I am loving that classic salvage yard!! I know it's a ways away in the picture but the bodies look really straight.
I am loving that classic salvage yard!! I know it's a ways away in the picture but the bodies look really straight.
There's a pretty good episode of Roadkill about that place.
I've got some family in the area, from what I remember they seem to think he's pretty proud of everything in there. Won't really let people in to walk around and look, wants tons of money for everything, etc.
This morning we rolled into Hallett in Jennings Oklahoma. This is a favorite track for a lot of my friends that run NASA Time Trial in the Texas region. I was excited.
I was met very first thing in the morning by this lunatic who used to race motorcycles around here and now drives a Cobalt SS around the track and showed up to give me the proper lines. I'm 99% sure his name on here is chuckles and I almkskt immediately forgot his real name because I really do suck that bad at names and I was trying to learn the track from him and keep up. He's a seriously fast walker and I was feeling old and slow after all of the transit miles. 
His teaching was good, as I ended up 35th in the afternoon session and my co-driver was 39 in the morning. We've moved up to 33rd overall though that's due to attrition and not our skills.
Yesterday one of the HHR's and one of the Ultimas each had front suspension torn off in off track excursions. The factory Scion went home one a trailer with some sort of engine trouble and last night the turbo Miata lost the ability to shift. We got out of Hallett early so I'm hoping we didn't lose any more of the crew in the last few groups.
Early in the day a red manual CTS-V wagon showed up to say hi to the two of us in V's, nice guy, but what I was really geeked about was the Solstice GXP that pulled in. First one I've ever seen in the wild. 
This is our stray driver. He's hanging out, taking amazing pictures, and doing a bit of the transit driving. 
Taking places by attrition is still taking places! It's not how you want to beat someone, but if they break/crash then you still beat them.
As the saying goes: In order to finish first, you must first finish.
mazdeuce wrote: Super excellent co-driver pit crew.
This thread is awesome! 
We were changing tires right after coming off track and the lug nuts were hot enough to cook steak and I couldn't find my gloves.
...Racing driver excuses. 
Good work yesterday. We were there but I didn't want to come up and bother you.
I think my favorite car this year was the P71 with P71 mini trailer. Gas grills, propane, fridge, generator, sound system all built into the trailer......so GRM.
Dude, you should have come over! The trailer behind the Crown Vic is awesome. My co driver's father in law came out yesterday and had a good look at it and went home to shop for a 78 Caprice roller to make a matching trailer for his car. He's excited to start cutting and welding.
We're here at the the National Corvette Museum track and this is their copy of the Mulsanne corner. 
This track is huge and fast and pretty intimidating to be honest. My co-driver is taking the first stint with the cooler temps.
A word on transits. We don't speed. Both because tickets suck and it's not really necessary. We've been clipping along at an indicated 3-5 over and have easily gotten 5-7 hours of sleep every night. For us the key to sleep is efficiency. We're showered and in bed within 20 minutes of hitting the check in desk, and we're dressed and walking out the door 10 minutes after our alarm goes off in the morning. This is letting us sleep more and still get to the tracks in time to walk them. Our walks are more about safety than speed. We try to identify and memorize those 2-3 areas of each track that are most likely to kill us and drive the rest of the track visually. It seems to be keeping us safe so far.
Thanks for letting us virtually experience this. Awesome thread.
mazdeuce wrote: Dude, you should have come over! The trailer behind the Crown Vic is awesome. My co driver's father in law came out yesterday and had a good look at it and went home to shop for a 78 Caprice roller to make a matching trailer for his car. He's excited to start cutting and welding. We're here at the the National Corvette Museum track and this is their copy of the Mulsanne corner.This track is huge and fast and pretty intimidating to be honest. My co-driver is taking the first stint with the cooler temps. A word on transits. We don't speed. Both because tickets suck and it's not really necessary. We've been clipping along at an indicated 3-5 over and have easily gotten 5-7 hours of sleep every night. For us the key to sleep is efficiency. We're showered and in bed within 20 minutes of hitting the check in desk, and we're dressed and walking out the door 10 minutes after our alarm goes off in the morning. This is letting us sleep more and still get to the tracks in time to walk them. Our walks are more about safety than speed. We try to identify and memorize those 2-3 areas of each track that are most likely to kill us and drive the rest of the track visually. It seems to be keeping us safe so far.
Wow, what a cool shot
mazdeuce wrote: Dude, you should have come over! The trailer behind the Crown Vic is awesome. My co driver's father in law came out yesterday and had a good look at it and went home to shop for a 78 Caprice roller to make a matching trailer for his car. He's excited to start cutting and welding. We're here at the the National Corvette Museum track and this is their copy of the Mulsanne corner.
I had been watching the NISMO GTRLM testing down there on Periscope early this week. Seeing the car fly by at 200+ mph was cool even with only a phone for a video camera. Darren Cox says that the track is very much like a mini Le Mans.
Uh yeah, we're going to need some picts of that P71 trailer set up when you have a free minute. Like you have TONS of free time.
This thread IS awesome and thank you for you the work you are putting in. Are you guys getting any video of your runs?
My dad took a few pics, I'll see if I can get him to send them to me and I'll post them up.
Mazda, so what did you think of Hallett? A bit of tough track for all you guys driving the big, high HP bruisers.
Hallett was interesting. I feel like there are 3 or 4 corners that are really momentum corners and it's hard to get those right without some time. The bitch is really a non issue as long as you turn in late. I'd like to go up there and run a full weekend in the Civic and see what I could figure out.
We're taking video of every track though I think I only got one drag run of the three. I'm going to montage them when we get back. I'm sure I have some pictures of the Crown Vic trailer. Co-driver is out on track and I'm not hearing terrible tire noises. So that's good. NCM kind of sucks for spectating.
Yes, that's me. I thought I was smiling.
When I got back to the room I found the bit of paper from a fortune cookie which I had intended to remember to give to Seth: "It is sometimes better to travel hopefully than to arrive."
These guys are serious racers. It takes more testicularity than I could muster to sail over the blind brow into The Bitch after one sighting lap. There were only a handful of people getting the apex right and Brian and Seth were two of them. I wish I could take credit for that, but the line up and out, they either got from someone else or figured out themselves. When I complimented Brian on being a hell of a fast learner, he said: "We're autocrossers. Walk it once, sight it once, and go for time."
Those who like hanging around racetracks should catch this show. Admission is trivial, you get consecutive, small groups of cars running three laps each and if there's not something interesting happening in one group, wait five minutes. And the machinery is fascinating. A Porsche Carrera GT, an Audi R8 with a trailer running R8 wheels and track tires, a 77 Ford Country Squire woody wagon with Nebraska plates reading "Grswold," and everything in between. Watching the GTRs gobble up the stretch up the hill between 2 and 4 was mindbending. Do they make you guys promise to be nice to the goobers who wander by? Everybody was incredibly friendly and seemed glad to see spectators. I talked to a guy running a 944 with sbc swap and when I told him his car was cool and sounded fantastic (which it did) and that it was well-driven (which it was) he was almost beside himself with joy. Then he says: "Little things keep breaking so I run it and then have to fix it. I'm not getting any sleep." When I pulled out of the track to cross the Turnpike, his car was stopped with two Highway Patrol cars, but as I crept by, he was gesturing and laughing as he had been with me, and the cops were laughing like loons, so it couldn't have been too bad.
The smooth time our guys have had speaks to their careful planning and execution of the plan. Pull in from the last run and it's sure not Miller Time. The driver peels off the firesuit and they both jump to packing the car. Everybody is in line to leave the track as soon as they get packed. Seth and Brian pulled out with several cars waiting to run. Half an hour later, the place was deserted. Gentlemen, I had a ball and I appreciate your putting up with me. Keep moving up and traveling hopefully.
Alston Jennings, Little Rock.
Anyone have more information on that FR-S?
Just left NCM. Sorry I didn't get to meet you, mazdeuce. Every time I went to your car, no one was there (except for someone sleeping in the hatch when I got there, wasn't going to bother him though).
Some very cool cars and super nice folks that I talked to. Took lots of pics too, but it was hard to get a good spot as there isn't any provisions for spectators yet. I'll upload some later this evening. And I got a pic of the p71 trailer!
Just wanted to comment and tell you good luck and it's fun living this vicariously through you. One day I would love to do this and the information and experiences will definitely help me prepare as much as possible.
The FRS was factory built, had a front mount turbo, air to air intercooler, 4 wheel BBK, coilovers welded roll cage, battery in the back. Very cool guys, talked to them awhile.
The 944 has a LS swap, one of the drivers in it is the owner of Renegade Hybrids. I talked to him for quite awhile as I also have a LS swapped 944 and it was nice to compare notes...
Remember everyone, this is real. These guys became our friends this week. They bought us lunch on the first day before the wet skid pad. We talked about grandkids and trips to New Zeeland.
The driver is fine. I finished my last session after the resulting red flag on the first hot lap. Driving to South Bend and the dry skid pad tomorrow. I'll write more when I get my thoughts together.
Ouch! Looks repairable though. What happened?
docwyte wrote: The FRS was factory built, had a front mount turbo, air to air intercooler, 4 wheel BBK, coilovers welded roll cage, battery in the back. Very cool guys, talked to them awhile.
Thanks, I'd heard it was a factory backed effort. Any way to get in touch with them?
Re: Corvette. Damn, that really sucks. Glad everyone's okay.
I can try and get a card from the factory Toyota people. Their media team is still around (or was today). The car ate it's motor at Cresson. They had been dealing with too much heat all week.
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