Man… what a great time the past week has provided me.
My summer vacation was spent doing something I love.

Event details:
Thursday:
-Pick up Dad’s truck and loaded the ITR on to the trailer
-Load camper with items for the trip
-Cut grass
-Get extra sleep
Friday:
-Think nothing about my work all day… (EXPO in the brain)
-Work ¾ of a day at work and head home at ~2:00pm
-Get home and meet Brian/Dave/Craig at the house
-Load some stuff in the camper/back of the ITR
-Wait for Pat to arrive.
-Start helping with the work on Craig’s POS… (front rotors/pads/fluid)
-After Pat arrives we all head downtown (Speed Street) for some tumultuous revelry that involved massive quaffing of brewed beverages.
-Massive mullet sightings and many pictures were taken
-Asleep at ~2:30 am Sat. morning. ( I guess leaving early was a no-go )
Saturday:
-Load truck and wake up the natives
-Head out of the house at ~9:45 am
-Eat at Jack in the Box and hit the road at ~11:15 am
-Drive…
-See the ‘GWAR’ Civic on the road and know that my weekend is complete.
-Drive…
-Stop for fuel many times
-Drive thru a tornado warning in Ashland, OH
-Drive…
-Stop for Red Bull…
-Drive…
Sunday:
-Drive
-Stop for Red Bull…
-Arrive at the hotel at ~4:15 am
-Wonder where the party is…
-See a CW (JDM front car on a flat bed and get worried about theft)
-Have a few beers and watch the sun start to light up the sky.
-Decide that an all night’er may not be in by best interests on vacation and decide to have a ‘Honda-Tech’ nap in the cab of the truck…
-Wake up in pain at ~8:00 am
-Head to the track.
-Arrive to see the SVTCA at the track raising all kinds of hell.
-Unload car
-Pull into the campsite and set up camp
-REXAX
-Drink beer
-Relax
-Attend the meeting (the track side one) that WES set up and voice my concerns/wishes
-Drive into town and fuel the car up.
-Return to the campsite and unwind for the evening
-Sleep like I have never slept before (9+ hours)
Monday:
-Wake up late and miss breakfast.
-Attend drivers meeting
-Drive the track event (skipping a few sessions to enjoy the event)
-Slide off drivers left (4 wheel) at turn #8. (Craig enjoyed the ride) and decided that I could not take that turn at the recently attempted speed and dialed it back a little
-Gas up car
-Finish the day with the banquet and some drinks (40oz. Old –E and some Crown)
-Have some beers
-Watch firework display :FIRE:
-Attend campfire display :FIRE:
-Sleep
Tuesday:
-Wake up in time for breakfast
-Eat it during the drivers meeting
-Drive the track event
-Skipped the last two sessions to start packing for the return trip
-Load car
-Say some goodbyes and head home
-Drive…
-Stop for fuel…
-Get home at ~11:15 pm

Comments:
Attendees: A wonderful bunch. I did not venture out of the woods much but when I did I was greeted with a smile and hello. Should have had nametags with the H-T screen name on it to help identify people.

Gingerman Raceway: Nice track…
A 3rd/4th gear track with some pretty tricky turns. I enjoyed driving on it and if given the chance would drive it again.

CGI Motorsports: Where to start…
I know a lot has been said about the business dealings of Phil. I will not address that, but I will address the ‘event’ and my views on how it was run.
Drivers meeting. It went ok. The rules and information were told to all who attended.
My issues and problems with them:
-short sleeves? (fire is bad… skin burns quite well)
-passing signals using the turn signal (how may cars does a 5 second turn signal switch on permit to pass?) The use of the turn signals was to “keep both hands on the steering wheel”. I felt it allowed the passing car (if second in a train of more than 2) a chance to pass even if they did not directly receive a signal. 6 flashes may mean 2 cars… not 3.
-passing on which ever side you wanted to. (that worked ok in my group… but having a set passing side would = safer and repeatable lines around the track in the beginner group)
-Lack of on-site tech inspection… (more harm than good will come from that)
-Lack of inspecting drivers/passengers before entering the track (wrist bands are used for a reason)
-Shoe polish numbers on the back glass of the cars. (not visible to the corner workers at ALL)
-Lack of extended classroom time for the beginners… (a track newbie needs more classroom time than track time)
-multiple back flag stations... (granted that the few corner wokers that used.. having ONE black flag station eliminates any confusion)

Gingerman Owner: A strange fella.
-Allowing CGI motor sports to run an event in the way that the ITR Expo was run let’s me believe that he does not care about his track’s reputation.
-Driving on the road towards the spectator parking at 40+ mph on his motorcycle is never a good thing.

Track workers: They were few and far between.
Monday = 3 corners + one at start finish =
Tuesday = 2 corners + one at start finish =
That is not enough no matter how 'safe' a track may seem.
They all need to attend a fire/rescue/radio school of some sorts ASAP, before ‘something’ happens. I do not know if they have or have not attended any schooling. But my impressions were that a few had not.
-------
My direct dealings with them… I passed a car that had just re-entered the track after a 4X4 trip. The car was going well below pace and signaled me by with a pass signal. Me and 2 other cars safely went by the slower car between turn #8 and #9 (not a passing zone).
At the next manned station there was a black flag waved (like a checker) at the group of cars that I was in.
I knew then that I was in for some fun.
Passing another station resulted in a correctly displayed flag (not moving, vertical, and visible) it was not directed at anyone (black flag all maybe?)
Once near the next manned station (near to the ‘incident’) I signaled to the worker with a shrug and ok sign (my way of asking if I was effected by the black flag).
I received a thumbup. No black flag was shown to me… so I motored on.
Drove past the next manned corner station to find out that there was no corner worker in the stand then continued to the next station.
Received a black flag (correctly this time (pointed at me).
Drove into the pits and received a verbal assault.
That may get the point across to a track newbie (not familiar with the way of the flag)…. but it only served to **** me off due to the poor flagging skills and methods that were displayed to me.
I kept my mouth shut and headed back onto the track. What was said to me was quite funny… but not necessary for this post.
---------

Details:
ITR:
Miles driven on Mon. = 108.4 (includes trip back from BP station)
Miles driven on Tues. = 101.4
ITR fuel economy = 11.4 mpg ( Mon.) and 10.7 mpg (Tues.)

Tow Truck:
Truck miles driven = more than I care to remember. (but over 1,700 miles)
Truck fuel economy for the whole trip = ~15.13 mpg
Max boost = 16 psi
Max EGT = 1,100 F
Max tranny temp = 120 C
Max speed = 85 mph

My funny picture from Wednesday around noon.


I have no regrets at all about attending ITR EXPO #2.
I just wish could have made it to #1.
It is now time to take what we have all learned from the past two expo's and apply it EXPO #3.

William
-who GLADLY supplied the shoe polish for the ‘Phil Sucks’ notice

[Thanks to all who planned the 2002 ITR EXPO!]
[SP]


[Modified by Willard, 2:06 PM 5/31/2002]

 

Bout time Willie

Good chit

sackdz-who hasn't even read Will's post yet

 

haha pic pics pic, sounds liek you guys had a super blast

 

You forgot the tornado in Ashland, OH as we were passing through

 

That sucked ***. I think we forgot about a million thinks that went on, but everything kept getting better and better so we forgot the originals

Some items forgoton
- Whooster, OH
- I20 @ 2am w/ no lights
- Jack in the box Ultimite Burger @ 3am
- Roman Candle fights
- fyl sux on the cooler
- Open cat + bouncing off revlimiter ownz
- many many others....

 

Pat continuously throwing firecrackers in the fire

Brian

 

Glad that you arrived home safely and had a great time.

 

hope you were drinking a beer when you posted that!!

 

Nice post Will and nice meeting you to

 

Niice, Willie style

Glad you had a good time, shoe polish 0wnz you.

 

I should of stopped by and had the 40oz contest.

on me

and the virus that I had

 

*bump y0!*

 

omg...

 

VVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

So you're saying I shouldn't do that this year?


Pat, who will again be riding shotgun in da snailed diesel beast

 

*sniff* "meeeeeeeeeeemmmmorrrriiiiiieeeeessss"

i'm surprised your writeup didnt get more replies the first time around big willie styles

Brian

 

That's because a lot of the discussion at that time was taking place in some other topics, like the one that I started. But remember, we're not supposed to be talking about Expo 2 any more. We're supposed to be talking about Expo 3.

Reminder: Trey needs your money so he can pay the deposit.

 

*chuckle*

Willard what state is Willard in?

 

You're right about that

But I think we can use this post as a reminder so we could improve on the 2003 Expo.

 

LOL!
Yes indeed, there were bigger fish to fry at that moment!

 

ll!

 

Take your pick


Willard, Colorado
Willard, Kentucky
Willard, Missouri
Willard, Montana
Willard, New Mexico
Willard, New York
Willard, North Carolina
Willard, Ohio
Willard, Utah
Willard, Washington
Willard, Wisconsin


But the above was taken in Willard, Ohio. I believe we drove straight through it on the way up, but just near on the way back.

 

will....a blast from the past....can't wait to see you all at itr expo 3....

PHIL IS A STAND UP GUY!

 

At least now I know what all the fuss over the last Expo was about. After reading about that and descriptions of other HPDE run by other organizations, I have to say that I'm really, really glad I hooked up with Chin Motorsports for all of my HPDE so far (I even got to have the legendary Andie Lin as my instructor at the last one ). From what I've seen and heard so far, they do everything 100% right. And from what I've heard so far, it seems like the Expo 3 organizers are shooting for 100% right as well. Mad props to Trey and all the other event organizers.

I'm really looking forward to having a great time both on and off the track and meeting as many of you as possible. (Now if Trey would just go get that check I mailed him last week out of his mailbox and update my status to "Paid" )

 

Fugg, you guys make me wish I still had the ITR. I'd love to run with the VA/NC/FL boys!

Willard,

Anybody tell you kind of look like Fred Willard?