So after "living" the "Ghetto Civic" for the past month it finally went to the track for the first time. Up until Saturday morining I had not driven the car more than a mile total. I had gone far enough to make sure the brakes worked and the VTEC engaged but since the car has no registration, no muffler and no headlights I couldn't do too much with it.

Before the first session on Saturday morning I decided to jack it up to mark my camber plates because I knew the beautiful Skunk 2 design would move on me (since I have yet to modify to prevent the occurance). Luckily one of them had already moved, most likely on the trailer. As a result I was sitting at about 4 degrees of negative on one side. Fuckit - the tires were old anyway so I left it.

First session out was a big learning experience for me. I have never driven a non-abs car on track and the ones I have autocrossed usually saw me locking the front wheels. I knew I was going to have my hands full. Going into turn 1 on the warmup lap I hit the brakes pretty hard and I was blessed with an instant lockup. Hawk Blues are very grabby when everything is cold. I took it easy for the next few laps trying to figure out how to work the middle pedal. On about the 6th lap I was starting to "sorta" feel the brakes and how to work them. I went into 5 slowly (about 65MPH) and not real deep. I hit the brakes and wow! We aren't slowing down. At least my car is full of smoke now! Shortly after that I realized how I need to work the brakes on a non-ABS car. By the end of the weekend I was starting to really feel the threshold and figured out the signs of the impending lockup (the tires starting to bounce a little). I was very happy with my accomplishment in that respect. I don't know if it is the weight difference between the Civic and the GSR or not but I can go MUCH MUCH MUCH deeper into 1 than I ever tried in the GSR. Maybe the non-ABS car just taught me a valuable lesson on how to actually work my brakes. In the Civic I was lifting at the 3rd marker and braking at the second and was slowed down to my corner speed long before turn in. I think that the first brake marker is not out of the question in a race enviornment (when I grow the ***** to do so).

All in all the car ran great. The only "issue" it had was the herky-jerky dance it did over 110MPH - most likely due to 4 degrees of negative on one side and 2 degrees on the other (and the resulting altered toe). It is definately a good bit faster than the Integra. It will require some bigger ***** from me to run T6-T10 flat (which I had gotten myself doing at Hyperfest). Turn 4 still scares the hell out of me and most of my lost time is probably there (along with 3 and 10).

One thing this car NEEDS is an LSD. I was lifting and spinning coming out of 1, 5 and 6a.

This car is going to be a lot of fun!


Ok enough about me, let's talk about other people now!

- First off congrats to Corey for his most helatious smackdown on the almost entire AI field.
- Congrats to Jamie (Doctor Cortez) for making the bump to advanced!
- Bookler's new car is sweet! Especially with the SiR oil filler cap, HIDs and rear seatbelt pads. This car is FAST!
- Jim Johnson is on crack!
- John's 350Z has too much power and the calipers are a very ugly color
- Alistair's car is WAY uglier than what it looks like in the pictures but he is getting pretty quick in it.
- "Brother Speed" rocks!
- Disappearing golf carts suck!
- This was the first NASA event in recent history with leftover beer (I wonder why?)
- Summit Point is cold as **** at night in November
- The SCCS guys really are a bunch of NASSCAR wannabe's (right down to the fisticuffs)


It was sad to see the season come to an end. I will miss my NASA family in the loooong down time between now and February. Cobetto - you rock! You put together an organization with the best people I have ever worked with. The NASA competitors and participants are top notch as well. last August I would never have imagined how many close, quality friends I would have just a year later.

Thanks to everyone for a great season and I will see you all in February (some probably sooner).

- Drew "Ghetto Style" M

 

 

the first brake marker IS the start of the brake zone

 

Glad you're back, Drew, and welome to the world of no ABS. Real men don't need it anyway .

 

because I was not there...............


[Modified by urbanlegend21, 12:41 PM 11/4/2002]

 

You bastard.... you're supposed to mention my podium finish. Now I have to resort to shameless self-promotion.

edit: in case anyone was curious, i'm tied for second overall with 1 round left.


[Modified by Freek24, 12:33 PM 11/4/2002]

 

best of luck.

 

- I know right, people should know better than to mess with Elyse's grandaughter
- No We Todds, No Morgan, and other people weren't drinkin for some reason (really weird)
- My teeth are still chattering
- Their pit crews aren't much better, thinking they're EV guys and trying to hop the wall when the M3 hit.

Glad to see the Ghetto Fabulous Civic out on track, and thanks for letting me play with it during the touring laps. . . . that was FUNNNNN!!!!!!!


[Modified by Dragon, 5:41 PM 11/4/2002]


[Modified by Dragon, 5:41 PM 11/4/2002]

 

OMFG that's funny.

BTW...Hawk Blues need to be bedded in, regardless of what the box says about "pre-bedded"

Glad it ran right, glad it's (mostly) pointed in the right direction. Must be a cool feeling to take a car out on track that you more or less built from scratch.

 

These weren't new Hawks. They were bedded in at Hyperfest SP.

 

I think it's pretty, in a Shar-Pei kind of way.

Two year old, rock hard Kumhos are fun in the freezing cold. Can you say drift-o-matic? But, I am carrying the same speed through 3 and 10 as I did a year ago on fresh Kumhos.

 

Glad to see you made it back out this year, even if it was only one time before the off season.



John -- who's glad he learned to drive fast in non-ABS cars.

 

LOL beer not gone huh

 

ABS is for wimps!!!

 

Al's car is one ugly peice, but it looks better than my car right now....

 

Andretti said it best.

"I dont want anything driving for me."

Congradulations on getting the hang of the non ABS setup. Personaly ABS just feels all wrong. Ive never owned a car with it.

By the way what car are you. I was at Hyperfest as well. I was competing in teh Drift Contest though. I was the Red Corolla with teh Blue hood and no exhaust.

Links for pics and Vids can be found at http://www.lookoutdrift.com

 

At Hype-ARRRRRR-fest I was driving the white #24 East Coast Honda Challenge Integra GSR.





I didn't do any drifting . . .

 

Who was teh guy in teh Championship white ITR with orange mirrors. He jumped in the drift comp at the last second for some stupid reason.

 

thats warren ****... he's a great guy to hang out with at the track and was just out having a little bit of fun

 

And drifted better than some of the Drifters, just was so fast, you couldn't tell, hehe...

 

The "stupid" reason was to make a joke out of the whole drifting idea. He showed the drifters the "fast" line through the carousel area.

 

I know exactly what you guys are refering to as my ABS is disengaged on my GSR, and with the larger ITR-spec brakes up front with the Axxis pads, I can certainly lock them up at any time, I enjoy learning how to vary the brake pressure and feel for impending lockup, you can learn this and can brake very effectively without ABS, it does take a while though, later