06/27/04 Tri-Club track day at PIR. This being the only Sunday event the whole summer and with weather being as nice as it is I expected it to be really crowded and wasn't planning on running. The fact that I was up working on dp1 and client projects until after 3am the previous night made it even less likely. But I decided to drop by and check it out anyway. And of course, once there, I was the 118th car to register. The day was nice, some friends were there and PIR runs in opposite direction from PR which means the Goodyears on the left side would get the workout this time. Also, I just had to find out how they do laptime-wise versus the Kumhos, in the interest of science of course! The answer - 1:39.5 lap timed by a friend and I felt I could get another 1/2 second if I really wanted to. So F1 GS-D3 run PIR about 1/2 second per lap slower than the MX but feel rather, well, 'rubbery' doing so. More forgiving but less connected. The rubbery feel was quite obvious to my passenger in one session (who has also ridden in my car on MXs). So there you have it.

The three clubs in 'Tri-Club' are Alfa, BMW and Porsche. Fittingly, lots of Porsches were in attendance, including this rather quick device (a Porsche-powered Cooper vintage single-seat racer with narrow bodywork reminiscent of a 550 Spyder)...

And THIS one. Of course I had to bum a ride (short video here).

The Carrera is a very impressive car, competent and civilized with what I'd describe as a polite version of an F1 soundtrack. It is of course limited by its street tires. Perhaps I'm getting jaded to this sort of stuff but the ride I got, while certainly impressive, wasn't overwhelming. And it's not that the owner wasn't pushing it - he was sliding this 600+ hp beast through most corners. But the car just has so much control that it's almost a non-event. There is far less drama than the Enzo, all Teutonic efficiency versus Latin flair. Maybe it's just me but I expect a supercar to be RAW, overwhelming - an intensely memorable experience. Instead, you could drive this one on your daily errands albeit rather quickly. This of course is just a passenger's opinion although I think I've been in enough cars to have a reasonable feel for it from either seat. Besides the engine noise the thing I like the most is the wooden shift knob and its location.

For the afternoon, went home and got the Westie...

07/29/04 The 11th track day for the Meanie - another BMW club day. Again, mostly instructing. Was going to replace the Goodyears with a new set of Kumho MX but waited too long to order and couldn't get them here in time. So instead I went and had the Goodyears shaved - figured they'd work better and maybe even last longer. The pictures are before the shave, after the shave and after the track day.

The tires held up ok. In terms of laptimes I ran a bunch of 1:40s, a half-dozen 1:39s and two or three 1:38s. So not a huge improvement in terms of time but definitely much better feel. To be honest I wasn't really focusing on best lap times as I was having too much fun drifting the car around most of the turns :) Also there was quite a bit of traffic and some people just wouldn't take a hint to let me by, lap after lap. In particular, a 325i was holding me up in the corners but wouldn't let me pass on the straights (I only have 163 hp afterall) despite me being on his bumper in every turn. Finally he got a blue flag and even then while waving me by he was flooring it as evidenced by puffs of black smoke from the exhaust. I did get by eventually and he quickly faded from view. Those were some frustrating 1:43-is laps. Such times belong in Intermediate group, not Advanced. The day was hot (around 90F) and after spending a whole lot of time in cars due to instructor duties I was ready to call it quits by 2pm - which I did. Not a bad day all in all - I needed a 4-wheel track fix. The tires will last a little longer but when the rains come I'll definitely need a new set. Oh, and the brake warning light is on even though I have some pad left - more than I did on the first set when I changed them, with no light. Weird. (Closer inspection revealed that pads are indeed worn).

08/07/04 The Meanie finally got a new set of tires (Kumho MX in 215/40-17), a new set of pads (Ferodo 2500) and a much-needed wash. The car now has 7,800 miles on it. I've posted enough pictures of pads and tires already so suffice it to say they were all very worn. The rotors are holding up pretty well though and the last set of Ferodos did OK as well, lasting 7 track days and 6,000 miles versus 4 and 1,900 for the OEM set. On the way home from the tire place it rained so I got a reminder that the Kumhos are not as good as the Goodyears in the wet. Granted, they still had the mold release compound on them so it's not a very fair comparison but the F1 GS-D3 gripped almost as well in the wet as it did in the dry and the MX is definitely more of a dry tire. So my timing with all the tire changes is rather unfortunate, getting the Goodyears for the summer and track days that tore them apart so now I'm back with Kumhos in time for the rainy season. Ah well, so it goes.

After the wash, just couldn't resist a gratuitous pic...

It's such a cool little machine, if I do say so myself! :) Next track day is in 2 weeks.

08/20/04 Another BMW club day, the 12th track day for the Meanie. Temperatures were rather high and neither the engine nor the tires were at their best. I was about 200 rpm below my normal speed at the end of both straights. The fact that I had a passenger in every session also slowed things down just a bit so overall lap times were 2-3 seconds off my best pace. But it was fun sliding the car around every turn and good to see some familiar faces at the track. So a very nice day overall. The usual assortment of cars was there. I neglected to take pictures but fortunately others got a few shots of the Meanie in action - thanks, Roy!

I'll definitely snap some pics at the Lotus day two weeks from now - that one should bring out some neat machinery.

08/30/04 A bit of a surprise actually, a 'secret' instructor-only track day put on by the BMW club for people who instructed at this year's events and a few other advanced drivers. Intentionally low turnout accompanied by near-perfect weather made for a great track day which brought out some cars I haven't seen run in some time. Also, for the first time the club had pre-made numbers which looked almost professional, in contrast to the usual shoe polish on the windows. It's almost a shame to remove them :)

Couple highlights for me were helping David figure out how to deal with understeer and how to get through the chicane (his comment after his last session was 'that ROCKED!' ;). The other was having an experienced racer/instructor drive my car and ride along to give me pointers. He definitely was throwing the Meanie around much harder than I do but gratifyingly went no faster, as evidenced by tape. Afterwards he complimented me on my driving and said something to the effect that I was getting pretty close to everything there is to be had out of the car as set up (i.e. stock except for wheels/tires). This had been my suspicion for a while but it's nice to have it confirmed and the guy is consistently winning races at club level so he should know. ... Of course he also pointed out things I was doing less than optimally so there's always more to work on. But now I 'need' a faster car. Quite coincidentally I got an e-mail from Lotus that my new Elise should be showing up late September / early October. That'll work. Except track day season will be all but done by then... But in the meantime there is another track day Friday which will be the Meanie's 14th. Hope it doesn't rain.

On a whole different subject, yesterday a friend dropped by in his TVR Griffith. It's just such a neat car, I had to take a few pics. Cool.