NASA Summit point weekend report

[pixelblue]

another chilly frustrating day at the track. found out brand new set of toyo RA-1's and a set of pagid RS29's can't make up for blown shocks. not been happy with how my car has handled in my last two track events. it just never feels hooked up or dialed in as last year. so I started my first session brimming with confidence hoping to shatter my previous track record. first sign of trouble was when I braked for turn 1 the tail almost got loose. I thought to myself it must be the race pads biting too hard in the back. so I continued to build up pace but some how the car still didn't feel right. it felt like the car was moving under me way too much. again I thought it could be the new tires as they understeered heavily and rubbed in the carousel. grip was low for everyone as the temps were in the low 40's. cars were spinning out everywhere. I think the last count was 7 cars got totaled that day. one shelby in my group went off turn 3 and crashed in the tire barrier ending my second session after 5 laps. luckily I had the guys from my shop at the track as they practically provided pit support for me. they are awesome! I guess we are all in agreement that the shocks are blown. this will make them good for only two seasons. again luckily bilstein offers life time warranty so either way I am getting a new set from them. now I am thinking of getting either the ohlins or the kw club sports. hear great things about the ohlins but I think the club sports would be better suited for track duty. well it's getting to be a REALLY expensive track season as I have already spent my 2012 budget by april. LOL. this madness has to stop. anyway I got a total of maybe 10 laps for the whole weekend as my last session on saturday got rained on and since the car was crippled I didn't wanted to push my luck. I also blew off sunday since driving the car in that condition was no fun so I decided to go fishing on the eastern shore instead. below is a sad documentary into most of my track weekend in 14 min. if you don't feel like watching the whole thing cue up to 7:20 and watch my steering input as I am braking then cue to 12:07 and watch the extreme version of it again. after that I said fudge it, we are going in. pay attention to the shake in the camera as I am going down the straight. you don't see this shake in my previous videos on the same track.

[yandy]

that sucks man; what did the braking feel like? was your car fishtailing under hard braking? or something different?

This does get expensive real quick and hope you can get it fixed soon.

[GaryS]

Koni replaced my rear shocks under warranty last month. Koni's procedure is that I had to pay 50% for new shocks and send them the old ones. Then Koni examined them and called to say they're sending me a refund. That was 12 days ago, so I guess the check is going to take a while getting here.

[Focusedintntions]

Ouch Kori that really sucks. Let me know if you want some help swapping out suspension components. I've got a lot more free time now haha.

[pixelblue]

Yandyr, yeah the car wanted to fish tail under hard braking. can't give a good review of the brakes since I never got enough heat into them but they seem to bite hard

Gary, how did you find out the shocks needed replacement? how was it behaving with a bad shock?

Chris, thanks I will probably hit you up for help. need to save up anywhere I can. btw what do you guys think of KW club sports?

[Focusedintntions]

Anybody I know that's used them loves them for the track...however they can be a bit harsh for the street from what i've heard.

[pixelblue]

Chris, that's what I have heard too. I was able to find a set for a very good price. I am really tempted but have to wait until I hear from bilstein first

[GaryS]

Originally Posted by pixelblue

Gary, how did you find out the shocks needed replacement? how was it behaving with a bad shock?

When I was at that DIY for brakes you saw the pictures of, Andy Chapman of Chapman Auto Werkes saw that my rear shocks were leaking - the bottom of each one was coated with black stuff. He said it looked like they'd just started leaking recently and asked if I felt anything wrong while threshold braking. Well I did have some trouble with the back end wiggling around while braking for turn 1, but I'd guessed that was from using race pads in front and Cool Carbons in back. So I took my car to At Speed, because they had ordered and installed the shocks, and it took them five minutes to say the shocks were blown.

[pixelblue]

Gary,
sounds like you had the same symptom as I did. the rear end should not wiggle under straight line braking. hoping I can get this all sorted out before my next event.

[yandy]

Sh*t! I recently started experiencing fishtailing during threshold braking as well. That' why I asked what it felt like above. I have a track weekend coming up, so lets see if it happens, may just take it in to get checked out before then.

[Focusedintntions]

Interesting...

[pixelblue]

guys adding insult to injury, on my way to the track I passed a state trooper that was parked on the shoulder as I passed him in the right lane doing the speed limit. next thing I know he is pulling me over. when I asked what was the problem he tells me that I needed to move one lane over when there's an emergency vehicle on the shoulder. he tells me this is a new law and when I asked him how are we suppose to know about this new law he tells me it has been mentioned on the radio. so instead of giving me a warning he actually gives me a fricking ticket. how ridiculous! I am planning on going to court for this.

[GaryS]

So the emergency vehicle was him hiding in a speed trap? With no lights flashing?

[Focusedintntions]

Yeah it's not an emergency vehicle if the lights aren't on...at that point it's a vehicle parked on the side of the road....

[pixelblue]

he had his lights on sitting by himself. I mean really I had to move one lane over risking hitting another car? I guess a lot of these guys have been run over on the shoulder. seen some crazy videos but still

[yandy]

sounds like knows not everyone is aware of this law, and it's looking to meet his monthly quota.. we get that around here allot.

[GaryS]

My new boss got the same ticket in his 528i last week. From what I've seen so far, I'm guessing he was 5 mph under.

[DriveHard]

Hey Kori.. bummer on the blown track weekend with the shock issue... although your 10 laps seem to have been spread out, how were your brakes ??

double bummer on the ticket... They just started that in NY / LI... they call it the "Move Over Law" although its more like a slow down a little because we have so much traffic here, there is no place to move over too. LOL

[pixelblue]

Alex,
didn't really get to work them out since breaking into turn one was a bit of a handful. they have a gritty grainy feel. cold torque felt almost as good as the ferodo's and they didn't squeal driving for three days. was kind of surprised. actually based on three days of DD I could say you could definitely use them for summer DD. I did take them out since they are pretty expensive and I didn't want them go to waste. put back in my old cool carbons and they still feel great.

yeah planning to go to court for that ticket. the jack ass cop could have given me a warning. I asked him, how are we supposed to know these laws going into effect? he tells me they announced it on the radio. I told him, I didn't know they still existed

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by pixelblue

guys adding insult to injury, on my way to the track I passed a state trooper that was parked on the shoulder as I passed him in the right lane doing the speed limit. next thing I know he is pulling me over. when I asked what was the problem he tells me that I needed to move one lane over when there's an emergency vehicle on the shoulder. he tells me this is a new law and when I asked him how are we suppose to know about this new law he tells me it has been mentioned on the radio. so instead of giving me a warning he actually gives me a fricking ticket. how ridiculous! I am planning on going to court for this.

Where was THAT at? Loudon County by Leesburg maybe?

I remember the VA State Police would always hang out just before the WVa border on Rt7 (just before the Rt340 -exit change). You'd go over this hill just before the Rt340 exit and than BAM! They got ya! Btw... the Va State Police also have the Radar Detector "detectors" in their cruisers. Ask me how I know. lol

Also coming down the hill near Mt Weather (on Rt7) was another fav location for those guys.

Dack

[pixelblue]

David,
right outside berryville. I got pulled over another time by a local cop right after mt. weather but the guy was nice and let me go for 7 mph over.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by pixelblue

David,
right outside berryville. I got pulled over another time by a local cop right after mt. weather but the guy was nice and let me go for 7 mph over.

Yup! I always would just set my cruise controll when going to and from the track. Especially going up and down that mountain. Also by Purecellville was another fav spot for those guys to ticket.

One time I was driving with three friends in a three car convoy up to SPR for a FATT... we ALL got pulled over. Only the first car got a ticket. I told my buddy who got that ticket... "bet you did not know Rt7 was a "toll road""! lol He was not amused.