Willow Springs night race event - July 13, 2013

[szvook]

Howdy racers,

The time has come again to raise your blood pressure up and take the speed pill at the Willow Springs raceway. The next event I’m going to attend is on a Saturday this time and it’s a night event this time. It’s with another group, I was with Open Track Racing last time and this time it’s with Extreme Speed Track Events.

The night event is being held on July 13, from 4pm to 12am with an arrival time at 3pm followed by an all drivers meeting at 3:30pm. This time, the track is the Streets of Willow vs. the Big Willow track. The Streets of Willow track is not as sweeping as the Big Willow, so the speeds should be slower but with tighter turns. I have yet to track my car on the twisties at night, so this should be interesting. I just need to study the track for the next couple of weeks...hello YouTube.

Here is the full info: https://www.extremespeedtrackevents...=103&controller=event&task=individualRegister

You have to register on the site (My Profile tab) to see the full registration form, but I’ll post the info here as well. A Tech Inspection form needs to be filled out and brought to the event day, a helmet is a given (SA95 approved).

- Streets of Willow 7/13/2013 (Saturday) Night Event 07-13-2013 - 07-14-2013
- Registration cost: $140.00
- Gate Fee: $15
- Helmet Rental: $10.00
- T-Shirt: $10.00
- Full Day Track Private Instruction: $50.00 - (Private one-on-one exclusive instruction all day).

If anyone wants to partake and wants to drive up together, let me know. I’ll be taking the 405N to 5N to 14N.

 

[szvook]

A few more days left, can't wait. This track should definitely test the new Bilstein Sport shocks and I hope the shocks deliver on the track as well as they deliver on the streets.

Come on guys, time to take your garage queens out to play.

 

[gsxr]

I'd be there in a heartbeat if I were closer!

You going to run the Conti DW's at the track, or did you finally spring for track wheels/tires?

 

[szvook]

As much as I wanted track dedicated wheels and tires for this event (or in general)...apparently, the grown up in me woke up and decided to pay off all my debts that I've been carrying for a while.

Since the Conti DW's are still good enough to track, might as well fry them a bit more, which will entice a new set of tires sooner than later. I entertained the idea of getting just the track tires this time, but swapping out tires is a PITA vs. having track wheels with tires.

I might hold out till December and if my bonus from work will be as much as I've ben foretold, I just might get another set of HRE wheels - model R43 or R40 (I'm leaning towards the R43's, first pic) and wrap them in Nitto's.

 

[szvook]

Sooo, this will be on the agenda for tomorrow...holy crap! I guess I'll get my "Le Mans at night" experience.

[video=youtube;hVkQXqsbXfE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hVkQXqsbXfE[/video]

 

[gsxr]

 

[JordiC]

Thankfully the human eye adjusts to light contrast faster than a video camera. Make sure you have plenty of daylight track time to get you acclimated and to spot all your reference points used in braking zones and apexes. Stay focused on the track ahead of you and have fun.

 

[szvook]

Holy shite balls, Batman, what an experience! The night laps were the most intense car experience I’ve had to date. I ended up running one night session with 5 consecutive laps before the crazy in me subsided and the rational side stepped in. The track was not illuminated that well and to top it off, we were running counter clockwise, for which I was not prepared – all of the videos I studied were clockwise, so it took a few laps at daytime to get a feel. Quite a few sections on the track were pitch black, not to mention the track border lines are washed out in many places, so the contrast between the track and the gravel/dirt is nill. That made the night laps quite tricky and I had to take it easy at times just so I could stay on the track, or just to see it – I think I lost 6 months of my life just within those 5 night laps. Just in the first night session, almost 4 crashes happened.

The car performed much better with the Bilstein Sport shocks; the car was much flatter through the turns and I could take the turns quicker. I also played with the tires PSI and got a bit of the understeer dialed out by running the rear tires with lower PSI. The SA brakes worked perfectly on this twisty track, I never reached their limit and I was pushing them harder this time than at the Big Willow track.

This time, 95% of all drivers were in Japanese imports with Evo’s taking up the majority of all Japanese imports, must have been at least 20 Evo’s. The European presence (aside from me) were: four E92 M3’s (lightly modified), one E30 M3 (heavily modified), one 911 GT2 (heavily modified, but only ran a few laps) and one Boxter (lightly modified). U.S. had one ZR1 Vette (heavily modified) and one 67’ Mustang (heavily modified) which didn’t run.

The weather was hot - 15 miles south of the track, my car saw 99 °F and the car was running perfectly with the AC on, see first pic.

My whip got a lot of attention and the usual – “Are you sure your old Benz can make it today?” questions followed. This time, the track had a lot of female attendees, but unlike the Big Willow track (where 5 female drivers were on the track), all were just watching or being driven on the track. Speaking of females, one interesting tidbit came up – while checking the bolts torque on my wheels (and with my ass up in the air and a half a sandwich in mouth), I heard a sexy female voice asking if that was a 1992 or 1993 500E? I as I turned around and with the sandwich still in my mouth, I managed to mumble “How do you know of this car?” to which she replied “I have good eyes”. She complimented me on the car a few more times, took a few pics, shook my hand, jumped back in the golf cart and drove off. I later found out she is one of the managers working for the event promoters – see second pic. One pic's was from one of the E92 M3 passengers and you can see how dark it was, pic 3.

Sooo, my next pursue is for a better track to try and I happened to meet a few guys who track their cars with Speed Ventures, who are able to get the Auto Club Speedway’s full course in Fontana, CA. That track is a very good flat and fast track with grass vs. sand/gravel in the infield/outfield. A lot of Porsche clubs use the track, so I’m quite happy that it’s open to the public. I’m thinking of going there this September and all info is here - http://www.speedventures.com/events/Default.aspx I’m looking at September 7, 2013 as the next track date and it's $190.00 to partake.

Speed Ventures can also offer a track day at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but that is on a Sunday and 310 miles north of me. I would to attend that event as well, but being September 15, 2013 as the date, that might be too tight of a schedule for two rack days. However, if a few of you good peeps want to partake in the Laguna Seca event, I would forego the September 7th date in Fontana and drive up to Laguna Seca…the corkscrew is quite tempting not to try. If anyone is thinking of trying Laguna Seca, please let me know by the end of July so I can make plans and get ready and it's $340.00 to partake. If not, the September 7th date will be my next track day in Fontana.

[video=youtube;4HVFr-qRexk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HVFr-qRexk[/video]

 

[gsxr]

Steve - that is awesome. Wish I could have been there.

Just curious, what tire pressures did you end up using, front & rear? And are those cold pressures or warm? Funny, I'd think that increasing rear pressure would help correct understeer, by reducing the contact patch. Wonder what Jono would do (WWJD)?

 

[szvook]

I ended up with the rear at 37 psi and the front at 42 psi on hot tires. When I ran the Big Willow track, my psi was at 39 hot on all fours. Bumping the front to 42 and reducing the rears to 36 this time helped a bit, but since I had the Bilsteins on, I have a feeling they were helping more so on top of the PSI adjustments. Either way, I had a better time on my staggered wheels then before. I hope I can get square wheels before the next track.

 

[gsxr]

Square wheels? Wouldn't those be a little lumpy? I kinda prefer round wheels myself... (j/k!!)

 

[szvook]

Square wheels? Wouldn't those be a little lumpy? I kinda prefer round wheels myself... (j/k!!)

HA!

 

[J-Sauce]

Good job Steve! PS Man that girl knew what a 500E was? *Drool*

 

[szvook]

that girl knew what a 500E was? *Drool*

You're telling me. I thought I was hearing things since I was parked close to the track, but when she came closer and repeated the question, I must have had the deer in headlights look, cause this was the very first time a female knew what she was looking at. The part that blew me away was her knowing that this is not an E500 and the 92' vs 93' reference was icing on the cake.

 

[J-Sauce]

Id like to put icing on her cake >