Roadcourses with at least 1 LX!

[Steve Levin]

Since people tend to think "Yank Tank" and "slow American car" when they first see an LX in the paddock of a road course, I thought I'd fire up a thread to discuss the various high performance driving events where there will be at least one LX going to provide moral support -- and to encourage other folks to bring their LX's to the track! I know that the first time can be a real unknown to people (it was for me!) and that going "with" someone can dramatically reduce concerns and worries.

Nov 1 -Thunderhill (Willows, CA) SL
Nov 3 -Buttonwillow (Buttonwillow, CA) SL
Nov 8 -Willow Springs (Rosamond, CA) SL
Nov 24 - Buttonwillow (Buttonwillow, CA) SL
Nov 25 - Buttonwillow (Buttonwillow, CA) SL
Dec 1 -California Speedway (Fontana, CA) DR
Dec 2 -California Speedway (Fontana, CA) DR
Dec 4 -Laguna Seca (Monterey, CA) MR,Cam,CV
Dec 8 -Thunderhill (Willows, CA) SL
Dec 9 -Buttonwillow (Buttonwillow, CA) SL(likely not in LX though)
Dec 22 - Laguna Seca (Monterey, CA - Green Flag) SL
Dec 29 - Buttonwillow (Buttonwillow, CA - Alltime Racing) SL (not in LX)
Jan 27 - Thunderhill (Willows, CA - Hooked on Driving) SL
Feb 21 - Thunderhill (Willows, CA - Hooked on Driving) tentative date
Feb 22 - Thunderhill (Willows, CA - Hooked on Driving) SL
Feb 29 - Laguna Seca (Monterey, CA - Hooked on Driving)

Index to attendees:
SL - Steve Levin
DR - DanRealtor
MR - MattRobertson
Cam - Cam
CV - CoolVanilla

Organizations:
Alltime Racing: http://www.alltimeracing.com
Hooked on Driving: http://www.hookedondriving.com
SpeedVentures: http://www.speedventures.com
Green Flag Driving Association: http://www.greenflagdriving.com/ (note: this seems to only work in IE, not Firefox)

I know some folks are going to the other dates but I don't want to arbitrarily want to put people's names there. Also, if there's non-Southwest Events please let me know and I'll list those.

For folks at all interested in the dates I'm attending, please feel free to PM me with any questions. Depending upon the size of yer noggin I have a spare helmet you might be able to use.

Steve

[Steve Levin]

I realized that I probably should have noted that (very non-typical) the 11/1 Thunderhill date does not allow novices (except in Mini's...it's a Mini-focused day).

Steve

[ventoracing]

Anyone know of any road course events or car club renting racetracks here in the northeast?

[Steve Levin]

I'm not very familiar with the Northeast, since I grew up on the wes t coast, but a good way to find things would be to use:

http://www.chasinracin.com/track-locator/

Find road courses in your area, and then see if they have a website that lists the days people are running there...and then you can more or less "back into" the event organizers and what tracks they run at.

Steve

[MattRobertson]

You can add myself, CoolVanilla, Cam and Ozzie to the Laguna Tuesday event. We're using my house as a base of operations. Nice long driveway that will probably be where we all swap out our wheels the night before, although I may wait until we actually drive into the paddock and pull the wheels and change the pads while there. The Wilwood track pads are very unforgiving to rotors.

And I *want* to do Thunderhill on the 8th with you but I'm not sure I'll be able to. That is one I will likely wait until the last minute on, or pass if it fills up. But I really want to do that track before they close it for the year.

[Steve Levin]

That makes me sad that I'm still using the F1's Almost. I suppose I should look at getting a set of track wheels. Might do that over the winter.

I might do Laguna on the 4th but I'm not entirely sure I can.

Steve

[Steve Levin]

Thunderhill was about as perfect 11/1 as you could ask. No wind, 74 degrees, etc. While it was a Mini-focused day, the rest of us ran in a single group. Sadly, I was near the slowest car out there, but then again, given that I'm on street tires, that wasn't so bad. Only about 14 cars total, so there were no real traffic issues all day -- and we got to run 6 times (although several people bailed after the 5th run).

Steve

[MattRobertson]

Ordered my Bridgestone Pole Positions a couple days ago. Special order. Guess they don't get too many supersized cars running those.

[Todd TCE]

Really? lol!

You'll appreciate this:
http://web.mac.com/johndougherty/iWeb/Site/Blank.html

[Trojan]

you can add me to LS on the 4th. Ill be rolling up with Cam, Ozzie.
Then Thunderhill on the 8th as well. Nothing like powering 4000lbs
at WOT sideways and living to talk about it. It just dont get much better.

[Steve Levin]

Ordered my Bridgestone Pole Positions a couple days ago. Special order. Guess they don't get too many supersized cars running those.

Okay, I'll admit ignorance...tires?

Steve

[Steve Levin]

Oh...It looks VERY unlikely that I'll be at Laguna Seca on the 4th :(

HookedonDriving just got 4 Panoz GT-RA's and I am thinking of renting on the 8th because I'm pondering getting one instead of running my 300. My wife's not entirely happy with me being out on track without a roll cage.

Steve

[ChargerGirl]

Argh... I'd be going to all of these, but can't. :(

Maybe next year.

[MattRobertson]

You'll appreciate this:
http://web.mac.com/johndougherty/iWeb/Site/Blank.html

Indeed. Looked like that guy really knew how to handle that car. Unfortunately so far I've seen a grand total of zero Impala SS' on road courses out here. Drag strips yes but not road courses. I've always thought that if you set one of those beasts up right you'd really have a handful.

Okay, I'll admit ignorance...tires?

Yup. AA traction vs. the F1 Supercars' A rating. I have 3 different AA tires I'm interested in and these are the first I'll try.

[Steve Levin]

There was a gentleman at Reno-Fernely a few weeks ago with an Impala all set up for the road course. He was instructing so I didn't see it out on the track but I understand it gets around quite well. He had it obviously modified, though.

After I poked at the Goog I found the Bridgestone reference...you will have to tell us how they worked out. Which size are you running?

I was looking at Nitto's NT01, but it's only going to work at 245/40/18, which I know I could make work with a set of the Borbet 18" wheels...but by my figuring it would drop the car 1.5" which somewhat concerns me.

Steve