Sears Point Raceway 03/07/2015 Report
I was out at Sears Point Raceway this past weekend (03/07/2015) for a TrackMasters HPDE. The last time I was out there was last September when I blew a head gasket in the afternoon session so I had some unfinished business. It was a sold out event with all the usual suspects including two beautifully prepared Ferrari 458's, one Challenge Car and a Speciale. As usual, a huge contingent of Porsches, including four GT3"s (2 RS's) and several very nice air-cooled 911 race cars along with a couple of 914/6 GTU race cars.
NSX's were well represented by Don's (nsxnut) sweet S/C NA1, Armando's twin turbo Driving Ambition prepped NSX race car (500+RWHP/2200lbs) and myself. We had a good turnout of NSX Primers in attendance as well, with Roman (Solidol), Harry (SFNSXguy), AJ (JINKS), and Jorge (quicksilver55). It was so great to have a nice representation of NSX's. Thanks for coming out guys and supporting the cause.
My goal for this event was the same as always; Drive to the Track, Kill'm All, Drive Home.
Here in Northern California, the Porsche 911 GT3RS is by far and away the weapon of choice for HPDE track days. These are amazing cars, packed with 50yrs of factory racing development including; traction control, launch control, stability control, 4-wheel steering, center nock-offs with huge tires and wheels, massive Brembo carbon ceramic brakes etc etc.
Targeting these cars is no easy task. They have a definite horsepower / brakes / tire advantage over my 2800lbs, 400rwhp NA1. Weights are roughly the same, depending on set-up. Patients is the name of the game when stalking these alpha-cars and their alpha owners. The typical GT3RS driver is at the top of the food chain in the Porsche pecking order. They pit together and keep to themselves to the most part. On track, they don't use their mirrors much and the last thing they are expecting is a vintage ricer to be keeping pace with them. Passing GT3/RS must be done very carefully as they rarely give away a position on track without a fight. Having a HP disadvantage to them only makes getting past them that much more challenging. My usual method is to stalk them for a couple laps before applying just enough pressure to either force a mistake from them or hopefully get a point by. The video below is a typical encounter with a GT3 driver. I had been stalking him for several laps and he was clearly holding me up but he refused to yield the position. He was clearly over driving the car and his tires were going off when he finally points me by, only to nail the throttle at the same time. A typical #porscheprickmove. After that my fangs came out and I went in for the kill and finally got past him by late braking him into T4.
The fun just began when I finally got past him and on the next lap Armando's 2200lb. 500+HP twin turbo NSX racecar blew by me entering T11 then got real loose exiting T11. Later, on the next lap, he attempts to pass a couple of backmarkers between T5 & T6, drops a wheel off and does a full 360 spin! Just when I thought things might calm down a little, a real yahoo in a 240SX packing a smallblock V8 squeezes inside of me entering the T6 carousel, then exiting T7 he over-steers and goes careening off track! Pretty much sums up the weekend.
By the end of the day I had accomplished my goal of passing every Porsche, GT3RS or otherwise on track. Obsessed? Maybe a little :wink: but its good to have a plan and a goal. The car ran fantastic all day long with absolutely no issues what so ever. Just like Honda intended. The 6th and final session was my quickest, mostly due to that the moving chicanes had called it a day leaving me with a nice empty track to play with. Good times!
Video Link: Here
06:26
Photo's provided by Solidol
I was out at Sears Point Raceway this past weekend (03/07/2015) for a TrackMasters HPDE. The last time I was out there was last September when I blew a head gasket in the afternoon session so I had some unfinished business. It was a sold out event with all the usual suspects including two beautifully prepared Ferrari 458's, one Challenge Car and a Speciale. As usual, a huge contingent of Porsches, including four GT3"s (2 RS's) and several very nice air-cooled 911 race cars along with a couple of 914/6 GTU race cars.
NSX's were well represented by Don's (nsxnut) sweet S/C NA1, Armando's twin turbo Driving Ambition prepped NSX race car (500+RWHP/2200lbs) and myself. We had a good turnout of NSX Primers in attendance as well, with Roman (Solidol), Harry (SFNSXguy), AJ (JINKS), and Jorge (quicksilver55). It was so great to have a nice representation of NSX's. Thanks for coming out guys and supporting the cause.
My goal for this event was the same as always; Drive to the Track, Kill'm All, Drive Home.
Here in Northern California, the Porsche 911 GT3RS is by far and away the weapon of choice for HPDE track days. These are amazing cars, packed with 50yrs of factory racing development including; traction control, launch control, stability control, 4-wheel steering, center nock-offs with huge tires and wheels, massive Brembo carbon ceramic brakes etc etc.
Targeting these cars is no easy task. They have a definite horsepower / brakes / tire advantage over my 2800lbs, 400rwhp NA1. Weights are roughly the same, depending on set-up. Patients is the name of the game when stalking these alpha-cars and their alpha owners. The typical GT3RS driver is at the top of the food chain in the Porsche pecking order. They pit together and keep to themselves to the most part. On track, they don't use their mirrors much and the last thing they are expecting is a vintage ricer to be keeping pace with them. Passing GT3/RS must be done very carefully as they rarely give away a position on track without a fight. Having a HP disadvantage to them only makes getting past them that much more challenging. My usual method is to stalk them for a couple laps before applying just enough pressure to either force a mistake from them or hopefully get a point by. The video below is a typical encounter with a GT3 driver. I had been stalking him for several laps and he was clearly holding me up but he refused to yield the position. He was clearly over driving the car and his tires were going off when he finally points me by, only to nail the throttle at the same time. A typical #porscheprickmove. After that my fangs came out and I went in for the kill and finally got past him by late braking him into T4.
The fun just began when I finally got past him and on the next lap Armando's 2200lb. 500+HP twin turbo NSX racecar blew by me entering T11 then got real loose exiting T11. Later, on the next lap, he attempts to pass a couple of backmarkers between T5 & T6, drops a wheel off and does a full 360 spin! Just when I thought things might calm down a little, a real yahoo in a 240SX packing a smallblock V8 squeezes inside of me entering the T6 carousel, then exiting T7 he over-steers and goes careening off track! Pretty much sums up the weekend.
By the end of the day I had accomplished my goal of passing every Porsche, GT3RS or otherwise on track. Obsessed? Maybe a little :wink: but its good to have a plan and a goal. The car ran fantastic all day long with absolutely no issues what so ever. Just like Honda intended. The 6th and final session was my quickest, mostly due to that the moving chicanes had called it a day leaving me with a nice empty track to play with. Good times!
Video Link: Here
06:26
Photo's provided by Solidol
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