Originally Posted by Budman05

I looked at a couple local Formula Vee that are for sale. You can get a race car, trailer and some spare parts anywhere from $7k to $25k. I decided against open wheel simply because I am a bit concerned about the safety issue (exposed helmet, no roof, very tight cockpits etc).

Originally Posted by dc_s2k

Ok deadline past. So this weekend at Summit Point...

Wheel to wheel club Racing is a whole 'nother level of intensity over time trials or Lemons/Chumpcar. I'll leave out the details like qualifying as that is basically the same as TT but the fast guys are more plentiful and way more agressive about getting around you to find open track.

We did rolling starts, which entails doing 3/4 of a lap to warm up and then line up 2 by 2, in second gear around turn 9. When the green flag goes, which you may or may not see, you go flat out to turn one where all hell breaks loose. One the way, you want to set up for a good entry while also defending your position. Its a complete madhouse and take some real strategy and agressiveness to keep your position or gain position. I employed neither. My primary goal was not to hit/get hit and keep my nose clean during my 4 race rookie season. Suffice to say, turn one in the first race was nuts. I got passed on both sides at the same time in turn 2 with the cars about 8 inches away. It is clear that while speed is important, working to gain position takes skill and and strategy. I don't have either of those at this level, and I thought I had some pretty strong skills given the thousands of track miles I have at this point. Driving the school line is more or less pointless early in the race when the field is bunched up.

So, I the other Honda Challenge 1 guys, having both skill and strategy not to mention more power and less weight, immediately left me in turn one. Then the CMC (Camaro Mustang Challenge) Mustangs passed me as these guys are a lot more skilled than me. Note that I am running 1.23s and they are running 1.26s. That doesn't matter nearly as much as I thought in a race.

The field thinned out and I settled into a groove. It was me against the mustangs. Not want to go all Rambo on the 2 Mustangs in front of me, I held back even though they were slowing me down. It was actually a good learning experience to watch others pass them. It was also a hoot to watch them slide around the track. Sooner or later that got boring so I finally got around them. I passed one of them on the inside of turn 5, with the only part of my car on the track being my right tires. That was fun.

I got more comfortable and aggressive in the second, longer 40 minute race sunday. Still held up by the mustangs as the out accelerate me at the start, but got around them sooner. The whole experience of racing for me thus far is this:

Despite 50+ track days and around 20 hours of wheel to wheel in Lemons, I really don't know anything about how to go fast with other race cars. Racing is a radical learning accelerator, and I noticed improvements in lap times and corner speed from the beginning to the end of the race. If you want to go fast, go wheel to wheel. You'll get fast.

You can go alot faster than you think you can. Watching others do it right in front of you make you realize this. Having a rabbit to chase helps.

It takes a lot of help and guidance to go racing. I would have never gotten to do this without help from the S2000 and racing community. Skip, Pete, John Oldt, Wonger, Rob, a bunch of Honda Challenge guys that you probably have not heard of, Erik Olson, Kevin Helms, Andrew Lee. I really appreciate all the help and hope to pay to forward to another aspiring racer one day.

Originally Posted by dc_s2k

Ok deadline past. So this weekend at Summit Point...

Wheel to wheel club Racing is a whole 'nother level of intensity over time trials or Lemons/Chumpcar. I'll leave out the details like qualifying as that is basically the same as TT but the fast guys are more plentiful and way more agressive about getting around you to find open track.

Racing is a radical learning accelerator, and I noticed improvements in lap times and corner speed from the beginning to the end of the race. If you want to go fast, go wheel to wheel. You'll get fast.

You can go alot faster than you think you can. Watching others do it right in front of you make you realize this. Having a rabbit to chase helps.

It takes a lot of help and guidance to go racing. I would have never gotten to do this without help from the S2000 and racing community. Skip, Pete, John Oldt, Wonger, Rob, a bunch of Honda Challenge guys that you probably have not heard of, Erik Olson, Kevin Helms, Andrew Lee. I really appreciate all the help and hope to pay to forward to another aspiring racer one day.

Originally Posted by dc_s2k

Ok deadline past. So this weekend at Summit Point...



You can go alot faster than you think you can.

Originally Posted by robrob

Matt, thanks for the write up. So no on track interaction with any of the other Honda Challenge guys? What times did you qualify with?

The S2000 is something of a momentum car so when we're in traffic and get balked it's harder for us to make it up where the V8 guys can hammer the throttle and get back to their desired corner entry speed.

Originally Posted by dc_s2k

Not really. I qualified around a 124.3 or 4, behind John Oldt and Kevin Helms. I know I can match John's qualifying times around 1:23 as I have ran a 1:23 flat before in TT. Kevin is qualifiying in the 122 or 121 range and I dont think i can go that fast on RA1s. They blew me away in the drag race between T10 and 1 at the start. I qualified ahead of an integra driven by Mike Harris, but he also walked me on the start. Then he got 2 cars between us (strategy being more important than lap times, him knowing how to devise and execute said strategy and me not) and held me off as I spent the race battling to get around the Mustangs. In the second race i worked my ass off to catch Mike, which i did, and then he promptly ran out of gas.

My car is 165 lbs overweight, is making less power than Oldt's S2000 and Helms' K20 Civic, and I was not aggressive in defending or passing. I plan to address all three in good time.

If I can block the mustangs from passing me at the start, I can put enough distance between them and me not to worry about them. Then i can focus on the Honda's.

Originally Posted by clarkster009

Nice write up Matt. Sounds pretty crazy. Good luck out there in upcoming races!

Nice to "meet" you Aaron. If you have any questions about this track stuff PM me, because I am pretty much a novice myself. Also, I run a store on the side and sell parts, if you need anything. If you don't want to buy Oleg's pads for whatever reason I have some brand new XP12s and XP8s I am trying to offload. Or, if anybody is looking for these since Ron changed his mind about tracking the car, shoot me a PM.