I hear that I think one of the most frustrating for everyone during hpde events is not getting pointed by and all the trains that develop as a result. Atleast once a day in the classroom there's a 10 min chat about passing :)

Well, the faster you go, the higher the frustration level because you're catching more cars. Perhaps your frustration factor would be reduced if you chose to drive a slower car. ;)

Anyhow, just joking, hope to see you this weekend at VIR.

Mark

Nice Video's
 

I will get there someday

Very true :) Is this Mark with the turbo charged miata?


BUT the faster you go the bigger the grin :D

No, red 3rd gen, running in red group, ran the JC at Summit Point last year and VIR MDA in the fall. Let's see..., you borrowed a bit of oil (Amsoil) from me at VIR. You were parked on the other side of the road from me. Probably, in your eyes, an "older guy" :)

Mark Weller

This is when u need that 500bhp....

and the huge 355mm brakes....

To blow by one and divebomb another...;)

I remember you well :) Any recent upgrades I remember your car being pretty well sorted? See you Saturday. Also try to make it to Seat Time at Summit on April 1.

Sounds like a plan. How about 400 rwhp and 2500lbs and I won't need the brakes :)

Also can......

Hey Fritz:

Nice videos. Glad to hear the tip from someone on electrical tape over the mike; I get wind noise like heck and it's tough to hear the engine at all. Could be just the fact that it's my 11 year old VHS-C camcorder, mounted with my $5.00 Home Depot Camera mount........hmmmmmm

Have got to get to VIR someday, have run Road Atlanta once and the rest of my track days are at Sebring.........loved RA since it's "hilly"..........Sebring being dead flat.............VIR looks like a great track.........liked your lines and it especially looks like a blast through the esses..........looked like you were carrying 80-90mph through there............which is such a blast in the FD...........the esses at RA were def my favorite part of the track............actually my avatar is me coming out of them with a $150K GT3 in the background tracking me down............

I also just looked up the specs on VIR; loved the idea of the 3000 and 4000 foot straights............what do you hit in those...........? the back straight at Sebring is a around a half mile and I usually see around 130mph..........the back straight at RA is about 3/4 mile and I think I was seeing about 140............coulda done more but my grapes kept retracting.............plus it was 20 degrees out when I ran there and the tires never got above 70 degrees...........and that was before I discovered race tires....yum yum...........that plus seat time took me from 3:07 at Sebring down to about 2:46 now..........puts me at about average lap speed of 81 or so versus your 87 at VIR based on rough calculations.............

Anyway really enjoyed the Vids.........great driving.........

My only suggestion; clean your windshield ;) :p: ;)

David

C'mon down to Sebring sometime!!!! Now that those pesky big boys are off the track as of last weekend it's time to go racin'!!!;)

nice line and even nicer track. where's it at?

I'm driving the VIR (virginia international raceway) full course in Danville VA

Will have a couple of more vids soon from the VIR North course but it will be in slow motion. I was getting 1lb of boost starting at 5k and building to about 4lbs at 8k because of a severe exhaust leak :) Basically like driving a 2nd gen. I was turning in much earlier and trail braking much harder to carry as much speed as possible. It was still a blast but I must say that the HP was really missed and I would not want to drive a low HP car :)

The 1st video is me catching a Diaso

The 2nd one is me finding a friend and discovering a very loose bmw 3 series in route.

I have no times because it was pointless :)

Just the two vids compiled during the first session of the 2nd day because my camcorder ran out of batteries.

I hooked up with lots of buddies and saw some friends from the forum. Gotham Racing was there handing out T-shirts which was pretty damn cool of them and quite a hike as well. Damn, now I have to give them some business :)

Lol, is that what it takes.....cross country trips to impress ya ;)?

Fritz:

Yup, now that I've seen the video a few more times it does look like a lot more than 90 or so through the esses................130...........I'm drooling........:eek:

What tires are you running............I switched to Hoosiers (got a good set of A compounds for $100, couldn't pass them up.....ate them up in one day though.........then got a great deal on Victoracer V700's, and ran exactly the same times as the Hoosiers...........but I had just a tad more seat time as this was my subsequent event.

Anyway, watching your car go through those turns at those speeds gives me even more confidence than ever...........I'm taking a syringe full of testosterone next event though just in case..........:p:

I played the video for my buddy who drives a 911.........we both are thinking the same thing..........ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!

If we're serious about it I'll find out how to hook up with your group...........

C-ya.

My turbo needs a blankey :)

The esses are so much faster than they look and a real blast at speed. Probably my favorite section at vir. With good tires and susp just about any fd should be able to tackle them at 120 plus.

When are you going to VIR or Summit?

Just like at Road Atlanta; that was definitely my favorite as well...........you enter the esses off a right hander at about 80, and then it's balls to the wall downhill into the esses........I found that running through them by entering them in fourth was extremely fast, and anyone that entered just behind me usually got left in the dust as I "drag raced" them down through them. I think there's a link I can send...........I'll post it, of some video that a guy took from his 1972 XKE................not real fast but a pretty neat old car.................he runs with the group I run with, ChinMotorsports............

To tell you the honest to God's truth, my plans to go to VIR only started when I saw your video...............that track looks just great..............a buddy of mine that runs his 911 just bought a new 40 foot class A motorhome, which will pull his trailer, so we now can make "road trips" and cut back a little on costs by staying in his RV. I sent him a link to your videos and he also became VERY psyched...................

I'll definitely be in touch when we can plan it...........we typically run at Sebring since it's local to us (1 1/2 hours away)...........or at Moroso or Homestead............but running new tracks is always a blast............

Here's the link to the video page on the Chin Website...........the Road Atlanta Video is actually a guy named Pascal in his XKE chasing another XKE.......a buddy of his with a cherry ride...............unfortunately as he enters the esses it's sort of into the sun so real glarey............it was obviously taken late in the day which made that track a little challenging.............

The other shame is that the video doesn't give you the sense of the famous turn 12 "bridge turn"........right after you pass under the Suzuki bridge it drops 60 feet and feels like you just drove off the edge of the earth...........wild..................at speed your stomach sorta jumps up in your throat.............def takes at least a few days of driving it until you get used to it..........

http://www.chinmotorsports.com/video/video.asp

C-ya.

David

P.S. Btw, you never told me what type of tires you've found to be the best set up on the FD............I wanna carry the speed you do someday when I grow up......;)

Hey Fritz, just noticed your second video was me at the end. :) (red FD) Guess I could have guessed that from your title. I think I was somewhere up ahead through your entire clip as we were picking our way through traffic. Had a blast this past weekend, great fun as always. Hopefully I have some good video, I haven't had time to look at it yet. Looking forward to June, VIR full course.

Mark

I'll check the vid out when I get a chance. Honestly I still haven't decided which setup is best. I love the 285 30 18 setup for the stick but I really believe a lighter combo would be better for the fd. Like maybe 265 35 17 or 275 40 17. I've been using 275 40 17 with ssr comps the last 3 times or so. I just use whatever I can find in the parts bin :) If your car is light with stock power I would say stock wheels with hoosiers would work well. It really depends on your car/upgrades.


If and when you decide to make it up to VIR let me know as soon as possible so I can plan on going to the same event.
Thanks,
fritz

Yep thats Weller ride up ahead looking good :)

Can't wait until June to do it again. Nice seeing you and your car is really coming together. Love those wheels and tires. I'll be going back to the 285 30 18 set up for the next few events. Hopefully I will have my car back together and running strong before April 10th.

Road atlanta definitely looks like a great track and I just love the hood on that Jag. I think the hood is the best part of the video :)

Ehaust Leak Fiasco
 

In order to fix the exhaust leak I had to take the turbos off which is where the fun begins. Fortunately I had the gifted hands of a surgeon to be to help. 1st 2 studs broke off in the manifold so I had to take the manifold to the machine shop. Picked up the manifold bolted everything up and things looked peachy until the last bolt a tricky little 14mm in the upper right hand corner of the turbo housing would not thread. FUCK!....take it all back off and return the manifold. Pick up the manifold and this time there is no problems. Car runs great but have some creep beyond 6k in 3rd or 4th gear so I will have to put a hf cat on. Why am I getting creep because I'm so damn cheap I put on some decent looking stockers so I could sell the nice ported TEC rebuilds :( Oh well track time don't come cheap and every bit counts :)

Anyway just an update on the monster and will hopefully have a lot more fun this coming weekend with a strong running FD.

I will have the vid cam charged and get lots of footage of the South Course at VIR.