http://forums.audiworld.com/racing/msgs/20608.phtml

 

Mark's a pretty laid back guy, so it takes a lot to make it write that much. John/TSR is the guy that was driving the white Golf @ the NASA enduro. Anyhow, someone had posted about going through a race school w/ a bunch of BMWCCA instructors over on the west coast. Practice starts and practice sprint races and all, and no safety equipment was required...

Warren

 

Oh, and if you can't tell, I'm really not a fan of 330iGuy. He freakin rearended someone at a track day. I saw the video. Totally his fault. He blames it on the guy in front

video cliff notes: E36 M3 is offline and brakes extra hard, but not too much more than the previous lap. 330iGuy is way behind him, and goes somewhat offline, basically following the M3, and then runs smack dab into the rear of the M3...

Warren

 

Sounds like some of the 'safety' threads we have had here. People who have been around talking about the dangers & the need for safety equipment/staff. Others trying to justify why they don't have it. It doesn't matter what kind of car you drive. Your wreak is always the other cars or track conditions.
To echo what one of the guys said.....One of the good things about having my provisional is that now I'm on the track with other licensed racers. As a whole, it is a safer group.

 

yea, ive noticed that about 330iguy. i remember that thread and many people said that he could have avoided that.
i think that safty definately needs to be addressed more though. i remember when i was a kid hangin out at bridgehampton with my dad, i couldn't wait to get a car and go lapping. but i wanted a roll bar right off the bat. i refuese to go to a lapping day with out one, which is why i haven't gone to one yet.

 

haha, damn young (330iguy) sure gets around. he's getting infamous... kinda not good. he's a fairly new driver (less than 2 years) with lots of stuff to learn.

the school you're speaking of is Driving Concepts. they're run primarily by BMW CCA which has an excellent safety record. it's definately pretty crazy, i mean there was a full street late model M5 out there in that racing school. they aren't going 10/10th though so...

young seem to have tunnel vision when he goes for hot laps. after the DC school i think he'll be a bit safer now. he's realizing it was his fault for not being aware of what's happening in front of him. he's definetley a quirky guy, mean 330i has this LCD info/navigation screen in the middle of the console. he tells me he turns it off because it distracts him and prevents him from concentrating on driving... i'm like, wtf??

I was out there, helping NASA-LA, not DC. but all the DC students seems to have learn quite a bit from their 2 days.



[Modified by frank@b16a.com, 8:42 AM 3/6/2002]

 

I didn't even know they had a racing forum.

 

I think at one point or another we managed to own Audis, so there are indeed some racers on there. John is a national SRF guy, has a lot of other random race cars. Mark is also an SRF guy that recently moved out the west coast.

Corey and Sharon, who are national level auto-xer's can be found there as well. They campaigned a very successful street mod S4 last season. And there are plenty of enthusiasts that just do DE's and whatnot.

edit: I've left out a bunch of other racers that hang out there on occasion, including a few rally folks (crazy), and other assorted track rats.

Warren


[Modified by Warren, 11:32 PM 3/6/2002]

 

interesting. I didn't know Mark D. just moved west recenty. Ohh yeah come to think of it I think he mentioned that. I first met him last Dec. he has a 993 TT also... i heard it has 500+ hp and will top 150 mph @ buttonwillow in config #14 CW. that's insane speed!

 

WTF is up with SpeedTrial West? No corner workers? That's inexcusable. I can't believe people actually stayed to drive, I would have left pretty quickly.

I tell you, I really feel funny running at DE events. At all the SCCA races I've attendend, there are 3+ workers on each station, several wreckers placed around the track, and an ambulance or two. It's nice to know somebody will be there to save my ***. It gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling.

 

I see. I was just surprised because the people in the racing forum seem to be much more mature/intelligent than the people in the S4 forum (where I occasionally hang out) who usually have discussions about the "riced out ______" that they smoked on the way home.

Not to say that all their discussions are like that - many of them are intelligent, but I just see so many of the bad discussions that I had associated that site with those kinds of discussions. The only reason I occasionally visit the S4 forums is because I get bored and they sometimes have useful tips for S4s that I can pass on to my brother (who has an S4). I guess I'll start visiting the motorsports forum now.

 

Al, I've seen some video from the Speedtrial west "drifting day" crap. Retarded. People driving slow and like ******** all over the place, and no on seems to give a rat's ***. The guy thinks he's drifting, and he can't even get that right. At least if you're going to do it, hit the apexes and keep a clean line.

http://128.111.9.238/Alex_drift.mov

Warren

 

WTF was that? Hand held camera? Crossed over hands? I could do that **** all day long, but why would I want to? Now the assclown has the camera out the window! Is he out the window too (to get that great rear wheel shot)? And who the hell let him on track with metal belting showing through?

Al - who is thankful Jon runs a tight ship in VA

 

That discussion engine is too difficult to navigate. Three cheers for Zeroforum.

 

the problem with most of these "drift" people in USA is they don't have road racing back ground. the guys that drift in the Option video, most of them are all pro drivers as well. they may not be shuey, but they're pretty darn good road racers.

lot of the US drifters can not road race at all. i just check out that video, he is keeping it side ways pretty good, not at really great angles... but regardless, it takes some skills to fishtail down the straights.

speedtrial west coast events have a bad rep amongs people who takes road racing seriously and wants quality track time. i hope tommy will fix it soon.

 

That's not even fishtailing. That's just swerving into understeer for no reason. It almost looks like when road racers scrub in the tires, only more clumsy.

Yeah, that takes the skill of a god right there.

Warren

 

bah kinda hard to tell with stupid handheld camera. in anycase, i agree that's some stupid ****.

i know what you mean tho, at one event recently, I sat in a Corolla AE86 "instructors" car. I thought I was gonna have a fun ride, to my great disappointment, the guy does not know how to handle understeer, nor does does he know how to initiate oversteer. This is how he does the drift, he goes into a corner fairly slow, he cranks it hardover (full lock), with the car goes heavy understeer, then he mesh the pedals... AE86 has very little power, but eventually it does break lose. But he doesn't know how to keep it sideways, he simply lets go of the steering wheel and the drift is very brief. The only thing I admire was he didn't give a **** about the car and was "trying" to drift in every turn.

I was very disappointed. The real drifters from Japan have really good car control skills.

btw, not every drifter @ that sat. event was totally unskilled. this guy isn't too bad:


http://www.sileightymania.com/picsvi...2/inandout.mpg
http://www.sileightymania.com/picsvi...02/maxipad.mpg
http://www.sileightymania.com/picsvi...lmyfingers.mpg
http://www.sileightymania.com/picsvi...gonnafeint.mpg




[Modified by frank@b16a.com, 1:10 AM 3/7/2002]

 

That Corolla with no exhaust at Buttonwillow...I don't think that was a Trueno - it was whatever the weaker model was, pushing ~100hp. Anyway, I don't think he was trying to drift around the track in the first place. From what I heard he was a decent driver, but I didn't get a chance to ride with him.

 

"Boy, has that guy got some talent or what??!" Man, he even got his arm out on one of those slides! This is just a more expensive form of riding a half-pipe with a skateboard.

I wonder if he got any play from the girl riding shotgun after those "smooth moves."

Also, my inner safety **** says I would wear a helmet while coaxing a car sideways like that.

 

Thanks Warren! There was a very good lesson to be learned by watching that video, Don't do drugs! That had to be simply the worst piece of driving I have ever seen in my entire life. What a waste.