I had just gotten the car back with changed fluids, and brakes, and I was looking forward to getting some instruction from Rick Weldon. I did actually get a few laps from him eventually, but they ended as I got a total brake system failure: loss of hydraulic pressure in the breaking zone before T14.
Thankfully I was able to stop with the parking brake, go around the tire wall at the end of 14, and crub off the rest with a 180 on the tarmac connecting to T8.
Turns out that one of the speedbleeder screws check valve apparently failed, causing the loss of pressure and a good size bubble in the system.
After that, I decided to call it a day, since there was no need to take any risks with a faulty system.

This was a trip in memory lane: former instructors from my first miata school in 2001


first lap, with John

I've decided to get the system replaced with a more reliable big brake kit from brembo, which will hopefully take care such situations in the future.

here are the remaining pictures

It had been a little while since I got to flog the red car at thunderhill. I was curious if I'd get to improve on my lap time of 2:09 without the wheel misbalance issue.

I did what I thought was a nice pass in the SSes because of an NSX that was slow and way off line, but apparently I scared the guy off a bit and he didn't expect me to pass him. Oh well, he'll check his mirrors next time and stay on line or expect to be passed, although while I was in my full right to pass him anywhere in group A (if he's not comfortable with that, and/or can't keep pace, he shouldn't be in that group), I still apologized to him since he was clearly upset and I did scare him off a bit.

The NSX is visible on a portion of the picture on the left. Eh, at least the picture shows that I wasn't the only one on his butt :)

So it sounds like I can't talk about a track day without talking about brakes. Sure enough, my pads worked, but they were struggling with keeping the car in check, which I think is partially responsible for preventing me from going faster, as I just wasn't sure I'd be able to stop in time before the next turn.
And on the 4th session, I checked my pads before going, and it looked like I had enough pads left for one more session, but that turned out to be a wrong guess (the inside pads ran out first...)

I was under the mistaken impression that the 2mm of pads I had left would be enough for one more session

turns out that was pretty optimistic on my part


The brand new pads in

and they caused me to overshoot turn 14 and have to drive straight off the track to another piece of unused asphalt before I was able to stop the car (using the backing plate and whatever pads I did have left and return to the track and exit in the right place :)

Changing the pads was kind of a bitch since they were burning, and I only got everything changed half way through my next session. Better than nothing I guess...
Unfortunately, on my last session, some guy lost it in turn 1, damaged his car, had to be towed out and ruined the rest of our session.

The flight to Willows was uneventful. My trusty driver Scott showed up early that morning, and he had fully working brake pads and tires to drive home.
Unfortunately, on the way back he got a flat on Hwy 5, just 20 miles from Willows, putting him far from home. Poor guy had to call the tow service that came with my car, and got home around midnight while I got the car home a bit past midnight. I haven't heard back on what went through the tire yet, or why the fix a flat and compressor that came with the car, didn't work.

The flight home was also a bit eventful for me: I picked up a stranded passenger and CFI in Willows who could not go home due to a failure on their plane. I was dropped them off at Sonoma County Airport and then headed home by overflying San Francisco and the California Coast (made for a pretty flight).

The remaing pictures (including GotBlueMilk shots ) are here