Background info for the story: I went up with my friend Kevin(red 95 M3) and Ross(black STi). I signed up two days before the event. Story time:
We left Friday from Fairfax at 5:45 after a nice meal at Pomodoro's. Thanks to traffic it took us a little over 4 hours to arrive at our Marriot hotel in Cranberry Falls, PA. Checked in and head up to check out the room. About that time I get a call from Ross, "Can I stay with you guys at the hotel? The truck is freezing cold!" Haha...should have said no.
Waited a while at the bar until Ross arrived. Had a beer, some steak & potato soup and a good sub. Ross finally arrived and we finally got some sleep. Woke up and the sun was sky was cloudy, the forecast was calling for a chance of showers and thunderstorms however we hoped for the best.
Saturday was basically open track time, split up into 4 sessions per skill level- novice, intermediate and advanced with no instructor required(although one, Jeremy@Redline, was offered for an additional $40). The track was setup great, with the cones set nearly perfect at every turn. It seemed impossible not to have a great line on this course unless you were mentally challenged and have trouble connecting dots. So the first session goes by smooth, learning the track and building confidence. My second session out was going great- throwing the who0pass down on the S2000's and just about every other car in my run group with exception of some stupid Evo(very fast). The car was running great. I'm coming off of turn 8 and about to round out 3rd gear when suddenly the upper radiator hose decides to split straight down the middle like a baby delivery via C-section. So I shut the engine down and coast down from 130mph, round turn 9, 10 and partial way up the hill before coming to a stop on the far side of the turn. Red flags are out and I get towed in.
We then spent approximately 5 hours and a 3 separate trips to local(lol) auto parts stores trying to match up this oddly shaped hose. Finally get the car running again around 7 and head back to the hotel.
Sunday. Game time.
Wake up and the weather looks ominous. Cloudy, looks like it could rain any second. The first two practice session go smoothly, this time we're running in our class groups instead of skill level. In my class, Modified RWD there were three other competitors. A stock red 05 Saleen S281 which I wasn't too worried about, an red AP1 S2000 with FK coilovers, rollbar, Sparco Evo seats, RA1 tires and maybe some power mods(I dunno) and lastly a FOX Mustang which I think was way illegal for this class. It was a primered gray notchback, with an Evolution 3-Link rear suspension running Maximum Motorsport coilovers front and rear, fenders pulled 3-1/2" in the front to fit 275/40/17 RA1's on Steeda Ultralites, 5-lug conversion, roll bar, gutted interior and race seats and an engine producing 290whp.
In practice I was following the S2000. He was on my ass hard through the first seven turns of the course but I quickly put space between us afterward. Unfortunately he was back on my ass again by turn 2 on the following lap. WTF. I was a little worried about this car.
On to the Time Attack sessions. Obviously the Mustang hauled serious ass. Knocking off a time of 1'06", the rest was total surprise to me. The Saleen nailed a 1'10.34", a 1'10.6" for the S2000 and I finished with a 1'10.111". Holy crap. I then spent a few laps at the open practice to record some video and take another driver out in my car. I came back to the pits and parked. Jeremy, one of the Redline staff yelled at me from the timing booth- "NINE POINT TWO!!!" I was like, "huh??!" Unfortunately that time didn't count toward my official time attack times and I had no clue what I did to pull it off. Maybe it was the sun that was out for those five minutes to heat up the track? I went up to the booth to check out the times for the few laps I was out:
1'10.4"
1'10.5"
1'10.4"
1.09.2"
Interesting. Luckily I had it on video to review. But there was no time. The second Time Attack session was beginning and I was setting up the camera mount for Kevin's M3. Ross and Kevin ran their sessions and now it was show time.
I grid in the pit behind the 05 Saleen with the S2000 behind me. Three cars go on track at once split as even as possible around the track. One lap warm up, three hot laps and a cool down. The sky is black. Rain drops splatter my windshield. Shit. This could be good or bad. Maybe I can rely on the rain to have the other drivers slow their pace and maintain a 2nd place standing. No. I paid $380 for this and now is the time. It's time to go. They send out the Saleen. Visor down, ready to roll. My turn. The rain picks up, I have to use the wipers on low speed. The track isn't soaked yet so I better get this done quick. Listening to advice from Jeremy I exit turn ten wide and seem to pick up over 5mph down the front straight. I now focus on turn 7- the killer. The "OMG I think I may have to clean my seat after this lap" turn. It's uphill, it's blind, it's downhill, it's off camber, and I'm shifting up to 3rd gear before I come out of it at over 85mph. That'll make your ass pucker. I wing it and the NSX performs flawlessly, the rain is coming down harder now, wipers still on low and I'm not letting up. Turn 8, I notice I'm into 3rd a littler earlier than normal. About to enter turn 9, I'm into 4th gear at 130mph. Tap the brakes on the far left, turn in and I'm full throttle through the kink. Hard on the brakes, 120, 100, 80, 60, downshift to 2nd and turn in hard, full throttle up and out of turn 10 swinging out as far as I can, the rear end sliding away from me but I keep it under control. Shit. I think I lost some time off of that. Up the hill and into 3rd. before turn 12. Down the front straight and nail the revlimiter as I cross the finish line at 125mph. Damn that felt good. Cool down lap. Into the pits. It's now pouring as Kevin and Ross are running around trying to pack things up and into their cars. Ironically the shower stops as soon as we get everything packed away. All I can think about is my lap time. I want to know. They haven't posted the times yet. What's up? They tell us that they're holding the times until the Awards Ceremony. Damnit. I want to know. The suspense is killing me.
The banquet is setup, the doors open and we find seats near the front sitting with Mike, the owner of the Saleen and a group who had brought an Evo8. They drew raffle tickets for prizes. I won a Hawk Performance hat, Ross won a Redline shirt and Kevin won a Cusco hat. We had dinner. Roast beef, BBQ chicken and potatoe salad. Time was dragging on, the rain had picked up again. Finally time for the awards to be given out and the times announced. I particularly didn't care about any times other than of my own class. Modified RWD was up. "3rd place, Mike Corsello in the 05 Saleen Mustang with a 1'09.3"
Gulp. That's fast, especially for the rain. Mike accepted his award, Modified Magazine was taking pictures for their magazine coverage of the event.
"In 2nd place, with a 1'09.1", Josh Taylor in a 91 Acura NSX" !!!!
:biggrin:
As far as I'm concerned that's when my weekend ended. What a great time!
Video-
Incar: http://crossroadracing.com/beaverun/nihilationnsxinside.mp4
From the timing booth:http://www.crossroadracing.com/josh/brokebackracing.mp4
We left Friday from Fairfax at 5:45 after a nice meal at Pomodoro's. Thanks to traffic it took us a little over 4 hours to arrive at our Marriot hotel in Cranberry Falls, PA. Checked in and head up to check out the room. About that time I get a call from Ross, "Can I stay with you guys at the hotel? The truck is freezing cold!" Haha...should have said no.
Waited a while at the bar until Ross arrived. Had a beer, some steak & potato soup and a good sub. Ross finally arrived and we finally got some sleep. Woke up and the sun was sky was cloudy, the forecast was calling for a chance of showers and thunderstorms however we hoped for the best.
Saturday was basically open track time, split up into 4 sessions per skill level- novice, intermediate and advanced with no instructor required(although one, Jeremy@Redline, was offered for an additional $40). The track was setup great, with the cones set nearly perfect at every turn. It seemed impossible not to have a great line on this course unless you were mentally challenged and have trouble connecting dots. So the first session goes by smooth, learning the track and building confidence. My second session out was going great- throwing the who0pass down on the S2000's and just about every other car in my run group with exception of some stupid Evo(very fast). The car was running great. I'm coming off of turn 8 and about to round out 3rd gear when suddenly the upper radiator hose decides to split straight down the middle like a baby delivery via C-section. So I shut the engine down and coast down from 130mph, round turn 9, 10 and partial way up the hill before coming to a stop on the far side of the turn. Red flags are out and I get towed in.
We then spent approximately 5 hours and a 3 separate trips to local(lol) auto parts stores trying to match up this oddly shaped hose. Finally get the car running again around 7 and head back to the hotel.
Sunday. Game time.
Wake up and the weather looks ominous. Cloudy, looks like it could rain any second. The first two practice session go smoothly, this time we're running in our class groups instead of skill level. In my class, Modified RWD there were three other competitors. A stock red 05 Saleen S281 which I wasn't too worried about, an red AP1 S2000 with FK coilovers, rollbar, Sparco Evo seats, RA1 tires and maybe some power mods(I dunno) and lastly a FOX Mustang which I think was way illegal for this class. It was a primered gray notchback, with an Evolution 3-Link rear suspension running Maximum Motorsport coilovers front and rear, fenders pulled 3-1/2" in the front to fit 275/40/17 RA1's on Steeda Ultralites, 5-lug conversion, roll bar, gutted interior and race seats and an engine producing 290whp.
In practice I was following the S2000. He was on my ass hard through the first seven turns of the course but I quickly put space between us afterward. Unfortunately he was back on my ass again by turn 2 on the following lap. WTF. I was a little worried about this car.
On to the Time Attack sessions. Obviously the Mustang hauled serious ass. Knocking off a time of 1'06", the rest was total surprise to me. The Saleen nailed a 1'10.34", a 1'10.6" for the S2000 and I finished with a 1'10.111". Holy crap. I then spent a few laps at the open practice to record some video and take another driver out in my car. I came back to the pits and parked. Jeremy, one of the Redline staff yelled at me from the timing booth- "NINE POINT TWO!!!" I was like, "huh??!" Unfortunately that time didn't count toward my official time attack times and I had no clue what I did to pull it off. Maybe it was the sun that was out for those five minutes to heat up the track? I went up to the booth to check out the times for the few laps I was out:
1'10.4"
1'10.5"
1'10.4"
1.09.2"
Interesting. Luckily I had it on video to review. But there was no time. The second Time Attack session was beginning and I was setting up the camera mount for Kevin's M3. Ross and Kevin ran their sessions and now it was show time.
I grid in the pit behind the 05 Saleen with the S2000 behind me. Three cars go on track at once split as even as possible around the track. One lap warm up, three hot laps and a cool down. The sky is black. Rain drops splatter my windshield. Shit. This could be good or bad. Maybe I can rely on the rain to have the other drivers slow their pace and maintain a 2nd place standing. No. I paid $380 for this and now is the time. It's time to go. They send out the Saleen. Visor down, ready to roll. My turn. The rain picks up, I have to use the wipers on low speed. The track isn't soaked yet so I better get this done quick. Listening to advice from Jeremy I exit turn ten wide and seem to pick up over 5mph down the front straight. I now focus on turn 7- the killer. The "OMG I think I may have to clean my seat after this lap" turn. It's uphill, it's blind, it's downhill, it's off camber, and I'm shifting up to 3rd gear before I come out of it at over 85mph. That'll make your ass pucker. I wing it and the NSX performs flawlessly, the rain is coming down harder now, wipers still on low and I'm not letting up. Turn 8, I notice I'm into 3rd a littler earlier than normal. About to enter turn 9, I'm into 4th gear at 130mph. Tap the brakes on the far left, turn in and I'm full throttle through the kink. Hard on the brakes, 120, 100, 80, 60, downshift to 2nd and turn in hard, full throttle up and out of turn 10 swinging out as far as I can, the rear end sliding away from me but I keep it under control. Shit. I think I lost some time off of that. Up the hill and into 3rd. before turn 12. Down the front straight and nail the revlimiter as I cross the finish line at 125mph. Damn that felt good. Cool down lap. Into the pits. It's now pouring as Kevin and Ross are running around trying to pack things up and into their cars. Ironically the shower stops as soon as we get everything packed away. All I can think about is my lap time. I want to know. They haven't posted the times yet. What's up? They tell us that they're holding the times until the Awards Ceremony. Damnit. I want to know. The suspense is killing me.
The banquet is setup, the doors open and we find seats near the front sitting with Mike, the owner of the Saleen and a group who had brought an Evo8. They drew raffle tickets for prizes. I won a Hawk Performance hat, Ross won a Redline shirt and Kevin won a Cusco hat. We had dinner. Roast beef, BBQ chicken and potatoe salad. Time was dragging on, the rain had picked up again. Finally time for the awards to be given out and the times announced. I particularly didn't care about any times other than of my own class. Modified RWD was up. "3rd place, Mike Corsello in the 05 Saleen Mustang with a 1'09.3"
Gulp. That's fast, especially for the rain. Mike accepted his award, Modified Magazine was taking pictures for their magazine coverage of the event.
"In 2nd place, with a 1'09.1", Josh Taylor in a 91 Acura NSX" !!!!
:biggrin: As far as I'm concerned that's when my weekend ended. What a great time!
Video-
Incar: http://crossroadracing.com/beaverun/nihilationnsxinside.mp4
From the timing booth:http://www.crossroadracing.com/josh/brokebackracing.mp4
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