IcemanG17

Rich & I went to the PCA Drivers Education today at Thunderhill raceway park!! Dennis was nice enough to come on down and be our instructor.....man was I nervous.....about crashing, or breaking something.......

IT WAS SO FUN.....my nearly stock 19 year old automatic 928 kicked some butt.....could catch a Cayman S on the straights no problem.....even a Carrera S would loose on the straights......my highlight of the day was getting approved to drive Solo.....on my first DE ever......4 runs and I got approved by the head instructor..... My 18" wheels/tires had some serious grip...those conti sport contact II's in 235/40 and 265/40 really impressed me.....I only got sideways once (& not for a lack of trying)......towards the end of the day a 996 Turbo S was in my group.....I was able to bring him back in the corners and braking....but he would pull away on the straights......it would have been a fun battle if there was less traffic (& better passing rules)......it must be hard to watch a 19 year old stock car keep up with your $150K turbo!!

Rich & Dennis were smoking the track....I got a ride in Dennis's car.....damm that thing is quick.....right up to the point it had some problems.....but I'll let Dennis tell that story :>(

Rich's lower radiator hose got a leak from rubbing on the power steering belt....lucky for him he was able to "acquire" one and drive home!

I am so glad I went.....best $$$ I've spent in a while...& heres an interesting stat......on the way to the track (at 5:15am) got 20 mpg....filling up in Willows, driving to the track (6 miles)......4 20 minute runs (80 miles) & back to the same gas station......9.4mpg!!! Well worth it!!

Richard S

Brian, it sounds like we had an awesome time!!!


Rich

BC

Awesome.

Buttonwillow in December for Lead Foot adventures - whos going?

Bill Ball

Good going, Brian. Did you bounce of the rev limiter in 3rd going down the straight reeling in the Cayman S?

atb

I had the exact same thing happen on the way out to my last track event.

What caused it in my case was that the hose clamp was on the very end of the radiator hose, up against the radiator. The pressure in the system backed the hose off the radiator tube until the hose clamp caught on the flare at the end of the tube. Moral to the story? Move those hose clamps off the end of the hose a bit so they are right next to the flare on the pipe.

We used radiator repair tape on my car. (Lots of fun applying that stuff on the side of the freeway with all the 18 wheelers running by).
It held for the track day, and is still on there now, pretty good stuff.

IcemanG17

Bill
Not even close......a whole bunch of redline shifts in 2nd...typically 6K to 6200 at 80ish mph.....the best I could get on the straight was about 105mph....90ish on the back straight....with the 2.20 rear end and auto.....it was not ideal gearing for thunderhill......a "2.5" gear would be ideal.....2nd is just too low and 3rd way too tall....I think your cars 2.54 rear end and lower third would be much better at that track...of course the S/C wouldn't hurt either! The 2.20 5 speeds cars seem to work really well there....just leave it in third the whole time...maybe a couple downshifts to 2nd....thats it!!

In my first couple sessions I left the tranny in 3 and used the kickdown for power.....this worked okay...but in the lower speed corners it would lug too much......so I started downshifting to 2nd....this was working really well and allowed me better control in the corners with smoother power coming out of the tighter turns....plus it sounded way better.....:>)...Rich & Dennis's 928's just sounded so sweet around the track....by far the best sounding cars out there!

You gotta come out next time.....get 5+ 928's there all at the same time.....that would be sweet!