THSCC Forums

We owe a big "thank you" and "job well done" to the staff that made this weekend's Roebling event a super success. I had a great time and, after missing the VIR South Course event, it was great to see everyone.

Amusingly, I searched for reasons why I was unable to improve on my Saturday time trial result on Sunday. I tried to blame a variety of technical causes. When I got home and watched some of my video from Sunday, I determined that I drove very consistently. Unfortunately, I was consistently slow. I've concluded that the reason I was slower was because I didn't drive the car faster! I guess heat and fatigue can take their toll and some days you just don't have your "A" game. No other excuses are necessary.

Again, thanks and it was great to spend the weekend with a great group of people.

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Dave Phillips
78 Porsche 911 SC

Better to be off the pace but on the track rather than to drive beyond the limits...

Yeah, it was hot this weekend. I *almost* don't regret staying home.

Scott

Thanks Dave. It was really good to see our Saturday TT field double from last year’s event. I will have to get on the ball this week and get some results posted.

I gave up trying to go faster Sunday after I earned a sit down.

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2004 Ranger Edge
2003 Buell XB9R
2004 Trek 4900
2004 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert Disc
2004 Lemond Reno

Joel = FAST! Nice driving, even if it was at the expense of tearing up some grass occasionally

Some highlights:

Matt Nicholson's student lost a wheel in turn 6. That must have been fun. Matt is such a great instructor, he even went and jumped the tire wall and searched through the woods to find the wheel for her! Just don't ask whose car it was She may fire her crew (no it's not me!!).

Radicals go SO FAST that, when they go off, they usually go off a really long ways until they get stuck on the sand berm. Twice, in 2 different cars by the same driver. Don't ask who that was either.

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law flew into Savannah earlier in the week to sightsee, and then to babysit for the weekend so Kendra and I could both drive. Kendra turned a respectable 1:34 in the TT in the red car, which she has very little track time in. I took my sister-in-law for a ride in instructor group. She just kept saying "oh my God!" the whole way around. And I wasn't even trying that hard

Steve Pierce discovered that street tires are 4 seconds FASTER per lap than heat-cycled Hoosiers. Yes, even if the Hoosiers were fantastic last time you used them. They're Hoosiers. It's normal.

96F + humidity + 2 students SUCKS for a northern bred person like me.

Karl's car, making its debut after a year on jackstands, broke again. I think it's for sale.

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Thanks Mike. I still feel like I left some time on the table but for my first time driving the track I am very happy with the times I ran and the consistency between my times.

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2004 Ranger Edge
2003 Buell XB9R
2004 Trek 4900
2004 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert Disc
2004 Lemond Reno

As we have come to expect Mark and Stacy and Joel and everyone else involved put together a terrific track weekend. Well run, run on schedule. We're spoiled!

Few offs, few break downs, just a fine weekend.

Mike Whitney covered the high lights pretty well.

Yes Radicals are fast and hard to see!

Yes, Karl had another axle problem which ended his fun early.

Its GREAT to tow with a diesel truck and fill up with fuel 35 cents less than gas AND get better mileage.

It was hot but never rained during track time.

Downtown Savannah is ALWAYS worth a visit.

Joel was fast. Greta, Bill Gratton, Steve Pierce were all fast in their new (or borrowed) M3s. Damn them al!!

The class room was air conditioned. Did I mention I have the BEST job??

Student groups were VERY well behaved. Few offs or spins. Never got the standard " could you go over passing signals again" question on Sunday which means everyone was doing it right!

As always an enjoyable time with a good group of people. If you didn't attend well, you should have!

Mike and Kendra's kid Nathan is cute and pretty well behaved. Who are the parents??

Lyndsy, Kendra's sister, said that no matter how hard she tried the brake pedal on the passenger side of Mike's car doesn't work. PLEASE fix that before the next ride!!

Ron

Let me add my thanks for a great time. This being my first trip to RR I felt both anticipation and apprehension for leaning a new track. My instructor Chris Schimmel did a great job of showing me around and we were able to do a lead-follow on Sunday that really helped a bunch in turns 5A and 5B. I highly recommend the lead-follow technique when conditions warrant the use.

I was very happy with my Time Trial runs in my Rabbit GTI, going from a 1:37 on Saturday to a 1:33 on Sunday. This was only 3 seconds behind Chris’ Golf and 4 seconds behind Mark's Scirocco, next time I bring the sticky tires.

Thanks again for everyone who put in a monster effort to put on a first class event. Well Done!

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Jim Wray
#4 ITB Wraycer Wrabbit

I'll second all this - great weekend, though exhaustingly hot. Three stints back to back (drive -> instruct -> instruct) is not much fun, especially when you're doing the summer schedule where sessions are 20 minutes. That means you only get a 20 minute breather.

Fortunately for me the Integra broke early Saturday so I only had the students for the rest of the weekend

I will say that Ron's right - the first tow with the diesel Excursion was something else. 14mpg running 80-85mph with the air on towing 5000lbs is not half bad.



It wasn't a picnic for a southern boy like me either.



I'm crafting the classified now.

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

This was by far the largest crowd I've seen at Roebling in over 3 years.
In the end we did achieve a compliment of vintage Alfa cars as well
both 350 and older Z Cars. About 53 students and 36 instructors
for a total of 86 cars on track represending MARRC, TZC and THSCC.

Proud to say, for once, there were more M3's than Miata's. Strong
participation from Critus Region PCA resulted in more Porshea's in the mix. Chip Stabler show up with crew Chief and sponsor Dave Davis
to run in the TT. Tom Minard and Son Jason of Porshea SuperCup
fame show up in the SR3 Radicle. New M3 drivers included John
King, Greta Farkle, Bill Gratton and Steve Pierce. Gretta beat
Steve Pierce in the TT. Well done Gretta! Joel Haywood was in
good form in the Mustang. Joel was Third Fastest Overall Sunday but
ran quick sub '28 times all weekend. What a difference a season makes.

Tires made the difference in ITB as I managed to out run Chris Schemell
both days on fresher tires. However I was still running 1:30's with my
RA1's that are two seasons old that goes to show a good control or
street tire is best for driving schools.

I must compliment EVERONE on their driving.
Last year's inncident sheet ran two pages each day. Even Patrice had problems saying on track. The year before was not much better.
Looking at the control log recorded at Pit Out, it was one of the most
inncident free events run to date . That is the direct result of our
students and instructors. 1/2 page both days, about 12-15 log
entries, including mechincals and info logs.

We received complements from the Corner workers on the clarity of
passing signals instead of the usual complaints of the opposite. I would
also like to complement everyone on their patience during the two
black flagged sessions while we pulled beached Radicle's from the sand.

The other incident was already mentioned. I should bring to your attention three important rules concerning doing track events wilst maintaing
domestic harmaony:
Rule 1: do not wreck car on track, but most important, do not wreck
wife's car on track.
Rule 2: do not forget to torque lugs on wife's car, espically when it's
her turn to drive.
Rule 3: avoid running in to the car in front, espcially if it's new and
expensive, least you need not explain having to pay damages.

Track conditions were good for RR.Good grip on line and not too bad
offline. Evening rains keeping the sand at bay helped considerably as
well as not many folks going off and bringing all sorts of "clag" back on track.

Hot it was, but at least there was a breeze blowing Sat and overcast kept the heat from the Sun reasonable Sunday. Most of the instructors had
at least two back to back sessions. We appriciated your patience on
the grid while jumping car to car and getting a quick drink of water
before going back out. We were short handed working the
grid last weekend but hopefully no one noticed.

The rain came late Sat and Sunday evenings and pretty much
all day Monday.

Having just joined the "Powerstroke Club" my drive down and back
was very enjoyable. Joel, Chris and I were following Coco Strayer
at better than 80-85 the whole way down. I sill got 13mpg with the
tire rack and full complement of Hoosiers.

While brake discussions come up at venues like CMP, the topic usually
turns to tires at Roebling. There is a reason we recomend street tires
for driving schools or at least a harder more durable competition tire.
Some people try to save money buying used race tires to use
at driving schools. Depending on the tire, this could work, but typically
these tires run out of heat cycles long before they run out of thread.
Once heat cycled out you have less grip than even a run of the
mill street HP tire. Personally I would use that money on a set of
Azeenia's, KD's or

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Mark Vitacco
THSCC TT Chairman
mvitacco@bellsouth.net