So it is time for the second round of the TxMC. It is this upcoming Sunday, March 18, at Motorsports Ranch Cresson. Who is in?

If there are enough HPDE4/TT entries, and it is close right now, we will be running on the 3.1 mile course, which is awesome of course.

 

I'm out of cash, but I'll be back later this year.

 

Are you coming to hang out or not at all?

 

Not at all, it will make me sad. I was thinking about attending but here is the list of problems I'm dealing with on the daily:
broken window regulator
new window regulator doesn't fit on the passenger side
dead ignition switch
dead window switch
dead battery
tragically leaking caliper
broken CV boot and grinding guts
just bought MS2

My wallet can't take much more of this.

 

Other than Ryan and I, I only see a couple of other Miatas registered. I see Chris Kearns and David Tedeschi (TxMC?) in TTE. Anyone else coming? Spoolin? Jake?

 

I'm out. I have to work on the blue car and start trying to put the lemons car back together.

 

I feel bad now. I simply cannot afford it right now.

 

No worries. It's not like I won't have a good time. We just may not have enough people for the Saturday night circle jerk

 

Next time I go I want to pay someone to click one of those rolling counter things to count the number of times we call each other homo.

 

You'll need one with four digits at least.

 

I think me and jake are out. My car is still at the exhaust shop. Our friend kevin keulbs will be there. He's in street with his nb. John if you could run the show it would be greatly appreciated!

 

Yep I can do that. So all you peeps in the TxMC come see me at my trailer some time during the day so we can get you signed up and track your times. White 8'x20' enclosed trailer, dark blue Miata with a wing and a mad max spoiler, #69.

 

What happened out there?

 

I totally beat Sean Farrah in TTS. It was awesome.

NOT

It's late so I'll keep it brief and cut to the results for starters:

Unlimited
1. 2:27.913 John Roberts

Super Modified
1. 2:43.323 Chris Kearns
2. 2:45.501 Ryan Logan

Kevin since you ran in HPDE 3 on a different course I am not sure how we get your times in. Was there another TxMC driver running in HPDE 3 with you?

Otherwise, that's it! It was a small turnout this time for TxMC, but a big turnout for NASA TT. There were 36 NASA TT entries all together.

The weather was fair all weekend. There were several times when it looked like we would get a little rain but fortunately it never came. It was cloudy 90% of the time and windy 100% of the time so the track was on the cold side. As a result lap times were off a bit from what I could tell talking to others.

There were several vehicle failures resulting in oil and oil dry on the track several times today alone, including in Big Bend, resulting in some high-speed offs there. Fortunately I do not think there was any significant damage. I decided to mow the grass at the hard braking zone after the 'toilet bowl' in the back-half of the track. Fortunately there was no damage to the splitter or anything else, just lots of grass to clean out of the nose.

Chris Kearns had a very good battle with the four other Miata TTE competitors during the weekend. It was a very close field, with 1st to 5th separated by only 2.2 seconds on Sunday. 1st and 2nd were separated by only about ~0.015 seconds. That is not a typo.

Ryan was glad to be back on the track thanks to being loaned a naturally aspirated Miata on Hankook RS3s. His silver turbo TTS car should be ready for the next event.

Trey stopped by on Saturday for a quick visit.

I did not do well in TTS this weekend. I am still having trouble getting heat into the 245 Hoosier slicks and was actually faster on NT-01s (with the throttle stop removed, about 30 more WHP). I think I need to forsake the slicks and go to A6 tires next so I do not have these tire heat related grip issues anymore. The top competitor in TTS, Sean Farrah, set a silly fast time of 2:19.7 (well prepped supercharged 350Z) which was over 5 seconds faster than the second place TTS car. That is a huge gap.

 

I worked a flag station on Saturday, it was pretty bauce. It was too bad I didn't have a passing flag because a Cobra replica thingy was holding up Chris Kearns TTE car, lol. Since I'm taking most of this season off due to my money tree not blooming I may try to join up with the admin side of NASA so I can abuse power.

 

Good seeing and running with everyone this weekend. It's great to have competition on the slow end of the Time Trials group. There was lots of back and forth throughout the weekend, and Ryan was making a run for the top spot in the final session on Sunday, but ended up backwards and in the grass entering Rattlesnake on the first hot lap to end the session early.

And yeah, a .015 second spread between p1 and p2 over 3.1 miles and coming out on the wrong end of it... ----.

I talked to the guy in the Cobra Friday night - very nice guy - I think he saw me back there and was pushing it, but his car was crazy loose.

There was chatter about requiring everyone in the DE4/TT group to have a transponder for setting the grid properly - I fully support it now that the TT car counts are consistently in the 30's and 40's and there is a contest at the back of the field - if you fast class guys find that agreeable, let Sean and Ken know.

Here's my off at Big Bend

http://vimeo.com/38779068

 

I love all that run-off at MSR-C.

 

With NASA in the South East if you work 2 events you get to drive in an event for free. You might want to possibly look into that. Or take the classes to become an instructor so then you also get cheaper track time.

 

Corner working can be a lot of fun IMO. I used to do that a lot when racing bikes. The motorcycle track day organizations will give you 1-to-1 time: Work 1/2 day, ride 1/2 day. Work all day, ride all day (the next day or a later event). Get someone to work for you all day, and you get free track time all day. My wife, may the speed gods bless her, did this for me more than once. She would rather corner work than sit around in the pits being bored.

Plus you can learn a lot watching the fast guys take a corner. It is the best seat in the house next to being in the car.

 

Yes indeed. I have used it more than once, bikes and cars. Which corner were you working?