This is so addicting, thank god for an understanding wife. I spent about 5 hours at the track today and got a total of about 80 miles lapping. This was the first track day with the rollbar and 5pt harness and I love them. I felt so planted in the car that the R simply felt like an extension of myself. The car ran flawlessly - burned some oil and ended up boiling my fluid (time for some RBF600). A short track, hard braking zones and thin air make this track is extremely hard on brakes.

My focus today was on two things. First, consistency - I want to hit my marks each lap and each corner should be nearly the same each time through. I am improving on that for sure. The other thing I really focused on today was understanding what the car was doing underneath me - paying attention to turn-in, looking for understeer at corner entry or exit, characteristics under trail braking. So often I can only articulate myself in "it felt good" or "it didn't feel good". That is no way to begin any process to optimize your car set-up. What made this fun was the difference in temperature throughout the day - pretty cold in the morning (40*) and warm in the afternoon (68*). It was interesting to try and understand the effects of the temperature on how the car was behaving. I'd like to get some R compounds (or the new Falkens) becasue these Azenis suck when they get hot...

As the day went on the track filled up with some vintage MGs and a ton of motorcycles. I have never been on the track with motorcycles before, and it was awesome. You always have to be ready becasue they come up fast behind you. I was able to hang with a few of them for several laps and the sound they make was absolutely amazing.

Of course I snapped photos - if anybody is getting tired of me posting pics let me know, but hey, I had my camera with me. Obviously, I didn't take the photos of me driving...











The Bikes:

 

cool man so the azenis suck in the heat?? hmmmm I was thinking about rocking those for expo but now Im second guessing.

what kinda bike is the second to last one? looks sick

 

my 2 loves... R's and Bikes

 

 

Looks like so much fun - :jealous:

Got any more bike pics?

 

Flux,

Can you stop posting pics? It's getting annoying. Thanks.

<-- Just jealous because the track around here won't be built for another 5 months, at least

ps Sweet pics

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

what kinda bike is the second to last one? looks sick</TD></TR></TABLE>

Looks like a Yammy R6

 

looks fun, I was always a little uneasy about the idea of bikes and cars on track at the same time. Nelson does that too.

&lt;~~~leaving for a WERA motorcycle race at summit pt. tonight.

 

Looks awesome Flux. Must be a blast runnin' with some crotch rockets blasting around you. Interesting comment about the Azenis. I was looking in to those but may now go another route. Thanks for great review.

Your car looks great on the track. Like she's right at home. Oh yeah...post as many pics as you like of your car; I need a new desktop pic.

 

nice pics...makes me want a bike even more. damn mom won't let me

 

Thanks for the comments guys - having a track 20 minutes from your house with open track time is so great.

About the Azenis - these are great tires, don't get me wrong, especially for somebody just learning - but today they were good for maybe 3 laps before they started falling off fast in grip levels due to the heat that was in them. And it wasn't just a problem one run at a time - they got substantially worse becasue I didn't let them cool off for more than maybe 45 minutes between sessions and was not spraying them. Each time out they were worse than before, asking too much of them I suppose...


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kengs the "OG" JDM Junkie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Got any more bike pics? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Of Course...







And this was cool:

 

Beats sitting around eating pizza watching replays of Toca Race Driver 2.

So Flux, were the bikes all significantly faster than the cars? I've never seen them at a school.

 

Wow

 

clean looking R and nice pics of the bikes

 

Tire heaters on the bikes? Thats freaking sick!!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So Flux, were the bikes all significantly faster than the cars? I've never seen them at a school.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Some of them were for sure, but not others. I was actually surprised because I thought they would be even faster than they were. I could actually hang with some of the faster bikes for several laps, only losing a few tenths - half a second a lap maybe. Their cornering speed is amazing, but I didn't give much away to them on the straights and could actually close up a bit under braking (surprising I know).

But some of them were just blowing the doors of the cars...

If I was brave I'd ride one of those...

 

nice pictures as usual, i wish i had a track 20 mins from. i would be there all the time if there was a track 20 mins from me!! looks like fun!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by OUTKAST_R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my 2 loves... R's and Bikes</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

What I wouldn't give to take one of those track bikes for a couple laps...

 

Looks like loads of fun. I cant' wait to get back to the track again. By they way I never get tired of seeing your car so keep on snapping

 

much appreciated

 

Awesomeness

 

Sweeeet pictures - makes me ask myself why i ever gave up my bike

 

I am in love with your wheels....

 

Wow looks like an awesome time. Those track bikes look so sexy.