Mikelly

Just got back from the event, and I'll have to collect my thoughts, data, and footage, but figured I'd start a thread as I know a number of Rennlisters were there...

Chin puts on a heck of an event, and I truly have a much better appreciation for "passing" anywhere. I was promoted to red run group today, and it was quite the chore keeping my eyes on the mirrors while keeping an eye on my line... I ran a slew of 2:10s-2:12s accoridng to my traqmate, and got a lot fo footage. I'll have to thru it all, but the hi-lite was throwing Dell a pass and then trying to "keep up" thru T10/11/12/ and hoping that all my power would make up for his talent... It did, right up until we hit 14 and he disappeared.

That boys got man parts that are abnormal...

Also ran thru oil twice and had traction loss in two very bad sections, T3 and T8. It was hairy, to say the least...

So those of you that were there, post up!
Mike

FLA997

I heard it was a great event...my father was there in his red 996 GT-3 and had a crankshaft pulley pin break that made him cut the event short. Good to hear you kept it on the pavement thru that oil.

Mikelly

Yup, Got footage of him exiting the course at T1 on the first session of day one...

It was a fast and 'eventful" event!

Mike

jenk12m

glad to hear you had a great time mike. you gotta love the open passing with point bye's that chin does. i got my 1st dose of it at barber with mark hicks in the car in front of me. giving the point by as we are going into the braking zone for the quick downhill mini laguna seca turn(cant think of the turn #)

datax

Now post some vids pls! Who spilled the oil? Did you do anything to your car since Zone 2 event? Cause you were moving fast during that time.

Mikelly

Don't know who spilled the oil in the Red group on session 3, but I almost bought the farm in the esses... The morning run in Blue group there was a Formula Ford that put some down in T3 (Nascar) and that was a bit hairy, but I saved it.

I have hours of footage I need to go thru...

The car is untouched from that event other than a working clutch, which now seems to be suffering hydraulic slave cylinder issues...

I'm suffering big time in the suspension department and am going to have to give in and buy some GT3 two piece control arms... The -1.5 camber front and -2.0 rear isn't enough for me to get out of the 2:10s... Maybe it's just lack of talent, but I tried real hard, and had plenty of clean air and good traffic flow. Funny thing was, my fastest times were when I was taking some strange passes, like into the uphill esses or going into T10.

I only gave two passes in the red session I did after lunch... One to Dell, and one to the Red Bull Racing Ferrari F430 race car. Other than that, I held my own. Mark Hicks and I chatted after my sign-off and he said he had nothing for me in the uphill esses.

Mike

Patrick E

Mike, thanks for coming by yesterday with some kind words. You were really getting that thing around well! You clearly belonged in the red group.

This was my first Chin event and I was very impressed. Very well run event with lots of track time.

Circuit Motorsports

Are you sure it wasn't a Spec Racer Ford instead of a Formula Ford. There weren't any open wheel cars that I saw there.

Mikelly

You're correct, Get my "fords" mixed up... It was the yellow full bodied open cockpit car... Still have oil all over my car from that one! Upon further review of the footage, the up-hill esses was a lack of talent on the part of the 996TT driver... I pinched the gator at T8 and almost ruined some nomex underwear.

Patrick, It was good meeting and running with you... I had a ball!

Mike

ZAPmobile

We really love the Chin events. We think the approach and tone they set for the events is superb. They treat people as adults and with respect. People seem to rise to the expectations.

You almost cannot use as much potential track time as you can with Chin. At least 3-1/2 hours, and possibly more. What that does is cut down everyone's panic that they have to set their best lap in the first or second of three or four 20-minute sessions. It lets people relax and go out on the track as much or as little as they wish, knowing there's plenty more track time to be had.

Their passing rules for the Instructor/Advanced run group is among the most liberal of any events we have ever attended; yet, the safety record is also among the highest for all the reasons stated above.
More liberal passing rules lessen the frustrations of being "caught" behind a slower driver.

Their Intermediate group has almost the same passing rules, the difference being that in that group, giving a passing signal is discretionary, not mandatory as in the higher group.

Their novice group's passing rules are very similar to that of PCA novice passing rules; but even in the novice run group, there seems to be a higher awareness of faster drivers and the need to allow them to get by. It all ties in to Chin's stressing the courtesy to and awareness of others in the same run group.

The other thing that probably contributes to the enjoyment of a Chin event is that they limit the number of cars they accept into an event, and under the TrackQuest format, only three run groups.

Margo and I want to thank Mark, Maria, Jack, and all the other head instructors for putting on one of the most fun events that we attend. This really means something when you figure that over the years, we have attended literally hundreds of events.

And I just want everyone to know, that was not Dell in the car, it was Parker. Think of that power-to-weight ratio!

Mikelly

Margo commented on my hat, and I meant to send my wife down to chat with her... Seems she has much more fashion sense concerning the fedora than Mrs. Kelly (who does not read rennlist posts) has...

It was fun running with Margo in Blue, and she can certainly hustle that Zapmobile quite well!

Mike

Mikelly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVLQRnDHgvU

LVDell

Another great event put on by Chin! That was some seriously hot weather. I was so happy to go sans driving suit when they allowed the short sleeves to be in play. Made life in the cockpit much nicer. Too bad my cool shirt system is sitting my garage waiting to go in

That heat really took the life out of the track. HP seemed to be down, grip was down, and cognitive processing was down

That F430 race car was FLYING! I could hold him off in the twisties, but when we got on the striaghts,,,,,,dear God! That sucker pulled like nobody's business. Absolutely stunning car. Of course, I have no video of him since my camera was sucking wind all weekend. I managed to salvage 3 sessions from the weekend off the camera and posted some video in Mike's other thread (Chin VIR Video).

Mikelly

Those guys from the Red Bull Team needed to borrow some self tapping screws from me, and we got to chatting about the driver and his laps... He was turning 2:01s - 2:03s and the mechanic said this was his first time at VIR.

Don't know how true it is, but man he WAS FAST!!!
Mike

LVDell

I can believe that. He was killing me on the straights and my guess was that I was losing to him .5-1 sec on the bridge straight and 1-1.5 sec on the back and front. My times were in the 2:05-2:07 range so that sounds about right. I don't know what times I was picking up on him in the technical sections but I am sure it was negligible.

I just uploaded my Lowe's Speedway footage form this weekend. I'll post in another thread here shortly. The camera was freaking out on the bank!