4th of July at NHMS
Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:08 pm
I had a great holiday weekend paying another great visit to NHMS. It was a special 3-day event put on by COM, where Day 3 was all-day open track. I missed Day 1, but in the remaining two days I managed to put in over 200 miles on the track. It was huge fun, and I accomplished my two goals of lowering my personal best lap time to a 1:25.558, and doing enough laps to feel like I actually know the track. For the first time, I can say that. There is still time to be gained, and I know 24s are possible with new tires, but I feel like I'm now mostly driving the track about as well I can (except for one place --see below).
A couple things really stood out as highlights of the weekend. First was the camaraderie and fellowship of fellow gearheads. By the end of Saturday, I had unexpectedly corded one of my front tires, and the other one was looking like it wasn't far behind. (I really thought I could get through the weekend with them, but that turned out to be overly optimistic.) My only replacements were the tires I drove down there on, but a fellow driver graciously offered me the use of a pair of his RA1s for as long as I wanted on Sunday. That made my entire weekend, and turned what could have been a long day on bad tires into a day of fun to remember. Good karma was in abundance. It was also great to share a garage with Ron again and see him get faster thorough the weekend in his very cool Mustang.
The other highlight was getting a ride with an instructor who is consistently faster than me, and holds the club record for our Miata class with a 1:23.2. I learned that I'm doing very similar things to him, except for Turn 9. I knew I could carry more speed through that turn, but I never realized just how much more speed I could carry. He was positively flying through that turn, accelerating all the way through it and down the hill! Wow, what a difference! I never quite got there, but I'm getting there, little by little.
The only down side of driving over 200 miles is that in addition to cording two tires (it was their fourth event), I ended up burning through my front brake pads a lot sooner than I expected. The Carbotech XP10s I'm running on the front are known to be decently long-lasting, but I was down to the backing plate after 3.5 (admittedly long) days of use at NHMS. Fortunately I had old spares to swap in, but I started to think maybe I should be a little gentler on the brakes. Nah...
But tires and brakes are a small sacrifice for the rewards. Next stop: Mont Tremblant, August 2-3, my favorite track in the world! I can't wait!
A couple things really stood out as highlights of the weekend. First was the camaraderie and fellowship of fellow gearheads. By the end of Saturday, I had unexpectedly corded one of my front tires, and the other one was looking like it wasn't far behind. (I really thought I could get through the weekend with them, but that turned out to be overly optimistic.) My only replacements were the tires I drove down there on, but a fellow driver graciously offered me the use of a pair of his RA1s for as long as I wanted on Sunday. That made my entire weekend, and turned what could have been a long day on bad tires into a day of fun to remember. Good karma was in abundance. It was also great to share a garage with Ron again and see him get faster thorough the weekend in his very cool Mustang.
The other highlight was getting a ride with an instructor who is consistently faster than me, and holds the club record for our Miata class with a 1:23.2. I learned that I'm doing very similar things to him, except for Turn 9. I knew I could carry more speed through that turn, but I never realized just how much more speed I could carry. He was positively flying through that turn, accelerating all the way through it and down the hill! Wow, what a difference! I never quite got there, but I'm getting there, little by little.
The only down side of driving over 200 miles is that in addition to cording two tires (it was their fourth event), I ended up burning through my front brake pads a lot sooner than I expected. The Carbotech XP10s I'm running on the front are known to be decently long-lasting, but I was down to the backing plate after 3.5 (admittedly long) days of use at NHMS. Fortunately I had old spares to swap in, but I started to think maybe I should be a little gentler on the brakes. Nah...
But tires and brakes are a small sacrifice for the rewards. Next stop: Mont Tremblant, August 2-3, my favorite track in the world! I can't wait!