Headcount - Mazdadrivers Sept 1-2.
 

Hey all,

I be heading up to VIR this next weekend for the Mazdadrivers event. I wanted to get a show of hands of who's gonna be there.

I'll be the old fart driving the annoying loud red NA FC with the black hood. Stop by and say hi.

-bill

I'll be there in the red 993 #187

I will be there as well. Silver FD with a weird engine rumble.

R

Wrecked my car this morning in South bend... See you all in the spring

^^^^^

ACK! Seriously Pat? Are you OK?.... what sort of shape is the car in?

I'm very sore today. My neck got pretty torqued and I have bruises from the harness belts. I'm buying a HANS device this week. Car isn't totaled, but has at least 10-15k worth of damage. Put two wheels off and drove straight off, as I should. I then started to drive back on track. However, there is now a huge speed hump in the grass due to poor drainage and the VIR crew has it marked w/ several cones- basically don't drive here! Got the car airborne (only a couple feet) at 75-85 mph and landed f'n hard and ripped the front bumper off and scared the shit out of me. I'm glad I took a leak before I went out. At that very second when I landed I put two feet in and I didn't have any brakes. Pedal went to the floor. After thinking about this incident and replaying it over and over I think I know what happened. When I landed my feet had fallen off the pedals due to the impact and what I thought was the brake pedal was indeed the clutch and my left foot was on the foot rest.

Basically, I let go of the wheel and went along for a ride. I did a 900 and slammed into the tirewall backward at the braking zone for Oak tree. The car...well she still runs, but I hit that f'n tirewall going at least 45-65mph. All my safety equipment worked and I'm very lucky I didn't flip or roll the car. I'm also glad I have a roll bar in the car. Next is a proper race seat and HANS device.

I'm going to get an estimate on the damage this week. Parts alone without paint/welding a new quarter panel is well over 7k :(

Lesson learned: Buy a HANS device and track insurance next year. My track season is done for the year, but I'll be back on the horse in the Spring and taking turn 10 much slower :)

Damn, I am so sorry to hear that. I was looking around for you today and didn't see ya. Now I know why. Glad to hear that you're alright.

I'll have to look for that speedbump when I'm out there tomorrow. I didn't notice any extra cones when I was out there today. Nobody mentioned it in at the driver's meeting this morning. I'll bring it up tomorrow.

T10 is funny for me. Some days I just hang it all out and rip though it. Other times I am much more tentative with the turn in and tend to over-brake. Today was a tentative day.

Good luck with everything, and hopefully see you in the spring! :D

-bill

holy jesus man. Glad to hear you're ok. South bend can bite you in the ass really quick :(

I've been ordered to get a HANS before my next event by my wife - just got my seat installed in prep for it. Definitely one of those things you want to have and hope you never need it.

Sorry about the bad news Pat. Glad you are basically ok. This happened Sunday morning? I was looking for a 993 on Saturday but I forgot what color.

I left on Saturday as my car had an issue in the morning. My wonderful mechanics did not torque down my tranny filler bolt and it came off on the track. Huge smoke came from my car. This was in the RS group. I felt bad for everyone else as I eat into their time. I spend 2 hrs in Danville looking for a bolt but to no avail. So I went home. In my case at least the LS1 proved to be viable at the track. Was fun for the short time period.

Pat hope all goes well.

No, it happened Friday morning at the TrackDaze event. I did it second day first session third lap in the instructor group. I had just turned a 2:20 and was pushing the car pretty hard to get my times down.

Rceron, Sorry to hear about the tranny bolt. There is a great hardware store right next to the BP by the Sleep Inn. You'd miss it if you were to blink, but they have everything. I've had to make many stops there...

Bill, did you see the cones? Hopefully, no target fixation for you today :)

Didn't see any cones in T10. Probably too fixated on all the <bleep>ing Vettes at the event (probably 40% of my rungroup). I was running in yellow group solo and these guys were blowing by me with 3X the number of ponies I got. So it was a matter of point 'em all by and then go chase Miata's ;).

A pretty good weekend overall. No major offs (dropped a couple wheels occasionally). Played it conservative since I hadn't been on the track since May. Not a lot of car-nage on the whole - a Spec Racer Ford tangled with the tire wall in T7 (really weird place). Most of the issues were breakdowns. Top award goes to the guy who broke down, pulls off the side of the track, pops the hood, gets out of his car, removes his helmet and starts messing around with the engine. On a hot track.

Honorable mention for two cars that ran out of gas. ;)

rceron: if it's any consolation, Dave Nugent mentioned your plight in the drvers meeting this morning. :P

-bill

DAMN!!!!!!!!!

I can picture it now. You go through 10 a little quick the car gets loose and you figure OK I'll play it safe and drive off right then end up hitting the big hump down in the valley.

REALLY REALLY sorry to hear about your baby but glad you're just a little bumped up and not hurt :icon_tup:

Ugh, sorry to hear about your off. Glad you're okay and that you'll be getting back in the saddle soon. Good luck with the repairs and I'll see you on the track next season!

It was a relatively quiet event. It's odd how in about 8 years, these events went from being principally populated by 3rd gens, to this event with, I think just two or three.

I was instructing but my car (FD) didn't make the trip. I heard about the V8 conversion but it was gone before I ever got a chance to take a look.

The highlight of my weekend was the Supercharged C5 that belongs to a friend. A right seat ride in that thing should be listed on the things to do before you die website. 550hp makes for a profoundly different ride around the full course (particularly on street tires)

135mph under the bridge is enough to open anyone's eyes.

I missed Fritz and am, again, sad to see so few Rx7's at these events. The Corvette club has certainly latched onto Dave's events (who could blame them). Maybe spring 2008 will bring a few more of our beloved FDs to the track (Mine too, this time with a oil catch can not produced by Aquafina, quit laughing Fritz)

I may be back in a FD next season...

Fritz, I might come down and take a look at the BB base in a week or two. It's football season and I'll be down your way quite a bit! :)

When you're ready I'll have one with your name on it :icon_tup:

You may have to stay home for a few weeks and save some cash so you ca pick up something for the Audi event in Nov :D

Your eyes probably got wider when you started up the ESSES hehe.

I'm going to BMW event next weekend and Audi in NOV and probably a couple in between so hopefully I'll see you soon :icon_tup:

Myself and another FD will going to the Synergy Racing event in October. There are usually a lot of racing teams and the cars there are very interesting.

https://www.cyberspeedstore.com/synergy/07_fling.htm

Now you're talking Pat! You know you want one. PITA and all, you can't beat 'em.

i was there for the whole weekend. I met raceron. i dind't have the balls to drive my fd 5-6 hours to a track. if it broke, it gets really expensive to tow. i might look into getting a truck and trailer so i can bring the fd. i got stuck driving my honda 2006 honda civic si.....talk about slow. i only managed to squeeze out 115-6 on the oak tree straight (back straight) and 113 on the front straight. it was a great week and i learned how to take corners fast..
are you guys coming to the redline time attack at summitt point. i will be brining the fd for that one and hope i don't have issues like last time.

p.s. don't laugh at the wheels. i am too poor and can't afford track wheels right now. fritz, do you have some track wheels for sale? kevin