Sears Point - Sun 11/23/08

[Vezna31]

CFRA has opened registration this week for Sears Point on Sunday, November 23.  Price is $255 for 5 sessions of 30 minutes each.  I have signed up for the A group this time which has already filled up with 30 drivers.  The R group has 17 signups and the B group has 14 sign ups.  The goal is 90 total.  Larry Martinez has registered for the B Group. 

They priced $20 higher than planned because of expected lower attendance.  Recent events have not sold out despite the great prices.  Anyone with at least 5 track days experience can be invited as a guest to register.  Guest registration will open in about 10 days once all members have had a chance to sign up first.  Not many guest spots are expected.

This is going to be a really fun weekend.  The plan is to drive up to Perry's place Friday with the S on a trailer.  Saturday will be spent driving top down on the twisties through Napa stopping at various wineries for some tastings and food.  Sunday will be spent on the track with 2.5 hours of VTEC   

I am truly interested in seeing how my analysis of video and track data from my last time there will transfer to this track day.

[Vezna31]

Event has been sold out and there's a wait list now.  5 guests were able to register.

With Thunder Hill attendance WAY down and this event a sellout, they are considering doing a January SP event to alleviate the demand on the November SP event.

[Vezna31]

The car is all ready.  The only thing I have to do is pull all my junk out of the trunk.  Supposed to be sunny and 70 on Sunday.  Hopefully will get good video footage and track data.

[indiandi]

Don't be surprised if it's actually foggy at the track in the morning.

[Vezna31]

Yeah, it was foggy for the first session last year (10 AM), but was sunny by the second session (11:30 AM).

[Satisaii]

Have a good time, and drive safe.  Wish we were able to go this year.

John and Vivian

[Satisaii]

So, how was it? The suspense is building

[Satisaii]

Got your message, sounds like a good day.

[Vezna31]

What an AWESOME day yesterday. Me, Larry, and Jim ran together all day long and tormented everyone with our speed. We were, BY FAR, the 3 fastest in our group.

My first session did not go all that well. The traffic was bad for the first 10 minutes. I finally got a clear lap and set a time that was 2 seconds faster than last year (2:04.8 ), all while my car was handling like crap. And then I spun the next lap in T7. I started my air pressures too low and the car was really loose and unstable basically every corner. Video shows me constantly giving steering input. It's amazing i was able to set that one fast lap.

Session 1 times:
02 2'23.2"
03 2'14.4"
04 2'12.8"
05 2'08.7"
06 2'04.8"
07 3'46.1" - I spun, got black flagged, had to pit to be yelled at.
08 2'27.8"
09 2'12.7"

Session 2, I raised my pressures by 2 psi all around and the car felt much better right away.

Session 2 times:
02 4'08.8" - The guy in front of me didn't realize that you are supposed to warm up your tires and brakes, not go for a stroll!
03 2'07.0"
04 2'06.2"
05 2'08.5"
06 2'05.5"
07 2'05.9"
08 2'04.8"
09 2'04.2" - I let off to let a car pass me. Would have been faster.
10 2'04.6"
11 2'11.3"
12 2'07.3"
13 2'06.8"

Session 3 times:
02 2'54.5"
03 2'11.8"
04 2'06.6"
05 2'05.7"
06 2'06.6"
07 2'13.0"
08 2'08.4"
09 2'06.1"
10 2'05.7"
11 2'11.0"

Session 4 times:
02 2'17.2"
03 2'06.8"
04 2'09.0"
05 2'07.7"
06 2'09.1"
07 2'05.0"
08 2'09.0"
09 2'04.3"
10 2'05.2"
11 2'03.9"

There's nothing like ending the day with your best time of the day. The part that kills me is that I let off the gas with about 100 yards left to the start/finish line, so the last lap was faster. In looking at my telemetry, I had a .8 second advantage exiting the last turn than my 9th lap of 2'04.3 and I finished only .4 ahead. I am going to assume I lost .3 of a second because I slid on the exit and my finish speed was 13 miles per hour lower than the 9th lap. I think I would have had a solid 2'03.6 which is a full 3 seconds faster than last year.

I have 2 full hours of video too.

[Vezna31]

Also pulled a high of 1.577 G coming out of T6.   

[Satisaii]

Congrats on having such a good day.  Did you get to compare your times to others (the people with timers?)

[Vezna31]

I didn't, but they will get posted on the website soon.  The only thing is that it is really hard to compare because you don't know what kind of mods are done to the car they are being compared to.  I have to think I was running plenty fast enough to not be too slow for A group.  I dropped down to B to allow an A person to run with his timer.  Next time, I am definitely running A because I was getting frustrated with the slow cars and the lack of point-bys they gave.

[Satisaii]

It is like comparing apples to oranges, but it lets you see where you would be in the overall group.

You should have changed groups a long time ago.

[Vezna31]

There were a few times I was hanging with Jim's BMW Club Racer, through some corners, but he walked away on straights.  I was really fast through turns 8-11.  My top speed approaching T10 was 106 vs 102 last year.  That could be from the flywheel.

[Satisaii]

I think I have ridden with Jim.  Fast car, but I would not have expected it to be faster than yours.