Six of us (4 drivers) from NC made the long trip down to Alabama this weekend for Trey Commander’s event at Talladega. First event of the year for us and my first time to this track. While I liked the course, I certainly don’t look forward to making that drive again anytime soon. A couple months ago I was thinking that surely Alabama would be warmer than Virginia in February, but as the weekend approached the forcast for both places was almost identical. Fortunately, mother nature smiled on us. The track dried after a couple sessions and the rain didn’t appear until the very end of the day on Saturday with none at all on Sunday.

I enjoyed the track, and despite its small size traffic was a non-issue thanks to proper class sizing and courteous drivers. My car debuted some minor changes from last year. Rebuilt/revalved shocks, urethane trailing arm bushings, a very slight increase in rear spring rate and the switch from Azenis (cached after 7 events) to A032’s. The Yoko’s have been sitting around for a year now due to my being talked out of running on them as a novice. I am happy with the car’s performance though the A032’s got owned. Adding more camber on the front left halted the uneven wearing but at least half the life of the set was lost to the weekend. The outcome is two @ ˝ to 2/3 , one at 1/3 and the remaining with only a faint memory of treadlines. While definitely better than the Azenis, they’re not THAT much better. I’m undecided whether to “downgrade” to Azenis or “upgrade” to a RA1 or Victoracer when these are gone.

BTW, is there a reason that I shouldn’t run these tires in reverse direction? Being able to swap left to right will help.

Ironically, I was in Alabama thinking that I *might* should have gone to VIR instead. The damage report seems to indicate that I made the right decision. Our weekend was a relatively safe one with only one excursion resulting in damage -- my own trip across the infield left me thankful for the stopping power of large puddles.

Hopefully, the ITR Expo will go as smoothly (or better) for Trey as this event. I wish I could be there, but I’m just a lowly hatchcrapper.

 

Glad you had a good time jeff! That hatch was sweet. Sorry i didn't have more time to talk, I was busy as hell. Had to damage control all weekend. Can't wait for the Expo with 80 studenst instead of 33.

Sorry we didn't warn you about the track. It eats the hell out of the front left tire. We typicall swap left to right even on directional tires as long as it isn't raining.. Then we swap front to rear on day 2.

 

Jeff~ sorry to say that we didn't get properly introduced all weekend long. Glad you felt it worthwhile to make the long trip from NC. My Azenis held up great. Interestingly, the inside part of my right/passenger front tire clearly got the most wear -- all the hard right hand turns and running an open diff = lots of wheel spin = inside front right got oWnZ'd.

 

I had fun!!!

Trip down there & back was waaaaaaaaaay better than by myself. The first time I went... sucked roadtrip wise. Looooong trip back by yourself =

I got to get back in touch w/ my Coupe & knock some rust off my track skill.

I was practicing threshold braking & got into trouble w/ it a couple of times. Autozone pads suck. I kept trying to pitch the car into the turns & it didnt want to do it at all. I lost a lot of time doing this, but I learned a lot.

Advanced group was fun. We all ran about the same speed except the Neon. That made catching each other more interesting. Jeff & I were about equal, but he had the edge. If I drove better, I could have passed him.

NEO... who were you?? You couldnt miss me... just think of the loudest car out there>>>> ME

Pete

 

Pete~ Chit! You were there, too? I hate that I didn't know that.

I was the family-truckster-drivin' white GSR sedan, blowing through brake pads with glowing rotors and all....

 

Yea, I don't talk much... I'm not sure how anyone could have missed Pete though.

 

I had fun running with you guys out there with my GTI (pig). It was my first track day with it and I learned alot, it's sooo different than the Civic.

Thanks again Trey for the excellent job.

 

Glad to hear all the Carolina boys made it home o.k. It was cool meeting all you guys.

Ivan

 

No doubt, LOL

Was good meeting you guys and seeing others again. Sorry i didn't have more time to chat.

Trey

 

after riding in the GTI / pig, it kind of made me car sick. j/k

great trip!

 

Oh, that trip across the infield wasn't to wake up the corner worker? I could swear that's why you did it...
Haven't seen a splash that big in a while.

 

I don't think you scared the #5 worker too bad, he still wasn't watching the traffic behind him here...