Very nice track just very flat though..
Huge fun as i am trying to use my street type r to get my rookie lic to go fight it out in HC.
I did find out that a type r with Avon tech R tyres, a mugen ecu and adjustable upper control arms on a stock type r will fight it out well with a Lotus exseige also on r comps.
I felt sorry for any one out there because we kind of ran over a few other cars and embarrassed several more high powered cars from Ai and CMC when we put them behind us. My best time was a 155.14 out there and i am told that anything under 2 min is flying for a comp car so we weren't sand bagging out there. I found that i could carry more speed in and out of corners but he " the Lotus" could out straight me.
So i would late apex and late brake him so he could not follow my line " being a pusher and not a puller" and punch out ahead. we were very even in the tech sections of the course and could run each others line quite well though. Talk about sex on wheels what a hot car ...
There was a rather strong Honda contingent out there but no HC running at all so we did not have any times to base our runs off of " which sucked".
HC is just about dead in these parts there are so few cars in it..


Now i have heard this time and time again that an hpde is not a race..
Which i can only assume that is how it is else where but down here NASA hpde is more towards race driver training not just a fun day to play on the track. My peers and instructors push to show us better lines, aggressive passing , no blocking! , if some one can pass you let them and learn from their line so you can take it back and just push us so that when we do get our lic we are ready to fight it out in a race and not be timid or afraid .
I have to say that they are the top of the food chain i have been to a Drivers edge event and NOT been impressed at all if i am forced to compare them to the NASA instructors they are not even in the same league. These guys are GREAT drivers and even better instructors if you have a chance i would so sign up and go to one.
Out this weekend were a Da teg set up for auto X " Josh Price" , A EK with a type R swap "Jose M " also set up for auto x and my 98 type r " Rene M" which for the most part is stock. There was another py R out there on race rubber but either the car or the driver were having problems and he spun out a few times so we were forced to stay clear as much as possible. I did not catch the drivers name of the Lotus but he was a great driver... Once the Honda bunch found each other out there and were pushing each other to be better and better we all got moved up the 3-4 run group to give us space and to put pressure on drives who were getting signed off on there lic for competition. At one point there were two CMC mustangs out there and one AI mustang which we painted as targets and were told to hunt them down if possible. They were great drives and very well prepared cars as we were to see later in their race. So this rag tag bunch of Honda cars " and the Lotus" went hunting.
Now THAT WAS FUN.. WE did catch them and even passed most of them one CMC car i just could not get though " this is when i ran a 155. out there". It was quite depressing when they left the track to prep for their race, which was up next.
Later while we were in class two of the drivers came up to find out who were and why we were in an hpde and not a race. Only then did i realize that they were not just playing with us but were actually trying to hold us off and retake the lead from us. We got very valuable feed back on our lines from really great drivers " one of which would win his class that day, who i could say i passed and held off for three laps!"
We found that people were actually coming out to the stands to watch our hpde sessions!! Now that was funny.

I do not want anyone to think that we were acting stupid out or that NASA would let us no one did any passing in corners or **** blocked any one if you did do something stupid you got pulled off the track and got your butt chewed out.. Just like it should be even if you were not a student! one spec Miata was acting stupid and passing a student in a corner and got jerked off the track and i hear he got an ear full..

Well i guess i have ranted enough i have a trans to pull and a full set of brakes to replace again...
I hope you like the report.
Rene M

 

Well glad you have fun. I instruct for NASA at Road Atlanta and instruct for five or six other groups as well as being a chief instructor of Ala. Region SCCA PDX program. I participate in several track events a year that are "open passing" in the turns. Still track days are NOT racing even as aggressive as the open passing events get. It is still a few notches back from racing. Now do I aggressively get up somebodies tail pipe coming out of the turn to press the issue? Yes I do at least in the instructor group. Do I pass in the turns if the opportunity presents itself? Yes I do.

But do I shove the nose of my car mirror to mirror (as in a few inches) under late braking coming into a turn to force a pass? No I don't. That will get you black flagged. Ask me how I know.

DEs are great trainging to a certain extent for road racing but a large part of the racecraft of overtaking through very close wheel to wheel dicing is not something you get in DE events. Gettting someone to make a mistake by driving their mirrors is something you can practice though.

I understand about the Exige. I took one down at the last event which was in front of me and left a limited edition Euro Elise (looked a lot like an Exige) that started behind me in the dust. It was fun.

Barry H.

 

Your rex is real close to mine in the build up. I am working on my lic with the r but will be tracking the rex in hc.
B18 ls/vtec " all r internals"
S80-4.78 fd itr lsd
88CRX Si gutted- cage etc.
teg front brakes spindles etc.
I have to put some weight in it in order to make the class im at 1785 with me in it..

 

I thought for sure that Lotus was ahead of you the entire last run group, at least, thats what he said. He drove harder, doing a 1:54 on his stock tires. He said that with you going out saying you're going to "see if he could keep up", he made it a point to drive harder, and keep you behind him. On that run alone, he improved 3 seconds best lap.

 

If he punched a 154 then he got me my best was a 155 and some change By the last run group i was out of everything tyres, brakes, fuel " which i had to brake off to get some because i was getting fuel shut down 4 times while on his tail". I made the mistake of running in the time attack before the last run group which i used up most of what i had left in the car. Ali pulled a 148.9 in my car during that but he is also a pro driver and just smooth as silk on the track.
And just to set the record straight i said : If I could keep up with him not the other way around he should just kill me by weight alone. For feed back i wanted to tell him where he was leaving the door wide open. Do you see him? There were at least 3-4 places where he could pick up more time at.


Modified by Rene M at 8:50 PM 5/22/2006

 

I don't know him, but, Jose has his email so I'll forward him the thread.

I wish I could have taken a ride with ya.

 

It was a blast running out there with you guys! Sadly I was on Azeni's so was kind of limited playing with ya'll after the first couple of lap's in each session. I still managed to run a 156.xx when the Exige and I were going at it the first session. I want to get some of the Video from Matt. He's got a couple of lap's were I was ahead of him and we were both just cutting thru traffic like a HOT knife on butter!

Jose

 

Rene,
Our cars are similar except your car looks a lot nicer. Having an ugly track rat is fun because people's expectations are much lower. I hope to have footage of running down the exige and a single turbo supra up in the next week.

Barry H.

 

Way cool what to come down and play??

 

Yall are flying at MSR with those times, though really flying would be Porsche GT3 Cup times that my brother clocked at 1:43 and less. I think the best lap I've managed when I was there last year (December) was a 2:05 in the Camaro (brother timing with watch). Had three Lotus Elises in my run group and could gain on them in the corners, but they left me in the dust once the course straightened out.

I learned a valuable lesson too... if using third gear for the last corner onto the main straight you have to be exactly on-line or things will get a little fun as you get out into the marbles and head toward the concrete pit seperation wall....

It would be fun to take my bothers DA Integra out there: same acceleration as the Camaro up to the 1/8 mile + quicker handling response and better turn in. Just needs a rollbar and couple other safety items before I would allow it to see track use.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vracer111 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yall are flying at MSR with those times, though really flying would be Porsche GT3 Cup times that my brother clocked at 1:43 and less. I think the best lap I've managed when I was there last year (December) was a 2:05 in the Camaro (brother timing with watch). Had three Lotus Elises in my run group and could gain on them in the corners, but they left me in the dust once the course straightened out.

I learned a valuable lesson too... if using third gear for the last corner onto the main straight you have to be exactly on-line or things will get a little fun as you get out into the marbles and head toward the concrete pit seperation wall....

It would be fun to take my bothers DA Integra out there: same acceleration as the Camaro up to the 1/8 mile + quicker handling response and better turn in. Just needs a rollbar and couple other safety items before I would allow it to see track use. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I go second gear and 6k through there under full throttle. Your right about not backing out or beig off line because that is a rather large tire wall there..

 

You need to take the truck out there Paul, I'll shift before Vtec and it'll be like old times when we were fighting it out in STF, LOL

That last corner before the pit straight I'm in 3rd at about 6K and shooting out of there flying towards that tire wall/concrete barrier getting ready to shift to 4th a little before the start finish line.