They're fast as all hell when driven right. Sadly many owners drive like they're shopping for groceries and are too scared to push the limits on a 140k car. Can't say I blame them, but they sure are fun to pass in a 41 year old camaro. :lol:

The blue tape this is hilarious to me. Do they tape up their cars for road trips as well?

Never been driven in the rain? :rofl:

constantly. There are tons of groups out there that run.

So far I've run with speedventures and this new (to me) group Open Track Racing. They book track time and you pay a portion of the rental, usually around $200, sometimes as low as $120. Bigger tracks like Laguna Seca can cost up to $300...

Look at the schedules of the tracks you want to drive on and find organizations running and contact them to see if they'll let you run.

The two I have mentioned are both great groups, but Open track racing defitely is a lot more laid back and fun. Kailo is an AWESOME guy and so is his wife. Every single person I met was nice as all can be.

Speedventures is a great group as well, but these are both CA based track run groups. Open track racing lets instructors run for free as long as they volunteer to instruct which is awesome. Speedventures charges.

It says 1969 Firebird in your sig....

I saw a guy running a Cadillac DTS rental I see no reason why you can't run your firebird :thumbsup: I ran the Roval at Cal Speedway with a 4speed, manual steering, and drum brakes....

Run what ya brung, and have fun doing so!

Northstars don't lack torque.... That rental car was hauling on the straights and leaning like a yacht in the turns. Absolutely AWESOME. The driver was 65+ years old as well and knew the line :thumbsup:

Yeah it was a fun day, lots of surprises out there for the day. I was excited as all hell to see that indy car run. Cool :thumbsup:

Pretty much. The instructor was just toying with me anyway. I believe he and another instructor came out for the sole purpose of having with with the camaro. He was on street tires without his aero. That cars capable of running a 1:29 at big willow. I was running 1:41....

On the straights I was catching him, on the turns, he was GONE, on street tires. I learned a lot from his lines. Next event I want to ride with Jack and get some instruction from him. I introduced myself to him at lunch and thanked him for one of the best times I've ever had on a track. It was a blast. :hail:

I hear Mary Pozzi has quite a sailor mouth while driving too, so I'm not alone :rofl:

Your name was brought up. John, photographer for Car Craft was out there. Bald guy, real soft spoken and nice. I told him I'm constantly giving you **** about your fancy paint ;)

We really need to get everyone together. I want to meet you and the Pozzis, and attempt to either destroy, hang, or fail miserably keeping up with Penny. :thumbsup:

Yes! Jack! I tracked him down and thanked him. He was snickering as was the whole table of instructors, so it was pretty obvious he was just out there having fun with the old 69 camaro. Very nice guy and I learned a lot just by following him. I regret not talking to him more and asking him to ride along and put me in check for a session. Next time hopefully.

I was having brake pedal issues so you'll notice I was pumping the breaks before every turn to make sure I had a firm pedal. Need to bleed the wilwoods and get a power bleeder I think.

T1 definitely is a much faster turn than I was taking it, but the brake issues were keeping me from putting absolute confidence in them. If I can't get a solid reliable pedal out of the manual wilwoods I'm going to add hydroboost. Definitely kept me from running as hard as I could, but it was still faster than previous outings. Power steering is a must. I didn't venture offtrack once this time, something I commend the power steering for.


Its a track truly suited to high horsepower cars and drivers with balls. Not for the weak minded thats for sure. Entering turn 8/9 I was in 5th about 130mph. Without the rear spoiler it was too hairball so I dropped the speed and kept it lower throughout the day until following Jack around. What a fun day and good run group to play with. Kailo is hilarious and every person I met is good people. Had a blast. I need to get some more instruction, but first work on this brake issue and the rear aero.

I'm still waiting on the 'professional' photos from the track. They got a few of me in full 4 wheel drift with my hand out the window giving a thumbs up :thumbsup:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_6286.JPG

Easy rider baby

http://lh5.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_6288.JPG

How to pack.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_6289.JPG

Colder than all hell. I had two sweaters and a t-shirt on and was still cold..

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_2205.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_2206.JPG

My tall goofy ass dwarfing the car
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_2210.JPG

My friend/navigator is tall as hell as well :lol:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_5185.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_2220.JPG

the organizer Kailo's toys...

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_5186.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_5187.JPG

How the timing setup was. The Trackmaster app works GREAT as a simple laptimer and data logger. Can't beat the $5 price. Rupp do you run this in penny?
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__OT3YJ9o9Ao/S5...0/IMG_5190.JPG

Dane - you are 100% correct about Kailo and the group as a whole, probably one of the coolest groups of people I ever ran with (other than when me and 19 or so workmates/friends would rent the track :unibrow: )

So I highly recommend to anyone thinking of lapping to look them up. This is NOT wheel 2 wheel (W2W) by any means as you can see in the vids - it is gentleman's driving with point by passes, etc - because everyone wants to go home with all four fenders in place so it really is a great way to actually learn how to drive a car.

Jack I think is getting out to the track on a more regular basis, he had his first kid awhile back and that kept him grounded at home quite a bit but he is making it out more from what I can tell on the Porsche board he frequents.

As for T7-9, I don't know if Jack would ever remember but it was maybe the first time I ever went out with them now that I recall, but I was in front of him and we went up and over the hump and I went inside a bit too far and hit the whooptie-do of a bump there and the whole car felt like it shifted a foot to the left almost instantly and he flat dropped out of the gas expecting me to lose it. 'Course that didn't happen ;) :D and I managed to keep the throttle planted and drive thru it, but man that was a pucker moment.

Same day I found out the gear ratios for my trans I found online were incorrect and I thought I was just cruising the front stretch and way off my mph wanting to keep him up with me. I looked up near the end going into T1 and I couldn't even see him in my mirror. I thought I was rolling along holding 115-120mph when I was actually shifting into 4th at 140mph! I was hitting 155-160 when I was actually on it :thumbsup:

Dammit I love that track! MPH monster.