Rennlisters at TWS?
06-06-2003, 10:04 PM
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I'll be there; my 993 is staying home, though. I'll be in a yellow spec racer ford Saturday! 
Can't wait -- should be a BIG change of pace.
Danny, anything new?
Can't wait -- should be a BIG change of pace.
Danny, anything new?
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06-07-2003, 12:44 AM
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</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Robert Henriksen:
<strong>I'll be there; my 993 is staying home, though. I'll be in a yellow spec racer ford Saturday!
Can't wait -- should be a BIG change of pace.
Danny, anything new?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Yellow spec racer? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> How did you land this?
Nothing new really, major withdrawls and Mike is fixing my car <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />
<strong>I'll be there; my 993 is staying home, though. I'll be in a yellow spec racer ford Saturday!
Can't wait -- should be a BIG change of pace.
Danny, anything new?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Yellow spec racer? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> How did you land this?
Nothing new really, major withdrawls and Mike is fixing my car <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />
06-08-2003, 01:34 PM
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</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by DJF1:
<strong>Yellow spec racer? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> How did you land this?
Nothing new really, major withdrawls and Mike is fixing my car <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Easy -- just write a big check!! The local spec racer ford dealer (CSR) had a rental available, and a guy to deliver it & do the trackside support, on short notice. I got four run sessions in: Red 2x in the morning, and red/white back to back after lunch. Went out again for another red/white at the end of the day, and the car died
But, hey, I did get four sessions in, and exceeded my goals for the day - so I'm happy!
Marcus, did you make it up Saturday?
<strong>Yellow spec racer? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> How did you land this?
Nothing new really, major withdrawls and Mike is fixing my car <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Easy -- just write a big check!! The local spec racer ford dealer (CSR) had a rental available, and a guy to deliver it & do the trackside support, on short notice. I got four run sessions in: Red 2x in the morning, and red/white back to back after lunch. Went out again for another red/white at the end of the day, and the car died
But, hey, I did get four sessions in, and exceeded my goals for the day - so I'm happy!Marcus, did you make it up Saturday?
06-09-2003, 12:50 AM
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Hey Robert. Didn't make it Saturday. Friday was my cousin's Debutante thingey. Since there was so many families from out of town we were obliged to entertain.
At least I got to drive my car.
Did you go? How was it? I asked Brenno to post pics soon. Let's hook up.
At least I got to drive my car.
Did you go? How was it? I asked Brenno to post pics soon. Let's hook up.
06-09-2003, 01:10 AM
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Had a great time Saturday; Sunday morning it got pretty wet. I had no students Sunday & no SRF, so I left about 9:30. Saw some blue sky & sun not far from the track, so it may have dried out for everyone else.
06-09-2003, 03:09 AM
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</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Robert Henriksen:
<strong>Had a great time Saturday; Sunday morning it got pretty wet. I had no students Sunday & no SRF, so I left about 9:30. Saw some blue sky & sun not far from the track, so it may have dried out for everyone else.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Don't you hate it when it happens? it seems that the heavens must open at TWS almost every event!
I was hoping you can give us your impressions from the SFR drive, not that I plan to rent one, I cannot fit in this damn thing even if I wanted to
7 more weeks to go! Yipeeeeeee! <img border="0" alt="[jumper]" title="" src="graemlins/jumper.gif" />
<strong>Had a great time Saturday; Sunday morning it got pretty wet. I had no students Sunday & no SRF, so I left about 9:30. Saw some blue sky & sun not far from the track, so it may have dried out for everyone else.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Don't you hate it when it happens? it seems that the heavens must open at TWS almost every event!
I was hoping you can give us your impressions from the SFR drive, not that I plan to rent one, I cannot fit in this damn thing even if I wanted to
7 more weeks to go! Yipeeeeeee! <img border="0" alt="[jumper]" title="" src="graemlins/jumper.gif" />
06-09-2003, 08:32 AM
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Yes, the first morning session was wet, very wet actually. It had dried up by the second session. It really turned out to be a great day overall since it was not as hot and had more wind than Saturday to cool things off a bit more. August sure won't be that cool!
06-09-2003, 09:21 AM
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</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by DJF1:
<strong>I was hoping you can give us your impressions from the SFR drive, not that I plan to rent one, I cannot fit in this damn thing even if I wanted to </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Two words: go-kart.
I was pretty captivated: just climbing in, you squeeze your shoulders together to pop down into the seat. Being in the middle of the car, in a tiny cockpit space, the rollbar tubes coming forward past your head, and looking down the nose of the car w. those big fenders coming up over the front wheels: it's very... focusing. Fastening the harness & putting on the arm restraints is another reminder you're not in your street car anymore. The ignition switch & start button helps, too
While it's a wimpy 1.9 liter Ford motor & Escort transmission, it feels like it's got a lighter flywheel. Blipping the throttle gets you both a very quick tach response, and a very pleasing BRAAAPPP! from the exhaust. While the rollbar braces extending forward past your ears really restrict your lateral vision, I found it to be a lot less claustrophic, and vision-limiting, than the full cage & A-pillars on the spec miata I drove the next day.
The shifter pattern is angled towards the driver, and third was rather notchy downshifting from fourth. Adjusting the mirrors to compromise between seeing someone directly behind me and seeing someone off to the sides took some learning, too. The fee schedule for over-rev penalties had me VERY focused on learning the engine sound at 5500-6000. 'Redline', where the overrev charges started, was 6250. At first I shifted at 5500, and then moved up to 6000 as I got more confident.
Another part of the appeal is what I enjoy about motorcycles: you're not inside a cage, looking at your surroundings go by through a window. You're IN the environment, there's nothing but a helmet visor between you and those bugs, marbles, and the air and the track spreading out in front of you. Being so low also increases the sense of speed & intimacy w. your environment. Very intense, very engaging. There was some buffeting on the front & back straights, but nothing that was a big deal. A couple of times I saw a black dot approaching at high speed, and just had time to think, 'Oh, @#$@...' before the bug went WHACK! into my visor. Hard to do any daydreaming!
I was very conscious of the short wheelbase and LOTS of camber. I didn't want to wind up spinning off right away because I wasn't ready for the speed of a breakaway. While the car is definitely twitchier than what I'm used to, it never bit me. I did wind up hanging it out several times, including a pretty long lurid oversteer through T13, but never had my heart in my throat. Don told me the car wasn't set up conservatively, which I was glad about. I didn't make any observations about the setup at first, because I knew I wasn't driving it fast enough to judge. After a couple of sessions, though, I was pretty sure it was a tad loose; no matter how careful I went into T8 it would want to come out some. My crew softened the rear bar slightly, which definitely helped.
My goal had been to experience the car (take a test drive), and see if I could get w/in five seconds of the typical top lap times on the TWS 2.9 course - 1:55.*. I was able to run four sessions Saturday, and they went 2:02.6, 1:59.4, 1:59.1, and 1:58.6! <img border="0" alt="[jumper]" title="" src="graemlins/jumper.gif" />
A couple of SRF drivers were there Saturday (sans cars), and gave me plenty of pointers. Flat into T1, 7, and 12; I was still working on 5. I was going to drive two more sessions Saturday (last red/white groups), but the alternator leads were loose, and the battery died. Didn't get the car running in time to get any laps in those final sessions .
All in all though, a great experience!
<strong>I was hoping you can give us your impressions from the SFR drive, not that I plan to rent one, I cannot fit in this damn thing even if I wanted to
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Two words: go-kart.I was pretty captivated: just climbing in, you squeeze your shoulders together to pop down into the seat. Being in the middle of the car, in a tiny cockpit space, the rollbar tubes coming forward past your head, and looking down the nose of the car w. those big fenders coming up over the front wheels: it's very... focusing. Fastening the harness & putting on the arm restraints is another reminder you're not in your street car anymore. The ignition switch & start button helps, too
While it's a wimpy 1.9 liter Ford motor & Escort transmission, it feels like it's got a lighter flywheel. Blipping the throttle gets you both a very quick tach response, and a very pleasing BRAAAPPP! from the exhaust. While the rollbar braces extending forward past your ears really restrict your lateral vision, I found it to be a lot less claustrophic, and vision-limiting, than the full cage & A-pillars on the spec miata I drove the next day.
The shifter pattern is angled towards the driver, and third was rather notchy downshifting from fourth. Adjusting the mirrors to compromise between seeing someone directly behind me and seeing someone off to the sides took some learning, too. The fee schedule for over-rev penalties had me VERY focused on learning the engine sound at 5500-6000. 'Redline', where the overrev charges started, was 6250. At first I shifted at 5500, and then moved up to 6000 as I got more confident.
Another part of the appeal is what I enjoy about motorcycles: you're not inside a cage, looking at your surroundings go by through a window. You're IN the environment, there's nothing but a helmet visor between you and those bugs, marbles, and the air and the track spreading out in front of you. Being so low also increases the sense of speed & intimacy w. your environment. Very intense, very engaging. There was some buffeting on the front & back straights, but nothing that was a big deal. A couple of times I saw a black dot approaching at high speed, and just had time to think, 'Oh, @#$@...' before the bug went WHACK! into my visor. Hard to do any daydreaming!
I was very conscious of the short wheelbase and LOTS of camber. I didn't want to wind up spinning off right away because I wasn't ready for the speed of a breakaway. While the car is definitely twitchier than what I'm used to, it never bit me. I did wind up hanging it out several times, including a pretty long lurid oversteer through T13, but never had my heart in my throat. Don told me the car wasn't set up conservatively, which I was glad about. I didn't make any observations about the setup at first, because I knew I wasn't driving it fast enough to judge. After a couple of sessions, though, I was pretty sure it was a tad loose; no matter how careful I went into T8 it would want to come out some. My crew softened the rear bar slightly, which definitely helped.
My goal had been to experience the car (take a test drive), and see if I could get w/in five seconds of the typical top lap times on the TWS 2.9 course - 1:55.*. I was able to run four sessions Saturday, and they went 2:02.6, 1:59.4, 1:59.1, and 1:58.6! <img border="0" alt="[jumper]" title="" src="graemlins/jumper.gif" />
A couple of SRF drivers were there Saturday (sans cars), and gave me plenty of pointers. Flat into T1, 7, and 12; I was still working on 5. I was going to drive two more sessions Saturday (last red/white groups), but the alternator leads were loose, and the battery died. Didn't get the car running in time to get any laps in those final sessions
.All in all though, a great experience!
06-09-2003, 01:30 PM
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</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Robert Henriksen:
<strong>
A couple of SRF drivers were there Saturday (sans cars), and gave me plenty of pointers. Flat into T1, 7, and 12; I was still working on 5.
All in all though, a great experience!</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Flat on 7?!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> Sounds like you did have a great time and these little things are tons of fun! From the lap times you posted it looks like they run about the same as a C stock 993. That is pretty impressive I must say considering that full RSR's will run in the high 1.40's. Pretty cool
Nice description BTW, I felt like I was strapping in myself this morning, nahhh I know its a dream I'll never fit in there
Matt I know about August , but beggers are not choosers <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />
Looking forward to seeing you both in August!
<img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />
<strong>
A couple of SRF drivers were there Saturday (sans cars), and gave me plenty of pointers. Flat into T1, 7, and 12; I was still working on 5.
All in all though, a great experience!</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Flat on 7?!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> Sounds like you did have a great time and these little things are tons of fun! From the lap times you posted it looks like they run about the same as a C stock 993. That is pretty impressive I must say considering that full RSR's will run in the high 1.40's. Pretty cool
Nice description BTW, I felt like I was strapping in myself this morning, nahhh I know its a dream I'll never fit in there
Matt I know about August , but beggers are not choosers <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />
Looking forward to seeing you both in August!
<img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />