My Opentrack Weekend...

[Todd Covini]

Since everyone doesn't seem to be chiming in with their weekend recaps, I'll add mine (in usual long-winded format.)

Prior to this weekend, my last lap at MSRH was Round 7 when I spun on the final turn trying to close the gap on the CMC leader/champion Jeff Burch. It was all I had (and the car) to be in 2nd place at that time. Until I went from hero to zero in 2.1 seconds and landed stuck in the mud with last place in the race. I went from the trackside tow truck directly to the trailer and then home with only a stop by the car wash to remove the pounds of mud off the car.

I had hoped to check the car over prior to the SCMC event, but there never seems to be any time. I was happy that all systems were a go once I got back on track. (Those awesome Toyos weren't even flatspotted!) I did buy a spare seat from former CMC Champion Eric Varner and bolted it in the passenger side just for this event. (Maybe that's where my prep time went!)

My goal for the weekend was to pick up where I left off with that pace of chasing the leader in the weeks prior and try to find a second somewhere while getting more comfy in a few turns. Who better to exercise that quest with than with Dr. Manor? Wayne provided a great sounding board, reference car and carrot goal to keep up with as his CMC spec car was so much faster in some places and able to put the power down much better in a few of the key sweepers leading onto the straights. Overall I"m happy with the progress I made and think I found that second I was looking for, but still have work to do.

I had an extremely stout '03 Cobra and an '05 WRX (with the best brakes) as my student cars. Both very fast drivers, one smooth & fast in the novice group....one overly agressive & jerky fast in the blue group. The Cobra with 400HP on Nitto track tires had an awesome weekend. We'll be seeing him at future track events as a corner worker and eventual opentracker/racer...he's got the mojo. On the other hand, The WRX toasted his tires on Saturday despite my coaching. What was left of them was evidently needed for the long drive home to San Antonio because he never returned on Sunday. (I wouldn't be surprised if he needed to stop on the way home for a new set.)

It was great to see Msrs George, Manor, Armstrong, White, Johnson, Bettin, Menard, Mizler and of course, the travlin' Dell!!! (Seems as though I never get a chance to meet/greet with those guys at our NASA events and it was great to put politics & posturing aside to just have fun and enjoy opentracking like it used to be!) AI Champion Richard Pedersen stopped by to say Hi to everyone and chew the fat, but it wasn't the same without the winged blue/yellow warrior on track.

Ironically, the highlight of my weekend had to be the passenger seat! Not just the one when I got to ride in the historic former Mike Bell AI purple people racer, but the new passenger seat I put to good use giving rides to 2 people per session. I forgot what it was like to put that frenzied smile on someone's face who had never been in a car at speed. What would have been normal "dicing" on track with Mark, Wayne, Matt, David and others, really turned into an exhibition for ALL of my passengers who were amazed at how close, how fast, how agressive, how trusting, how respectful we were with each other on track. The smile I formerly had on my face after each session was now on each of my passenger's faces...which in turn, became the inspiration for my smile (and laugh) once again.

So my message for the weekend would be to bury hatchets, remember where you came from and most of all...give back to the sport!!!

-=- Todd

[jeffburch]

Todd,
I'm really glad to see you're having fun again.
We here are all fortunate to have your leadership in AI/CMC.
Your enthusiasm is encouraging to all that look up to you.
I hope you continue to have many more days like this, and, like the ones we've all shared.
I look forward to many more.

jb

p.s. Correction, you also took the time to hassle me with that bottle of champagne after race 4. Thanks man!

[Mike Bell]

Todd,

Glad to hear everyone had fun. I swapped messages with Rick McNutt (current owner of the purple Mustang) and he said it was "eye opening" how close you guys were driving on track in the instructor group. He said "no way" he could have the confidence to do that, I told him it's simply the next step up in the addiction. You definitely made an impact on him lol.

[donovan]

What is the SCMC event?

[Mike Bell]

SCMC = SVT Cobra Mustang Club

www.svtcobraclub.com

[AI#97]

Todd,

Glad to hear everyone had fun. I swapped messages with Rick McNutt (current owner of the purple Mustang) and he said it was "eye opening" how close you guys were driving on track in the instructor group. He said "no way" he could have the confidence to do that, I told him it's simply the next step up in the addiction. You definitely made an impact on him lol.

Yeah, I blew by Todd going into the braking zone in T3 about 18" from the passenger door to give the guy and idea of what it's all about! :lol:

We had a lot of fun this weekend just playing around on track!

[Todd Covini]

....umm....18" off my passenger side wasn't a problem.
Coming within 9" across my bow was the interesting part!!! :lol:

(My passenger pushed both feet in for that one, Matt!)

-=- Todd

[AI#97]

....umm....18" off my passenger side wasn't a problem.
Coming within 9" across my bow was the interesting part!!! :lol:

(My passenger pushed both feet in for that one, Matt!)

-=- Todd

So you are saying I left you PLENTY of room?! :wink:

[mitchntx]

LOL ... I like making passengers stomp the imaginary brake pedal.

[marshall_mosty]

It's all about spatial awareness and trust. 8)
Now get me next to that Mosty kid in the red and silver car and that's a different story! :twisted:

[jeffburch]

It's all about spatial awareness and trust. 8)


Do you lisp when you say that?
Too much HGTV Marshall!

jb

[oz98cobra]

I too had an awesome time on the track that weekend - SCMC wasn't the only DE going on - DriversEdge was at MSRC on the 3.1. Myself and Mason were instructing and sharing my Cobra in the instructors group. There were plenty of other familiar faces from NASA - Skip and Scott, Mitch and Steve Mulder, and Glenn came out on Sunday although he wasn't driving.

I have never driven so many sessions in a weekend - I ended up driving 13 sessions in 10 different cars, plus I had 2 students to ride with. Seems I just hopped from one car to the other all weekend? - you can do that when temps are only in the 60s :)

Highlights were getting to drive some GM race cars - thanks guys! I also drove an ex-roundy round asphalt stock car that a couple of the DriversEdge guys have acquired with a view to racing ASC with NASA - it was like driving a very loud school bus with that big 15" steering wheel so close to my chest, and that agricultural gearbox - ughh! The boys have some improvements to do before it's raceworthy - like a road racing transmission instead of the 3 speed peice of useless crap that's in there now - the ratios are like 1st, 2nd, then 4th. I went out in the Cobra behind this thing during one session, and was able to do the same lap times - the guy driving it said he was doing everything he could to stay in front of me, so obviously it has a lot of room for improvement.

Not that the old Cobra is slow these days - I can get it around the 3.1 in under 2m31s with no passenger onboard, and the only instructor that passed us all weekend was Steve Hill in his Lambo Gallardo (and there would be something seriously amiss if he wasn't faster in that thing!).

Todd was talking about how much fun it is to take green passengers - Sunday afternoon, I took a charity ride passenger out in the instructors group - he was an optometrist - first time on the track and his wife was in another instructors car right in front of us - the guy never stopped giggling and whoopin and hollerin the whole time! I like to be a little devious and take it fairly easy on the warm up lap so they don't know what's coming, then get up to speed on the straight and brake really late coming into rattlesnake with a big sliding trail brake - the look on their face is priceless! We got in a group of instructors and played close the whole session - that couple were wired when we got back to the pits, and I heard they are planning to buy a Corvette to share and are going to come play next year.

My advanced student was an older guy in a half finished spec miata - pretty boring stuff and I didn't figure he was going to provide much exitement for the weekend - but then it broke and he arrives at grid in his daily driver - a shiny new turboed V12 AMG SL55 Merc - yeah baby! now we're talking! As we are going out, he turns the ESP off, so I ask him if he has driven it on track before and he says nope :!: - I ask if he has driven anything on track besides his miata and he says nope :shock: . Now, I have driven a few speedy AMG mercs on the track, so I'm figuring that I'm in for an interesting ride - and sure enough we didn't make it through the first hot lap without looping the thing! Apart from that, once he listened to my advice and started driving it like a Mustang instead of a Miata, he actually did a pretty good job of taming the beast, and considering the great big lump of engine shoehorned into that relatively short, but nose heavy car (all 4300lbs of it!) it actually did surprisingly well in the corners. Needless to say, with 500HP/TQ, it was supercar fast in a straightline! One major disappointment - you could not hear the exhaust note at all - it was limo quiet at all revs- I mean, what it the point of having an expensive V12 sports car if it doesn't make that oh so desirable V12 howl? As nice as I'm sure this car is to drive on the street, I really can't see the appeal or value - it is little more than a fancy muscle car that to the untrained eye looks - and sounds - just like any other Mercedes convertible, and at $125,000, I can think of so many cars that I would rather have.

Anyway, that was my open track weekend. Perhaps Mitch, Steve or Skip have more to tell about that weekend?

[gt40]

I too had an awesome time on the track that weekend - SCMC wasn't the only DE going on - DriversEdge was at MSRC on the 3.1...

Track weekends aboutnd...

I was out at TWS, instructing for Misty at the TWS Motorsports Club event. I had three students -- One was an older gentlemen who had rented one of TWS's Miatas. To say this car was tired would be an understatement. the car felt HEAVY (well, there WERE two big guys in it!) and WAY underpowered. Turn-in was OK, but not super sharp (the cars supposedly had the spec Miata suspension from Flying Miatas installed.)

The brakes were HORRID. Very spongy, and no initial bite at all. It felt like not only did the car have rubber hoses, but the brake fluid hadn't been bled in centuries (and probably hadn't.)

Worst of all was that the car had an automatic transmission. (The student showed up late and got the last car available.)

You simply could not trail-brake the car at all (I took the car out for one session.) Any significant use of the brakes under cornering and the rear-end would step out. I first discovered this on a warm-up lap and nearly looped the car in front of a blue student in his boss's Exige! (I never found out if his boss knew he had the Exige at the track.)

My second student had a few weekends at MSR-C under his belt in his '03 Cobra. He learned FAST. Had the line down in basically two sessions (one, if you don't count the fine-tuning he needed in T1 and T10.) After two sessions, I signed him off to solo. He's smooth, fast, and pretty courtious. He's got the right attitude.

My third student was a challenge. He was in an '05 Mustang GT Convertible. This was his first time on a track -- ever And the icing on the cake? His friends all said they were afraid to ride with him on the street!

The reason why soon became obvious. This kid was about as smooth as a Chiuaua on crack. Jerky steering inputs, binary braking (all on or all off,) and constantly stabbing on the gas pedal. I spent all my time getting him to smooth everything out and learn something resembling a line.

The scarest part was that he'd be the middle of a corner and jump on the brakes -- hard! the only saving grace was that he was going so slowly that he couldn't spin the car. I tried really, really hard to nip that in the bud. "You ABSOLUTELY DO NOT use the brakes after turn-in! Do it when you're cornering faster and you're guaranteed to spin the car -- understand?" He still did it, and when he did, I'd yell "DON'T DO THAT!!!"

I think, for whatever reason, he'd get frightened that he was going to run out of track, so he'd try to slow the car mor mid-corner. It was the worst in T6.

By the end of my third session with him, we'd made good progress as far as smoothing things out and driving the line was concerned.

And then he got a ride in a turbo RX-7. I didn't want him to, but the offer was made when I was elsewhere, and couldn't do anything about it.

Now smooth for a newbie in an '05 GT and smooth for an experianced deiver in a high-powered, nimble RX-7 are two very different things, and sure enough, in session 4, the kid was MUCH worse, trying to drive the car harder and back to his old self.

He'd forgotten everything we'd been working on. The rest of the day I spent undoing the damage. I tried everything -- the egg under the feet analogy, the rope connecting the steering wheel to the brake pedal analogy, the story about Jackie Steward and the fruit bowl on the hood -- everything. He understood it all, I think -- he just couldn't do it.

By the end of the day, he'd made excellent progress, considering where he started. I shudder to think what would happen if he tried to heel-toe downshift! This kid's going to be in the green group for a LONG time...

(I told his frinds to give him shit everytime he jumps on the brakes hard on the steet -- this kid's gotta learn somehow.)

[Mike Bell]

ROFL - Robert your experience makes me wonder how anyone sits in the right seat for very long. Good stuff, good stuff. :lol:

<ya really earn that "free" track time guys!>

[jeffburch]

You EARN it!

I'd rather do something like what Mitch does.
Just give goobers rides and scare the crap out of them.
Kinda like that Cayanne commercial that is overplayed on Speed.
"Where is everybody"..............cut to a bunch of goobers in the corner with their b'day hats on puking their guts out.

jb

[mitchntx]

<yawn>

40 laps as an instructor amongst 4 students

30 laps giving thrill rides to 7 screamers, yellers and pahntom brakers

<day's end>

<stretch>

Then 60 thrill ride laps spread amongst 20 riders Saturday night under the lights for the TMS staff appreciation party. Saw Eddie Gossage flipping burgers ...

<evening finished>

Of course, nothing as exciting as what you guys did. Kind of boring actually. Sit in the car with the radio (and heater) going and having high school age kids belt in the riders and fetch me water or gatorade when beckoned.

<shrug>

Oh ... almost forgot ...

Invoice sent

<nap>

[gt40]

ROFL - Robert your experience makes me wonder how anyone sits in the right seat for very long. Good stuff, good stuff. :lol:

<ya really earn that "free" track time guys!>Ya know, getting nervous in a student's car never occured to me until I got in with my Cobra driver. He was pretty sedate for the warm-up lap, but once whe hit the first hot lap, I was thinking, "Holy SHIT! This guy's going into T1 really fast, I hope he doesn't do anything stupid!"

He didn't. After two or three laps, he'd convinced me that he wouldn't be doing anything outright stupid and I relaxed and started enjoying myself.

I can't say the same for the kid in the '05 GT. :( The only saving grace was that he wasn't going fast enough to do much damage.

[gt40]

<yawn>

40 laps as an instructor amongst 4 students

30 laps giving thrill rides to 7 screamers, yellers and pahntom brakers

<day's end>

<stretch>

Then 60 thrill ride laps spread amongst 20 riders Saturday night under the lights for the TMS staff appreciation party. Saw Eddie Gossage flipping burgers ...

<evening finished>

Of course, nothing as exciting as what you guys did. Kind of boring actually. Sit in the car with the radio (and heater) going and having high school age kids belt in the riders and fetch me water or gatorade when beckoned.

<shrug>

Oh ... almost forgot ...

Invoice sent

<nap>Mitch, if you guys are ever hiring -- I expect a PM! :)

[Mike Bell]

ROFL - Robert your experience makes me wonder how anyone sits in the right seat for very long. Good stuff, good stuff. :lol:

<ya really earn that "free" track time guys!>Ya know, getting nervous in a student's car never occured to me until I got in with my Cobra driver. He was pretty sedate for the warm-up lap, but once whe hit the first hot lap, I was thinking, "Holy SHIT! This guy's going into T1 really fast, I hope he doesn't do anything stupid!"

He didn't. After two or three laps, he'd convinced me that he wouldn't be doing anything outright stupid and I relaxed and started enjoying myself.

I can't say the same for the kid in the '05 GT. :( The only saving grace was that he wasn't going fast enough to do much damage.

Maybe it's just me but the more I drive my '06 GT the less I like those factory tires and brakes lol.

[gt40]

Oh -- I forgot one more thing...

A kid rolled a new M3 EXACTLY like Bishop did -- only in the dry. This guy ended leaning the car against the concrete wall...

[Mike Bell]

Uh, that can't be good................ :shock:

[Tex89]

A couple of rattle cans and all is good. :( Was the kid OK?

[gt40]

Yeah -- a bit shaken up, and complaining of pain in his left leg. EMS took him to the hospital to get him checked out, which ended our day (lost two run groups -- not a big deal.)

He was back on Sunday, getting rides from instructors and arranging to get the car towed on Monday. He seemed just fine -- no limp, nothing.

I kept stressing to my students -- the car must be ABSOLUTELY straight when you hit the crest -- no steering inputs, no brakes, minimal gas!

My Cobra guy was spinning the tires as he crested that hump, but he was always good about getting the car straight first.

[AllZWay]

[quote="mitchntx<nap>Mitch, if you guys are ever hiring -- I expect a PM! :)[/quote]

NO KIDDING.... Mitch has it freaking made.

Poor BMW... Glad the kid was okay though.

[AI#97]

Yeah -- a bit shaken up, and complaining of pain in his left leg. EMS took him to the hospital to get him checked out, which ended our day (lost two run groups -- not a big deal.)

He was back on Sunday, getting rides from instructors and arranging to get the car towed on Monday. He seemed just fine -- no limp, nothing.

I kept stressing to my students -- the car must be ABSOLUTELY straight when you hit the crest -- no steering inputs, no brakes, minimal gas!

My Cobra guy was spinning the tires as he crested that hump, but he was always good about getting the car straight first.

Ha! You wouldn't like my line over that turn then!!! :wink: Try the launch at MSRH sometime with a student in a high powered car! THAT will get their shorts squinched up REAL quick!

[Todd Covini]

[quote="mitchntx<nap>Mitch, if you guys are ever hiring -- I expect a PM! :)

NO KIDDING.... Mitch has it freaking made.

.[/quote]

I knew Mitch way back when he was just a regular opentrack kinda guy. As soon as he learned the life of a racer, he's sure been livin' the life of a paid well-to-do driver. Wish I saw him 'round these parts more often again. :wink:

[mitchntx]

Oh now you wanna suck up ... you are so shallow.

:cry:

[Todd Covini]

I did my research.
Teller is the quiet one.
Both Penn & Teller are intelligent.
So the analogy works but only if you use Glenn Penn & Mitch Teller.
Now will you be quiet??? :roll:

-=- T

PS- This is called cross topic, cross thread...and only the close followers will know what the heck is going on. (The internet can be so confusing, huh?)