Quote:
Originally Posted by sperry
Holy shit... I want to know how you passed a Spec Miata, on the outside of the carousel, on street tires.  Either you have magic in that car, or the SM driver is super new at this. 
And what club are you running with that does open passing like that in Intermediate? The only place I've seen open passing is in the Advanced group. That traffic looked kinda hairy... I would have at least liked to see point by and passing on one side only in an Intermediate group. I don't trust other people enough to just romp past them on the outside at the exit of the carousel like that.
Looks like a crap ton of fun though. Next time you plan to run there... let us know. I'd kill to get down there in the Miata for an event. I've never driven Sears Point. |
Haha, and that was on nearly dead Nitto NT05s. Now I have fresh Dunlop Z2s in the same size, 255/40/17. I'm not sure how new the other drivers were. NASA is really lenient. They let me into Intermediate (Group 3 of 4, 4 being Advanced) even though I'd never been on that track, and they let me do it with a passenger! The open passing is pretty nuts and I did get called out a couple times for slightly unsafe passing (including not fully getting around people in the carousel, which is a dangerous place to pass, period, because if the guy on the inside has a problem, he's flying into you), but nothing too crazy.
When I signed up, I chose to be in group 3 because of the open passing and indicated my experience including 10 years of autocross and 3 track days at RFR. I left out the part about my 100MPH spin off RFR's turn 1 during my first motorsports event ever.
I did lose it once at Sears Point (Turn 8a) and it's pretty scary with all those walls. Luckily I kinda saved it and steered toward open grass, no issues.
It was a total kick in the pants and I'll definitely let you guys know next time I'm going to one. They have them all the time.
http://nasanorcal.com/index.php?/site/section_schedule/
I'm not sure if I would have ever bit the bullet and paid for the membership and track day fee, but I won a gift certificate that covered the track day fee, for winning my autocross class with
ESCA in 2012. It was so fun that I got the 2nd day in before my membership expired last year. I'll want to go again when it cools down, maybe in the Fall or Winter.
I really loved nearly hanging with that NSX at the end of the session. I was driving at 10/10s and nearly catching him in the braking zones and corners, but not quite. Wonder what he would have thought if I told him I had stock brakes, relatively soft suspension, mediocre tires, and only 215 WHP (on a good day) in my econobox wagon. Haha