SpeedyC2

I had a great time at VIR this past weekend, and came away from the event pretty much completely satisfied with the recent suspension "refresh". The car handled very well and was rock solid all weekend. I feel like maybe I'm finally pushing the car hard enough to consider running track pads and something other than all-season tires...

I shared padock space with a buddy who drives a Cayman R. I do miss having my CS on track - the Cayman is just so darned good and FAST - but I'm sure I'm learning far more with the S2. After all, I have to do all the driving myself. There are no "electronic nannys" to save my butt!

It was great to finally get to see harveyf at the track. I didn't get any track time with him as we are in different run groups, but he looked like he was running well when I was able to watch from the sidelines. I feel like I always learn some new technical tidbit when I talk to Harvey - that's always fun!

Here are a few pics a friend of mine and I took from the weekend.

VirginiaF1

Nice Post..
Please tell me your S2 has been resprayed after all these years.. Looks great.
Are those 16" Phone Dials?
Did your Lap Times come down throughout the weekend?

Dino V

Awesome, looked like fun. Thanks for sharing!

harveyf

Hey Mike, good seeing you there. We dodged the weather bullet pretty well. It was raining on my way up and pouring on the way back but all but the first session Saturday was on a dry track.

A strange but true story: I randomly parked Saturday morning between a BMW M3 sedan and a Honda S2000. The BMW got taken out in the first run group of the day and the S2000 in the second run group of the day, both due to contact with the tire wall near turn 5. Cold damp track. A 944 Turbo parked 2 slots away blew out his wastegate and retired before the days end, as did a guy 2 slots the other direction with a custom turbo 911SC that he couldn't get running right. My impression has been that attrition at DE's is usually pretty low. I have never had 4 cars parked next to me drop out like that. Whatever, you and I made it through the weekend unscathed so that is what counts I had a great time and will be looking forward to new adventures this spring.

SpeedyC2

Thank you! To the best of my knowledge and the considerable records which came with the car, the paint is original. It is in pretty darned good shape - at 171K miles! - but this is a flattering picture. A closer look will show the paint to be a bit rough around the edges. I hit the car with some quick detailing spray before the weekend and have to say it did make it pretty!

The wheels are 16" phone dials, 16 x 7 front, 16 x 8 rear. The finish on the wheels is also pretty rough in person, but they are straight and round!

I don't really keep track of my laps times (I know, I know...), but judging from the number of cars I passed (and the number I never saw) my last two runs of the weekend, my laps times had dropped pretty nicely. I can say my speeds were up 10 - 15 mph or better at almost every point on track from the start to finish of the weekend. I brake too much at ends of the front and back straights (survival instinct!) and I can't get the Turn 4 - 5 complex right, but I was going into the Uphill Esses at 100mph by the end of the weekend, and hitting the same top speed at the end of the front and back straights, so that's not too bad.

I've never really been all that fast - I only get to two events a year, typically - but I do have fun!

StoogeMoe

Note to self - Don't let Harveyf park near me at a DE!

rsabeebe

so, is it strange to run through Oak Tree corner without an Oak tree any longer?? i guess it depends what section of the track you ran or whether you ran the full course if you actually used that corner or not. such a GREAT track!! great pics.

SpeedyC2

As much as I miss the Oak Tree, I have to say I found the turn to be a bit easier to negotiate as you can now see through the turn better. Not only is the tree gone, so is the corner station.

They have also removed the starting tower and the tree at the bend on the front straight. My understanding is the start-finish is moving back a bit towards hog-pen, and they removed the tree to give more line of sight for spectators.

harveyf

I would agree with Mike about Oak tree. It's Corners 101 to hit a late apex, grabbing a little bit of curb, and track out full track left on this corner leading on to a straight. As Mike pointed out, site lines are improved and the removed "intimidation factor" of not having Armco, a worker station, and a big tree in the way is helpful. But I do miss the scenic factor of having that tree there.

I was fortunate to attend the South Course weekend with First Settlers PCA last month, which gets you a ton of practice on Oak Tree. This was the 1st time I had run South Course. It was a lot of fun, especially for my momentum car.

Also, from talking to the corner worker, they are apparently having trouble with folks missing the black flag, when thrown from the new corner station location. I admit it was pretty hard to miss before, as it brushed over your hood and drug up your windshield