ECR recap thread

[michaelmosty]

I'm too tired right now to say much. Track turned out to be pretty darn good, very hard on brakes, AMAZING racing all weekend, Sat. night BBQ and beer was freakin hilarious!!!!

I'll post more detail tomorrow and see about getting some videos posted.

[gt40]

Wow -- what a weekend.

After the firesuit fiasco, I was seriously bummed and rersigned myself to running in HPDE4. Kevin Mixon suggested I run in TTU instead, and I'm actually pretty glad I did. I haven't had to work up a new track in a LONG time and it took nearly all weekend to find some speed.

Best lap of he weekend was a 2:10, so I'm still off AI's pace by a bit. I did have a good time playing with a track-prepped C6 today who was running constant 2:11's. I led him for a lap or two, and then pointed him by. I then latched onto his rear bumper and stayed there for the rtest of the session -- big fun.

I was glad to see Darren get back on track with good speed. His failure is a real eye-opener!

Lastly, I want to thank everyone for trying to find a firesuit for me. I generally dislike having to borrow gear (particularly personal safety gear.) Not because I dislike the idea of using it. I don't want to be an imposition, and I dont want to give the impression that I came unprepared.

Your efforts to find a suit came as quite a surprise to me and I must say I'm flattered, and I really appreciate that you guys were thinking of me and cared enough to try to get me in the race. Thank you all, very, very much.

[GlennCMC70]

who would have guessed Bryan would have been the life of the part?
we WILL do this more often. my on track weekend sucked and did my car, but it was a very different story in the pits. cant believe i had so much fun. if you didnt show, you really missed out.

[Wirtz]

Too tired here as well, but sick enough in the head to still be checking this forum after getting home anyway :?

The track grew on me little by little over the weekend. Fun to drive, though tough for some of the side by side stuff. Great racing all weekend never the less.

Thanks to everyone for a fun time and congrats to JB on winning the Texas championship!

Jeff

[David Love AI27]

I want to apologize for my spin in the last race... I was overdriving the car and for no good reason... When I saw the dropoff at the end of the curbing at the exit of 3 my first thought was OIL PAN!!! I tried to bring the car back on track instead of driving straight off and the car reacted in the normal fashion and shot straight across the track... Brian Calder was right on my back bumper took a wild ride and managed to miss me, Jerry did a NASCAR move and drove straight through the smoke/dust and Bryan L. went off to miss me as I spun center track... there was a lot of talk early in the weekend about the little or no runoff areas and that was on my mind instead of what might happen to my fellow racers if I caused them to go off instead... all involved were very nice about the whole deal, but to be totally honest with you all, I would have been pissed off if someone did a bone head move like that and caused me to go off... I should have gone straight off and next time I will!!!


On the lighter side... it made for some really cool video with 4 different camera angles

Ditto on the fun time..

Funny side note, Clifton did a double take when he saw the 27 car at the front of the grid and immediately went for his grid sheet to confirm

[AllZWay]

The track really grew on me over the weekend and found it to really be fun. Tough on brakes...but still fun.

My car started to show it's racing age this weekend... blown clutch on Friday and blown water pump in the last race. I also didn't bring enough brakes for this event.... as they gave up almost completely in the last race also.

Awesome racing with JB and JW in R3....and the finish was spectatular...at least for me. :wink:

Congrats to the Champs for 2008.

Special Thanks to Mitch and his lovely wife... if not for their support and Debbie driving 1-1/2 hours to bring a spare... I would have been done before the weekend even started.

Mitch...you and Debbie are awesome friends.

[Fbody383]

So there we were at the two marker; I stab the whoa pedal with bad intentions and she responds by standing on her nose, light and squirmy like walking on a jelly sandwich.

"Huh?," I think, "I don't remember this turn being this shallow" as the the ABS bucks and kicks like a PBR bronc. A tender flick of the hands and the track ready 360AA meats begin to howl like Wolfman Jack. She knows what to do though and runs in to the apex like a CMC driver at a brat buffet.

Confident in the exhibition of skill rarely seen outside great driving venues such as the 'Ring, Monte Carlo or say, California, the pilot looks to his in car victim, er, instructor Martin Mostly, only to hear, "well, that's one way to do it."

Spec Camry - pwner of rent cars everywhere

[mitchntx]

I talked with the track's owner during R4. He was extremely happy that we were out there racing in big American V8s. He thought it was great for his track and truly appreciated us being there.

He asked for some feedback and I told him the corner exit concrete rumble strips needed to be a little grippier. If you put a tire on them, it's like glass.

He agreed and the said the motorcycle guys had the same complaint. He said they plan on blasting them, and repainting them with a courser mixture of sand to help grip.

I didn't go into the rocks and boulders. I figured it was obvious enough.

I thought the track was OK, but definitely didn't like the fact that it chewed through a season's worth of brakes for 1 weekend. That's not very "budget minded" and ECR will most likely be on my "drop list" for next season.

I thought parking was a cluster - fvck.

James, please don't give it a second thought. Gas is cheap these days! ;) Debbie enjoyed helping out as did I. I'm glad I had the part you needed.

Al, you rock dude. That last lap is permenantly recorded in my personal high-light reel. Awesome, clean racing.

Chuck, same goes to you. You were the meat in a CMC2 sandwich going into turn 1. Great heads up driving!

Jerry, you and I went through T1, T2 AND T3 side by side. Excellent racing, my friend.

Bryan, you are a brake changing fool. You had some real issues this weekend ... calling the wife while sh!t-faced was probably the biggest.

Congrats to Jeff and Jeff. Last lap of the last race, nose to tail. Awesome year, guys.

[AI#97]

So there we were at the two marker; I stab the whoa pedal with bad intentions and she responds by standing on her nose, light and squirmy like walking on a jelly sandwich.

"Huh?," I think, "I don't remember this turn being this shallow" as the the ABS bucks and kicks like a PBR bronc. A tender flick of the hands and the track ready 360AA meats begin to howl like Wolfman Jack. She knows what to do though and runs in to the apex like a CMC driver at a brat buffet.

Confident in the exhibition of skill rarely seen outside great driving venues such as the 'Ring, Monte Carlo or say, California, the pilot looks to his in car victim, er, instructor Martin Mostly, only to hear, "well, that's one way to do it."

Spec Camry - pwner of rent cars everywhere

Dude, we need to get you a column in GRM!!! I am laughing my ass off over here!!! Nice sig too! :lol:

[GlennCMC70]

So there we were at the two marker; I stab the whoa pedal with bad intentions and she responds by standing on her nose, light and squirmy like walking on a jelly sandwich.

"Huh?," I think, "I don't remember this turn being this shallow" as the the ABS bucks and kicks like a PBR bronc. A tender flick of the hands and the track ready 360AA meats begin to howl like Wolfman Jack. She knows what to do though and runs in to the apex like a CMC driver at a brat buffet.

Confident in the exhibition of skill rarely seen outside great driving venues such as the 'Ring, Monte Carlo or say, California, the pilot looks to his in car victim, er, instructor Martin Mostly, only to hear, "well, that's one way to do it."

Spec Camry - pwner of rent cars everywhere

Dude, we need to get you a column in GRM!!! I am laughing my ass off over here!!! Nice sig too! :lol:

it was good.
wanna do our event race reports?

[AllZWay]

So there we were at the two marker; I stab the whoa pedal with bad intentions and she responds by standing on her nose, light and squirmy like walking on a jelly sandwich.

"Huh?," I think, "I don't remember this turn being this shallow" as the the ABS bucks and kicks like a PBR bronc. A tender flick of the hands and the track ready 360AA meats begin to howl like Wolfman Jack. She knows what to do though and runs in to the apex like a CMC driver at a brat buffet.

Confident in the exhibition of skill rarely seen outside great driving venues such as the 'Ring, Monte Carlo or say, California, the pilot looks to his in car victim, er, instructor Martin Mostly, only to hear, "well, that's one way to do it."

Spec Camry - pwner of rent cars everywhere

Funny stuff Dave....you ain't right. :lol:

[Al Fernandez]

First, congratulations to Jeff and Jeff!! The first for winning the CMC Texas Championship, and the second for never giving up and allowing us to enjoy some of the best points chase drama of all time, right down to the last turn of the last lap of the last race. You guys are tremendous!

No doubt Glenn, there is NO WAY Sr. Francis is getting out of doing race reports...a hole we've got that needs filling in a hurry.

Guys...this was the best weekend I've had all year. To me the track is really cool since we finally have something with real elevation changes but yet a real bummer since it has three 180degree double apex very low speed corners at the ends of long straights which become repetitive (not to mention hard on brakes!) Regardless, the on track racing was awesome and the paddock was excellent fun.

This weekend was special for new and AWOL faces. Charlie P. was back with the all black Fox coupe, good to see you! Robert, sorry you never got the firesuit issue sorted, but welcome back too. We also had "new to us" Jay bring a bad ass 69 Camaro into AIX. My suspicion is he'll trade that in on a late model Camaro and give us all a run for our money. Lets not forget Brian's first outing in his gorgeous S197 in AI. Next year's AI race is going to be fabulous. Last but not least, we all met Chuck, who's coming into CMC2 with a perfect LS1 Camaro. Welcome to the group Chuck!!

[jeffburch]

Thanks All!
Flats suck.
This one almost killed me.
jb
http://www.texicanracing.com/nasatx/JeffBurch/641_crop.jpg

http://www.texicanracing.com/nasatx/JeffBurch/629_crop_small.jpg

A whole season came down to this. Effing WOW.

[AI#97]

If anyone has video or pictures of the Race 4 start, post em'! that 4 wide action in AI on the front straight was crazy!!!! BAD ASS stuff!!!

[David Love AI27]

If anyone has video or pictures of the Race 4 start, post em'! that 4 wide action in AI on the front straight was crazy!!!! BAD ASS stuff!!!

I have vid from stands for R4 including the start, may also have the in car vid... Anyone got vid converter for super 8 recorder???

[AllZWay]

JeffW and I would like to see video or pics of the finish of R3. :shock:

[jeffburch]

If anyone has video or pictures of the Race 4 start, post em'! that 4 wide action in AI on the front straight was crazy!!!! BAD ASS stuff!!!

Bev's snaps (fullrez) of R4 start in this ftp folder

http://www.argentlab.com/nasatx/jeff/2008_ECR_R4_start/

more later, off to state fair, uhg.


jb

ps

http://www.argentlab.com/nasatx/jeff/690sm.jpg

[BlueFirePony]

I had been looking forward to this past weekend for over a year now and thanks to all of you it surpassed my expectations!

I'm running on 3 hours sleep here after a lousy flight to Detroit this morning but it was all tolerable thanks to some great times with great people this weekend.

First off, congrats to the 2008 Champs! I was a bit too far back to watch the action..but I hear it was great.

Thanks to Michael, Al and Glenn for making the first race weekend a smooth one from an official perspective.

Thanks to Daron for 3 years of advice that I finally had the chance to put into an actual race environment. Everytime I talk to you I get faster...2:08 before we spoke and 2:05 the very next session...same driver, slightly worse tires but excellent advice overcame both. I think I just need to record you and play it back in the car :)

I left thinking I did a good job racing clean, and learned a ton from everyone....but also realize I made some rookie blunders. I'll be my own worst critic but if any of you have words of critic/advice, I am a pretty good listener.

Jay and David got a nice view of me slashing across their front as I found I had exceeded the limits of my big ass brakes in T7 - I did manage to make that pass stick twice though - just need to remember to do a brake check first :o

I had a blast dueling with Jay C. in his gorgeous '69 Camaro...of course then I heard how much it was worth and took a big gulp!

And the finale with David, Bryan, Jerry (and Gary too?), certainly makes for great video...but no, I don't want to take my chances on repeating that feat again :shock:
David, its all good brother..no harm no foul. You were a blast to race with!

I had quite a few good sequences with both drivers of Team Jordan - you guys are fun to race with too!

Even though I left early Sat night before the real action started, I really enjoyed just hanging out. This group really does have two distinct personalities - online and at track - and I completely understand it (scary!)

And just to put full credit where it belongs, Frank did all the real cooking...I just flipped a few burgers and sampled 20% of whatever he cooked...think of me as the official AI/CMC BBQ taster :roll:

Next year I'll be hanging in there longer - if I can get my smoker there I'll cook up some turkeys and ribs.

Look for BlueFirePony to lose more weight for next year, find those lost horsies and sound meaner (goodbye mufflers, cats - hello x-pipe and shorties).

[Wirtz]

Some friends were out at the track on Saturday running the TT and HPDE classes. They took some nice pics including some of our action. Linkie is here;
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/6220603_T6jYA

Jeff

[GlennCMC70]

please thank them for those shots!

[BryanL]

What a great weekend. Even though I had to work on my car like it was a mustang all weekend I still had a blast. As usual I learned a ton on and off track. Going three wide in a few spots was pretty cool.
First I have to thank Mitch (pads and rotors) and Al (pads) for the brake parts to keep me on track. I owe you guys.
Second-thanks to everyone for all the great food and cooking the food. I wasn't planning on staying out there sat. night. So I guess I owe the ambulance for getting us so far behind I was able to stay for the party. I guess you could tell that I had been looking forward to a night like that for awhile. I really enjoyed myself.
Third-Jeremiah for letting me pit under his canopy and drive his Suzuki around some. Good luck getting you car and license ready for next year. Your weekends going wheel to wheel in the future will make this past weekend look lame in comparison.
I loved having Jay's 69 Camaro on track with is. Jay needs to get a late model and come mix it up with us next year.
Really a great way to finish the season.
Congrats to the winners. Pretty crazy that the points in CMC went down to the last lap.
BL-'anybody want one'

[GlennCMC70]

i gave you the rotor. :roll:

[AllZWay]

i gave you the rotor. :roll:

And I bled his brakes... :roll:

[Al Fernandez]

and Schlitz gave him the hangover :lol:

[GlennCMC70]

yep, but who made fun of his finger?
oh, wait....... that was allof us. :P

[mitchntx]

Yer welcome, Bryan. You pretty much cleaned me out of all my brake spares.

[cobra132]

Great weekend! I liked the track and sat evening was a blast. I ran off and left a brown chair on the paddock. If anyone picked it up shoot me a PM. FMR

[Rob Liebbe]

We found a brown non-folding patio chair. I thought it was Wirtz' so I smashed it with the motorhome!!!!

Actually I thought it was Wirtz' and sent it home with Chuck Penny who lives near him in Austin.

[Fbody383]

A whole season came down to this. Effing WOW.

Or you can thank Proctor... anybody have a picture of the fender length, three wide finish?

Awesome racing weekend.

[Fbody383]

Funny stuff Dave....you ain't right. :lol:

Says the guy that sat there getting free looks at the track, albeit at a pace slightly off CMC (but close to Spec RX7).

[Alien]

That was another fun weekend. Big thanks to Frank for manning the grill and everyone who bought food. I'll know for next time to sit upwind of JB.

And congrats to both Jeff's for making it entertaining. I know you're supposed to look far ahead while driving, but I found myself on more than one occasion looking out the side window tryng to see who was leading.


Thanks All!
Flats suck.
This one almost killed me.
jb

A whole season came down to this. Effing WOW.
Effin' WOW indeed. One for the fastest tire change in the history of CMC. Two for Wirtz going from last to 3rd by T2 of the first lap in R4.

[ShadowBolt]

What a blast! Congrats to both Jeff's. You guys are on a different planet. I missed third at the start of R4 and four or five cars got by. I'm glad I did not hold up JW as I intended to point him by right away. Turned out I let him by sooner than intended. Jay and I fought a pushing race car all weekend but managed to turn laps about a second slower than everyone else (except the Jeff's). I just don't understand enough about tuning a race car. It pushed like hell at Hallett on two left handers, was perfect at TWS clockwise, and then pushes like a dump truck on most all the turns at ECR. Daron gave me a hint as to what the problem could be and I thank him for it. I also would like to thank Michael and Rob for always being there to help any way they can. Both are great racers and great friends! I don't expect to be able to run with the Jeff's but I think in a properly set-up race car that we (Team Jordan) can run with most of the pack. So far we have not been able to prove that but time will tell. At least this weekend I kept the car on the track (most of the time) and got more side by side racing in than in all the rest of the season put together. My three or four turns side by side with Mitch were the best part of the weekend. I trust most all of you on the track but I know you must be nervous about running next to me. To have Mitch tell me I did okay while running next to him made me feel better than he could know, Thanks Mitch! I had fun running with DL as I never been to a race when his car did not give him trouble. That damn AI 05 Stang with the anti-lock brakes could pull the crap out of me down the straights and then stop late as hell. DL spinning is the only reason I finished in front of that one. Personally I don't think anti-lock brakes should be allowed in any racing but at least they are not allowed in CMC or CMC-2......right BL? I was glad to see Chuck come out to run with us. He is a talented driver and will fit in great with this group. And last thanks to Jay for helping me all year. I know you all have fun racing but being able to share it with your son is the best that it can be. Bring on 09!!!

JJ

[ShadowBolt]

One more thing. I sure am glad I pushed for four races. Team Jordan never had any brake issues but I don't know if the brakes would have lasted 40 minutes. I know some of you were out before the end of a 20 minute session. Get lucky once in a while.


JJ

[BlueFirePony]

Personally I don't think anti-lock brakes should be allowed in any racing JJ
Jerry, I actually agree completely with you on this one. If there is a movement to change the rules in '09, as someone who benefits from the OEM ABS in a late model car, I would support it.

[AI#97]

Personally I don't think anti-lock brakes should be allowed in any racing JJ
Jerry, I actually agree completely with you on this one. If there is a movement to change the rules in '09, as someone who benefits from the OEM ABS in a late model car, I would support it.

Square off a few tires and you will change that sentiment.

I actually think they should allow unmodified ABS systems on the CMC cars. the fox cars are the only ones without it from the factory and they already use 90% of the SN95 parts so it would be as simple as acquiring the unit and wiring/plumbing it up. That would save CMC drivers a lot in tires as well as possibly prevent some contact....but that is just my two pesos.

[BlueFirePony]

Square off a few tires and you will change that sentiment.

I think this weekend was the first time I actually had ABS come on - I actually think my braking technique is the strongest part of my driving. I shaved over 15 seconds off my MSR-H fast laps after working with Beau Barfield last year - he was drilling me on braking drills for a day and I did it all without ABS ever coming on (of course he actually wanted me to trigger it, but that's another story).
But I don't want to hijack the thread anymore, except to say - I am good either way - with or without ABS...I'll take mine off if the rules change. But I am keeping the big brakes and wheels :twisted:

[Wirtz]

I actually think they should allow unmodified ABS systems on the CMC cars. the fox cars are the only ones without it from the factory...


No ABS on 3rd gens. No square tires here.

[AI#97]

I actually think they should allow unmodified ABS systems on the CMC cars. the fox cars are the only ones without it from the factory...


No ABS on 3rd gens. No square tires here.

I think YOU would be excluded anyway you freak of nature! ;)

[AllZWay]

I actually think they should allow unmodified ABS systems on the CMC cars. the fox cars are the only ones without it from the factory...


No ABS on 3rd gens. No square tires here.

I have squared a few over the past two years....but a race car should not have any driving aids.

[michaelmosty]

I partially squared one this weekend but just moved it to the back.
On a side note, did ya'll have alot of tire wear? Maybe I was over-driving the car but I used up more than I would have liked.

[AI#97]

I think this weekend was the first time I actually had ABS come on -

Then you aren't driving hard enough yet! I would say I was in the ABS several times at ECR just because of the rough braking zones...it's a nice "aid" to have in that situation. I would also classify the abs on my car as a two stage system. stage one is if one wheel is being modulated and it works great, stage 2 is when two wheels lock and all braking goes to crap real quick and you gotz to be fast on the pedal to recover braking effort. I hate stage 2 but LOVE stage 1.

[Chuck]

Had a great weekend except for all the brake problems. Thanks to everyone for helping me try to figure out the problem. The Saturday party was great, I need a BL!

As Rob pointed out, I do have a brown chair now that was found near the Wirtz/Jordan pit area. Anyone want to claim it?

Chuck
CMC #14


We found a brown non-folding patio chair. I thought it was Wirtz' so I smashed it with the motorhome!!!!

Actually I thought it was Wirtz' and sent it home with Chuck Penny who lives near him in Austin.

[Rob Liebbe]

I also had a great weekend and actually like the track configuration and look forward to overall facility improvements. The poor man's 3-link shows great promise and the car is tuneable again and not up against a wall. A couple of prep and maintenance issues reared their heads and will be addressed in the off season.

I thoroughly enjoyed the racing including leading the CMC train for a while in R2 and playing tag with the CMC 2 guys in R3. The bump draft/momentum exchange with Michael Mosty was interesting. I also drafted Glenn down the longest straight and started to give him a little push until I realized we were going better than 100 mph on those undulations. That might not have turned out so good.

Steve Mulder - you need to post up your video of the Hart photographer running away when you went off in turn 5.


See you suckers later!!!

[AI#97]

did anyone get lap times from Race 3?

i am dying here waiting for mylaps updates...

Thanks.

[Wirtz]

Similiar request here. I need R3 and R4 results. Bonus points if you have the versions with the results on front and the times on the back.

powerslide91 at yahoo dot com

[Wirtz]

Mylaps is up now. Thanks NASA TX!

[jeffburch]

R3
2:04.500
YES!!!!!!
:D :P :D

[Fbody383]

R3
2:04.500
YES!!!!!!
:D :P :D

showoff

[AI#97]

Lots of 2:00.X's for me but missed the 1:59.999 by .097 seconds....Damnit!!!! :twisted: