZoo wrote:Heading to Buttonwillow Raceway (13CW configuration: http://buttonwillowraceway.com/pdf/brp- ... ace-13.pdf) at the end of the month. I'm undecided as to whether to take the Elise SC or the beater Miata. The Elise SC is of course faster, but this will be my friend's first trackday and he has a very similar Miata to mine, so it might be more educational to take him for rides in the Miata rather than the Elise. But then, the Miata needs a bit of work to get it ready for the trackday...

Take the Elise, there's like 10 over here, it shouldn't be parked!

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 11 Sep 2014, 10:58

Wallio wrote:
nome66 wrote:this past labor day, i got paid a time-and-a-half for working the holiday.
my manager walks up to me and says "who'd have thought you'd be working here one year later".
until that moment, it never crossed my mind. i love my job. i love driving those karts. i love racing. next week is pay day and i'm grabbing myself a Bell Vador Sa2010 auto racing helmet, just because. I'll also probably get a Hans Device for it(and end up drilling the holes myself, i'm a DIY guy) because the neck braces we have are too thin for my tastes. i was wearing one when i got hit up my left side, but my head and neck still got shaken pretty hard, plus the shoulder muscles that hurt after i totaled my dads car started hurting right away, so i'm going to play it safe.

It's an awful drug isn't it? Just as expensive and twice as addicting as heroin. Say goodbye to friends, a social life, free time, money, any chance of romance, all in the quest to go faster than people you never met.

i mean i work at a gokart track, it's kind of a thing i have to do :lol:

but, yes i do intend on making something out of this consistent rhythm i have going on. just ordered my helmet. Hans devices are a bit pricey so i'll hold off until the next check.

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 12 Sep 2014, 01:04

Wallio wrote:Take the Elise, there's like 10 over here, it shouldn't be parked!

The Elise does get driven and in fact is generally the trackday car of choice. It's just that this time there are special circumstances. Still, I'm not sure I'm in the mood of be bumping more money into car parts this month after committing to spending close to $1k yesterday.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 13 Sep 2014, 05:44

broke my personal best today! from 23.04 to 22.87! i've got all the braking-zones down. now, just pushing it. also, the new overall track record was set at 21.98 seconds by my coworker, which is just insane considering the car he picked has a crooked chain-sprocket.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 13 Sep 2014, 20:23

nome66 wrote:i don't currently have a car worth calling a high-horsepower monster(at least not until the money starts flowing again), but i have been a "driver for hire" of sorts.

I'm fairly sure this means that you drive getaway cars.

Post by **Nuppiz** » 14 Sep 2014, 08:46

Backmarker wrote:
nome66 wrote:i don't currently have a car worth calling a high-horsepower monster(at least not until the money starts flowing again), but i have been a "driver for hire" of sorts.

I'm fairly sure this means that you drive getaway cars.

Or maybe he's using GPM2 terms, in which case he's a pay driver. :lol:

Pointrox · Post by **Pointrox** » 14 Sep 2014, 10:40

Backmarker wrote:
nome66 wrote:i don't currently have a car worth calling a high-horsepower monster(at least not until the money starts flowing again), but i have been a "driver for hire" of sorts.

I'm fairly sure this means that you drive getaway cars.

First rule: no questions.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 15 Sep 2014, 01:49

nope just one or two street racer's asking me to drive because i would always manage an above-decent launch off the line. they were both honda builders. cars that were capable of mid-9-second times at the track, but couldn't get the traction on the street. i have since stopped after i heard about one of their garages being raided for stolen parts.
also, to be quite honest, drag racing is fun to watch, but i'm not really into it otherwise. i love corners and such.

anyways... this came in the mail two days ago. next check, Hans Device and a Gold-Chromed visor.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 15 Sep 2014, 12:46

Looks like the original stig's helmet

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 15 Sep 2014, 20:00

nome66 wrote:broke my personal best today! from 23.04 to 22.87! i've got all the braking-zones down. now, just pushing it. also, the new overall track record was set at 21.98 seconds by my coworker, which is just insane considering the car he picked has a crooked chain-sprocket.

Curious, but what do you do to warm up the tires? Hire karts seem to all have some insanely hard tires and I find constantly weaving back and forth for multiple laps on end really helps get some heat into the tires and finally get them to stick.