Great seeing everyone and meeting some new folks as well! Tu, thank you for the pictures as well.

What a fun event, although I'm also pretty wiped out today. I'm glad I spent the extra night and drove back this morning instead of last night. The only bad thing I can think to say about this event is that I have to wait 363 more days before I get to do it again! I just don't expect I'll be able to make it to another one this year, although there are a couple I might try for.

Thanx to everyone who is part of the organization which puts these together and to the volunteers who helped make it happen.

Congrats to Amy and KLRBRD for taking home some hardware. She won the Participant Choice Award. Thanks to all who voted for her car. We are thankful for how much support the car gets. Especially considering all the awesome cars at the event! Special thanks to Mike Dusold. He delivered the car to us "concierge" style on Saturday morning. He and his guys worked until midnight Friday night to make sure it was ready for auto-x and speed stop challenge.

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/...pscdbddd0f.jpg

Here is a short video of the Intermediate class running. Bryan, Steve, Duston and I were hammering away in this group with a handful of Mustangs and a new Viper TA. This is our 5th run session. We did close to 70 laps for the day. Duston and I ran super close times in this session. He had a 42.982 and I had a 42.980. As you can see he was on my tail. Great times!

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/...psgmldlbmt.mp4

A well deserved win for KLRBRD. On the surface alone it was a shoe-in for the win and then you add in the what we know to be under the car and there was no doubt.

With those lap times, I'd you guys are ready for the expert run group. Thats some serious driving.

As the guy in the Hellcat Charger mentioned... take the vette back to the dealer and tell them there is something wrong with the tires. They look like they have a low melting point and wont make it through the summer. :thumbsup:

Sweet Jay! I really missed not being there this year.

Tough to find a nicer guy on the planet than Mike!

100% agree Greg. Mike is a great friend, awesome guy with a huge heart and has a wonderful family. His talent, work ethic and skills are off the charts. The new 3-link he designed is fantastic. Linear power, predictable, and terrific road manners. Here is a cool pic from this weekends auto cross.

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7nfjwes6.jpg

We also missed seeing you as well. Was looking forward to Weld Financial Partners meetings between runs. HA!

Bryan, how's TOW doing from the event? You ran hard and pushed yourself and TOW to the limits. I know I told you at least 10 times this weekend, but the car sounds awesome, especially from 4 ft off your back bumper. :innocent:

It sure is a bummer we have to wait to next year. HOPEFULLY WE GET A 3RD YEAR OF THIS AWESOME SERIES IN TEXAS!

Tu, you are cracking me up. The Meeker's were a cool family. Dad and son in the Mustang's and Mom (Tina) in the Z06.

Chris, I am not sure what Tina was running in her Z06. I was definitely having a blast in the new Vette. Amazing car right out of the box.

The road course instructors were really helpful. I learned a ton on entry points, braking zones and throttle control as a result of them being in the passenger seat. I boiled the brake fluid in session 5 and pretty sure need to replace the tires and brake pads. I counted close to 75 laps run on Sunday! One of the highlights for the Optima event is the driving instruction. It's priceless.

TOW made it back to Austin in one piece, and she's been parked in the garage since being unloaded. I haven't washed her yet, and since I leave for vacation tomorrow, that will wait until next week. I've got time scheduled on Eric's lift to check and make certain I didn't do any real damage under her with my offs this weekend.

Glad you got a good listen to my exhaust. :action-smiley-027: And yes, it sucks we have to wait a year to do this again. There's a little part of my brain that's been trying to figure out if I could make Vegas in a few weeks, but I know it's not going to happen...

That last session was a blast! Wish I could have gotten gridded up there earlier in the day, but it was fun either way.

I managed to finally get my datalogger and the GPS on speaking terms for that one, but had switched modes on the GoPro at some point so I only got a single photo of my glove in the pre-grid when I hit record..sigh. I have this to remember it by at least?


Still lots of video to edit, but I did get to the pictures my girlfriend got of the odd-number run group Saturday. Shoot me a PM with your email if you'd like a hi-res of any of them.

Fully gallery is here: http://shutterspeeddesign.zenfolio.com/p290782978


Between this and spending Valentine's day at Texas World Speedway last month, I think I'll hold on to her :headspin:

Had I seen this photo earlier I may have ventured into 4th gear earlier. It wasnt until the last session did I start using 4th. Nice work