Calication - head west young man
#16
#17
There are some fast folks around here. The big deal is to ensure they can get and want to get to the event you are at (does not conflict with a POC race or other event) which should be pretty easy.
Some additional thoughts on the groups...
POC: great race group likely not the group you want for DE as there time trial group is more of a training group for the race group. They do have some of the fastest guys around running cup cars in their red race group (folks who may want to meet at a DE event depending on the event and the timing)
PCA: as Lar says a good group of guys with a pretty fast top group, the issue could/will on a club race weekend you lose track time (race group) and the fast folks are in the race group. On a time trial weekend the red group is usually pretty good, less restrictive passing full track (optional?) point by with a mix of cars. Usually there are interesting visiting cars (in March two GTR's visited, running new pirelli slicks for the time trial and in September a fiat challenge car was tooling around, and got pretty fast by the time trial). Not sure if it really fits what you are looking for but not bad. (oh, red group has no passengers due to less restrictive passing and insurance).
HoD: The D ("race prepped") group is open passing, usually small with a mix of cars. Good org, decent track time. They likely fit your bill.
For Thunderhill and some other tracks one could likely do a private track day with enough interest maybe before or after a planned event and get all the fast folks together for some quality track time.
Possible Reasonably Fast Lap Times (from memory folks can pick on my guesses if they like)..
Laguna: cup car: 1:28-1:31 gt3 1:31-1:37
Thunderhill: cup car: 1:51-1:54 gt3 1:55- 1:59
Willow Springs: cup car 1:25-1:29 gt3 1:28-1:32
Buttonwillow (config #1) gt3 2:02-2:06 (maybe)
I do not think any of the above nor Infineon, RFR, Miller, Spring Hill are go track short tracks.
Laguna note: If you want to take a GT3 to Laguna without exhaust work you need to find at least a 92 db day and better yet a unrestricted day. Your choices will be limited. There are solutions but they will take some work and some negotiation or cash (to borrow our buy a system which you can fit to a GT3 to make it pass 90db, it is possible).
July-August for button willow, thunder hill, spring hill, and others maybe very hot (100). Other tracks might be better (historical climate will show you better details than I have). There will likely be no rain at any tracks after from May through September. BTW, I personally do not think it is really too hot to be any of the local tracks based solely on time of year, some days are likely oppressive but doable.
Norcal shops... I have my work done at BR Racing in Los Gatos (Bay Area), they can do race prep, maintenance, store and they provide track support. Contact Bruce or Robb.
Maybe my GT3 will have 4 wheels and a good engine by then... not sure I am one the fast guys you are looking for though.
Some additional thoughts on the groups...
POC: great race group likely not the group you want for DE as there time trial group is more of a training group for the race group. They do have some of the fastest guys around running cup cars in their red race group (folks who may want to meet at a DE event depending on the event and the timing)
PCA: as Lar says a good group of guys with a pretty fast top group, the issue could/will on a club race weekend you lose track time (race group) and the fast folks are in the race group. On a time trial weekend the red group is usually pretty good, less restrictive passing full track (optional?) point by with a mix of cars. Usually there are interesting visiting cars (in March two GTR's visited, running new pirelli slicks for the time trial and in September a fiat challenge car was tooling around, and got pretty fast by the time trial). Not sure if it really fits what you are looking for but not bad. (oh, red group has no passengers due to less restrictive passing and insurance).
HoD: The D ("race prepped") group is open passing, usually small with a mix of cars. Good org, decent track time. They likely fit your bill.
For Thunderhill and some other tracks one could likely do a private track day with enough interest maybe before or after a planned event and get all the fast folks together for some quality track time.
Possible Reasonably Fast Lap Times (from memory folks can pick on my guesses if they like)..
Laguna: cup car: 1:28-1:31 gt3 1:31-1:37
Thunderhill: cup car: 1:51-1:54 gt3 1:55- 1:59
Willow Springs: cup car 1:25-1:29 gt3 1:28-1:32
Buttonwillow (config #1) gt3 2:02-2:06 (maybe)
I do not think any of the above nor Infineon, RFR, Miller, Spring Hill are go track short tracks.
Laguna note: If you want to take a GT3 to Laguna without exhaust work you need to find at least a 92 db day and better yet a unrestricted day. Your choices will be limited. There are solutions but they will take some work and some negotiation or cash (to borrow our buy a system which you can fit to a GT3 to make it pass 90db, it is possible).
July-August for button willow, thunder hill, spring hill, and others maybe very hot (100). Other tracks might be better (historical climate will show you better details than I have). There will likely be no rain at any tracks after from May through September. BTW, I personally do not think it is really too hot to be any of the local tracks based solely on time of year, some days are likely oppressive but doable.
Norcal shops... I have my work done at BR Racing in Los Gatos (Bay Area), they can do race prep, maintenance, store and they provide track support. Contact Bruce or Robb.
Maybe my GT3 will have 4 wheels and a good engine by then... not sure I am one the fast guys you are looking for though.
Last edited by gstahl; 12-28-2012 at 03:18 AM.
#18
Clarke:
Great advice given so far. My $.02:
July-Sept. in Socal can be pretty brutal (100+). If that's sweater weather in Florida, then you'll be fine. Tracks to try for sure: Buttonwillow, Willow Springs (WSIR), Chuckwalla and AAA Speedway Roval. I know a lot of folks don't care for AAA, but I enjoy it. Something really satisfying entering the banking of T1 at 160+ and feeling all that aero doing its work that gives me that warm fuzzy feeling. Skip Streets of Willow. from your description, you'd hate it.
Organizers I can recommend: Speedventures, POC and PCA GGR. Speedventures red group is open passing and if anyone is acting like an asshat, they are quickly identified in the download meetings and told to shape up or get moved out.
Shops: Surprised few have touched this. I can't think of many shops that are actually close to any of the tracks in Socal but a few that seem to be well respected: Werks II, GMG, BBI and Vision Motorsports. I believe some/all do trackside support if needed.
Norcal: Contrary to some here, I love Laguna Seca despite the noise BS. I figure we won't be able to run it much longer unless we convert to electric GT3's so I'm going to enjoy it before the NIMBY residents get it completely shut down.
Keep us apprised of your schedule and we'll try to get some folks to join up. There are a lot of really nice/fast guys on this board in both Norcal and Socal. The Trackrat event was such a blast because so many finally made it out to a communal event. Hoping we can do something like that again and use you as an excuse.
Great advice given so far. My $.02:
July-Sept. in Socal can be pretty brutal (100+). If that's sweater weather in Florida, then you'll be fine. Tracks to try for sure: Buttonwillow, Willow Springs (WSIR), Chuckwalla and AAA Speedway Roval. I know a lot of folks don't care for AAA, but I enjoy it. Something really satisfying entering the banking of T1 at 160+ and feeling all that aero doing its work that gives me that warm fuzzy feeling. Skip Streets of Willow. from your description, you'd hate it.
Organizers I can recommend: Speedventures, POC and PCA GGR. Speedventures red group is open passing and if anyone is acting like an asshat, they are quickly identified in the download meetings and told to shape up or get moved out.
Shops: Surprised few have touched this. I can't think of many shops that are actually close to any of the tracks in Socal but a few that seem to be well respected: Werks II, GMG, BBI and Vision Motorsports. I believe some/all do trackside support if needed.
Norcal: Contrary to some here, I love Laguna Seca despite the noise BS. I figure we won't be able to run it much longer unless we convert to electric GT3's so I'm going to enjoy it before the NIMBY residents get it completely shut down.
Keep us apprised of your schedule and we'll try to get some folks to join up. There are a lot of really nice/fast guys on this board in both Norcal and Socal. The Trackrat event was such a blast because so many finally made it out to a communal event. Hoping we can do something like that again and use you as an excuse.
#19
thanks RLers - I think we have the making of some epic track events.
Sly & I are off to warmer weather in Palm Beach to hang with some FL RLers for the weekend. Maybe I can recruit a few for the Calication.
Sly & I are off to warmer weather in Palm Beach to hang with some FL RLers for the weekend. Maybe I can recruit a few for the Calication.
#21
I think Sly will kick my butt on the track. She sounds very fast. Clarke - so awesome you are making an effort to come out to the West. Weather is nice here. LIke people were saying, July-Sept is brutally hot and not so fun on the track on 100+ heat.. tires and brakes dont like it...
#22
#23
GT3 player par excellence
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love to meet up with clarke. from what i hear, i will be 5 turns behind him trying not be lapped 3x a session.
#24
You guys should hit a day at Miller on your way to CA. Check Lapping Days out. They let the advanced group run pretty hard. Good group of guys to drive with. Porsche club has a couple of days also and if you have a NASA membership there are a lot of those days, if you came on a friday, you could get a 3 day weekend, open day friday, time trial Sat, on sunday you would almost have the track to yourself should add that there are some great Porsche race shops onsite at Miller as well Airpower Racing, RaceCo and Tatum. Home track for Magnus and Snow racing. Porsche Cup seems to be the spec race car at Miller.
Last edited by z06801; 12-31-2012 at 01:17 PM.
#25
PJ, NorthVan- we can caravan. You guys come down to Portland and I'll put you up at my plance on the way there and back. I'll definitely try to get to any event where the Florida crazies decide to show up.
#26
Sounds like a good plan, I am not sure my Ghetto Trailer can hang with the likes of you two!