I just had the lucky opportunity of attending this past weekend's VIR event with NASA. I say lucky because I'm living in Chicago now, so making it down there is difficult. My brother was kind enough to share his car with me, so I just needed plane tickets to make it happen, and it worked out great! I've been a little out of touch with the NASA-MA crowd over the last year and a half or so, and noticed some interesting changes. For one, the ratio of fast/powerful cars:slower/less powerful cars has risen dramatically! The days where I'd see a handful of 'Vettes, supercharged Mustangs, etc, mixed in with a million Civics, Miatas, E30s, and the like are waaaay over. This seemed even more pronounced in the Instructor and HPDE3 groups. I think I would've been absolutely run over in my Civic, had I been driving it

As always, the weekend was run very well with very few hitches. We had rain pretty much all day on Saturday, with the track drying on Sunday morning. LOTS of offs and wrecks in both the HPDE and race groups, due in large part to the conditions. I wound up backing my brother's car into a tirewall on the outside of T6 for that very reason. I got off lucky with very minor damage, and we continued driving the car throughout the weekend, but many others did not share that fate.

One thing that made me sad was the lack of Hondas present in the HPDE groups. There used to be TONS of Hondas zipping about, and it was fun having the slower cars to play around with, rather than just focusing on getting the hell out of the way of everyone else. So, what happened? Are the Honda people getting hit more by the economy stuff? Is VIR intimidating?

On that very note though, my student, Reggie, was in a Civic, and did a great job! Showed a lot of improvement and a lot of potential, and ran a quick, safe weekend.Our camera ran out of batteries immediately, so I don't have any pics, but I will post some in-car later tonight.


Edit: Sorry for the huge paragraph. I don't know why, but this work computer doesn't recognize paragraph breaks.
Double edit: looks like I can manually code in paragraphs. What a PITA...

 

Perhaps it's due to many Honda owners owning them because they are cheap. And with the economy the way it is, saving money for an event is just not on their list of priorities right now. Also, may be shelling out a few hundred dollars for a event isn't that big a deal for a person that, say, had the money to purchase a vette.

I'm definitely part of the first group but will be attending the NASA July 25, 26 weekend event.

 

+1

any of the racers out there... sorry... but with the access to the roller scales, i HAD to impound the entire field. Some people have never been across the scales or in impound. I felt they all need to feel the "pain."

Also, track time is your time to play, racing or not. If you are a racer, please realize you arent done "playing" until i release you from impound. Its part of that whole price you play to play. Oh and impounds arent a social club. Please stay in your cars and be ready to move when called.

76 cars = 16 minutes (Stinger)
67 cars = 21 minutes (Thunder)
ITS TRUE! the small horse power cars are driven by "smarter" drivers /hide

 

I know this dosent play any part really into your post, but since your in chicago, do you have plans to come down to bluregrass motorsports in Ky anytime? I would love to have you for an instructor as you have a honda yourself and could def give me some good inputs

economy isnt stoping me

 

That makes sense.

I agree with the original poster that there are quite a few high HP cars in Group 3 and Group 4. I don't have quite as much fun as I used to, it seems.

Various concerns are probably going to keep me very close to home for the 2009 season. I'll try to hit Summit Point with as many groups as I can (NASA, Track Daze, Car Guys).

It's far more unlikely that I'll be able to make VIR, Beaver Run, Jersey or the ITR Expo.

Is Car Guys in operation in 2009? I haven't heard from any of them so far this season.

 

You know what's really annoying?

All those high HP drivers know what they're doing now.

I "grew up" with many of them. Back when we all started driving, the high HP Corvette and Porsche people were not necessarily any faster around the track than our little 200 HP Honda cars.

Now that they all know what they're doing, they're basically unstoppable and we're the slowest things out there in a Group 3 or Group 4 field.

Dammit.

 

Do you think the higher hp cars is scaring others from hitting the track?

 

Maybe. It certainly makes me less inclined.

It's probably mostly, however, what the original poster said: The Honda people tend to be younger and probably have less money to waste in this economy.

 

come on GK... 70hp of fury will track down most of those drivers!

 

I'm in the younger group that you guys are talking about, along with a few of my friends/brother. But the way i see it, i would rather fork out the 255 bucks for the track day and have really no limits in speed.

It beats paying for a speeding ticket or a wreckless driving ticket driving a back road for example "deals gap" and risk loosing my license and paying more in the long run for the ticket/courthe it would cost for a track day.

 

Sorry boss, that's like an 11-hour drive one-way for me. Are there no other FWD/Honda instructors in your area? I'd be surprised if there weren't.

Edit: Whoops, somehow I typed in KS instead of KY. 6 hours...I'll look into it, but I'm guessing that'll probably not work out this year.

That is the friggin' truth. My brother's car (240SX with ~250whp) was the only reason I had ANY chance of even remotely staying with them. When the HPDE3 guys are regularly running 2:10s (or in the case of some HPDE4 guys, 2:03s!) to the ITA record of 2:17 or whatever, you know something is up.

I can very much understand the money part of the equation. Tracking has never been cheap, and to do that either unemployed or with funds very tight is most likely impossible, not to mention probably a poor choice. I'm lucky to have spent the money needed to get the experience to instruct, such that my weekends are far cheaper than one for a student, but it is still hard. I'm struggling to find money for a set of tires for the year, forget a couple $grand for entry fees.

I'm just hoping that this isn't a permanent turn of events. I really didn't want to HAVE to throw a K20 or whatever in my car just to keep up with people, but it's starting to look that way. At the same time, I did get an unholy enjoyment out of hitting 150mph or so on the back straight...

 

Lol yeah its only about 6 hours away, the new track they just built is amazing. I'm excited to go out there for my first track day of the year. You know man i really don't know if there is any FWD/honda instructors around in my area... Ill look into it

 

You need more than that! stinky FTW!

 

****, son, I could roll you with a D15B and CX trans! WHAT. You and you're f'ing 2250lbs...

 

I hear he's gone on a diet that involves a lot of cycling.

 

Well, you'd lose a lot of weight if you went biking with an Integra strapped to your back too

 

If you are in the Great Lakes region, then yes, there are a few instructors with quite a bit of FWD Honda experience. I meet your criteria, but I'm in the midwest region and don't know if I will be able to make it out to Blugrass yet.

 

I made money on saturday instead of spending it doing the event. that is the only reason i wasn't out there.

i timed many 3 and 4 and most were running 230's....NOT ONE WAS UNDER 230 out of the 30 or so cars we timed! i was very surprised....would have love to have had the turbo hatch out there....208's shouldn't have been a problem for it.

i will be back out someday....but seriously....all my close friends are gone or not doing events anymore....i just don't have any desire to be out there without them.

 

Eh? I know for sure I was under 2:30 in TT, as was my brother in HPDE4 (~2:22-2:19, depending on traffic). We weren't the fastest guys, either...It does take away from the thing when you don't have anyone to play with.

 

next time any of you are at VIR let me know. I am just about finishing my car for hpde and would love to have a fellow honda enthusiast as an instructor.