What a summer.. a big thanks to those that made it possible! videos - Lateral-g Forums

**Steve1968LS2** · #1 10-04-2009, 01:02 PM

Man, it was a crazy hectic summer, but worth every dollar.

I shipped my car back east in early May for the Gingerman event and it stayed back there until just last week, nearly 5 months. And while Intercity Lines moved it the big distance I had a lot of people step up to help move the car around once back there. Without them I never would of had this great experience.

Driving the 120 mile tail-of-the-dragon cruise at the RTTH event was a highlight.. even if it was in the rain with no wipers.

So, I would like to thank:

Scott and the team at Motor State Distributing for holding my car prior to Gingerman, what a great group of gearheads!

Bill Howell and Yancy Johns for moving Penny from MI to Dayton Ohio. Would also like to thank Dave Schardt at Forgeline for storing my car until the Columbus Goodguys event and for swapping on my tires! Also, thanks to Yancy for storing Penny and always willing to help wth the logisticts. Thanks to Bill for putting on a kick ass event (less rain next time though, ok?)

Mark Bowler and Tom McBride for holding my car at thier shop in IL and especially to Tom for doing such a kick ass job on some wiring issues I had. I looked up under the dash yesterday and it's all as neat as can be. They were also nice enough to haul my car to the Run Through the Hills event and then back to thier shop until Intercity could truck it back to CA.

Mary and David Pozzi who took delivery of Penny. David has been instrumental in getting my car together and working right and Mary has made me a much better driver. Plus they show me what my car is capable of.

Nick Licata for putting up with my wacky ideas and for driving the crap out of Penny at the Run Through The Hills V event and for not rubbing it in too much that he's faster in my car than I am. lol

Intercity Lines for being so easy to work with.

Sorry if I forgot anyone.. the summer was all a blur.

So, we managed to hit the following events:

Motor State Challenge in MI
Goodguys Nationals in OH
Bowler Autocross extraveganza in IL
Run Through The Hills V in TN

Not a bad way to spend the summer. In three of the four autocross events Penny had the fastest lap time. Once with me, once with David Pozzi and once with Nick Licata. That girl sure gets around.

Penny got back home (to the Pozzi's shop) last monday and four days later we had the car at Buttonwillow Raceway for some "find out what needs fixin' laps"

We confirmed our shock valving is jacked up and I confiremed that I should have gone early to do a bolt check on the car. Rear caliper mount came undone and ended our day early. hey, stuff happens. We had put on race pads and thought the vibration was up front, maybe warped rotors. In reality it was the left rear caliper having fits. Hindsight really is 20/20.

Were going to autocross the next day, but Penny is now on the injured reserved list until I buy a couple of brake parts. Oh well, you can't make omlets without breaking eggs. Spent yesterday with the Pozzi's cleaning the filthy car and doing small projects. We also did the bolt check and found the subframe bolts to be less than tight. I urge everyone to check theirs.

It was also great to meet and see some many of you again. Having to work sucked up time I would rather use to BS, but it was still great. All the events were a blast and I can't tell you how tempted I am to ship out my car for some fun next year if I can save up the cash.

Again, thanks to all that helped me out and to all I met over the summer.

Some fun new vids: (the links have better resolution than the embeds)

Myself at the RTTHV autocross:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezMy0h-Tu7o

Nick Licata at the RTTHV autocross: (turns out that first gear was the way to go)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN00aT440MI

David Pozzi and a few laps at Buttonwillow. Even with the problems we he had a fast lap of 2:18.546 and was hitting 120 mph in some of the later laps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrhKJhDHB38

Now to get the car ready for the Optima race and SEMA.. David Pozzi has a few ideas.

rogue · #2 10-04-2009, 01:05 PM

Busy summer for sure

I am REAL bummed I missed Buttonwillow with you guys. I managed a documented 2:18.686 with an average speed of 73.980 mph out at speedventures on 8/1

That was with no power steering. Bring it! PENNY IS GOING DOWN.

awr68 · #3 10-04-2009, 01:52 PM

That's a dream summer right there!! Thanks for the vids...always fun to watch!! And big props to all the helped Steve!!

**Steve1968LS2** · #4 10-04-2009, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogue

Busy summer for sure

I am REAL bummed I missed Buttonwillow with you guys. I managed a documented 2:18.686 with an average speed of 73.980 mph out at speedventures on 8/1

That was with no power steering. Bring it! PENNY IS GOING DOWN.

Good time.. on what tires?

The brakes really hurt.. it's not that they didn't work (well, they did until the rear one fell off) but the car shook so violently that you tended to brake softer earlier. The pads really helped.

Dave's best "theoretical" time according to the Racepak was 2:16.5 ... nice to have a goal to shoot for.

I'm amazed how many configurations Buttonwillow has.

mpozziCPL · #5 10-04-2009, 02:09 PM

On behalf of Dave, I can say for certain that Steve is one of the most enthusiastic "car guys" we've both had the pleasure of being good friends with. What's cool is that there's always light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and being around such forwards thinking attitude is never a chore. With Steve, working on Penny becomes "playing with Penny," plain and simple ... it's just fun.

As for the autocrossing, in one year Steve has improved a ton as a driver. He's a definite contender at any Solo event and has proven to have some serious talent negotiating the forest of orange traffic cones. The sport of Solo is so much more than just driving the course and Steve's very knowledgeable when it comes to analyzing driving lines and course management.

As for Penny ... there's more to be had. Yes, more ...

Cheers,
Mary Pozzi

**Steve1968LS2** · #6 10-04-2009, 02:27 PM

I still need big-time work on my road course skills (or lack thereof).. but I'm making progress.

Oh and thanks for the cookies.. they lasted until about Gorman. lol

And a cool picture snapped by the track photographer of Dave digging in through a sweep (Riverside?)...

Vegas69 · #7 10-04-2009, 02:41 PM

This is what it's all about in my opinion. I have yet to run with my own kind so to speak. I'm looking forward to running and hanging out with people with similar cars and interests. You got the life man....

rogue · #8 10-04-2009, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve1968LS2

Good time.. on what tires?

The brakes really hurt.. it's not that they didn't work (well, they did until the rear one fell off) but the car shook so violently that you tended to brake softer earlier. The pads really helped.

Dave's best "theoretical" time according to the Racepak was 2:16.5 ... nice to have a goal to shoot for.

I'm amazed how many configurations Buttonwillow has.

I was running on RA1s on their last leg. It was the last track day I got out of them, and I got about 6k miles total out of them. Not too bad. I just swapped over to R888s.

That's the other thing, we could have been running different configurations. We were running it Clockwise that day. I started the day out running in the mid 2:20s and worked my way down to the 2:18 with the help of a friend of mine talking me through it. (Hes got a lot of track time so hes my 'free' instructor')

I was so tired by the end of the day without power steering I started spinning the car left and right.

I was real sad my car is still up at Guldstrand and I couldn't come out with you all. I've been dealing with some health issues as well but I really need to come out and meet you, the Pozzis and everyone else. I'm sure it was a blast. Regardless I'm glad to see you ripping Penny out there

Any paint damage from all these adventures yet?

rogue · #9 10-04-2009, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve1968LS2

And a cool picture snapped by the track photographer of Dave digging in through a sweep (Riverside?)...
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Man those track wheels look so much more aggressive.

phillym5 · #10 10-04-2009, 04:54 PM

Sounds like a great summer.
I never met you or any of the other guys at those events... but it was great seeing Penny (in person) ripping around in my neck of the woods. (Gingerman).