savyboy

Buttonwillow CA. **DUST STORM CITY**

In the interest of not provoking the nervous breakdown and institutionalization of the bubble wrapper crowd, I will not post interior pics. Just imagine though holding a 50 lb bag of dirt in front of an industrial fan aimed at the interior of the car.

Nor will I mention details of the utterly terrifying drive home on the 20 mile stretch of Sierra Nevada mountain pass on hwy I-80 East which was blowing sleet-snow-ice and 1-3" of freezing slush on the road surface. I don't scare easy but you couldn't have gotten a toothpick between my butt checks using a sledge hammer in that time period. It wasn't "supposed" to be that bad according to forecasts and condition reports. Welcome to mountain driving.

I like Thunderhill and Spring Mountain better, but a fun track nonetheless. Poor Porsche turnout. Lots of S2000's, Evo's, various Nissan, Vipers and Vettes. A TON of off's in all sessions but Red. Run groups were too crowded for my taste. It was sold out and packed

A vette blew an engine on front straight, another caught fire and an S2000 rolled and came that close to severly injuring or killing both occupants. Ugh.

Thank to my coaches John and Todd, I wound up ending day two with Todd in car at 2:05 which is firmly in red group territory.

If you get an RS, expect constant picture taking and lots of questions. Out of over 100-125 cars, the buzz was all " Blue RS ".

Still enough tread left on
the Cups to run TH for two days after all. Corsa Systems on next week. Tempted to tighten the rear sway bar one hole to dial out some understeer but as it is not severe and I can throttle steer my way out of it, I will try playing with tire pressures first. Am having the camber (-1.8 all around) taken back out of it today and going back to stock setting to save my tires and I noticed no great improvement to justify the increased wear.

Anyhow... enjoy!

kailuadog

Dude, you are my HERO.
Love the fact you are using the car for what it is!

How are you liking the car now that you have some mileage on her?

Aloha.

mooty

is this speedventures?
john is a good guy and very very fast on track, he just talks very SLOW ;-)
when speedventure gets up to LS, the participant pool changes, you see some s2000 but lots porsches.

yeah, i will have no passenger seat on my RS. i will take passengers. but you will have to bring your own glue and cover your rear with it then glue to the tub. i am not known to be smooth.

i like BW. but dont go off there. you wont hit anything (usually) but you will spend the next year vacuuming dust out of the car. once i got so far off track at riverside (the high speed turn), it took me whole 10 min to find where the track was! all i saw were tall grass and dusty.

you should do BW again with CCCR and GGR, both are PCA clubs. 5/21-23 fri-sun.

TeamDrugMoney

Hey...

First CONGRATS on the new car!

Second, I like pic #4, even with a little photoshop adjustment...

savyboy

Haha... I know the flipper and bubble wrapper crowd are deeply perplexed by this thread...lol. Thanks for the kind comments. About 2000 miles now and it is crazy fun! Such a fantastic track toy box-stock.

Yes, SpeedVentures. I just got the GGR info for BW, still trying to decide if I want to go back there. If it were possible to know if a dust storm was (again) going to happen I would be more enthusiastic

See below for the first off I have ever had (this weekend) . Ran out of focus, then track. Good lesson here to think three-fours steps ahead and be positive you are on line or speed is adjusted to compensate.

I remember following your threads last year with your new car. Vicarious living, is a beautiful thing! Thanks for all your posts!

Not sure what you mean about Photoshop?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2prcELTNMdQ

mooty

that's the last turn, sunset, right?
yeah, it's tight and most ppl early apex it.
but you did it right. if you tried to come back on...... the pit wall on left is VERY hard.

oh, the esses before sunset is tricky. decptively simple.... not

savyboy

"Woo-Hoo!"

haha...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IGcjofbWy8

micahbones

Nice work getting the RS and yourself home safely!

I had a similar experience driving a street legal 944-spec race car home after a NASA RMR race in Colorado in
March a couple years ago. A rain/snow mix started during the last race of the day (which made for some fun
oversteer moments among us racers), and by the time I swapped to my street rubber, packed up the car with
my gear, and made it out to I-25 it was absolutely dumping snow. Driving home from Pueblo to the Denver area
amongst the semi-trucks and Texans (said in good humor) in an '85 944 with no anti-lock brakes or TC was far
more "exciting" than anything that happened on the race track that weekend.

Finallly, regarding the dirt shower in your interior as you described and shown in your vid...now she's properly
broken in.

Targa Tim

What's driving the RS with MPSC over the slushy/wet highways like? scary or do-able?

Did I say your blue RS looks fantastic...

mikymu

Fantastic picture Pete! Keep it coming. Your off was not that bad and there are no walls to deal with. Brave man to drive in the snow in those bald tires. Give me a shout if you happen upon my neighborhood on your way down to TH

fun2k

wow nice pics love that color combo on the rs. thay rs has zero roll compared to the s2000s there
you drove with the stiff suspension setting? on some corners when i drive on stiff mode the front end bounces alot so was just thinking.

savyboy

Yup! Off's there ALL DAY LONG. Once was enough for me! Knowledge is knowing how to do something (countersteer) Wisdom is knowing not to! Lol...I pulled my head out of my *** as I was going off and knew to relax and cruise back on track.

I enjoyed the esses and had no problems there but heard it was a problem area and to be aware.

Thanks for the personal story. I love snow/ice/slush driving on the proper tires. Lots of fun. But not on Cups. In your case with no electronic assists would have been awful. And I agree, the real scary part is trying not to slide out in front of an 18 wheeler. UGH! Properly broken-in indeed!

Dude...! Wet was, um, interesting but no terror. Actually fairly predictable. In the puddly areas the hydroplaning induced a side to side rocking movement which I had never experienced in a car before. Not necessarily scary, but, er, thought provoking...lol.

The icy snowy slushy stuff was dreadful. Very scary.

Did I mention I was very scared? I would not want to repeat that experience.

Back at ya on the good looking Blue RS!

savyboy

Thanks for the kind comments, I noted the S2000 body roll difference as well. I did flip the "stiff" button on and wish it was a bit more stiff to cope with the transitions a bit more smoothly. But I can fix that with driving style after I learn the track and can allow a micro second for the car to settle before new control input. No "bounce" at all with stiffie

I recall these cars are set up with more initial give, less initial stiffness to help keep tires planted on rough stuff. Then it is very stiff upon taking a set. So, a lot to be learned by driver to take what the car has to offer.

TeamDrugMoney

Hey, in photoshop you can alter pics. The previous pic I posted was too small to see the change...

TeamDrugMoney

I just noticed that in pic # 4 with the way the sun is hitting your car it looks like you have the biggest front splitter every put on a 911, LOL!!!