shmark

I took a day off yesterday and went to the Talladega Grand Prix track with a bunch of other track junkies, had a blast. I was co-driving a friend's 996 for the day, so unfortunately the 928 stayed home. Giovanni was there in his supercharged S4 and got a few laps in before having a little trouble. But he really got the hang of the track and luckily was able to find parts at lunchtime and get rolling again. I hope you had a safe trip home Gio!

The 996 was just an awesome driver and we were able to turn the fastest times of the day, even against that little green demon you see in the pics. We had some brake trouble, evidently water in the fluid. But we were able to get in 7-8 solid laps before coming in to cool down - tried bleeding them twice but no improvement. Even so, we got in a TON of track time, great day and BIG thanks to Chad for letting me co-drive his fantastic 996 and to Kevin for putting it all together. What a great day!

On the way, sun just coming up behind us. I got up at 4:30am!


Nice lineup, notice the car right behind our 996....


Giovanni had a bit of trouble, but the car sounded really good and made good power.


Foot on the floor, just shifting into 4th at this point.


I also posted a couple videos, unfortunately no in-car. Chad didn't bring his camera mount.

996 flyby into turn 1

996 passing a Boxster on the front straight

Mike Simard

It looks like you guys had a great day. I was supposed to be there

Next Weekend is a NASA races/hpde at Road Atlanta. I'm going to slap racing tires on my 87 street car and tool around in HPDE. Anyone coming?

shmark

We missed you Mike, really wanted to see that beast running! As it was I got my V8 fix in Gio's car. Between the supercharger and the RMB, it sounded really nice and I was impressed with the acceleration...I need boost.

Oh there was one other V8 there, a Superformance Cobra running a built and bored-out 351 (390?). It was set up for road course duty with some big Avons and sounded great. Hands-down the best Cobra I've ever seen outside of a genuine original, really beautifully built and ran full-tilt...until he ran out of gas.

Mike Simard

Everytime we have a get together something happens. One of these days it would be great to finally meet Gio, he's been on his way to meetings here but had to turn around and it seems like I've missed track days like this before.

My avatar is a my old Superformance Cobra! I'll bet that one was a handful. Short wheelbase, power, tight road course... I've also run out of gas on track in mine

Isn't TGP like Heavan? A nice track, rolling hills and old ralroad tresels, cows across the street.

AO

Looks like a ton of fun. What was Gio's problem?

FlyingDog

That looks like a pretty cool track. Very laid back.A gallon of Dexcool at the track and they didn't kill Gio?

AO

Good eyes... I didn't catch that. I don't think Gio's car is intercooled, so probably coolant related. Maybe the dreaded heatervalve hose?

shmark

It's in the middle of bucolic nowhere, just a laid-back relaxed place and the guys running it are super-nice...and patient when someone has a problem. Gio lost the heater valve with the consequences you'd expect. I was in the car with him when it went and luckily the damage wasn't too bad. He got a little coolant on the tires and handled the resulting slide very well, I felt bad for him on the failure of such a small part. They had to clean up turns 2 and 6 (hard to describe, but really just two turns), and we were back in the game shortly. Really not a big deal, but unfortunately it meant he was out for the day.

The Exige had a problem too, wore the brake pads down to the metal before lunch. So Mick (Exige guy) and Gio took off at lunch on a parts quest, driving the screeching Exige the whole way...wonder what that drive was like?! They returned *just* before the gates closed after lunch, in triumph. Somehow they found new pads for a Lotus Exige S in Anniston, AL and Gio got the parts necessary to get rolling again. Apparently the Exige S front pads are the same as a 350Z track model rear pads. It really was a great day and Gio you'd better be there for the next one!

shmark

Dude, you're good.

AO

Yep... easily fixed with some heater hose and a couple of clamps - The factory hose actually stepps down a size, but you can manage with 5/8" (IIRC) heater hose. Mine's still like that.

Giovanni

Mark, it was great meeting you and thanks for taking me on a spin in the 996 :-).

The heater valve decided to let go and dumped all the coolant on the track thus making everything take a long mandatory break .

Bill Ball

My heater old original heater valve decided to split open at my second track event. I didn't notice the coolant loss until the overheating warning came up on the digital dash - it animates an engine block on fire. I ended up going around another lap before I made it to the pit. Man was that stupid. The temporary solution was to cut the return line from the heat exchanger box and hook that to the block outlet. Somehow I avoided losing the head gasket despite driving around with no coolant. Gio, I trust your car is fine. One other heater valve failure mode is for the metal outlet stub to pop out of the block - it is just pressed in. It can be expoxied back in as we did to Tim & Cheryl's car right before a 208 MPH run.

Looks like you guys otherwise had a lot of fun.

shmark

You're welcome, it was a lot of fun. BTW that was my first lapping session in a 996 so I was really getting a feel for the car. I was a lot faster later, managed to show Chad a bit about throttle steer (he's always had front engined cars, I've always tracked mid/rear engined cars). Of course he ended up faster than me, it was his car after all!

Now I'm thinking about tracking the 928. Never driven a front-engined car on the track before, but I have autocrossed a Corvette. Might be fun.

Giovanni

I will take some pics of the broken heater valve when I get home tonight. Luckily I was able to drive the car to my house (100 miles) after putting an aftermarket heater valce. Moral of the story, buy you a rubber plug in case your heater valve breaks so at least you don't get stranded.

AO

Oh it was the valve that went... I thought it was the hose between the head and the valve. Good call on a rubber plug.