varkwso

Three days of track time - check. Great track weather - check. Cars that ran well - check. Low track density - check. But what made the weekend so great was the people. Turnone/Full Lock on Friday and SVT Cobra Mustang Club (SCMC) on Saturday and Sunday put on great events. The folks in the paddock, motels, on the track, in the grid and restaurants are really what put the life into these events.

This weekend was truly fantastic, I spent three full days at the track (Carolina Motorsports Park - CMP). Since Jake (my oldest son) was out of school on Friday he did the full three days with me also. It was a little tough getting two cars track ready, working on wiring a second tow vehicle for electric brakes (note: I HATE wiring anything) and loading up since I just got back from a event at CMP last Sunday (tough life - I know). Eight spare tires, one set of pads, one liter of brake fluid, one set of spare seasoned rotors, the cooler, water, stove, tent, chow box, track box, tool box, jack, air tank, chocks, sleeping bags, chairs plus a few other items got loaded (glad I have a long bed 3/4 ton truck!). Somehow, in all the excitement the spare oil and jackstands did not make the load list - guess what we needed at the track? Luckily, Advance Auto is located almost everywhere.

On T-Day we departed at 0500 to get to the track by 0730. Even with an emergency stop at McDonalds in Columbia to prevent the imminent starvation of a 17 year old we still made it as the gates were opening. It was wet and windy up until about lunchtime and then it was sunny and windy. My Friday student in a very clean 1993 mildly modded Miata was pretty apprehensive about taking it "on the track". By the end of the day he was much higher on the comfort scale and was going home to recruit his local Miata club to come down for an event. The supercharged S2000 spun at Turn 4 on its first session first lap and the pit entrance to the track for its second session - I could see the instruction by Tim (aka TimZO6) was taking well. After that I think the student understood why they did not offer that option from the factory. Jake spent most of Friday sleeping and setting up our site for the weekend. A friend broke his Cobra on Friday and spent the rest of the weekend trying fixes. I was able to run the '99 Fixed Roof Coupe (FRC) on the track in the morning (it was my "wet" car) and the ZO6 in the afternoon (my "dry" car). We ended up Friday by driving into Lancaster to register with the SCMC for the weekend events. SCMC made it as painless as any process I have been to . Ate a pretty lousy dinner at Applebee's then hit Food Lion and Advance Auto for resupplies and made the longest 20 mile trip in my memory back to the track.

Saturday started off with pretty heavy ground fog, really reminded me of Silverstone and Nurburgring, and that delayed things a bit. After the fog lifted and the delay was sorted out we ran in bright sunshine all day long. One of my assigned students ended up getting bumped up to the solo group before I ever even got in the car - I guess he figured out he could do better alone than with my dead weight in the car - wise man. My other student was great with a pretty cool car - a 1995 Cobra that was the sole SVT prototype for the cammer 4.6 motor. It was supposed to be crushed by Ford but wasn't - it has many unique features - hydraulic brake booster, heim jointed suspension components, plus many other one off features. It was well driven by him and the car was set up to handle a road course. Between riding with my student and Jake plus giving rides to all that wanted it I had a full track day. SCMC lets instructors give rides to all with a drivers license and a signed waiver. What a great marketing idea! I am sure I set the hook in a few folks. The day was full but there was no carnage to speak of and it ran safely and smoothly. I did pass a FR500C (the Ford Grand AM Mustang Spec Racer) several times on the track - it looked really, really good - it would look much, much better in my garage. The other neat car was a vintage racer/ AV8SS Boss 302 Mustang, it had a 69 front and 70 rear so I am not sure what year it really is. Tim (akaTimZO6) was a poster child he for how not to work under a car supported by a Chinese jack. Chocks and improvised jackstands would have slowed work down on his Z28 torque arm repairs, apparently . It did finally break a sending unit on the trans sidelining the car. I did get to see the torque arm pipe clamp fix fail in a spectacular manner coming out of Turn 14 when Tim put the hammer down. Other than dodging pieces of pipe clamp it was a neat thing to see. All we had to do on Saturday was bleed the brakes in the '99.

Sunday was the day of my comeuppance. Jake was in the '99 and I was in the ZO6 - guess who could not get in a passing position in the designated passing zones? I said bad, bad things about his ancestry at that point. I believe there is videotape of me chasing him around the track, several times. He drove the car very,very well and kept his concentration up. He did lift a little early, brake too early, not carry enough speed through the kink and turn a little early at times (it is very possible that I have been known to do the same). Since I am the chief mechanic and financial sponsor it did not bother me very much he was a little cautious. Tim took his tow vehicle (AWD SS Pickup) out on the track on Sunday - it was a hoot to watch it chase down cars. He did figure out, eventually, that a broke car and broke tow vehicle is not the best plan. Jake rode with him the truck and had a great time. I watched him chase down Mustangs - it was like a shark in the minnow pool.

In total we used three tanks of gas in the '99, two tanks of gas in the ZO6, consumed most of an unknown set of pads on the '99, most of a new set of Kumho street tires on the '99, made playdo out of the tires on the ZO6 and had a blast. In summary:
* It was a safe, well run and organized weekend
* Jake had more fun than he could stand
* Jake thinks Tim is great, a little crazy, but great
* I am looking forward to doing it again
* I need to remember to bring jackstands so Tim can stay
safe
* Next time, somehow, I am going to have to even the odds - OK cheat so I can pass Jake..
* Road Atlanta with NASA this weekend
* In the end, it is really the people at the events that make
them so fun

rbl

We agree and feel that this event was run centerline of perfect. Tons of track time, precision performance by everyone and great cooperation.

We're sorry we did not get to meet you folks ... we mostly hung out with Jerry and John. My little spec racer just gave me fits with a broken bracket and fuel pump relay so I only got to run 3 sessions. Debbie had fun and just kept using fuel!

A great event and thanks to John and Tony at the Cobra Club.

Rodsmith

Thanks for posting. I was only there on friday in the non-supercharged yellow S2000. I enjoyed talking with you at lunch and am now looking for an 02 or 03 ZO6. And you're right on the money about the people that run CMP. They are first class people.

gpm30236

Thanx for the posting, sounds like a gr8 weekend, Did an event with those guys last year and had a gr8 time, def looking forward to doing more of their track days.

injuner

Sounds like you had a fun weekend! I really enjoyed the writeup.

Did you replace the wrecked Z28 with the FRC? Sounds like a great upgrade. I wish I could of made it up there (still haven't run CMP) but I was down crewing for Chris Ingle at roebling...

Jonathan

Falcon

Jeffro, glad to hear you and the Jakeanator had a good time. Good report as always.

See you at Road Atlanta!

varkwso

It was nice meeting you - a ZO6 will be a nice upgrade

Truthfully, they are hard to beat as a track car

We are looking forward to it but maybe I should be working the corner and Jake running the track

Sounds like you had a fun weekend! I really enjoyed the writeup.

I think it was one of the smarter things I did actually ...the Z was fun but this car has a lots more options and capabilities - Lexington and still have not run CMP!!!!

It was a great time - but I stayed so busy on the track that I did not get to meet everyone.

Definitely need to plan better social hour events!

Hazman

Hijack mode on
Glad everyone enjoys our events. We will be running at Talladega Gran Prix May 20th and then at Gingerman September 23-24. We also host three high speed autocross events each year at the 411 speedway in Knoxville, TN. These events are run on a banked track and use the infield crossovers. It takes about 65 or so seconds to run the course. Kind of a mini road course. Even a Mustang gets up to 80 or so. You can find more info on our website svtcobraclub.com or go over to the southeast forum here and look for threads I have there.
Hijack mode off

varkwso

So I guess that means Jayne can get up to just under 100 or so?

Conflicted

Jeff

Just wanted to say it was great meeting you and thanks for all the help/advice and the ride (now I know what the car is capable of even if my nerve is not). With this being my first event I learned a lot (mainly that I have a lot more to learn) and I had a blast doing it. Reminding myself that I needed the car to get to work on Monday morning helped my right foot lift a little early and keep me out of trouble. I wanted to get the basics down before I started adding speed. I will definitely be out on the track again.

Thanks again.

Rob

Allthrottleandsomebottle

Jeff, sounds like fun once again
IF ya don't forget something, it ain't a trip
PS, I think I have my SC issue resolved.........made a call yesterday

varkwso

My pleasure - consider Apr 14-15 at Roebling Road for another event


On the other note - glad you got the SC issue resolved - they were less than helpful when I called...