| 2006/11/17 430 at Thunderhill | |
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2006-11-17 08:01
by Merlin
in Cars, Ncars
I can't believe it had been more than a year since I had last gone to the track, but with my miata requiring more love^H^H^H^Hhelp than I can give it, and my mostly flying machines that actually do have wings, I guess it just had been that long.
After the last (I'm sure minor, but annoying nonetheless) fuel delivery issue with my miata, and my not being a mechanic, I decided to call it quits, and sell my miata. That gave way for another car, and it was more than time to go back to the track to try it out. Since I was still half on European time, getting up at 05:30 to go to the track wasn't that hard, so I just left that morning for Thunderhill. Weather was not that great, and the 505 raceway was fogged to the ground, with a police escort enticing everyone to stay below 70mph anyway (which I got all the way to thunderhill, somewhat slowing me down (about 2:15-2:20 to get there)
There were lots of varied cars in attendance, including some fast lotuses, and a Radical racecar (that one was fast).
Unfortunately, my brand new brake pads barely lasted 100 miles of track, and I decided to call it quits while I still had enough pads left to go home
Although good time was had nonetheless.... The car felt solid and fairly forgiving, even with the traction control in race mode, and while I didn't get very exact times, I got down around 2:10 or so. I know the car can be pushed harder, but I'd rather work my way up to it while keeping it with the shiny side up :) and I also felt the car's weight a bit in the turns, but especially in braking, where I found that the stock pads didn't actually do that good a job stopping the car fast in my opinion (especially if they wear out that quickly in addition to that). Well, I'll see what can be done next time.
My timings were a bit sloppy as I tried to use my GPS watch as an automated timing device, but it just didn't work that well this time. I think a running/biking watch wasn't really designed to work at 120mph+, and pinpoint a loop point ot reset the lap timer at that speed :) Drive home was uneventful, although not that fast due to generally too many people on the road, and left lane camping (2h25 or so). You can look at the rest of the pictures of the TEAM event at Thunderhill |
