MattD@Stoptech

So I figured I would tell you guys how my Nazareth track event went, in
short, I think its safe to say that, although, this is the smallest track
I've been to in my brief time of doing this, it was by far the most
intimidating. Knowing very well that I usually drive on the edge of my skill
level and sometimes beyond it, and those white walls feet away from car
(sometimes less) was definitely a stress inducing experience.
My weekend started by getting the car ready on Friday after getting home
from work. I was bedding the hawk blues the previous weekend and I wanted to
remove them for the 150+ mile drive down, I figured since I already had to
remove front wheels to swap the pads I might as well put the race tires on.
I was also rushing to put the pedals I got to easy my heel and toeing woes.
With the help of my trusty Dremel and some screwdrivers I was able to remove
the old ones and put on the new ones with minimal of hardship. I drove down
from CT to my parent's house in NJ, got there around 11pm and went to bed
around 12ish. Woke up at 5:00am so I could get ready in time and meet Joe
between 5:40-5:50am, I was running late so once I got on the highway I was
going 90mph all the way till I had to exit. Its amazing how loud the Yoko
A032Rs are at that speed, it was drowning both my exhaust and the wind
noise, the ride was extremely controlled, and stable...I could have been
cruising at that speed all day (and have before.) As I get close to rt22 I
remember that I need to get on 22west, as I'm getting on the off ramp I
suddenly realize that I was supposed to go to the east, instead of going
with the off ramp and just hitting the first U-turn I decide to cut across
all lanes of traffic to hit the other exit. It's a good thing I drive a Type
R....too bad that all my stuff went flying in the car... So I finally got to
Joe's at 5:50am and we loaded up some stuff that wouldn't easily fit in his
Subaru, went to quick check for a snack and drinks and set off to drive to
Nazareth. I had given Joe one of my two ways radios so we could converse on
our trip, but later realizing that I did not change the batteries, so while
I could hear him, all he got was static in response (some say that's all the
get when they talk to me in person anyway so it wasn't a big loss) but it
made for some confusion, and some frantic arm waving between cars...Then Joe
decided to loose me by slamming on the brakes to get to a gas station, but I
was gonna have none of it and promptly engaged my calipers and entered
through the exit of the gas station...that will show him...then I get out of
the car to pump my gas when the attendant walks up to me. Oh, silly me, we
are still in NJ. I blame my brain freeze on lack of sleep or something. My
favorite part of the drive was the twisty section of 22 through Easton, PA,
the one with the "Cargo may shift" sign. The sign was right, but it allowed
me to get some right hand turns under my belt (for those who don't know
Nazareth is a Tri-oval track, going in the counterclockwise direction (all
left turns))
Once we got to the track we started unloading and setting up. Linda and
Simon showed up shortly followed by Steve, Justin, and Adam. Then the rest
started trickling in. Registration went very smoothly, as did tech, although
we had no idea how to tech the racecars and all we did was check for loose
items and that the battery was securely strapped in. I think the drivers
were amused by our "tech inspection." The first cars out were the racecars
and they went out there making a lot of noise. Next up were the advanced
group and the instructors, followed by the Novices (most of us there). Since
the instructor to student ratio wasn't that good it turned out that each
instructor would have three cars to take care of. I lucked out with Jim
Mattons, he put me as the last car of the train as he had confidence in me
(I guess.) We went out and were going pretty slow the first session, there
were too many cars on this short track and everyone was being cautious.
Nazareth has a high pucker factor, as the walls are always there waiting to
chew your car and spit it out, this track has to be respected even more than
road courses as there is zero run off room, the good thing is with the
slight banking if one does start oversteering and does NOT try to save it
the car will have the tendency to skid away from the walls and towards the
grass on the inside of the turns. As I was driving on the track I notice
that my exhaust sounded extremely loud (as opposed to the usual extra-loud),
the sound waves are bounced off of the track walls and thus one gets an
amplified effect. It was so loud that I could barely hear Jim over the
racket. Good thing he didn't have anything important to say....just
joking...The cycle was repeated and the novices went out again and we all
started going faster and faster, but it was still too crowded and with
students with differing skill levels it made for a too slow a ride for some
and too fast for others. When we came back in it was decided that we should
split the novice group into two smaller groups, and although it was a good
decision to make the execution turned out to me a little jumbled. On a
different note, as I pitted, I decided to make the car sound even more
Furious like, since it was already fast. I promptly took off the airbox
cover to free up the wonderful induction noise of the B18C5.
The first novice group lined up in the grid, but since the instructor's run
group was immediately before the novice run group the instructors would have
to pit in, park their cars and rush back to staging to get to drive with
their students. Due to some miscommunication the pit out let out the first 5
students while they didn't have instructors with them (all except me, I had
Jim since he skipped his session.) As we went out the first couple of cars
took off with me in tow, I was short shifting to save the wear on the car
and because there was no need to accelerate hard so the car didn't sound too
different. But as I rounded one corned in 4th gear and passed 90mph the big
lobe profile came into play when VTEC kicked in. The sound difference was
staggering, where before I could Berkley could hear Jim talk now I couldn't
even hear myself thinking. The deep rumbly sound of the intake combined with
the exhaust note and the echo bounced off of the walls combined into a
beautifully harmonic sound that Honda engineers would shed a tear
for.....maybe...But alas the cars in front of me had no instructors and
their lines were all screwed up. Jim didn't like that one bit cause the
students were not signed off, and I agreed with him, after two laps I pitted
in and Jim let Steve know that the cars out there had no instructors. They
were promptly black flagged and came in. No harm done, but this will
definitely be avoided next time. Jim told me that he is worried about my
line or lack thereof, so I take him all serious and get worried that I'm
doing something stupid when I realized that he is just joking. The British
and their dry sense of humor... Then it was time to break for lunch, but
unfortunately some people helped themselves to more than one portion and
some brought their whole crew to eat gratis, it wasn't fair and some key
people ended up not getting anything, Linda amongst them as well as a couple
of instructors. Fortunately the catering place helped us out and delivered
extra food at no charge to us, a very nice gesture on their part. Jim
signed me off so the next session was run solo. I staged first in line so I
could get some free track and boy did I. Once we went out the cars behind me
were on my tail as I was warming up my tires (Lime Rock spin still fresh in
my mind) but with each passing lap I went faster and faster, and soon there
was no one behind me at all. As I'm going round and round I can see no
evidence of anyone else on the track, I start worrying that they brought
every one else in and I missed the signal, but I'm watching the flaggers
like a hawk and I can see no signals or flags, so I relax and keep on going
faster. As it turned out I was doing very well, posting some impressive
times, according to the flaggers and track crew, they were also impressed by
my line...woohoo...the rice boy image defeated by my mad driving
skillzexers! Of course it all come very close to a screeching halt when I
made two mistakes coming into turn no.3. I went in too fast and turned in
too early...I started tracking out right towards the wall...the moment froze
in time...the wall was coming closer and I was getting pulled towards it
faster and faster...the car was right on the edge and the slightest of
movement could send it towards the wall with increased fervor. Instinct took
over and I knew that whatever corrections I did would have to be by the
extremely minor. I left the steering wheel as I was already understeering
and I concentrated on slooooooowly moving my foot off of the accelerator...I
couldn't have moved it more then a fraction of an inch, but I felt the car
scrubbing speed by understeering and the velocity decreasing with less
accelerator given...I still didn't know if I was gonna hit the wall or
not...but at least I was at a gentler arc. I felt the wheels pick up debris
sitting by the wall and in the peripheral of my vision I saw the dust
stirring up behind me as I was driving where no driver wants to be.... I
came extremely close to the wall, by my estimation and corner worker
accounts I was about a foot away from scraping the wall....If I had lifted I
would have lost it and the whole right side of the car would have been
scraped up...or worse...It was way more scary than the spin at Lime Rock.
Later I found out that the corner workers were sure that there would be
yellow paint to scrape off the walls for sure...and all of this after they
were talking on the radio how good my line was and how well I was
doing...the last few laps were done a lot slower, but I wasn't shaken up
enough to come in, I knew what I did wrong and it definitely was imprinted
in my memory for a long while. When the session was over, Simon and Joe, who
where in radio communication with the flaggers didn't want to tell me how
highly praised I was by them for fearing of giving me a big head....they
were right, upon learning of the talks I got a huge ego boost, all despite
my near miss. The good thing was that the ego stayed off the racetrack, the
bad news was that every one around me would have to deal with the cocky
Matt.
Soon after (or maybe it was before) It was time for the racecars to do what
they do best. They lined up in the order they qualified and since Dave
Davis's G2 Acura was the fastest around the track at mid 34s in qualifying
he staged first, followed by the Corvette, the Factory Five Cobra, and Matt
Bookler's Davis sponsored CRX. Once they went around the track behind the
pace car and then once again at half speed it was time for the green flag to
drop. The 600+hp Corvette took off at full throttle and the other cars might
as well have been standing still...The Corvette started to go much faster
than it did in qualifying, but I'll leave the race description to Matt
himself and exerpts from his email: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=78214

That spin also looked very exciting from our venture point in the press box
for timing and lap counting purposes. I was sure that the Integra was going
to hit the wall and then I was sure that the CRX was going to hit the
Integra, but, like I do so often, I was wrong. I'm glad it turned out that
way. Of course it all didn't mean very much since all of the cars were in
separate classes and thus all of them won.
I forgot to mention that when I was setting up my car I changed the front
pads from my glazed Portefield R4S to Hawk Blues, I was rushing since I
helped a bit with setting up for the event and then tech-ing the cars and I
was behind on time, so after removing everything from my car, putting the
pads on I promptly drove to the tech line. As I'm getting close I apply the
brakes.....nothing....I forgot to press the brake pedal a couple of times so
it would come into contact with the pads...thus I had zero braking power...I
missed the car in front by mere inches by pulling around...thank god there
was no one standing beside it...I stopped with my heart pounding. Later I
realized I also forgot to tape up my lights and even to put on my numbers
before my first session. I think I should make a list before the next event
cause we all had a lot of things to do and take care of. Also to mention
the mugen pedals again....Nazareth does not require any shifting once you
get up to speed....one stays in 4th the whole time...so I put on my pedals
just for show and for the sake of some poorly executed heel and toes on the
trip to and from the track...oh well. Nazareth also does not put on heavy
requirements on the brakes, there is only one turn that demands any heavy
braking, but it was not enough to even make the hawk blues warm. I run the
next day on the R4S pads as there was no reason to chew up my rotors with
the blues. Nazareth does strain the right two tires, especially the front
one (at least for FWD), as I was flying through the last session for
Saturday I overheated the right front tire and when I pitted in I realized I
have blistered it. I was pushing the car too much through the fast section
with too high of a pressure in the tires and it took its toll. I should have
started with much lower pressures in the tires. I started with 35 in the
front and 30 in the back, I should have started with 30psi all around.
Lesson learned.
After the race was complete we packed up most of the stuff and went to get a
hotel room, I roomed with Linda, Simon, and Joe. But that's another story
all together...lest just say that a lot of time was spent discussing the
mole people, dead homeless people, crazy chicken vs. devil chicken, lack of
clean socks, emblem stealing emblems, pointing newly bought toothbrushes
menacingly and threateningly at each other, stench in a jar, malodorous
vomit, and other silly things that are sure to keep these four people
entertained for years to come. In case anyone cares the PC term for mole
people (as composed by us) is the Underground Rodent Dweller or URD for
short. After taking showers and changing into whatever clean clothes we had
we met in the lobby with the other NASA board members, instructors and the
track manager (Rob) and his wife. We headed to an Italian restaurant on
Rob's recommendation and dined and discussed the day's events. Lance showed
up with his female friend to drop of some CDs for me and join us for diner.
Very nice of him to do so for me. Rob spent some time trying to convince me
that my close call with the wall was fun....I didn't bite, nothing about it
was fun. Overall a good diner, although I spent more time gloating than the
usual amount. Blame it on the Yuengling. The food was very good, but also
somewhat pricey (worth the price though) and I quickly found myself with
very little money left in my wallet. (I'll come better prepared next time.)
After dinner the group split up and went their separate ways. We stopped by
a local bar that sold package goods and Simon went in to purchase some brew.
He came out fifteen minutes later letting us know that he was able to
purchase domestic beer as he was too afraid to ask for imported. Judging by
the people walking into the bar I don't blame him one bit. We promptly went
back to our room and socialized a bit while enjoying Rolling Rock Beer. Then
it was time to pass out...
Sunday begun a bit bumpy with me forgetting to turn off my watch's 5:00am
alarm as well as the 5:16am alarm I have set previously. With me being as
tired as I was and still not fully woken up, my eyes refused to focus right
and instead of grabbing my watch to turn off the alarm I kept grabbing the
telephone...it was quite bizarre, but the turn out was that I woke everyone
up. We then woke up at 6:00am (which for me is 1 hour more than I get during
weekdays,) I was thus in a much better mood then the rest of the crew,
especially Linda....word of advice, stay out of Linda's way in the
morning...I was for sure she was going to rip off one of my limbs and beat
me to death with it...So after hitting Dunkin Donuts we went back to the
track. This time I left the brakes alone changed the tires, put on the
numbers, and put tape over the lights without forgetting anything (or so I
thought.) The turn out for Sunday was a bit thin, but a lot of people
remained from Saturday. With most of the novices signed off we decided to
bump some of the novices to the advanced/instructor group. I was one of
those people. This time I set my tire pressure at 30psi all around and put
the blistered tire and wheel in the rear right position on the car (I wanted
to put it in the left rear position but I was worried that since the tires
are directional it would have adverse effects.) So I went out there to play
with the big boys. I was definitely the car with the least amount of power
out there...I was amongst 300hp Rx7, Twin turbo 300ZX, 911, Firebird,
Camaro, etc....So I started going around waiting for my tires to warm up
with all the instructors piled on my butt, I let them all pass on the
straight. Then once the tires warmed up I started going faster, going around
turn 2, which is a really long turn, most of which is done above 90mph the
rear of the car stepped out after hitting a bump, I stayed on the power and
loosened the line just a bit, but it was still very scary...I went in the
next lap and checked tire pressures, they were holding steady and I was not
overheating any of the tires. I went out on the track again. The back did
the same thing again...it was not fun at all. I pitted in and went back to
the paddock, I switched the two rear tires, putting the blistered rear tire
on the rear left position as I was worried that it was causing the
oversteer. In the next session I decided to run with the Novice group again
since all the cars instructor group would pile up behind me in the straight.
Plus I still didn't want to push it because of the oversteer and Saturday's
near miss. So I went with the novices showing them my line and incrementally
getting faster and faster, I was going at a pretty good pace, and
accelerating hard in the straight when the engine lost all power...I looked
down and I was very low on gas. I starved the engine of fuel...not good,
thank heavens it happened in the straight, if I lost power in any of the
turns I would have been scraping my car off of the well. I immediately
pitted in and went to get gas. After getting gas I went out on the next
session and the car felt a lot more stable with the additional weight in the
back. I guess it was stepping out because the back was a lot lighter than
I'm used to, it is most likely faster that way, but very unsettling, at
least at this experience level. Then we went to compete in the time trials.
Four cars were on the track with a small buffer between them, when I went
out I didn't know how slow or fast I was supposed to go and I caught up to
the RX7 that was in front of me, I started to slow down to give him and me
some distance but then the 300Z caught up to us as well. So we started going
around like that, but the RX7 driver didn't have enough experience level to
go as fast as I wanted to go, so I was being held back. I pitted in knowing
that I should be allowed to go out again with a different group since I got
held up. I started my new time trial pretty confident and I was lifting
later and braking less and overall I felt pretty good, I still wasn't
pushing at all in no. 3 cause I still had bad memories of that wall coming
up on me, but over all I was still a tad faster in time trials than my
fastest times on Saturday. I came even close to Todd's times in his white
Civic hybrid racecar. Him and I know that my car should be capable of
lapping faster than the civic, but I don't think I'm ready to be pushing as
much. I need to work on my consistency a bit, before going completely *****
out. Upon coming back to the pits I realized that I lost one of my magnetic
numbers....I asked around to see if anyone saw it fall off, or found it, but
no one did. We even drove around the track picking up the pointer cones
looking for the number, but it was all in naught. That was about it for the
Nazareth track event, I drove to my parents house, picked up some things and
trekked back to CT, I got there around 9:30pm and collapsed soon after.
Overall it was a very good experience, and I will definatelly do it again.
The more interest we generate in Nazareth and the more people show up at
NASA's track days there, the sooner Nazareth will start to build the infield
course there. It's a win win situation as far as I'm concerned. I hope to
have more people show up next time with me so they can experience as much
fun as I did.

Crack Monkey

Why were you teching racecars? This is a job that should be completed by a certified inspector. Teching racecars involves a LOT more than a typical soloII inspection. Rollcage thickness and diameter, welds, kill switch operation, fire system pressure, overflow cans on all fluid systems, properly installed bucket seats, harness dates, etc.

STOLEN - ITR 98-0652

That was painful to read.

Whoever allowed you to pass basic composition should be dragged out and shot.

Hope you had fun, though.

Big Phat R

Looks like he wrote it while high on crack or something....

Need an abridged version....

itrhybrid

Good God. Cliff notes please!

MattD@Stoptech

Obviously it took me some time to write all that, I dont have an english degree, English is not even my first language, but please, dont waste my time by writing pointless messages criticizing my composition skils.

davidnyc

Matt,
Thanks for the write up !!!!!!! Do you mind if I use it on my website? I'll see you this Saturday at Englishtown.

Kamil

Is this what you do at work?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
At least next time provide some cliff notes for your book. God knows I have nothing better to do here.

I copy and pasted it into word (6 pages), need something to read on the way home.

-Kamil, the dude down stairs.


[Modified by Kamil, 4:10 PM 10/15/2001]