The Gainesville raceway has a road coarse out behind their drag strip. They are opening it up this year. Once a month. It is $40 for all day. All you have to have is a helmet. The January showing was sad, and if there is not enough people to come out this Feb. then they might stop doing it. Here is the link to the schedule. Track Days

Hope that link works. People that went out there said that there was only ~20 cars. And the drivers drove as much as they wanted. Most were able to put in atleast 40 runs. Some got in as much as 60 or more. People need to come out and participate. The course sounds good, and should be a blast. Im coming out this time with a few friends, and hope to see everybody there. If you need more info. just pm me, i probably left a few things out. Thanks

 

I have been out before and it is great!! I am not able to make it right now, because we are in process of moving. Hopefully, will be able to go out next month...

Later,
Bill

 

If they did it on Sundays, I'd be there. I work on Saturdays. I still may try to make it sometime this year. Any idea if they require a roll bar for convertibles? No biggy if they do, I can always use my svt contour.

 

ive talked with the guy responsible for these events. he is also on these forums. he told me they change the course layout everytime. and that drifting is aloud but if you hit the grass to many times they will make you stop.

 

yup, yup, not sure about the roll bar, but ive contacted them and they told me that all you have to have is a helmet of some-type. there are specific types of helmets needed, but he says if you only have a motorcycle helmet or sumthin, then that will work for the first time. Im still trying to located one right now, but should have at least a motorcycle helmet by that time. Try to tell all people interested, i dont wanna see this go away. Im bringin atleast 2-3 racing friends. Hope to see some rx7's out there.

 

Hey guys. We do not require a roll bar in any car.
There should be a few RX7s out there.
I have a 91 Fc, but i dont now if it will be at the next event. I was on the highway, heard some detonation, and pulled over, now the thing does not want to idle at all. I thought I blew an apex. But when I get under way, over 2500 RPM, it runs strong as always. I noticed a little coolant between the inake and the rotor housings on top of the motor. I am having it compression checked tomorrow to see if there is blow-by into the coolant jacket or if that leak is a totally different problem. The car runs cool and even a little rich, does coolant cause detonation? Its a fresh motor that was just recently completed with all the best stuff internally. Any help would be appreciated.

 

I got it compression checked. The front rotor was great, but th rear rotor has one good pulse and 2 low ones. does that mean the apex seal shatered or just wore extremely fast. It was running great not a single problem, then I got on it and it started acting funny. I pulled over and it wouldnt idle. How could it still be so fast with a blown apex seal. This didn't happen slowly, It did it all at once. It might have felt a little weak, but there was no sudden jerk or loss of power when it happened.

Can anybody recomend a good engine builder in the Jacksonville area.

 

gville racer, are you the red turbo II with all the goodies. were u at the o.p. kmart about 3 weeks ago on jan. 6. I got the blue RX7. I might be able to help you if u need a rebuild. LMK

 

damn, for a 40-dollar track day, I might just have to make the 6-hour drive myself down to Gainesville...

Otherwise I'm NEVER going to get any seat time... with no local autocrosses or track days (that I can afford).

 

Yea I was there, it was running great then. I will get it rebuilt, but i am completely baffeled about what caused it.
Anyways, if you can help, pm me your cell.

 

back up to the top. I got my helmet ordered earlier, and it is an XXL. I know, im a biggin. If ur not comin cuz of the helmet issue. I know a few people that r goin to be there with other size helmets. Just pm me. People need to come out.

 

I'll try and go when I'm back in FL.. I know all my friends will go.. lol

 

I'm pretty sure you're talking about my husband, VG30DEracer who put on a PRIVATE event back in November. Those sound like his words exactly.
They raceway actually only likes to hold events in one layout as they do not know the experience of the drivers and some layouts have more advanced hairpins, and they favor increasing radious turns over decreasing as it is less dangerous for the inexperienced driver. It's a liability thing with them.
When my husband holds private events, they will change the layout, as there are always a max of 20 drivers, and we know most of them personally and are able to monitor other drivers.
In regards to drifting, again, I think you are thinking obout the private track day where we okayed drifting, but to abide by the raceway's rules told drivers they would be kicked off if they went off too many times. They didn't actually allow drifting, we were just letting people drift as long as they didn't continually wreck up their grass. Again, for liability reasons I am almost positive a Raceway sponsored event would never allow drifting on their facilities that was just open to general public with a helmet.

 

WRONG. They do allow drifting. But u r not allowed to go off the track very much. It is advertised on www.floridadrift.com, and gvilleracer can back me up on this. It is allowed, but if u screw the grass up, then you will be asked to stop. They are pretty concerned about the grass and its condition. I hope this was right, if not, than I am an idiot. I hope gvilleracer can back me up on this.

 

So, I think you are misunderstanding me...I am just saying that I think Projectredsuns is thinking about my husband when he refered to " the guy that puts on these events" and a private event, not GIR's new gig that this thread is refering too.

Furthermore, I know that yeah, if you don't go off the grass, they don't mess with you because you can obviously handle your car and you're not messing with the sod. What I'm getting at is that I just think projectredsun was thinking of a different event, and a different guy, as I do not think GIR would explicitly grant driting privelidges to an open to the public event.

As for proof of your arguement by way of www.floridadrift.com, this is what I found, which seems to back up my thoughts exactly. Plus, I'm no expert, neither is Ichi- Go, and gvilleracer is the other person giving info on floridadrift, so it's just cyclical info. If gvilleracer puts these together and knows for sure, cool. That's not my poinit.

Again, my point is just that I think Projectredsun may have been thinking about my husband's private track day, not this GIR sponsered event. That's it.

On floridadrift,
Ichi-Go wrote:

Drifting and Gainesville raceway do not mix well so all you drifters out the need to feel out the track before you try and go big. I know Gvilleracer is into it and he puts these events together but the actualy owners of the track are **** about the grass and spinning out for some reason. Last event i attended I drifted a ton but did not spin out or go off so they didnt care. As long as you keep it safe and on the track they dont care.

I just wanted to warn yall before you get sent home for wrecking there track. It is not OSW you cant fly off the track at 65 and expect to not recieve a stern (sp) warning.

 

actually i was talking about gvilleracer, at least i think i am. i think he is the guy with the red fc with the microtech i meet at the jacksonville meet near the end of december.

 

you probably were. My husband drives a white 300zx, so it wasn't him. That's all I was wondering because what you said he said about the track sounded exactly like the words he used to talk about a private meet on the forums a while back.

 

OK OK OK.....

Here is the official deal on gainesville raceway. No matter how you cut it, oversteer is a part of RWD racing, plain and simple.... there is no denying that. Yet somehow the redneck officials find a way to eliminate you if you do any actions they consider out of control. This is not to say drifting is not allowed, it is strickly based on thier precieved knowledge of your ability on the track. For some reason Don (GM of the track) and Dan (in charge of track maintance) are very very picky about thier grass, yet when it comes to applying DHT to the drag strip for safty purposes they skimp. I have seen cars go into the wall after fluid spills because VHT was not applied to the track.... as is common track maintance.

Basically the overall theme of this thread is this.... the track is run very poorly, and very inconsistently.

My question to you spoolnblue is this.... when was the last time you were at one of these events? Did you talk to Brandon..... because he is the one responsible for these events, and he has never actually run in one is my understanding. In fact he was going to run my car at one of his events just to see what it was like. He is an "outsourced" employee of the track, he used it as a resume builder.

 

I was thinking about taking the 8 down on Feb 10th, but now you've got me kind of worried. Is this really worth the trip down from Jacksonville and the $40? Any body else have opinions on this?

Also, does anybody have any recommendations on where to get a helmet from? TIA.

Dan

 

WestJaxVert... the problems I speak of are strickly associated with the drag strip. There are no walls at the road course. I will not deny that the bagn for the buck at these events is awesome... however I simply do not like one lap events. It is totally worth the trip from jax.... If you do end up making the trip and want to hang out after the event let me know!

 

All of my info comes from gville racer, read the forums on events on www.floridadrift.com.
I dont really give a damn. im not a drifter, im gonna lay down some times, and try not to f-up. Hope to see u all out there. BTW, i got my helmet from www.racerwholesale.com. It was $120. The A2000, i think.

 

Also, ive never been out to the road coarse. im lookin forward to it, but ive never been. ive been to the drags many times. but i just thought id let people know about this, cuz ive been wantin to drive on a road coarse. Hope to see everybody out there. Im sry if i came off negative. Didnt mean to get anybody upset.

 

To settle this issue.
I am the employee for GIR, working under Don, that manages these events with the rest of the GIR team. This is a monthly test and tune put on by us at GIR to allow grip and drift and anything else you want to do. If you do manage to drift through the grass three times we will ask you to stick to grip driving for the rest of the day. We will not send you home or embarass you in any way just for hitting the grass once or twice.
Second, there is no employee for the track named Dan in charge of ground maintenance. Projectredsuns and spoolinblue were both speaking to me about this event at all times, and were not in attendance at your private event. I know this because I was the GIR employee in charge of keeping your event safe.
Third, vg30deracer and his wife are two very nice people, and are welcome to attend our events. However, because some people that they allowed to attend their event could not follow the rules of the track, their private track day came to a very unhappy end. I am sorry if there are any hurt feelings, but please do not shine a bad light on the hard working staff at Gainsville because the coordination of your event got out of control. Drifting was not allowed at your track day due to there being too many people in attendance and on the infield, lack of helmets being used, and people sneaking passengers on the track. I know from speaking with vg30deracer that this was not his fault, but the fault of his co- coordinator that lied to him about the number of cars he was bringing and repeatedly tried cheating the rules. That is why the said coordinator is no longer allowed to rent our track at any time.
All of these rules are easily followed at all GIR test and tune events, therefore we allow drifting and we do not limit are attendance to 20 cars. We regularly exceed 50-70 cars and will take all that come in.

 

so gvilleracer.... what you are saying is that drifting IS allowed on your track wether it be a private or public event? The only reason I ask is because I am attending an event here soon, and we would like to bring some D1 licnced drifters for some practice outside of the spotlight and leg humping that usually followes them.

Maybe i got the guys name wrong (dan) but basically my experience with the track was a poor one. I understand that the staff was simply doing thier jobs, but the complete lack of communication on the part of bobby coupled with the vauge contract made for an unpleasant aftertaste.

As far as me not being allowed to rent at your track.... I laugh at that, do you honestly think because I cannot use my name I cannot rent your facilities? Don simply stated that I use him to set things up next time rather than bobby!

Call me FROM THE TRACK and confirm drifting is allowed at your facilities. 352-381-7381

 

Got the helmet ordered today...should be in this week. Is there a "no laughing at the noobs" policy for this event?

Dan (noob)