I protoured the *bleep* out of Optima COTA (Roadtrip!)

[Chad-1stGen]

I'm still feeling the excitement of the craziness and success that was this past weekend and wanted to share. I debated for way to long if I really wanted to take my car all the way from Southern California to Texas to compete. I love autocross and track days but I loathe long distance driving. However, I began to think about actually driving my 1968 Camaro to compete there and back rather than trying to trailer it and something about adventure of it combined with running my pro-touring car on an F1 track sealed the deal. Now that I'm back home I have a greater appreciation for just how big of an undertaking this event was! Yes I successfully drove my Camaro from SoCal to Austin TX and back while beating on it pretty hard all weekend.

Here are some pics and video of the experience.

Over 100 miles of rain in eastern New Mexico (still about 100* out though)


Chris D in an S197 Mustang met up with me the end of day 1. He was also nuts enough to drive his car the whole way to Optima. We drove the rest of the way to Austin together but drove home separately.


Crossing into Texas


Loving the 80mph speedlimits in Texas.


However, after passing the very first 80mph speed limit sign in TX, Chris and I passed a state trooper with radar gun out and he quickly chased us down. I was panicking about weather I really saw an 80 mph sign or yet another 60 mph sign (the speed all through El Paso). After getting tailed and I'm sure both our plates ran the trooper pulled up alongside me and both cops in the car gave me the thumbs out.

Finally made it to COTA. In the tech line watching the sunrise.


COTA!


Awesome pic Dusty Nixon got of my car on the autocross


After autocross and speedstop I needed to change all 4 brake pads to ones that will handle the heat and abuse of the COTA road course. I waited until dark to do the swap in the Marriot parking lot. Mistake, it was far more humid and zero breeze once the sun set. I sweated more in the one hour brake pad swap than I did all afternoon autocrossing in the sun.


Getting some media love from the Optima guys on Sunday


Here is video of my fastest runs from each of the three driving events.


My wife met me in Austin Friday night and was a HUGE help all weekend. She really made it much easier to bear the sweltering heat all weekend by helping unload and load the car, monitor tire pressures, hold an umbrella to shade me in the staging lanes etc. Plus she drove probably 900 of the 1,400 return miles. She was my MVP for sure.

Collecting the boarder crossings on the way home.






Yeah it was hot along this drive. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

[DBasher]

Hell yeah you did! Nice job, again.

[glassman]

That, is, the, Ultimate Street Car.

Congrats Chad!!! I was gonna ask you if you trailered it or drove it. As you know, i protoured the sh* t outa my car and still havent drivin home from Texas successfully. (heck, even didnt make it home in my carrera from texas successfully either!!, i think texas wants me to stay lol)

I really think we should get a point for every street mile in this competition, and a sniffer test lol....

we'll see as i plan on CA to Chicago, then Chicago to Texas for the hall of fame road tour, i think i'll trailer it home (sent via trailer) from that point'

This, though, is what i really like about "protouring", thanx for takin the time to post here Chad, it trully is a "Bitchn Ride"...... Cheers

[Sonar Chief]

Awesome write-up as usual these memories will be engraved in your brain for a long time, great job!!!

Michael

[SSLance]

Thanks for sharing your story as always Chad, I clicked this thread while laying in bed watching the Royals game last night and was pissed I couldn't watch the videos because it would wake the wife up. Now today I'm waiting until I get to work so I can crank up the good speakers while watching them!!

Congrats on a successful trip, sounds like a blast. I have to ask one thing though, did you have a backup plan to get the car home if you had some sort of mechanical issue while there?

I am hearing bits and pieces of some other's mechanical issues from the weekend, some of them spectacular...sounds like the big track and excessive heat were hard on a lot of cars.

Did you all see pictures of Ken's ventilated block?

[Chad-1stGen]

Originally Posted by DBasher

Hell yeah you did! Nice job, again.

Thanks, again!

Originally Posted by glassman

That, is, the, Ultimate Street Car.

Congrats Chad!!! I was gonna ask you if you trailered it or drove it. As you know, i protoured the sh* t outa my car and still havent drivin home from Texas successfully. (heck, even didnt make it home in my carrera from texas successfully either!!, i think texas wants me to stay lol)

I really think we should get a point for every street mile in this competition, and a sniffer test lol....

we'll see as i plan on CA to Chicago, then Chicago to Texas for the hall of fame road tour, i think i'll trailer it home (sent via trailer) from that point'

This, though, is what i really like about "protouring", thanx for takin the time to post here Chad, it trully is a "Bitchn Ride"...... Cheers

Thanks! You are no stranger to the road trip. There was some Facebook debate stirred up on the subject of extra points at USCA for driving but I understand why they don't do it, nor am I looking for extra points myself. I totally get why a more cautious or even sane person would trailer a car to long distance to run hard on a race track. As Lance alludes to below there was some carnage that weekend for sure. I personally witnessed 5 cars that needed to go home in trailers including 2 catastrophic engine failures and 1 car fire.

Originally Posted by Sonar Chief

Awesome write-up as usual these memories will be engraved in your brain for a long time, great job!!!

Michael

For sure. Thanks!

Originally Posted by SSLance

Thanks for sharing your story as always Chad, I clicked this thread while laying in bed watching the Royals game last night and was pissed I couldn't watch the videos because it would wake the wife up. Now today I'm waiting until I get to work so I can crank up the good speakers while watching them!!

Congrats on a successful trip, sounds like a blast. I have to ask one thing though, did you have a backup plan to get the car home if you had some sort of mechanical issue while there?

I am hearing bits and pieces of some other's mechanical issues from the weekend, some of them spectacular...sounds like the big track and excessive heat were hard on a lot of cars.

Did you all see pictures of Ken's ventilated block?

Yep I saw that block. Crazy! Also saw a car about to reach the tipping point on burning to the ground but was put out before that point. Still tons of damage.

My though process on backup plans started with speculating on my odds of needing a backup plan. Part of that translated to how hard I drove on the Roadcourse. I didn't leave a lot on the table or anything and drove the Roadcourse maybe 8/10ths where I might of driven 9/10ths if close to home. Otherwise I had three ideas 1) fix whatever broke. I had enough tools to fix most shade tree mechanic stuff. 2) if catastrophic failure occurred then rent a truck and trailer and drive it home (as expensive as this might be if still be money ahead with all the times I haven't trailered) or 3) if the motor blew then as it is a Mast and they are in Texas take it to them to be fixed . I allocated a full extra day off to account for any of the above. Thankfully, my car did what it has done at all other track days and drove itself home.

[SSLance]

Sounds like a well thought out plan!

I'm scared to ask...who's car caught on fire? And to your knowledge did anyone get charged exorbitant amounts of money for damage they may have caused to the racing facility?

[Chad-1stGen]

Originally Posted by SSLance

Sounds like a well thought out plan!

I'm scared to ask...who's car caught on fire? And to your knowledge did anyone get charged exorbitant amounts of money for damage they may have caused to the racing facility?

Something of a plan at least :p.

Regarding the fire, I don't know whose car it was. A yellow 6th gen Vette. I didn't want to be that guy asking a bunch of questions about it right after it happened.

This is the price list I received when I signed up for COTA:

COTA is one of the very few FIA certified tracks in the US and as such, they have substantial damage fees. Please understand that you are responsible for any and all damages caused by you or your vehicle during the weekend. You will be required to sign a damage acknowledgment document and leave a credit card with us during the weekend to pay for any damages. Damage fees are:

- Guard rails - $195 per foot
- Tech pro barrier - $975 per block
- Catch fence panel - $780 per panel
- Catch fence pole - $975 per pole
- Oil dry absorbent - $65 per bag
- Liquid spill on track - $500 per corner (if you oil down the entire track this will cost you $10,500)
- Liquid spill paddock/pit lane/garages - $500 per area
- Pavement damage track/paddock/pit - TBD

Both blown motors resulted in a corner being oiled down so I'm sure they paid some money. The price list exists for a reason and I'm sure is strictly adhered to by the track.

[jeff71]

I'd love to see your list of items tools, parts etc for a road trip like this?

[Rod P]

awesome!