Nelson Ledges, OH: The freak cold front that has hit Northeast Ohio seems to have brought another problem along with it - Mad Frogs have been sighted running rampant at Nelson Ledges race track.



Yeah I swung by the track for a bit today to take some pictures. Unfortunately I only got to say a quick hello to SJR. He seemed to be doing well though. He started up front in the one session of his that I watched and really took off, even started working his way through some of the backmarkers.

It was pretty f-ing cold (38 degrees) but only light rain. There was some standing water on the track as well. Hopefully the weather forecasters will be wrong about the foot of snow for Sunday.

Later,

- Markus

 

Nice photo, I'm rooting for him, (or at least my motor and trans are)

 

I don't know Markus if the weather out there is anything like it is here today they got snow.

Nice pic tho

 

Nelson Update: Yes it was snowing out there today. Unlike other areas of Cleveland though it didn't seem to be sticking to the ground too much. The organizers were smart - they extended the Saturday session later and had things wrap up by noon today.

Given the cold and slick conditions it looked like most people had an off at one point or another - luckily SJR was not one of them. He is on his way back to VA right now with his race license.

I should have more pix up in a day or so.

Later,

- Markus

 

Thanks for the update... glad to hear things went well!

 

Thanks for posting the pic - and for helping out with the packing of my very own mud pit.
Made it home, tired but happy. The weather was miserable, but the car ran fine, no problems.

I'll post up some more info tomorrow.

 

Car looks good seabass, but its still missing its froggy spots.
Slack ***.

 

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Markus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Nelson Ledges, OH: The freak cold front that has hit Northeast Ohio seems to have brought another problem along with it - Mad Frogs have been sighted running rampant at Nelson Ledges race track. </TD></TR></TABLE>

They looked like Turtles to me.

 

Wow, you really lucked out with the weather --- Trust me. A bit further up north in Cleveland we got a foot and a half of snow in some places, and I've been without power for over 12 hrs (at school right now).

 

wow, what a weekend that was. Once again, some valuable lessons learned, met some really good folks, and learned another track. How do I begin?

It all started with some panic and nerves about that damn noisy transmission. I called up Tom Blaney while on my way, and we decided to load up the tranny with some heavier oil to protect it and take it easy for the weekend. I really like that I can call Tom anytime and get in touch with him for advice, help, etc.
A six hour drive in the rain later, I got to beautiful, scenic Nelson Ledges race track. Picture a farm with a track in the back field.
The track looked quite intimidating. Tire walls everywhere, no gravel traps, and SLICK pavement. On top of that, I noticed a BMW driver that I have been seeing this year (he was at VIR in Feb, and Summit for the school last month) had planted his car in the tire wall and needed a new radiator and some sheet metal work

So off to the paddock I go. I picked a nice patch of green, soaked grass and called it home. It would soon become a hateful cold and wet mud pit that I came to loathe.
I had time to unload the car, the truck, set up the canopy and bleed the brakes before registration and tech opened. So far so good. Wet, cold, but good. Between registration and the class, I had an hour to kill, so I went in search of a local Autozone. It took a while, as there is NOTHING around Nelson. Found one in Warren and got some 20w50 oil for the tranny. Good to go.

The class was your typical SCCA class, although we were freezing our asses off - no heater. After that, it was off to the armpit of Ohio: Warren. After passing a few "Oriental Massage Parlor: Open 24 hours a day" I got to downtown Warren where the Comfort Inn was located. It looked good on the picture online. I should have stayed at the Econolodge. Live and learn.

The next morning was the big day. It was cold and wet (sense a pattern yet?) and I started changing the tranny oil before the driver meeting.
Lesson 1: cold 50 weight oil pours VERY SLOWLY.

Jon Marefhka was our group leader. Very nice guy, and he has the ITA track record on that track. About a 95mph average. I met my instructor, Ray, who knows the track like his back pocket, he has literally thousands of laps at Nelson. On the drive arounds, we got to learn all the intricacies of the deceptively simple track, and which bump to use, which dip to avoid, and how to "feel" each apex. They're easy to spot in the rain: they're full of water.

The first session on track was interesting. I looked like a freaking hero! Of course, I had Dirt Stockers on the car where most others were running either dry tires, or street intermediates. It was entertaining to watch everybody slide while I just motored on.
Lesson 2: even on Dirt Stockers, lift off the brakes when going through a patch of deep standing water.

From there it was back to the mud pit. The day proceeded as SCCA schools do: alternating track time with debrief sessions. As I mentioned before, we had 2 sorta dry sessions where I switched to the Toyos. That was some major fun. You can really carry some speed around that track.

Lesson 3: bring some water proof shoes/boots. Frozen wet toes suck.
Lesson 4: don't leave the helmet in the race car with no windows when it's raining. Cold wet helmets suck even more

As the weather was deteriorating, the organizers decied to take us out there for one more session so that we could maximize our track time Saturday, in case the weather got worse on Sunday. Good call. By then, my leather jacket was soaked, along with my shoes (both street and driving) and my suit. Miserable doesn't begin to describe it. But once in the car, it was all forgotten. Adrenaline is a good drug.

During the day, I saw some interesting driving. There was a 240SX that couldn't drive straight. Great car control to catch the car everytime. Reminiscent of the Dukes of Hazzard driving style. I was quite intimidated and didn't dare pass in fear of him collecting me either on the upswing, or the rebound once he caught it. Luckily, after 2 or 3 laps following him he went way wide in 13 and blasted inside him. Whew!.
There was also a beatiful vintage Alfa that was traction challenged. Fast, but squirelly.
And then there was Chris Himes in an older FP civic. Man that thing was looud. and that carburated 1500 goes like stink. Chris was having some problem in the 1-2-3 complex and we played follow the leader for a few laps. Once he got it, he was quite fast, and we had some fun out there. Unfortunately, he got red misted in the last session and took a hard hit in the tire wall, destrying the front end of the car. He and his crew were working late into the night to get the car in good enough shape to limp through the next day and complete the school.

Day two and a short affair, thankfully. After getting the snow off the race car, we took a short session on track, 3 practice starts and the race. The race should have been 10 laps, was cut down to 5 because of the heavy snow falling, then 3 because of the worsening conditions (visibility? what visibility?).
I was able to gain some spots on the practice starts, going from 8 to 5.
Lesson 5: it is true what Kirk said: always take the inside on the first corner

The race was on. We all lined up, me back in 8th place (grid error?). Green flag and off we went. By turn 3, I had passed a couple of cars on the inside and was going on. I watched the leader take off (on ffing fast VR6 golf, and the driver is good too!) and set my sights on 3rd and 4th cars. I was trying to gain on them when the red flag came out, halfway through the second lad. Damn! 6 cars blew that flag, btw. Turns out the Alfa put a wheel off coming out the carousel and flipped. The car is toast, but the driver was fine.
That was the anticlimactic end of a long cold wet weekend at the track. I got signed off and earned some kudos from several instructors, which always feels good. I don't know how to thank the workers enough this weekend. We were miserable as drivers, but at least we got to drive. These guys and gals were standing out in the driving rain and snow all weekend, and they were still smiling. Can't thank them enough!

I found a group of DC folks (the aforementioned BMW guy who lost his radiator) who were nice enough to share their Propane heater with me. Tom in a E36 325is, Jeff in a E30 325, Joe in a 240SX, Julie in a Spec Miata and Jason who was just hanging out. These guys were really nice, and we ended up caravaning back to DC. Thanks guys,
Lesson 6: not all BMW drivers are snobs!

Well, that got long winded, didn't it? If you are still reading, get back to work you slacker!

I am glad the weekend is over, and I got signed off. Thanks to Jon Marefhka for being a great group leader, Ray my instructor, all the workers at Nelson. Ya'll were first class. The weather sucked, but the people rocked!

 

Wow. I think you get the shitty weather at a driving school award.

Zsolt, Chris, Kirk and Renee had it pretty bad at Roebling last year (rain and 30 something degrees for 2 of the 3 days) but we never saw any snow. But I will say that 35 rookies taking a start and going down into turn 1 with ZERO visability because of spray is pretty scarey. Especially when one of those rookies is driving YOUR car.

Sounds like it was tough but still fun.
Damn this racing crap. How can something suck monkey *** and still manage to be enjoyable? &lt;grumble&gt;

 

I can't believe that I didn't thank our very own Markus for coming out in the miserable weather and helping pack up. I usually dislike getting all the gear put up after a long weekend of driving, but doing while exhausted, cold and wet, standing in a mud pit in my driving suit and my Sparcos full of icy water was really sucky.
Good thing Markus showed up and helped me fold up the canopy and finish packing it all in the truck.

yeah, even though racing in the snow is not all it's cracked up to be, it was still fun. Addiction is a powerful force indeed.

I'm not sure which was scarier: going into 1 on a wet track with a bunch of rookies with snow coming down, or driving 6 hours on sunday after a school weekend dodging semis in the pouring rain and snow... I think I was too tired to be scared while towing.

 

No problem helping out really, I'm sorry I wasn't more help. Also in hindsight I'm sorry I didn't take some pictures of your location because it was pretty muddy. Anyone watch Survivor when the one tribe's encampment got washed away by a storm? Yeah...that's kind of how SJR looked...

Here's SJR on grid ready to go:


Here's the only pic I have of SJR on track with other cars around him, he must have been really far ahead:


He got the race license, now he thinks he's a supermodel:


Congrats on getting the license again and nice meeting you.

- Markus

 

nah, if I wanted to go for the supermodel pose, I'd have taken the jacket off to show off the Sparco. We all know that chicks dig Sparco.
Granted, there weren't any chicks around... goes to show they have more sense, huh?

 

SJR-

You did a great job at Nelson. I can't wait to race with you.

Jon

 

Oh yeah....here's another picture showing how heavy the snow squalls were Sunday morning...I think there's a Neon hidden behind the snowflakes somewhere...

 

Congrats on your successful weekend and new completed schools Sebastien. Sounds like Nelson ate a few cars as usual but the weather gets some of the blame.

My wife completed her novice permit in the snow in '93 at St. Louis. It was 32-34 degrees all weekend and we could not get the cars to work at all as the tires and shocks were dead cold all the time. A friend of mine was leading the Formula Vee race by about a quarter lap and it was snowing so hard that he couldn't see the starter's stand. After many laps and not knowing how much was left, he passed a corner station and the workers were all waving at him so he figured that he had missed the checkered flag and pitted. Turns out it was still the last lap and he was sitting parked in the pits when the distant second place guy came down the straight and won the race. His dad was also racing and kept pulling into the pits becasue he was getting snow through his helmet visor and it was buyilding up on the back side of his glasses. It was a good weekend to be over with and drive onto the trailer when it was done.

 

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

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Is that Kimi Räikkönen lol ?

nice story.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B HATCH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is that Kimi Räikkönen lol ?</TD></TR></TABLE>
That is a frog...a cold, wet but happy frog from the looks of it.

 

Jon, thanks. I think I'd like to go back to Nelson when it's dry! Otherwise, maybe I'll see you at Summit?

Thannks Lee. I figured out that I need to put back the passenger side wiper. I couldn't see the flag stations on the right side of the track through all the crap on the windshield. It didn't help that people kept insisting on going off track right in front of me and spraying me with mud.

I wish I were as talented as Kimi R. But yeah, that was just a cold wet frog, as Lee said. Happy to be done, and happy because even a shitty *** weathered weekend at the track is much much better than any weekend anywhere else in any other weather.