Phoenix area peoples?
 

where are you? anyone run at firebird/wildhorse pass? am i all alone here in AZ?

thats kinda what i thought :(

I'm here! Most of the guys that head to the track are on the nasaaz forum, not here. Otherwise the clubroadster phoenix thread is good, and the phoenix area auto enthusiasts page

i never run with nasa though, maybe i should. i run with proautosports, its cheaper.


i noticed you know a bit about machining, do you work in a shop here?

I'm a mechanical engineer at one of the big aerospace companies, used to work at one of the smaller aerospace companies. Learned a lot about machining. I've got some, but not tons, of experience turning handles.

I've heard good things about pro-autosports. I'm not participating in either for a while. Eventually though. I did one track day with nasa but that was in a different car that I didn't own.

NASA AZ is having an event at Firebird East next weekend (March 7-8). Lots of Miata peps out there.

ill be at east tomorrow with Pro. i hope the rain doesnt ruin things for us, im not sure how rivals will do in the wet.

zefiris do you run with nasa?

edit: just read signature

I'm in the Prescott Area.

I've run with Pro at AMP. Honestly, I haven't tracked my NA much (yet...), but I have literally thousands of laps around the Wild Horse tracks on bikes.

I'd like to get our NC out this spring, but just not sure it's going to happen.

march 22nd. be there!
http://www.proautosports.com/forms/pdf/2015Schedule.pdf

I just signed an offer letter today, I'll be moving to the Scottsdale/Pheonix area within the next few weeks! Granted, all I have atm is a stock 2000 Miata, but hopefully that will change ;). Now I just need to figure out what I'm doing, I've only been to AZ once (for the interview).

Congrats to you. What type of work?

Let me know if I can help getting to know the area, I grew up in Scottsdale. Proautosports.com if youre interested in tracks days.

Software engineering, I'll be doing Python and Javascript work. Same general work I'm doing now, except my Miata will be happier in the sun :makeout: (so will my wife).

Be careful with your offer, I might just take you up on it ;p The only person I'll know for hundreds of miles will be my wife. Glad to know there's trackday orgs out there, I have a goal of getting onto the track either this summer or next, depending how long it takes to get my feet under me after the move.

Are there any good roads out in Arizona, or is it all flat and straight? I'm afraid I'm going to miss the roads in my neck of the woods...

Some great roads outside of town. Our city will be a change from philly for sure though. Most roads are straight and level in town. Very few potholes, especially in Scottsdale.

Unlike philly, you CAN "get there from here"!

there are a few "drivers roads" around, the best ones get patrolled pretty well on weekends.

bartlett does, but there are some lesser known awesome ones that stay pretty clear.

bartlett, tortilla flat, south mountain, anything near saguaro.



whats the road im thinking of thats fairly famous on the east side of the state near NM?

devils run or something? I havent done it yet. A friend on another forum keeps pestering me about it.

That would be Hwy 191 from Morenci to Alpine. Great road! It was originally Hwy 666, and thus called the "Devil's Highway".

There are a lot of great roads in AZ, and a good number of them are good Sunday drives from Phoenix.

You'll find that our prime track season is Sept to May here. Some groups run in the high summer, but it's not nearly as enjoyable.

thats the one

pro runs through the summer with a separate series called track addicts. fuk that noise.

Hellllloooooooo im in the phoenix are

you're also selling your car according to FB and CR.net...

Oh hai.

what is this; CR.net?

I don't own a miata any more but I'm here. Always looking to meet up with car peoples though.

Hummings bro im getting an NB miata

the season is kind of over for now, but ill be at wilhorse pass when cooler weather gets here. turbo install is happening over the summer.

Okay then.

So tell me more about pro auto. I know it's cheaper than NASA but what's participation like? Would a NASA TT-E car be able to cross over into a popular time trial group and be competitive?

participation is a little lack luster unless you are running a formula ford. I hear the formula ford group is one of the biggest in the country.

im not sure how nasa does it, but the race groups are split into 2 groups: small and big bore, with all the groups within each classification running together.

you would probably fall into PS3 im guessing. having looked at a few of the PS3 and 4 cars there, I think youd do great. feel free to call/email one of the hatches(the brothers that run proauto) to discuss as they are probably a better authority than I. theres also a classing work sheet on the site somewhere.

heres this years roster to give you an idea of the participation
http://proautosports.com/forms/pdf/p...2015points.pdf

website home page
ProAutoSports Home Page

the hotlaps time trails series isn't a serious race group, its just timed, loosely controlled(dyno classing consist of writing whatever you want on a piece of paper) practice basically.

ill be out there starting in sept/oct if you want to come check it out.

I see. Well I don't have a full cage so race group is a no go. At NASA in the Time Trials stuff it's just as regulated as the race group and you can win free tires and brakes. I can usually win a set of 4 tires and one box of brake pads per weekend.

Was just looking into ways to get out to the better tracks more often since it feels like the last 50 events have been flopping between East and West. East is okay but I hate west.

I went through the classing sheet and I'm actually a PS4 car if I dropped down to 205's. Have always wanted to try wheel to wheel. My points factor is about a 19.8. Not really sure what kind of times people put down but I can do 1:05's at East and 1:06's at West on mediocre condition tires. With 205mm A7's I could probably maintain that pace.

i can pull up some old timing data when i get home, but i want to say off memory 1:06 at east is pretty fast for PS4.

pro does a lot of east-west too, but they go to chuckwalla and AMP at least once or twice a season.

1:05-06 is PS2 times :bowrofl:

got a vid of east? i want to check out your lines as im sure im doing it wrong. i suppose i can go look in your build.

i think you need to join pro just so you can be my instructor.

one example
Classification - details - MYLAPS Sports Timing

many more
Organizations - events list - MYLAPS Sports Timing

and btw, the hotlaps series, although not super serious, is wheel to wheel and my favorite part of the day. and its only $40 on top of a street or race group entry for 2, 15 min sessions.

Oh wow lol... looks like I could slaughter PS4. Maybe I'll find some 205's and finish the cage and I'd be able to get some free tires...

I've done a 1:05.9 at East and that is at 125WHP, 2375lbs with driver, and on 40 heat cycle Maxxis RC1's in 225/45R15 on 9" wheels.

I have a video of a session where I did a 1:06.3. About the same power and weight but with 225/45R15 Nitto NT01 on 8" wheels. Timing says the fast time was in Lap 5.

Oh and by wheel to wheel I mean like racing for position. The HotLap series is like our Time Trials series but here Time Trials has its own big bore and small bore run groups where you are just competing for lap times. I looked at the HL classing sheet and I'm still HL4 with 100 treadwear tires, or if I add just a little weight I'd be HL4 with Hoosiers.

you take an earlier apex on t1 than i do which seems to set you up much better for t2. and im clearly doing t3 completely wrong lol. thanks for the vid

my record lap of 1:11:5xx on east on 205 rivals, feel free to critique, laugh, make fun

I was an instructor for NASA for quite some time up until I got fired a couple months ago for trying to prove that a mobile compliance dyno they brought in worked better as a random number generator compared to the dyno they told us to use for classing lol.

So I'll take a stab at it, just keep in mind the fastest way isn't necessarily the nicest for the car.

On the run up to your hot lap, you didn't use the full track width on the exit coming onto the straight. Even losing 1MPH coming onto a long straight, compounds itself as time lost while traveling down the entire straight.

T1 - Turn in earlier, my passenger side wheels almost touch that apex cone that is on the inside of the rumble strip. It's a decent jump but allows you a straighter line through T2.

T2 - Car placement looks good. If you take T1 way more inside you can carry more speed. I sacrifice speed through T1 so I can set up and get a better exit on T2, same principal as the straight away. Exit speed on T1 is not as important as exit speed on T2 because T2 has a longer straight after it. Also drive over the rumble strip on the exit. Makes a straighter line heading for T3.

T3 (Carousel) - The fast way through here, for me at least, is to cut a sharp angle into it. Stay flat out until the tiny hill. Turn in at the 2 cone marker and get on the brakes in a straight line deep into the corner. Your passenger wheels will almost touch the dirt on the inside edge there. Now pause your video at exactly 2:00. You see that pole there? That is what you are aiming at when you are braking down into that corner, and just before you get to the outside edge of the track, sharp turn and head for the exit. Be careful of the outside rumble strip on the exit of the carousel, if you get sideways, the car has a tendency to snap back the opposite way when you hit pavement again, then you end up in that wall on the left.

T4 - Looks pretty good. You pretty much got that one dialed. Just stay flat and set up on track left to get a good run out of T5.

T5 - Could maybe apex a hair later. That's just being picky. Looks good.

T6 - Run over the majority of that rumble strip, it's just a straighter line and allows you to carry a better run out of T5.

T7 and T8 and T9 - For this one, you shouldn't have to hit the brakes at all before you go to turn in and run through the little chicane thing. Here's what works for me. Coming up to that corner, remain flat out up to that cone on passenger side, then just throw the car in. Still flat out. As soon as you are in a straight line hop on the brakes, which should be about when your driver tires are at that first rumble strip entering the throat of that chicane. Your passenger tires will almost touch that next rumble strip that you pass, still hard on the brakes. You're braking all the way out into about halfway between T8 and T9, throw the car right with a little trail brake then hop back on the gas and hit the passenger side rumble of T9, almost in the dirt but be careful, if you drop a wheel in the dirt the next edge of that rumble strip can break wheels. Also use the outside driver rumble strip on exit. I've gone off lots right there just trying to hold too much speed lmao.

T10 - That one looks good, the rumble strip there is just too violent to jump. Like I said before just use all that real estate on track exit.

Now do I get some of my props back? :beer:

awesome info, thanks. yes, props awarded, the world is in balance again. sorry, im just not a fan of posts with 0 substance that I cant respond to. it seemed odd coming from someone with your signature.

im kind of upset I cant put this advise while im still n/a to get a good comparison. I might take my "old" lines the next time I go out there just to set a time under boost and see how much i improve from your advice. i don't think a second or 2 is out of the question.

btw, where are you in gilbert? I lived on ray and VV for a few years until I bought my house. im in east AJ now.

Hey Aaron, I'm Rob F. on the facebook Phoenix Area Auto Enthusiasts page. I remembered that whole compliance dyno BS, I think either Ravi or Tony filled me in on the details. That sucks. Did you get barred from competition over it as well? I can't believe they'd kick you out as an instructor when you proved to them the problem, that's messed up. :-/

i read about it in the TTD/E thread too. seems like total bullshit. i dont understand how they cant see it as a problem when soo many people were DQed by that thing.

I would say if you could execute all the improvements it would yield a 1.5 to 2 second better lap.

I'm actually right on Ray in between Cooper and Gilbert.

If you want to check out the car I'll be at the NASA early morning event this Saturday, it's pretty much done by 11AM but it's free to get through the gate if you're a morning person.

Hey what's up man, I was just reading your build thread the other night. I haven't been banned from NASA... yet. I haven't competed in an event since I got DQ'd, this Saturday will be the first time I'm back out. I pretty much sat out that entire event that I got DQ'd at because it happened early on Saturday, then I sat out for the next event at West and now here I am.

Yeah the whole thing was dumb and they were changing the rules on the spot. Myself and only two other people got DQ'd I think, so not that many people, but then after we got DQ'd they changed the rules to prevent more people from getting DQ'd, so I got screwed and then people that blew their HP cap anyways after the rule change didn't get screwed just because I was targeted first because of how fast I am.

im totally and early person (i get up at 4), but i work saturdays. i do most all my track days on sundays.

going off memory now from the TT thread in the race section, but the 2 of you that got DQed here in phx were not the first by far. i want to say there were 6 or 8 that got DQed in the northwest region earlier in the year before they dragged that POS to phx.

but yea, i would agree, it looks like they were picking on the fast guy. was the other guy that got dqed a quick driver too?

look at all these warm and fuzzys now, sharing props n shit :makeout: lol

Oh yeah definitely, this thing has been fucking people over for awhile. I started digging and even found one guy that was at a three day event, and he put his car on their dyno each day for 60 bucks a pop for private testing, and each day got a different number, even though at his local dynojet he always runs almost the same number every time even during different days and weather.


That other guy that posted in that thread (green miata) did not get DQ'd because of how they changed the rules even though he went over in power just like me. He was dyno'd way after me because he's usually like 1 to 2 seconds off my pace.

The other Miata (purple one) that got DQ'd with me at about the same time was in TTD and he was in the lead for his class as well, I think he was really close to getting a track record as well.

they should be required to refund you track fees from a dyno DQ if they cant prove willful shenanigans, especially when its a mobile dyno different from the nasa sanctioned local dyno. i would be so pissed if i paid for a whole weekend and had to sit it out like that after playing by the book to the best of my abilities.

Oh for sure, I fully agree. If I were cheating on purpose I would definitely not get caught by a dyno lmao. I'm smarter than that. I was given the "opportunity" to keep competing if I could ballast up but I don't have a system in place to add over 100lbs of ballast safely and legally, I built the car to be legal as it stands lol.

Oh well, that's behind me. Just focusing on moving forward now and going faster than I have before. You will probably see me out at a pro auto event soon enough. :party:

Got DQ'd for paperwork technicality at NASA last Saturday, that was frustrating. They told me at the end of the day so it was too late to get it corrected...

I'm registered for the ProAuto event at WHP East on the 20th.

Phoenix area peoples?
 

It's going to be to hot for me. Have fun.

The morning formats are not bad. It's done by 10AM so it's usually okay temperature wise. I'm finishing installing an oil cooler, so good to go.

I just need to get some facetime with ProAuto so that I can try to be eligible to run in race group PS4 and in HL4 at the Inde event in september. Decided to finish the cage on the car.


Edit: Oh also I figured out a cost effective way for my dad and I to run as a team and get plenty of seat time. Just register as a team for PS4 with Hot Laps sessions added on. My dad will drive in race warm up, race open qualifying and then both of the hot lap sessions so he gets four sessions, then I'll do the qualifying race and the feature race, which is plenty of seat time for me.

I'll be out racing at the ProAuto event next weekend Oct. 3/4. It's at WHP East (Firebird). Anyone else going?

So 4 or more have already signed up?

Ill come by and say hi

I have no idea. I asked like two weeks ago and nobody was signed up yet, but they said a lot of the race group guys sign up last minute or at the event, and would be surprised if there weren't at least 4 other people.

Guess we'll find out lol.

Concealer404 is coming to town!

Since pavillions is boring, lets show concealer a good time for a bit:

Hek Yeah Barbecue,
15044 N. Cave Creek Rd Suite 6 Phoenix, AZ 85032
Menu

5-8ish PM on October 10th

Phoenix area peoples?
 

Is there something going on there that day?

Fuck that is kind of far from me.

Pretty far from me. Also my sorry excuse for headlights on the Miata were destroyed by rocks so I took them off because racecar.

Concealer visits the east coast, and the damn southwest, but won't come up to see us in the NW? Sad day.

How about 4 peaks brewery instead?

This would be win.

One of the managers there, Jesse, he's stupid fast on track. Also has a 240 drift car that is actually clean.

You've never met Concealer404? You must not be very important. Concealer came and picked me up. I'm impotent.

Hek yeah is a regular hangout on my end of town, it's set in stone now unfortunately.

bump:
Hek Yeah Barbecue,
15044 N. Cave Creek Rd Suite 6 Phoenix, AZ 85032
Menu
tomorrow night
5-8ish PM

North side is dumb side!

Make it centrally located next time lol.

wrong. north side is best side. you need to be less badly located by the next one.


concealer had flight issues and won't be here but we are still having the meet. :party: