Carl and I headed out for our second session. I could tell the track was getting in my head, and my approach wasn't as instinctive as the first session as I begun to overthink my plan of attack for the 2.3 mile uphill/downhill battle that is Whiskey Hill Raceway. Definitely overthinking it while trying to take his feedback and translate it from my head to my hands, feet, and eyes

This track requires a great deal of attention, with no so called "throw-away" corners and really no rest or "reset" areas as the front straight is actually a bend where you are fighting the car and gravity in excess of 125mph to keep it all out of jersey barriers before braking into turn one. A botched entry into one turn at the beginning of a complex can impact you as far as three turns down, throwing your line and speed off completely (you know, as a botched line will do to you)


I shook my session two frustrations off, grabbed some lunch, and hung out


and took some more pictures


Checked out the best spectator spot (mountain goat it up some rocks by turn one) with Jared


And checked out the crowd with Brian and Lil G

Tony ran into some issues out on track with his instructor behind the wheel (fluke accident by the sounds of it - no contact, no dropped wheels, no curbing?)

Tony, Paddy, and the crew were able to square it away and get him back out with time to spare before session three

I feel really bad for Tony, but am happy he was able to get his car back out on track for the rest of the day. We're looking into other splitter options for his track day in a few weeks out on Watkins Glen with SCDA


Tony's back to the old look without the splitter, but was good to head out on track



I found my rhythm again with session three, and begun linking the 15 turns together

COMSCC brings out some great racers across all run groups, and I learned a lot after I'd throw a point by and watch their line

The speed came back and I was gaining my instructors confidence - him telling me he was just about comfortable sending me out solo for the last session of the day kept me as clean as I could be with entry points, lines, exits, speed, and traffic


Great session - the monster of a track got out of my head a bit!


Tony and I checked out the crowd on the other end of the paddock


and some action on the front straight



Tony and I were sent out solo for our forth and final session, fought through some traffic, and had some more fun together out on track towards the end of our session

I believe that E30 M3 in front of me here was FTD during the time trials the next day, so I learned a few things in his tow. I set my fastest lap trying to mirror his line



Here are my fastest two laps of the day, a haggard misshift looking for forth down the front "straight" (forth! a straight up shift! she just didn't want to give it to me - scary scary!), then some fun with Tony

You couldn't ask for a better 100,000 mile birthday present for your RX-7 than a track day! And I am sorry, but you will never time it as perfectly as I inadvertently did - she officially turned six figures coming in from my forth session

Awesome chapter closer to start the next century (is that what you'd call 100K miles? I have no idea - but you get my point)- here's to the next 100,000 miles!



Safe and in one piece - all's well that ends well!


Tony, Carl, and Pete


Tony and I packed up, gave Pete a hand getting the Puch running


then headed to Garage Rotary Amuse to drop the RX-7 off


Made it to the garage, all tucked in and dirty



Felt like a lot of work, but it was all well worth it!


Huge thank you to:
Heidi for you continued patience with me and for supporting your RX-3.5

Paddy for all your help in the garage getting the car ready; I don't think I could have gotten the car ready in time without you - cheers bud!

Danny "mRow?" McVicker for the awesome oil cooler kit, perfect timing, and install support

Mary and Hugh for your amazing hospitality over these past weeks

Ginnie for the amazing late night dinner the night before the track day and your continued generosity and hospitality

Mom for your continued help at Garage Rotary Amuse

Tony, Tommy, Alex, Nguyen, and Andrew for your help in the garage

Mr and Mrs Le and Emily for your hospitality

Jared for your GoPro, last minute prep help, trackside support, and awesome pictures - that panorama's so gnarly!

Brian and Lil G for your trackside support and awesome pictures - I'm telling you, keep Lil G away from cars and racing, its a slippery expensive slope! Glad to have been a part of his first track day

Phil Sansossio and Sansossio Auto Body for the awesome job on the bodywork and great company


Thank you all so much - the cars are cool, but you guys make it all worth it!


Huge Congratulations to Tony for Earning his COMSCC License! So much hard work, awesome job!



I am heading back to the garage this Saturday to clean the car out, clean the brake dust off the wheels, give her a full bath, and get her ready and buttoned up for a track day in a few weeks up at NHMS

More updates on that shortly, but first two back to back nine-to-five endurance races back at Whiskey Hill Raceway with the McParland's S2000 next weekend - the pain train continues!



Cheers!

Quick question. how tall are you? I've been through every thread and I just want a definitive answer on driver height, seat choice, and helmet clearance for personal track purposes! I want to buy the right seat the first time, not waste money...

Other than that- Super Sexy car, and unbelievably jealous of where you live. Very minimal tracks in the area of Texas that I live, but at least I have COTA!

Thanks the compliment

Having COTA right there wouldn't be bad at all. Have you run it yet?


In regards to the seat: I tried two other sets of seats (Sparco Pro2000s then Sparco Torinos) before getting this set up (Sparco EVO driver and Sparco Sprint V passenger) and it still isn't perfect. I'm 6'0 and am pretty snug to the roof on the lower seat rails with my helmet on. You might have a little more clearance if you have a Base or R1/R2

I might bring my car to a fab shop eventually to have the seating position set up perfectly for me, then have the seat permanently floor mounted

The Devil's in the Details

Car looks good! Nice photography skill too.

Any idea on how much weight you saved by going to the Carbon/Lexan hatch?

Thanks Mike :icon_tup: I appreciate the compliments


I didn't get the numbers on my set up, but Damian weighed his lexan window at 12 pounds and his carbon fiber hatch at 14 pounds versus the stock hatch and glass at 53 pounds

I'd say I saved around 27 pounds before the wing

If you are thinking of changing up your set up, I'd jump on the lexan rear window while you still can - they're going to be hard to come by soon with FAL's mold being destroyed

Don't they scuff and fade easily? Are you doing anything to protect yours?

Lexan does scratch easily, so care is needed with cleaning (clean microfiber, non-alcohol based cleaner). I was considering doing a thin 3M layer for protection

I bought Howe Lexan Cleaner to prevent fading; alcohol based cleaners will eventually create hazing

I'd say the weight savings are worth the extra effort

I don't believe I'm alone with this, but I grew up with my Maisto 1:18ths, Matchbox 1:64ths, Lego supercar kits, and supercar posters and magazine cutouts plastered all over my walls - bulls, lightening, horses everywhere

Nowadays I prefer grassroot race cars built with blood, sweat, and tears from and for the everyday man, but dreaming about supercars was my gateway into this ridiculously expensive motorsport hobby of mine.

Bear with me, as this post is more for that wide-eyed lustful little kid I used to be than for the dream-come-true-living adult I am today - somehow over the years though, I still go crazy over these rare beauties

When my wife got an invitation from a business consultant to see their latest project, a local auto museum showcasing a local enthusiasts supercar collection, and asked if I'd want to drop our evening plans to head out to Newport I couldn't resist



There's not much of a story here other than some ridiculous eye candy, so I'll get right to the pictures

Ferrari 458


Ferrari 430



Ferrari 360


Ferrari Enzo



Ferrari F40 - my favorite installment of the collection

Ferrari 310B - Michael Schumacher's 1997 Formula 1 car (possibly built off the 1996 Ferrari 310)



Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing



Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing



Porsche 962 Kremer K8 Spyder - 1995 24 Hours of Daytona Champion

Porsche Carrera GT



Bugatti Veyron



McLaren MP4-12C

Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4


This car just about epitomizes what I dreamt about (besides Tiffany Amber Thiessan - also on my wall) as a kid - completely over the top

Bear with the black and white, it helped me to better see just how insane every line of this car truly is



Ford GT



De Tomaso Pantera



If you are ever in Rhode Island, it is worth heading down to Newport to check out the Audrain Auto Museum. It's free to the public and the collection changes quarterly


As I said above - I truly do believe I am living my childhood dream of not only owning but racing my own dreamcar. Totally cheesy, but it is truly humbling and makes me very proud to have seen this dream come true. I sometimes forget how awesome it really is, and couldn't imagine how stoked little me would have been if he knew what was in store for him when he grew up


Thank you very much sweetheart - that was a lot of fun


Next up:
- Double nine-hour AER endurance races with the McParland Motorsport S2000 out on Palmer Motorsports Park
- NHMS COMSCC HPDE with the Rotary Amuse RX-7 (spoiler alert: HP+ pads no longer cut it!)


Cheers!

I like how they put a picture of the "previous iteration" of the car behind it. Very cool.

Always enjoy your story and photo :icon_tup:

I actually saw one of these at a local car show this past weekend.

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...psptysqtpl.jpg

Yea, the design and layout of the museum was well executed. I would love to see a few of the predecessors in person some day - mostly the Bugatti EB110 and McLaren F1


Thanks Henry - I appreciate the complement :icon_tup:


The F40s just so damn cool - my favorite F-car for sure

Were there any more supercars at your local car show?

Yeah, there were lots of cars that day, filled up one end of the mall parking lot.

Saw this thing, original owner. He also own the car next to it, I forgot what it was.
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...psv9wz86du.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...pszk5q36ey.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...pskp4oyxh5.jpg

Also this one.
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...pskfqadjlg.jpg

Few more in here, sorry for the poor quality pictures haha.
Car Picture by Henry Yung | Photobucket

I only take pictures of the rare one, but there are tons of the usual stuff like Lambo, Viper, Z06, Mustang, GTR and etc., few NSX and Supra and 3 FDs including mine.

Definitely looks like a good turnout. That Kuro Datsun's beautiful! So nice

The pictures are great, thanks for sharing the set :icon_tup:

There's a new endurance series, American Endurance Racing (AER), that has a pretty cool weekend long event schedule, with practice and qualifying Friday, a nine-hour race Saturday, and another nine-hour race Sunday

They scheduled a race at the new Whiskey Hill Raceway at Palmer Motorsports Park; the first wheel to wheel event to be held at the new race track - we couldn't resist!

Paddy had put in a good amount of prep work on the car to get it ready for the long weekend. We added Mickey to the lineup which added a twist to the current seating position with Pete and Paddy being around 6' tall and Mickey being a little shorter than that. Paddy ordered the first FIA approved seat rail and brought it to his fabricator to have him cut out the floor pan, create a new box for the seat and rails, then fabricate a system that brings the seat forward and up to give Mickey greater visibility. He also had the transmission tunnel trimmed for another one of our drivers, Mike, who was prone to running out of room with his right elbow. Paddy also had to have a bar trimmed out of the overhead halo bar to the side bar to clear helmets with the new seat placement. Paddy had also replaced the exhaust dump for a muffled exhaust to meet Palmer's strict dB level maximum. Just about everything last minute, and we were good to go.

Pete and Mickey drove got in late from Brooklyn the night before, stayed over in Shrewsbury, then met up with Paddy at the track early Friday


I ended up working all Friday, which turned into keeping an eagle eye on our live timing qualifying results streaming through Race-Monitor. I had thought we took provisional pole of thirty-one entrants with a 1:53.28 before leaving the office. I headed home, packed up, kissed my wife, petted my furbabies, then headed up to the race track

I ended up at the track to find Pete and Mickey hanging out with the AER staff and race entrants trading stories from the day, with Mickey cracking everyone up. The guy's a riot!

One story shared over lemonade (yes, AER brings a lemonade stand - mostly for booze though), cookies (I can't make this stuff up!), and beers from the day was that we actually got squeaked out of pole position by an E36 M3 laying down a 1:52.230 leaving us with outside pole. Pete was confident he could have taken it back, but we ran out of time. No worries - its a nine-hour race - the race can be absolutely lost in the first corner, but will definitely not be won in it. We've got time to make it up

We had some minor changes to make for Saturday's race



Pete, Mickey, and I squared away the S2000, made a five-gallon funnel to replace our overhead fuel rig, cleaned up our pit area, talked to some fellow entrants poking around the S2000 (I was somehow voted team public relations representative), and then headed out for some pizza before calling it a good night

Huge thank you to my mother-in-law for hosting us for the weekend!


We woke up bright and early, headed back to the track, and met up with the rest of the crew: Paddy, Hugh, Jason, Brian, Tom, and John

We squared away the lap belts, converting them from pull down to pull up tightening, Cool Suit suit plumbing and ice box shelf and mounts, adjusted the toe, took the drag and whistle enducing (it's that woot-woo!) light bar off (fellow racer on grid *points to light bar* "you guys better not be high beaming me out there" me "listen bud, this isn't our first rodeo" fellow racer "oh, ok" me *smile nod* fellow racer *smile handshake* me "good luck out there" fellow racer "yea, you guys too" *eye roll*- making friends/enemies before the race even starts - might be losing my PR rep status before it even begins)

Out on starting grid with Pete taking the first stint and Mickey on communications


Left to right: Hugh, Mickey, Brian, and Paddy



We were sent out at around nine with a few formation laps behind the safety car before going green

Coming out of T14 onto the front "straight" (constant fight down the front "straight" to keep the car out of jersey barriers - this track does not have any resting points like Lime Rock's front straight into Big Bend)



Safety car is in and we're green!



Nine hours to go in P2 - let's do this!



Pretty clean into T1...

...and now we wait

Left to right: Tom, John, Paddy behind Jason, and Brian



The beauty and pain about working pit crew is there is a decent amount of waiting: breath a sigh of relief as you see your car roll by carrying on to run another lap, keep tabs of the competitions laps, fuel and pit stop strategy, stay hydrated, eat, laugh, make new friends, get our next driver ready for his stint, but absolutely and ultimately stay frosty in case we are caught out in need of a quick turnaround pit stop or waiting for a yellow to bring our car in if we get lucky enough


Paddy with an old COMSCC friend - Fred Furguson, the Palmer Motorsports Park CEO


Car's looking good, running pack's starting to spread out, some fresh air to run our race



Run another lap, hope for the best, rinse and repeat



We waited all morning and got lucky with a double yellow caution when we were running P2 - go time to put in a good pit stop!

Safety car heading out to pick up the field



Race strategy 101 - wait for a yellow flag, bring your car in, do what needs to be done, get your car back out there without losing ground

It's as easy as that, however AER hadn't figured out yellow flag / safety vehicle pit stop operations yet. We did an awesome fuel up, filled the Cool Suit box with ice, changed out the water bottle, and swapped out Pete with Mickey for stint two. We waited at pit out for what we thought was to be our three minute minimum until being sent out to rejoin the field

What should have been us getting a leg up on the competition by bringing the car in for one of our five mandated, three minute minimum pit stops saw us held at pit out for the field to pass and then again until the EV cleared for us to pick back up at the back of the field ONE LAP DOWN - WTF!!!

A well warranted and much needed argument / search for answers between us, a few other teams caught out on a bad call and AER management ensued



Ultimate call - an apology, AER admits we (McParland Motorsports) are right in how it should have played out, but AER can't make it right. Lesson learned, we carry on a littled pissed off a little behind the eight ball. Sometimes terrible calls are a part of racing - wasn't the first, and won't be the last; just hope its the last to screw us over for the weekend


We're back to green battling back up to the front of the pack a lap down on the new race leaders


And the waiting and battle continues, as it gets interesting keeping closer tabs on our lap times and position working our way back up



We send out Paddy for the third stint, then Pete for the forth stint

and we're back up to the front of the pack. You know, science - right Mickey : )



Mickey suited up for his next stint and made friends with the new track manager - she was really friendly and funny, but I can't think of her name for some reason now, but we'll see her again in August with COMSCC



We had four of our mandatory pit stops done and were running P1 over all with about a half hour left to run. We were running almost one lap ahead of the P2 bimmer sitting right in front of Pete out on track. The P2 team strategist walked over to our paddock and asked how many pits stops we had left, hoping to get lucky and catch us out. "Four, you?" "four as well".... we knew this, but it was interesting nonetheless to know they were racking their brains as well on what to do...

So what do we do? Bring the car in and hope for a phenomenal pit stop and get back out without losing any ground knowing P2 has to come in as well... Or do we wait until P2 comes in knowing we are right behind him with P3 further back, knowing we are good for fuel so good for a quick pit stop, and keep him almost a lap down... Let's go with option two!

P2 bimmer comes down T14, turns into the pit lane "PIT PIT PIT!" over the radio and our race is just about won...

Funny thing happens with P2 stopping in our pit box just as our car is heading down the pit lane towards us. The bimmer driver starts to panic as I jump off the pit wall to welcome him with frantic expletives to get him out of our way before our car gets there. He panics, throws the car in reverse, then forward, then stalls, then moves up to his team's pit box, one pit box over from us. Somehow, we didn't lose too much time. Good thing is any time we lost they lost with the fumble. I didn't see it that way at first not giving them the benefit of the doubt, seeing that they did it on purpose to either throw us off or to gain some ground on us at pit out. That wasn't the case as it was an honest mistake. I shook it off then worked through the pit stop - five gallons of fuel to see us through to the end, windshield wipe, and we're off

The P2 strategist comes over to me after both our pit stops as I smile and ask him what the wrong pit box mistake was about, then apologize for cursing his driver out as he apologizes for his drivers mistake. "So you guys were waiting for us to pit, right" he asks realizing that their P1 chances are gone, me smiling back "of course!" I shake his hand, congratulating him on a good, clean, well fought battle, as he prematurely congratulates us on our win


Hugh making sure everything still looks good and that our math is right



Watching anxiously as the race isn't won yet as the rain starts to slowly come down...



White flag out - my stomach's in knots...



Pete takes the checkered flag and we did it - we're all over the moon with excitement!



and this is the exact moment our race was won



The bad luck of our past few races is instantly forgotten as we soak the victory in


Our driver's ran a hell of a race, keeping it clean all day



and working with the full crew was so much fun as always - such a great group of people! Jason (missing from this picture) had to head out a little early to get some celebrating in for his birthday - I hope he liked his first place present : ) he absolutely earned it!

Off to the trophy ceremony


Mary was able to make it out just in time


Hugh's too funny!



We celebrated for a while, chummed it up with the competition - especially P2/P3 (same team, Team Mancave), a great group of guys and girl who gave us one hell of a battle

We then loaded up the car to bring it back to Shrewsbury for a full reset for the next morning

I had to get back to my mother-in-laws, but the crew was up late Saturday into Sunday getting the car ready for another nine-hour battle bright and early


What an awesome day! Great job team - I am honored to have been a part of it and proud of our P1!



More to come on Sunday's race two shortly



Cheers!

Continuing from where I left off with the AER Saturday June 20th race...

The crew headed back to Shrewsbury Saturday night after our race win to change fluids and do a thorough run through of the S2000 to prepare it for another nine-hour race bright and early Sunday


I woke up, headed to the track and had a feeling we'd have our work cut out for us for the day



I met up with Jared as we waited for Paddy with the car. Paddy headed out to the drivers meeting as Jared and I talked pit stop strategy and we talked through what needed to be done. Paddy came back shortly and told us there was a three hour race start delay. We called the rest of the crew to give them the headsup so they could get a little more sleep after such a late night

Jared doing a walkaround



We decided we might as well grab some breakfast, so headed to a local coffee shop and met Tom and Mickey for some much needed caffeine. Turned out a good amount of the race field had the same idea

We met some of the locals then headed back to the track to make some minor changes on the S2000

Paddy, Pete, and Mickey had bought two sets of 180 treadwear tires (softest tire allowed by AER) and were on the fence about whether to run the second set or not. We went out for a few recce laps in Jared's truck and found that there were pools and rivers all over the track and the skies showed no signs of letting up

Second set of Direzzas it is!



We pumped out some fuel to fill the five gallon fuel jugs for the first few pit stops



and unfortunately missed our cue for heading out to pre-grid and lost our pole position spot carried forward from race one's finish



I tried my damnedest to get our spot back with race officials and P2 and P3, but team Mancave (P2 / P3) explained that they weren't here for the weekend but for the season and they were in P1 and P2 overall where we were definitely there for the win but also just there for the weekend with AER. I understood where they were coming from completely and it was our mistake - I just figured it was worth the effort

We ended up roughly third from last - not at all ideal but we'd have 6 hours to make our way back up to the front



The field was eventually sent out with twenty minutes or so behind the pace car to dry out the track and race line as much as possible



Definitely going to be an interesting day



Pace cars in and we're green with about five and a half hours to go



and now we wait...

We were green for a little but, until fog came out with visibility looking back to T14 and up to T1 almost non-existent

Race officials made the call for a race stoppage until the weather cleared up. Mickey came in and said he could barely see the cars around him out on track - safe, good call



and now we wait under yellow...



Rain or shine, we always have fun!


We waited a good 45 minutes before we went green again

The fog eventually cleared, the rain soon stopped, and blue skies came out

Mickey stayed out in the car having primarily being under yellow through the morning, still being relatively fresh. His speed was picking up lap after lap, with lap times being more in line with his Saturday's pace as the track was drying out

He fought his way back up to the front of the pack, and made up some solid ground

All was looking good for us to get back into a rhythm until we heard squealing coming out of T13 / T14...

We all looked to see what was happening and to see who it was, hoping it wasn't our guy

Unfortunately it was the S2000. Mickey did a phenomenal job scrubbing speed, essentially spinning the S2000 like a top down T14 by engaging both the brake and clutch, and just barely kissing the wall. Remember fellow track junkies, there is definitely a right way to spin a car - in a spin, both feet in! Definitely not an ideal situation, but so glad Mickey ended up unhurt

Race control was slow to react, as Mickey was left out there under yellow as the race field continually put us down a lap, lap after lap. After four laps, a wrecker was finally sent out to tow the S2000 out of the wet grass...

...down another lap...

...and dropped him on the track


Mickey pitted in and we quickly assessed the damage. Paddy did some trackside sawzall surgery, we did a driver change to send Pete out for the second stint, added some fuel, filled the coolsuit box with ice, changed out the water bottle, and I checked the tire pressures and cleaned the dirt and grass out of the wheels

We sent Pete out down about seven laps on the race leader - unfortunately our race was lost


Pete had gone out and ran consistently quick before we called him in for what should have been a run of the mill driver's change

Our pit stop was looking good until Pete went to tighten Paddy's lap belt and the lap belt came out of the camlock bracket completely - seriously scary stuff!

We had changed the tightening configuration the previous morning from pulling down to pulling up to tighten, and had one bracket upside down. Anyone who has set up harnesses knows this was going to take some time, so we brought the car behind the wall to get it squared away



We redid both lap belts just to ensure the brackets were correctly configured, and sent Paddy out. I checked coverage with the crew then headed up to T1 and T2 to grab some action shots before the race ended

Paddy fording the river approaching the T1 uphill

With the race just about finished, we started packing up

and put down our best pit stop of the weekend with our third, and last mandatory stop


Pete set out to finish the race, radioing in periodically to stay out of class leader dog fights at the front of the field



One more to go

and our race weekend is wrapped up with a first place finish Saturday and eighth place finish Sunday



This is how race cars should look after a long weekend - in one piece, good and dirty!


Mary prepared a dinner for us all as we rehashed the weekend, laughing over beers, a good meal, and great company


It wasn't an ideal race Sunday, but it was definitely a good learning experience. And fun as always

I had asked Jared to grab some shots of our last pit stop - I was pretty excited when I saw he did a full series of the stop


For posterity, here's the anatomy of our pit stops

Step 1: shake the nerves getting ready to jump over the wall



Step 2: I run to the passenger side of the car with a fire extinguisher as Jason works with Tom to get the trunk open to get to the CoolSuit ice box



Step 3: Pete's over the wall to help to get Paddy out of the car, as I open the door for Jason with a five-gallon fuel jug and drip pan, while Tom's loosening the straps on the ice box



Step 4: Jason puts the drip pan under the fuel cell overflow and opens the fuel valve, as Pete drops the window net connected to the roll bar, while Tom's getting the lid off the ice box



Step 5: Paddy's out of his harnesses and working his way over the roll bar with Pete moving the harnesses out of the way, as Jason engages the dry brake with the fuel cell with me standing by with the extinguisher, while Tom's pouring ice into the ice box

Step 6: Paddy's out of the car as Jason and I are still fueling up, with Tom getting the ice box lid on, with Pete getting ready to hop in



Step 7: Pete gets over the sidebar with Paddy stepping in to assist, as Jason continues to pour fuel in, with Tom beginning to strap the box back down


Step 8: Paddy assists Pete with his harnesses as Jason and I finish up fueling with Mickey keeping track of our pit duration, as Tom works the ice box


Step 9: Fuel jug and drip pan are on the wall with Paddy getting Pete set up in the car with his CoolSuit, communications, and drink bottle, as Tom finishes up on the ice box, and Jason begins to get the hood up as I start washing the windshield



Step 10: Hoods up as I'm continuing to wipe that window with Paddy still tucking Pete in as Jason runs to the back to give Tom a hand with the ice box (I tackled the ice box in an earlier pit stop, oddly enough it was the trickiest piece of the whole pit stop with how we had it set up - we'll have to remember to iron the set up out for next time)



Step 11: Tom and Jason square away the ice box and close the trunk


Step 12: Tom runs to the engine bay and checks the oil level, with Jason running to the front with oil, as I grab the tire pressure gauge, while Paddy works Pete's lap belts

Step 13: Tom and Jason add some oil as I check the tire pressure, with Paddy working Pete's harnesses



Step 14: Tom gets the dip stick back in with ice bag in hand as Jason drops off the oil and funnel, as Paddy starts to tuck in Pete's harnesses and get the window net ready, as I keep chipping away at chipping at bleeding tire pressures down


Step 15: Tom does a once over of the engine bay before Jason drops the hood, as I finish with tire pressure, and Paddy installs the window net and shuts the door



Step 16: Jason drops the hood and latches it up, then we're all out of the way and send Pete out then we're all over the wall as Mickey keeps communications open while he's out on track



Thanks for the great shots Jared. It all happens so fast and its hard to look back on how it went - great stuff!


So that about wraps up our AER double header race weekend. We had some bad luck Sunday but I believe it was overshadowed by an amazing Saturday

I am not sure of our next race yet, but whenever it is, I'm ready and can't wait!



As for Rotary Amuse, I'm behind a little bit on editing with having run New Hampshire Motor Speedway a few weeks ago and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park this past Friday

I'll be editing the photos and video footage from both track days shortly and will have updates out sometime this week


In other motorsports news, is anyone heading to Lime Rock Park this coming weekend for both Tudor USCC and Continental Challenge races? I bought a weekend pass so hopefully I'll see some of you there


Cheers!

I had signed up for another track day June 27th out at New Hampshire Motor Speedway almost immediately after my track day out at Whiskey Hill - the track bug bites hard!

I had taken Friday off to do some last minute prep work before heading up to the track: the much needed car wash, worked through the packing list, number plates, timing card, and class designation on before the car gets covered in dirt, then a good once over before heading out

Note to self: do not head up to beach country New England at rush hour on a beautiful weekend. I thought I had left early enough, but what should have been a quick two hour drive up turned into a four hour trip in stop and go traffic without a radio, A/C, and the occasional request to "rev it up" and "spin the tires", and one person wondering how fast I've gone. Lessoned learned

I had found that I was one of a few who had decided to stay over the night before, so I had unloaded the RX-7, adjusted the tire pressure and dampening, washed the windows, then headed out to see who was on hand. I met up with some COM track day regulars who are always willing to share the latest and greatest in race car tech, met up with my instructor, then headed back to my paddock to have some dinner and relaxation



The track is oddly serene and comforting by yourself



Having fully exhausted my to do list, I did what I naturally do and took some pictures

I'm a pretty big fan of my new T90 class designation magnets; making them every event out of painter's tape had gotten old quickly



I had eventually made my bed on my work bench and tried to get some sleep

Another note to self: work benches do not make good beds even with your wife's yoga mat



I woke up from barely sleeping as the paddock started filling up. I was excited to have seen a familiar face in Blaine with his 7s Only, 12A powered RX-7


This had been my first track day running the NASCAR south oval variably banked at 12% degrees in turns T1 and T2. I had done my homework weeks prior to my arrival to try to figure out the best approach in taking it, but quickly found in my first session that a well written PDF track guide translates minimally to what the speed actually feels like running through it

I had found myself coming out of T12 from the North chicane at a good clip, approaching T1 well into triple digits approaching a solid wall and not fully knowing my tires maximum adhesion levels and the speed I could carry through. Best approach: start your lifting point early, get your braking done early, then see how you come through T1 and T2. Too slow: push everything up a bit. There is also a best approach in fine tuning how to take the oval in what lanes you utilize in various positions through the turn. I found working my way in this approach worked best: four-three-two-two-two-two-two towards T2 apex-two to track out on straight (this pattern might make more sense with the Youtube video below)

We had picked up a great amount of speed as I started to understand and fine tune the line. NHMS' 1.6 mile road course may be short, but it is pretty technical and can be a lot of fun once it starts to come together - especially of the speed you get with the oval

This new found speed almost caught me out and into the back of a slower moving Camaro (or Challenger? glad I didn't find out the difference figuring out what I'd owe in damages) approaching T3 as I overlooked what should have been the instinctive calculation of "ok, I'm carrying this much speed tracking out of T2, my normal downshifting and braking point starts just before the first cone, ending before the third to last cone before turn in to T3 over the rumble strips by the tire wall, BUT there's traffic so I should push my braking start and ending points to X (variable undetermined to what could have been an epic and terribly display of fiberglass and carbon fiber carnage)"

I believe I all but stood on my brakes and came almost to a complete stop inches before almost making contact with his bumper just as he started accelerating into T3. Crisis averted and lessoned learned - adjust lines, shifting, and brake points based on speed and traffic (however stay on correct line in traffic regardless of what the car is doing in front of you)

I met up with him in the paddocks after our session to tell him how excited I was with how that scenario could have gone and how it ended well. His response was "oh yea, that Corvette almost got into the back of me!" My response: ? ? ? "Oh, right... I'll see you out there... ?" Turns out he didn't even notice, which makes sense as most of us are looking in our rearview mirrors slowing down from triple digits approaching quick right handers


I had run a quicker third session, but found the added speed wearing heavily on my brakes. I had begun to feel some minor brake fade towards the middle of the session, and found my pedal travel getting to an uncomfortable level at one approach coming into T6 before the carousel

I had notified my instructor, having not wanted to test my brakes approaching T1 triple digits, and pitted in to see how everything looks


Blaine was in between his own sessions and gave me a hand looking through my brake set up. I had brought a bottle of RBF600, but failed to notice it had been previously opened before packing it up. Lucky for me, Blaine had a spare bottle on hand

We had begun bleeding the brakes before his third session, then ended the job just before my forth and final twenty-minute session

I had thought I had bled my brakes recently, but the gunky fluid that came out said otherwise



I tested my brakes approaching pit out then again in the blend line, and all felt normal before we got the car up to speed. I pulled my braking points back until I regained confidence in the feel and found that all was good

Our forth session went off without a hitch, but I found my speed had decreased as I lost my momentum from the earlier sessions with the brake bleed set back. My goal was to nail my marks and get the line down at a slightly slower pace, which wasn't a bad way to end a good track day


Huge thank you to Blaine for your mid-session track help and Nate for your great instruction




Cheers!

Oh right - and the all important "home in one piece" picture



well, less a few grams of carbon fiber from the uphill out of the infield approaching T4

Continuing with the "track bug bites hard" theme, I signed up for a Friday track day out at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park's 1.7 road course this past Friday July 17th with COMSCC

Unwarranted paranoia struck after NHMS with my brakes, so I had ordered a set of Hawk DTC60s/HT-10s for my next track day

My brother, Hunter, and I headed out to Paddy and Petes the weekend before for what I thought would be a pad change then a thorough once over


Turned out it was all in my mind as I had a significant amount of pad left front and rear - I'll just be ready for when the pads go this season or next



I got to talking to Paddy about what a pain my Kics Project lugnuts were having two different locking keys, and he offered up one of his many sets of 17mm NASCAR grade MSI Racing lugnuts at a fair price

The color's not ideal, but it's already making track life so much easier


I still have my Kics Project R26 black chrome lugnuts if anyone is interested in picking them up; PM me a fair offer and they're yours


My brother and I also reworked an intercooler coupler issue that I didn't catch at NHMS


I wasn't a fan of the white FAL logo on the rear window, so I doubled down and threw some track driven and endurance race support merit badges on in my downtime at NHMS a few weeks prior

My brother and I headed to the skatepark having our afternoon back. I eventually dropped him off, then headed back to Providence where I impatiently waited out the work week



My wife and I headed out with our furbabies in tow Thursday night after work. I dropped them off at my mother-in-laws then headed to my mothers to do another once over assessment, wash the car, loaded her back up, then threw my number plates, timing RFID card, and class designation on before heading in to hang out with the family and then to try and get a good night sleep

I woke up early and headed out, then met up with Tommy and his drop dead gorgeous NSX trackside to join him for his first track day with the NA1



Tommy and Tony had taken out Tony's S2000 to Watkins Glen the week before for a track day with SCDA, and it seemed Tommy was bitten. "What do you think, Rick, think I should take the NSX out on Thompson?" "Tommy - you already know what I'm going to say... absolutely." Thompson has become a pretty popular track locally, so Tommy ended up being waitlisted for the event

I was pretty excited when I saw he was confirmed to race a few days prior to the event - this should be a lot of fun


Paddy and I had discussed Thompson the week before, and he said he might be able to come out and instruct me. He was able to work it into his schedule and requested me as a student. I got the assignment notification that he'd be my instructor the day before - this should definitely be a lot of fun!

My Mom and brother showed up just before my first session, and my brother snagged my camera and headed out around the track to grab some shots. The 5D is by no means an intuitive camera, but he did an awesome job figuring it out on his own getting some pretty good action shots

Coming out of the oval into T9 in a close drag race with a lawn mower



Misaligned entry into T9



I had a great first session out with Paddy - the track begun to click again as I worked my line, braking and throttle points



We brought it in from session one, then Paddy took me out for some laps in his wife's IS250 to show me the right line. He put it well that it's sometimes easier showing someone what to do then trying to explain it on a race track. It was definitely helpful being able to look around a bit more at where we were placed mid corner and try to gain reference marks along the way (signs, posts, pavement transitions and patches, etc.)

Then I started to lose some of the good session one momentum as I picked up speed and tried to put it all together in the second session, converting Paddy's feedback through my head then hands and feet. I believe I start to overthink the track with instruction, especially in second sessions it seems; definitely something I need to work on

One huge problem for me was dialing in T9, which is easily the most important part of the track gaining speed through 10, 11A, and over the bump at 11B into the front straight. Not sure of the exact amount of speed lost as I only nailed the line perfectly through the complex a few laps and didn't track my maximum front straight speed, but it must have been good for a significant amount of time gain - bleh! Well, its something worth coming back to dial in


My brother found some more pretty gnarly vantage points for the second session

Coming into the bridge at T5




and chasing down my old "attainable dream car" Exige S260 into T6, before catching and passing him between the T8 and T9 straight


We brought it in from session two and I was in a bit of a funk with frustration

"I need to get you in a faster car to properly show you the track - lets go see if Nick's M3s in the garage..." Some background: Nick Fontana is one of the faster racers with COMSCC, and is consistently setting P1 in his class (T80) during time trials and occasionally FTD. Not sure if anyone else watched it, but he was chosen to be one of the top 16 competitors in the first season of GT Academy at Silverstone where he finished sixth. Lucky for me, he is also a good friend of Paddy's

Long story short - his E36 M3 was definitely fast enough! Paddy and I took it out for a full session, where we battled it out with a few other instructors. One of which was Nick in the passenger seat of a students car: "was that instructor giving us the finger out the window?!" "Haha, yea that's Nick!" Nick's student was in a pretty quick Camaro and I'm not sure of what feedback he was getting, but he was doing pretty well to not give it up to us too easy. Paddy eventually got him on a straight - "do you think we should give the salute back? "Eh, the student might misinterpret it!" Ridiculously funny and so much fun. The session continued with Paddy picking off students in run group four (including Tommy, it was awesome seeing him out on track though - his lines looked good and his car looked great), one after another, and then eventually a pack of instructors. We had a good two or three lap battle with the chief instructor, where Paddy hung within feet of him before forcing an error on him that we were able to capitalize on. He caught up with us in the garage after "hey, you're not Nick! That was a hell of a battle!" It sure was, and I believe we won

Having done a few track days, I am going to have to say that session is definitely in my top three sessions ever... and that was just in the passenger seat! Paddy is one hell of a driver and I felt like a child trying to best position and brace my body in the seat to take the G's he was throwing at me - great stuff!

Sorry - maybe that was long story long?


We cooled the cars down after my session two and the ride along with Paddy in Nick's M3. We grabbed some lunch and hung out with Tommy's mom and brother, Andrew, and some of the COM regulars



I'm really liking my brother's shooting style!

I felt a lot better after some rest during the lunch break, then Paddy and I had a great third session. I was able to shake off and work through some of the morning's frustrations



I was able to begin to piece together the T9-T11B complex a bit more, and was able to set my second and third fastest laps of the day (1'27"775 and 1'27"830)



I also somehow managed to pass the full session three field, which was a little weird but pretty awesome - now if only I could get myself as fast as my car!


There was a professional track photographer on hand, Clarus Studios. I was impressed with the quality, so I purchased my full set in digital downloads



and just like my last track day at Thompson, there were a few more fire balls - my wife hates them!

Paddy and I brought the RX-7 in from the third session and discussed our day together

He had great feedback, I learned a lot from him throughout the day, and truly appreciate the opportunity to have been able to work with him in the FD. Request him as an instructor if you ever get lucky enough to sign up for a COMSCC day - you won't be disappointed!

Thanks friend!



Paddy had to head out for the day, but was confident in me going out solo for my forth and final session

All was going well, and I was able to click off my fastest lap of the day with a 1'27"690

I was working my way through the run group three field, and received a point by from a pretty slick Porsche 912 approaching T9 when something seemed off...

...my coolant light came on and my water temps were skyrocketing!

Fortunately I was approaching the pit lane, so pitted in immediately, parked the car at the paddock, unlatched the hood pins and kept the car running with the fans on to cool the car down with my fingers crossed that all was well as I assessed the problem

Scary stuff!



I let the car cool down as Hunter and I headed out around to grab some pictures of Tommy out on track in his NSX

We came back after Tommy's forth session. The engine was cool and we begun to assess what could have caused the FD to overheat, which has become an almost obsolete occurrence since upgrading to the v-mount setup (my track temps have averaged around 85* since ditching the FMIC)

We couldn't find anything, so we began to tear down our paddock and pack the cars to head out

We had everything set to head out, said our good byes to the COM crew, and jumped in our cars to head out...

...until the RX-7 didn't start. I looked around the engine bay trying to figure out what it was. Couldn't see it! A fellow AER endurance competitor (driver, not crew like me), Nick L with an Integra GSR, noticed that the tensioner bolt nut was missing after a few failed pop start attempts

That'll definitely keep me from being able to turn the car over

I had a coffee can full of random hardware, but of course not the nut size I needed. We worked our way through the group to find something, and were able to grab a nut that fit from our American Iron series neighbors

We got the nut on, tightened up the alternator, and the car turned over and was back to running like a top

The car ran swimmingly on the way home, with nice and even temps and great boosting, but I would want to take a look at it before the next track day out at Palmer


...and here's the scariest/best feeling, all important home in one piece picture of the season so far



Huge thank you to Paddy and Hunter for getting the car pre-track day prepped to run out on Thompson, again to Paddy for your help in the car with some great instruction, to Tommy Mrs Le and Andrew my Mom and again to Hunter for the help trackside, to Hunter for some great trackside photography, to Clarus Studio for the amazing photo set, Nick Fontana for letting Paddy and I take out your ridiculously fast and beautiful E36 M3, Nick L for your help with the alternator, and as always to my wife for your never wavering patience and support

Hunter, Tommy, and me looking like a tired gumba as always



We missed the COM BBQ that smelt awesome in trying to figure out the turn over and starting issue, but Hunter and I were able to head out to dinner with our Mom after we got back to the garage which was even more fun than that could have been (ahhh shucks < 3 love you two - that was a lot of fun!)



Now on to what you've been waiting for - pictures of Tommy and his beautiful NSX out on track

Great job out there - can't wait for our next track day together!


I'm currently downloading my Thompson video footage and will have it uploaded shortly

Other than that, I think that's about it for Thompson. Overheating aside, it was another great track day!


Upcoming blog updates:
- Tony, Tommy, and I headed out to Lime Rock Park this past weekend for the Tudor United SportsCar Championship GTD/PC and Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge ST/GS races. I have about 1,100 pictures to go through, so that might take some time but I'll have something up soon
- Paddy and I did some work and made some tweaks to the RX-7 this past Sunday in preparation for another track day (see below)
- Paddy, Pete and I will be prepping the S2000 this Friday to set Pete up as best as we can to set a class record with some new sticky Pirelli slicks out on Palmer Motorsports Park / Whiskey Hill Raceway with COM's time trials
- I will be running another track day this coming Saturday back out on Palmer Motorsports Park / Whiskey Hill Raceway


Should be a fun but busy weekend!



Cheers!

Great looking car. Very Tsukuba-ish

Thanks Jason

Your FD looks pretty bad ass as well! That new hood's going to look great with the hood diffuser - I've been meaning to grab a set, but its almost better to wait until offseason to make the wait a little less painful. Do you have any quick Japanese import options?

Have you done any more track days? This photo's pretty awesome - begging for some more track days! Battle Evome-ish for sure


Did you end up painting your car or sticking with the vinyl wrap? Looks good either way with the bronze ZE40s - definitely an original look




So I wasn't able to sort out my fastest laps from my third session at Thompson, but here's the full session - although I set my fastest lap in my forth session, I might have had the best rhythm to date in this one. I somehow manage to lap almost the entire run group three field. I'm kind of impressed considering it's a 1.7mile track

Thanks for the compliment! It's wrapped right now but I'm waiting for all my parts to come in before I paint it white. I've been on a few more track days but my cars currently down and I'm planning for a track day in Oct. In the mean time, I had a civic as my track car but I just sold it recently. As much as I like the bronze on purple, it's too GT-R-esque.

As for quick imports, I usually have my dad help me since he lives in Japan but my RE parts, I went through my friend's friend over at Car Shop Glow. However, my Feed parts will most likely be air shipped by RHD Japan.

Your car looks really planted and complete! What else are you planning on?

What race tracks have you run in California? Any pictures or videos from your recent track days?

They're so addicting! I just did another track day this past Saturday and my next one won't be until October - I am not looking forward to the wait

Your car must feel pretty solid with all that aero, and should be pretty quick with that turbo set up. What boost/power setting do you run it with? Minimal lag?

Not sure what you have lined up before you paint it white, but I can't wait to see it :icon_tup: I'm not on Instagram (I'm a little outdated with my flickr) but somehow found your page - great stuff!


As for my RX-7, there are a few small things I'd like to pick up over the winter - I have a list, but we'll see how my budget looks then. I am slowly working towards calling the build done and just throwing all my money to more track time... we'll see

For some reason I just LOVE this angle of your car; looks incredible!

Oh nice! What track do you hit up in the east? Over here, I've ran Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, California Speedway (Autoclub Speedway), and Buttonwillow. I've been meaning to head out to Chuckwalla and Spring Mountain but time haven't allowed me to do so. I don't have much photos of my recent track day with the Civic but in the end, it's just a civic. My previous track car was a s2000 so I went tracking a lot with it. The FD has only been to Buttonwillow and Laguna Seca.

The car was really loose when I was trail braking without a wing so the spoiler helped a lot but I feel that there's a slight understeer when going through fast sweepers so I might have to build a splitter. The previous setup felt okay with not that much lag but I was getting a lot of ignition break up. This was partly due to my engine going but I'll let you know on the new Borg Warner setup.

Share your plans on what's coming up! I might be able to save you $ on parts!

Thank you sir :icon_tup:



I have done track days at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, Monticello Motor Club in New York, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in Connecticut, and Palmer Motorsports Park in Massachusetts. I have done a few recce laps of Virginia International Raceway in one of our driver's rental car at Charge of the Headlight Brigade, but have yet to do a track day there. I am thinking of flying down for a Skip Barber race school one of these years at VIR though. Either VIR or fly out to Laguna Seca - win win with either one

Sounds like you have a good amount of tracks in your area and some experience under your belt. Some track and race cars are faster and better built than others, but there is no such thing as a bad car if you are using it on a race track.

I ran an HPDE where a kid brought out an old automatic outback wagon - he was ridiculously slow on track, but he was so excited outside of the car. That's what it's all about! Civic, RX-7, S2000, outright lemon - doesn't matter as long as you're having fun, not hurting yourself or anyone else, and learning a thing or two. Alright, that concludes the old man speech : )

I have always known it, but have only recently fully realized it: aero definitely makes a world of difference. Have you started thinking about your splitter design? I am sure you've already done it, but do your homework - you don't want it flapping, flying off or tearing your bumper off. Did you do an ignition amp to try to sort some of that ignition breakup? That helped mine out a bit. What are your Borg Warner specs?

As for what I'm thinking of over the winter, I'm considering ordering a few more aero parts from TCP Magic and RE Amemiya. I was thinking of going through ISS Forged again for the TCP Magic parts and RHD Japan for the REA parts. I am afraid to call them out explicitly because that will set in motion a plan to make it happen that I am stubborn enough to see through... Doesn't make sense, that's just how my mind works

I have friends with accounts for both and can help you somewhat with it.

Yes, for ignition, I used an HKS Twin Power and switching to new iridiums helped but I still get some break up here and there. I'm switching out to the AEM ignition coils right now and hope that will help me.

As for aero, I worked at a friend's race shop a few years ago and I went there again not too long ago to borrow some splitters to see if they fit my car. Surprisingly, an e92 splitter fits perfectly with all the mounting holes lining up. I'm still looking into the end plate design but I have an idea. I'll probably be copying the Top Fuel RX-7 design.
My friend's shop car
http://image.superstreetonline.com/f...front-aero.jpg
Top Fuel RX-7
https://naritadogfight.files.wordpre...2/ndf_2733.jpg

Borg Warner is just a basic S360 1.0 AR. I wanted to keep the response up as high as possible but didn't want to dip into the s260s. I agree that any car is fun on the track but it's frustrating not being able to go as fast as you really want. It's still fun and different from the FD but I'm just glad to be focusing on one car now.

Thanks Jason, I'll definitely keep that in mind over the winter

Having some time at Platte Forme AG won't hurt. I love that E46! I've seen a few TCP Magic bumpers with the front diffuser and a splitter, but I'm still driving my car to the track and know that would be a terrible combination. I'm still running 180 treadwear tires until I'm licensed, so I don't need the extra aero just yet

Yea, that FEED splitter and canard set up looks pretty legit. I'd like to see where you come out with your upgraded aero. Hopefully I'll be licensed for early next season so I can rebalance my car's weight, grab some A048s or A005s, and start to really dial in the aero and overall balance. Right now I've been pushing an extra ~150lbs around the track, so I haven't tweaked much other than tire pressures and dampening trackside

Oh nice! It'll be very exciting to see your car in final form! Keep up the updates! It's interesting to see other builds from like minded people!

Thanks Jason - I'm looking forward to seeing what you have got in store as well




August and September were hectic months with a few vacations, a business trip, some general slacking, and a good amount of photo editing

I'm a few posts behind, so please bear with me


I have opened up the Rotary Amuse name to my like minded local friends since we've got a great team-oriented feel going

Rotary Amuse was never anything in particular, just a central idea I have poured my motorsport focus into for the past thirteen years. From the short lived drag racing phase, to jumping into SCCA SM2 autocrossing seriously for three plus seasons with a local Nationals event in the middle, to changing my focus completely to track days, and eventually evolving into a full time trials assault

Rotary Amuse has evolved into more than me and my RX-7 since conception, with friends pouring themselves into the cause with countless hours in the garage working on our projects, or talking and enjoying motorsport. I have always felt like an enthusiast anomaly being in the rotary niche in a primarily Subaru-oriented New England, but I have been able to share my passion more branching out with like minded motorsport enthusiasts

I have never fully understood what Rotary Amuse was, but I am looking forward to the umbrella concept that it could grow into with us all pulling in the same direction


Tony earned his number plate after several years of hard work and dedication to get his COM license. He has poured a lot of effort to get his car set up properly, tweaking parts and changing things out to get to the beautiful state his car is in now. As much effort as his car shows, he has put just as much dedication into making himself a better driver having just completed a Skip Barber school in the spring.

He is getting ridiculously fast behind the wheel and I am looking forward to see where he goes with his speed



I'm really liking the Petronas teal design he and Tommy came up with




Welcome aboard friend!

Even though my car is world's apart from the competitors, there is an inherent connection that I have with professional GT racing, where watching GT racing is almost as much fun as a track day for me

...almost

Throw in Prototype racing, and you'll have one hell of a weekend!

When Tony started to get a group together to head out to Lime Rock Park for Tommy's birthday and the Tudor United SportsCar Championship (Prototype Challenge/Grand Touring Daytona) and Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge (Grand Sport/Street Tuner) races I couldn't say no

We took Friday off to catch as much as possible of what was shaping up to be an action packed weekend, with practice and qualifying sessions going on all day before race day Saturday

I met up with Tony bright and early Friday morning, parked the E92, and packed up the X5. Good thing we didn't take the coupe; Tony doesn't mess around when it comes to camping!

We met up with Tony's friend Joe on the way over, handed out the walkie talkies, and I laughed my ass off the whole ride to LRP


We arrived just in time to catch the first practice session and began setting up our camp site

Tony and I were going to share a tent but Joe had something else in mind - a pretty cool hammock with waterproof and fly tarp coverage (picture does not show it fully assembled)



We set up our camp site, met our neighbors, then headed over to No Name Straight and the Uphill



My GTD favorite - AJR GT America



Local (north shore Massachusetts) favorites


The beauty of spectating at Lime Rock is that you can see just about every square inch of the track, and can walk the whole perimeter in no time

I ventured out to find some much needed coffee and scoped out the spectating spots along the way



TMS pointed the right way...



...then the wrong way. This would not be their only mishap during practice and qualifying, but more on that later

We headed into the paddocks to see some of the beauty up close

Not a bad safety car



Looks like I am inadvertently on par with my TE37 / MSI combo



We ran into an old S2000 forum friend of Tony's, Andrie Hartanto, while walking around. He brought us around the BimmerWorld complex, walked us through his ST #81 328i, and talked us through his amazing (albeit hail mary seeming shot) trip to getting to a paid ride


Awesome, down to earth guy with a really great story - I'm a fan!


We wished Andrie luck with qualifying and the race in case we didn't catch up with him later, and moved down to the next paddock of shiny objects


We ventured down a bit and met up with another one of Tony's friends in Billy Johnson, geared up to pilot this beautiful GT350R-C



Ohhhh hello!


Although it was unfortunately the slowest GTD car come race time, this Compass360 R8 was definitely one of the prettiest




We then made our way down to the Turner area by Big Bend

We seemed to have missed it walking through the paddocks, but it looks like Marsal had a little shunt when "a squirrel ran across the track"


I'm sure he was able to remain in good spirits

Oh right, there's a race track all around us...


Then back into the paddocks to find some more coffee


and some more masterpieces


Freedom Motorsports getting ready to be Oscar Mike. I ran into the Freedom crew member that gave us a hand with the dry break for the McParland Motorsport S2000 down at VIR before The Charge of the Headlight Brigade - the motorsport community really is a small one