We had 10 S2000s come to CMP for the first Carolinas-semi-organized-push-your-car-to-the-limit-track-day or CaSOPYCaTLTra .... Ok maybe I should stick to doing the write up and leave the job of coming up with an acronym for these events to someone who knows what they are doing


Six of us got to Kershaw the night before: Me (Cashout), Ron,SmcCoy (Sheila), HKStallion (Dave), Lee Gray and S2KJones (David Jones). Lee and David came from Atlanta. It was great to have them join us. Lee would later play a very important role in shooting the official 'how to spin your S2000 at 90 MPH' short film starring yours truly.. The rest got there in the morning : Bryan(SC_Highlander), Patrick (Dante), Kalan (Huskergirl) and S2KAwe (Mark )




Everybody was so ecxited in the morning that we were the first ones at the track. We got the cars ready (take everyting that is not secured out), get cars inspected, put numbers on the doors and hanged around until 8 am.

We then went to the driver's meeting where everyone was assigned an instructor. Then it was off to class to learn the basics: Flags, what the track looks like , etc.

Those of us in DE2 went onto the track first while the 'newbies' continued their class. Then the solo Group went out (Mark was the only one of us in that group).
This gave Sheila some time to lounge around in Lee's chair ...





Finally the DE1 group went out for the first time...




I tried taping my first two sessions but the camera kept turning itself off after the first lap. It would take us the until the end of the fourth session to work out what the problem was. It turns out that the battery becomes unseated when there is a certain type of vibration and turns the camera off. Fortunately it worked long enough in the third session (Read on).

Here are some shots of the DE1 group's first session.





On the second session Dave (HKStallion) got a chewing from the race director for going too slow... Lee reckons Dave was turning laps at 5:45 ...


J/K Dave was actually being a good race denizen and went to the pits to wait for a gap in the traffic.

Here are some shots from the side of the track:







On my second session Jim (my instructor) introduced me to left foot braking on turn 10 'The Kink'. It is a fast turn and the objective of left foot braking is to set the nose of the car down a little and not to actually slow down. This allowed me to increase my speed trhough this turn by about 5MPH in that session. I would push it to the limit in the next session until I actually found the limit! (about 12 MPH faster than in the first session)


Here are some shots from turn 1 (DE1 group)

 

At the end of the second session Sheila and Lee had already spun their cars (Both on 11). Little did I know I would be joining their little club in the next session.

But that was in the future.. for the moment we were just relaxing and talking to the instructors:





Third session rolls around and I am getting the hang of this left foot braking thing. So here I am going faster and faster, having a little trouble with turn 8. I kept hitting the gators in session 2 and was getting a little better in session three. On what must have been the fourth lap I nailed that sucker and exited the turn pretty darn fast. Jim was pretty excited (you can hear it on the video). Then comes the kink, I am doing over 100MPH, slight tap on the brakes, a little too much turn of the steering wheel and WOOOOHHHAAAAA !!! I just joined Sheila and Lee's 'I Spun at CMP' club (I hear we are going to be issuing official T-Shirts soon )



Video (Thanks to my friend Brendan at WebPlanet)



Shortly after the session was over I was presented with my very own piece of CMP (and a $25 bill). It was the 400 Feet Marker I took out during my spin...





After the fourth session Dave (S2kJones) and I got signed off by our instructors to go out on our own in the last session. I wasn't sure how I would go (after the spin) not having anyone to tell me when I was really messing up. The concerns were gone by the second lap and I was turning some great laps (no video. Battery was dead). Dave was glowing at the end of the session. Like a kid in a candy store


When I pulled over there was smoke coming out of my left rear brake pad. All I could think of was : COOOL. That means I am braking better (later, harder)!!.
You cannot really see it in the picture but if you look at the rotor area right above the caliper you can see a white discoloration... that is smoke my friend..





I would like to thank everyone for coming out. Specially Lee and Dave. It is a long way from Atlanta and I appreciate the effort.

I had a great time and am looking forward to do it again on Nov 21st. Watch out for a new thread in the next couple of days.

 

wow looks like you guys had a gret time! Wish I was there but had some things to tie up around here in atlanta.....theres always another track day

 

Well, I just finished converting the video to quicktime.

I had dubbed Lee's view onto my tape but .... #$%%#@@ battery died when i was watching it at the track and i forgot to fast forward past it when i put the new battery on before taping the next session.... Darn!


Lee, can you post your video (I'll add a link to it on the main post)


Now I have to find how to upload videos....

 

Hard to see the smoke you're talking about Diego...but in that same pic I seem to see a horrendous chunk missing in your wheel/rim. Is that an optical illusion to some garbage stuck to the rim...or ...is that where you hit the 400' marker...

Sounds like ya'll definitely had a blast. Great write up & loved the pics

- Dave

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by w1ngman
Hard to see the smoke you're talking about Diego...but in that same pic I seem to see a horrendous chunk missing in your wheel/rim.

 

Very cool. I'm jealous. I don't think I'll do a track day until I can afford some track only wheels and tires. I only did a track day once, quite a while ago in a different car, but I wore out the street tires.

Diego, I thought you were using some different tires for the track? Did they still rub after you rolled the fenders?

Glad you all had a good time and no one did any damage.


For some reason spell check only works about half the time for me. Please forgive any errors.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Timber

Diego, I thought you were using some different tires for the track? Did they still rub after you rolled the fenders?

[QUOTE]

Yeah, there was still too much rubbing (front and back). It was those big ass 225/45 and 245/45 tires I put on.

I have not decided if I will keep the wheels and put smaller tires (205 and 225) or sell the whole thing and just buy tires as I need them.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cashout

 

Certainly looks like a fantastic time and the weather cooperating was a huge PLUS! Thanks for the pics Diego. Wish I could have attended, stuck working, you know how it can be.