First, let us set the feminine jokes aside and focus on the complete joy of driving. To me, having a laughing good time behind the wheel of a car is very important which may have been the cause of what led me to this 2001 Mazda Miata. Continue reading
Once or twice every year, industry workers come together at a track somewhere, which is usually never nearby, and enjoy the pastime that we work to support on a day to day basis.
Industry Track Day was held this year at, the not so new anymore but new to most who attended, Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. Situated in the middle of nowhere, as most tracks that I’ve been to tend to be, it’s a long long drive to get there. In order to arrive in time for the check in and driver meeting I left my house before the crack of dawn. Still tired and ever so groggy I drove down the freeway, past Morongo Casino, past Palm Springs & Indio, and past the Salton Sea.
Yes, it is that far. 1 more hour down the road and I would have ended up in Arizona. I watched the sun rise on my way there and watched as the sun set on my way back home.
After arriving, checking in, and going through the driver meeting, the tents were put up and the cars were unloaded and prepared to go.
(That ridiculously taped up car is mine. I had heard horror stories of people tracking their cars at Chuckwalla with a brand new red tow hook, only to return home with a brand new tow hook that no longer had paint on it.)
(Too cautious? I think not! And don’t be fooled into thinking I had missed a few spots, what you’re seeing is 2 layers of blue painters tape and another layer of white and black duct tape on top.)
The showing at Industry Track Days is always a hodgepodge of many different types of cars.
We had American Muscle.
A plethora of German ultimate driving machines.
JDM
KDM
Italian Stallions
(Look at the size of those things!)
We had the old
And the new
Relatively stock cars
And the dedicated track only cars
Even pirates had a showing
Despite the blistering heat (it reached about 100 degrees out at CVR while it was a cool 73 degrees in LA) good times were had. There were some technical difficulties with the timing system, so unfortunately no one knew if they were getting faster or slower as far as lap times go, but that certainly didn’t stop us from taking our cars out and thrashing them around.
(Evasive Motorsport’s Mike behind the wheel of his Civic)
(Crawford brought their tC’s out to play as well)
(Featured on the blog many times before, Ex-Marketing Manager for Tein, Philip Chase’s Evo IX)
(I don’t have a GoPro, and wanting to review my own driving I resorted to my own GhettoPro. If you’re wondering, yes that is my point and shoot digital camera zip tied to my seat. It didn’t work out so well due to the shaking. I almost get carsick just watching the video that it took.)
(And by the end of the day, my normally white TE37’s had turned a brake dust grey/black color, and I’m on my way to earning my Brownbo [Brown Brembos] Badge)
Two weeks ago I took my EVO 9 to a Speed Ventures track event for a fun day with friends. I had not driven on a track for almost 8 months. In fact, I had not driven my car more than 100 miles in the past 8 months.
I took the car to Tint Factory on Saturday to get a 3M clear bra installed to protect my newly acquired C-West hood. Special thanks to Garrett and Frank at Tint Factory. Packed up various tools and my car was ready by Saturday 9PM. Left to the track on Sunday at 5AM.
Arrived at ButtonWillow raceway and met up with a few buddies including Joey L. (ex-Sport Compact Car Chief Editor), Jay C. (ex-Sport Compact Car Technical Editor), Wes H. (Honda employee and Time Attack racer) plus a few new friends.
Jay’s Turbo KA S14.
The config. was 13 CCW which is a layout I had not driven in 3-4 yrs. My first session was kind of a rust remover session. I had not driven on track in awhile, the car had not be driven and the course layout almost seemed foreign. Before my next session I went out with Joey in his almost all stock EVO X GSR. That was a blast since Joey is a great driver and the EVO X is an awesomely fun car.
Joey’s EVO X GSR.
My next session out was much cleaner and I pushed a little harder. I was still only driving at partial throttle, super early braking and only bursts of full throttle at certain areas. When entering a corner at high speed a few too many thoughts race through my mind like:
If I go off, what will get damaged and more importantly how much will that cost me.
I wonder if my car will be able to get on a flat bed if I need to get towed home.
After I cleared those thoughts from my mind I began to push a little harder but still keeping it very chill. After all this was just supposed to be a fun day at the track. No timing, no competition. Just driving. I probably drove at 6 or 7/10th and still had lots of fun.
My EVO 9 SE
Next track event I will push harder and start to dial-in the suspension.
After arriving home and parking the car I thought about what needed to be done:
A good car wash to remove the 50+ dead bugs on the front of my car
All fluids change including engine oil, trans fluid, center diff., rear diff. and brake/ clutch fluid.
Rotate Tires, re-torque various bolts and a thorough inspection of brakes, suspension, etc…
SPECIAL THANKS to Wes H. for the photos.