BeaveRun Track Day-$160 for all groups!

[PaxtonShelby]

Despite the rain, which NEVER STOPPED THE WHOLE FREAKIN DAY, I had a great time at BeaveRun on Sunday. Wow was the track slick! Not a good recipe for an overpowered understeering beast on nearly bald tires. I somehow managed to keep all 4 wheels on the track and felt like I improved throughout the day. Thanks to Mark for taking the time to ride with me and give me lots of pointers! Hard to imagine that hydroplaning at 80-100 mph all day without once pinning the gas pedal to the floor could be fun, but it WAS!! Hopefully I'll get to do this again someday on a dry track...

Kevin ( 2011GB/CS ) - thanks for stopping by to introduce yourself! It was great to meet you and chat for a while. Sorry I couldn't talk longer, but the family ( my cheering section ) needed entertained.

[Mark Aubele]

Despite the rain, which NEVER STOPPED THE WHOLE FREAKIN DAY, I had a great time at BeaveRun on Sunday. Wow was the track slick! Not a good recipe for an overpowered understeering beast on nearly bald tires. I somehow managed to keep all 4 wheels on the track and felt like I improved throughout the day. Thanks to Mark for taking the time to ride with me and give me lots of pointers! Hard to imagine that hydroplaning at 80-100 mph all day without once pinning the gas pedal to the floor could be fun, but it WAS!! Hopefully I'll get to do this again someday on a dry track...

Kevin ( 2011GB/CS ) - thanks for stopping by to introduce yourself! It was great to meet you and chat for a while. Sorry I couldn't talk longer, but the family ( my cheering section ) needed entertained.

Good to meet you Ron, sorry I didn't get to spend more time with you on track, I was the only instructor doing ride alongs, was getting pulled all over....

I was very impressed with your driving, especially on junk tires in the rain. Great throttle control, when you missed apexes you let me know, good situational awareness, matching revs on downshifts (you wouldn't believe how few people do this), and you hit nothing.

Beautiful Cobra too. Made me miss my 96.

[PaxtonShelby]

Good to meet you Ron, sorry I didn't get to spend more time with you on track, I was the only instructor doing ride alongs, was getting pulled all over....

I was very impressed with your driving, especially on junk tires in the rain. Great throttle control, when you missed apexes you let me know, good situational awareness, matching revs on downshifts (you wouldn't believe how few people do this), and you hit nothing.

Beautiful Cobra too. Made me miss my 96.

Thanks Mark - I appreciate the compliment!! It was very cool of you to volunteer to help on Sunday. All your tips were right-on, and I tried to focus on those basics the rest of the day. One thing I tried later, which seemed to work especially well as the weather worsened, is that I kept the car in 4th gear all the time. It let me add some power thru the turns without as much fear that the car would step out on me. The 347 has enough bottom end that I didn't bog at all, and had plenty of power to accelerate ( gingerly ) out of the corners and onto the straights. Had the weather been better I could have been much more aggressive, but for those conditions, staying in 4th gear seemed to improve my lap times.

Thanks again bud - hopefully I'll be able to run again sometime. Meanwhile, I should look for some spare tires for the track - even that cold rainy day took a bit of a toll on my US-baldies up front - so I could imagine what a dry day at the track would do to a fresh set of street tires...

[TYR FRYR]

Good seeing you, Mark.
Ron - I saw your car, but huddled in the trailer instead of being friendly. I hope you had a good time and will come out for other track days, maybe even in the sunshine and maybe on the 23rd at Nelson Ledges.
Kevin - I did not see you at all. Did you have the '11 there?

Not only did it rain all day, it got worse as the day went on. The corner workers deserved extra cookies for their fortitude!

I ended up being the last car off the track at 5. They let the last session go about 40 minutes and it was raining really hard by then. I wondered if they thought we'd run out of gas, but Miatas get good gas mileage!

[PaxtonShelby]

LK - were you in the red Miata or the white one? A guy hollered over to me at the end when they announced the final session was open to all groups - was that you? I was cold and wet and tired and by that point, figured I had pushed my luck pretty far, so I headed home for a warm meal and some dry clothes.

40 minutes for the last session?!?! Holy cow!! I WOULD have run out of gas!!

While I'd love to try Nelson, the 23rd is my anniversary...and that'd be a tough sell if you know what I mean... Still, I hope to do this again sometime - it really was a TON of fun.

Kevin came in his truck. The GB/CS was safe and warm at home. I wish he would have brought it, so I could have taken it out on the track!!!

[03 OW SVT]

Yeah I was there as Ron said but only as an observer. I brought the truck (bluish gray GMC)

Good to meet you to Ron, we'll have to do a Flat Out Friday, sometime maybe next Spring. When I do a FOF, I will be putting my stock wheels and tires cause it is very hard on them.

[gpfarrell]

Ron, your enthusiasm is contagious! I think when Spring rolls around I'll get some fresh brake fluid and bolt the rollbar back into my 5.0! Afterall, that is what it's built for!

Glad you had fun!

[Mark Aubele]

Yeah I was there as Ron said but only as an observer. I brought the truck (bluish gray GMC)

Good to meet you to Ron, we'll have to do a Flat Out Friday, sometime maybe next Spring. When I do a FOF, I will be putting my stock wheels and tires cause it is very hard on them.

BR murders front brakes and left front tires. I usually rotate each session in an attempt to keep them alive.

Sorry I didn't see you there Kevin, when I wasn't on track I was huddled in the Cobalt with the heat blasting.

[03 OW SVT]

BR murders front brakes and left front tires. I usually rotate each session in an attempt to keep them alive.

Sorry I didn't see you there Kevin, when I wasn't on track I was huddled in the Cobalt with the heat blasting.

No problem Mark, I like you was cozy in the truck with the heat on, and keeping try.

[TYR FRYR]

Ron - I was in the white Miata.

It was almost exactly a year ago I put Shelby into the guardrail by missing turn 7. It was wet that day, but nothing like we had last week.

Too bad about the inconvenient anniversary date! I'll probably go to NL on the 15th, 23rd, and 28th to get in as many days as I can before the season ends.
I hope the weather is better...

[PaxtonShelby]

LK - I didn't know you banged up the Shelby at BeaveRun. Jeez - that's a tough day. Looked like you were running well in the Miata. LOL on the "inconvenient" anniversary date! The Cobra sure was a handful in that rain with all the standing water EVERYWHERE on "junk" tires ( I think Mark was being nice calling them junk..). They really are toast. I was very happy to get some experience without taking the car off-road. Have a great time at NL, and be safe!

[KeystoneJohnny]

Sounds awesome! Wish I had something to run!

[PaxtonShelby]

Sounds awesome! Wish I had something to run!

Yeah - "fun" is a gross understatement!!! If I had lots of free time and a bunch of cash lying around and nothing else to do with it, I could see really getting into it! Hopefully I can do another one of these sometime - except in my '66!! Heck - I thought the Cobra was a handful!! :D

[Mark Aubele]

Sounds awesome! Wish I had something to run!

I see a couple cars in your sig that can be tracked. I had a student in a Prius once.

[TYR FRYR]

I got to NL 10-23 for Shawn/Torqued Racing's last event and also 10-28 for the last fun day. Too bad you were having an anniversary celebration instead!
I happened to pit next to the driver who had posted this video. I had never seen myself on video and see lots of room for improvement.
http://youtu.be/_r7W1m0EoTc
Only about 180 days until spring!

[PaxtonShelby]

NL sure looks like a lot of fun! I bet the different / patched track surfaces make things even more challenging. Kindof looks like taking a drive on a back country road. Definitely seems like a faster track than BeaveRun - turns seem to be longer / more sweeping.

I bet that Miata is a hoot, especially in the twisties.

I will have to do another track day in 2012 - hopefully on a dry day. Unless I find a set of decent track tires I'll still have traction problems. The old Nittos on my Cobra don't seem to have much grip left, even in good weather. I think they're just too old. Mark can vouch that they are due for replacement.