Hey guys.....Im kind of a virgin in this , lol. Went to my first road course today at Summit Point for FATT. I had the best time in my car EVER. Never thought I'd say this, but drag racing doesn't hold a candle to the excitment, driver feedback, and nonstop action. Have to thank Ray Wilson of PFSupercars for getting my car ready in time. He swapped in my HKS hipermax coilovers, hawk blues, 25row mocal oil coolers and a set of Nitto NT-01's.
The first two sessions I ***** footed around the course. Remember I've never turned my car before, lol. By the third session I was passing people and having a great time chasing down a 911 and a Z06. Both of whom saw my taillights by the end of the session, lol....
Video to come also!
Here are some pics...

 

damn who would have thought Ernie would say "drag racing doesn't hold a candle to the excitment, driver feedback, and nonstop action"

awesome pics ernie, cant wait to see some video!

 

Goddamnit, first the Fat Boys break up, now this! Ernie T going' in circles! Nice pics Ernie! Which course is that? Did you go for the parachute handle on the straightaway?

 

Good stuff. I was thinking of stopping by to watch but the weather was looking sketchy earlier. Did it rain at all?

 

Thanks......they did say i was the first person to have a shute goin around the course, lol...

 

 

Glad to see you didn't end up in the gravel, which you know gets real expensive real quick. All of a sudden 9 seconds seems like way too short of a time to spend behind the wheel, don't it?

 

Still love drag racing though. Can't give that up. I'll do both

 

Congrats Ernie. Sorry I couldn't make it.

Careful. As the saying goes, road racing makes heroin addiction seem like a vague desire for something salty. Wait'll you open it up on a bigger course like Summit Main, or VIR!

 

Man that does look like alot of fun. I cant wait to get another car and go out there and tear it up. Ive always wanted to try it.

Ernie, are you planning to build a road course car now or just use this for both? Im sure you could turn alot faster lap times without having to wait for spool on this thing.

 

damit i wish i had the money to get my car on to vir lol

 

I'm glad you said that. Welcome to the world of turns.

 

That's cool man. I went around the track down at Danville once and it was awesome. Maybe now you'll get around to winning some races?>

Haven't been around for a while. Hope everything's going good Ernie.

Laters,
Dave

 

I could not imagine if you built up a car for a road course. I know you are thinking of doing it. It's just sitting there kicking around in the back of your head. Your FD looks beautiful Ernie, as always.

 

^^
Actually I wouldn't have to change a thing. I already have the HKS Hipermax coilovers, R compound Nitto's, stiff chassis, what else would I need??

 

Damn those pics look awesome ernie.

Cant wait for some video footage.

 

Ernie,
Welcome to the party and hope to see you on track sometime

 

man it looks like u had alot of fun...cant wait to take my fd out to eat curves!!!lol

 

Wow, the pics look great, looks like you had a lot of fun! Now for the questions.

How much boost were you running and how did the car feel on that boost?

Were you running pump gas?

Did you beat Ray lol?

Anthony

 

THanks Anthony. Running 10-12lbs of boost. Believe it or not, the car felt great even at such low boost. I was running 113 race gas they had at Summit Point @ the pump!
Ray and Kevin (FD3Virgin) were running in the same group and were battling it out all day. I was in a different group of cars. Next time we're gonna get a bunch of us and all run in the same group. I had a blast.

 

Great pics and good job, now come to VIR where you can open her up

 

What kind of brakes are you running? Normally you'd want something totally different from a drag racing setup, but you probably didn't build your car to be as light as possible so I would imagine you might already have a road-course worthy set on there already. Not that there are all that many options for drag racing brakes for Mazda anyway.

 

^^
I have stock brakes with Hawk Blue pads, braided brake lines, and sythetic brake fluid. Thats it and it worked very well on the road course. No fade at all.

 

Good deal. I'm sure there's several guys on here that can recommend heavy duty setups if you start running events with higher speeds (longer straights, etc).

I can relate to how much fun it was for you. A few years ago I ran the main course on my bike for the first time, and it was the most fun I'd ever had. I only got back there once more, and it was still pretty damn awesome. I miss it a lot.

 

On a course that's harder on brakes, and as you get faster, you will reach the limits of those brakes.