msm_s2k

Jake and I went down for a two day track event in Pahrump Nevada put on by racerfactory.com this last weekend. Wow ... what a blast!!!

The event was run in three separate groups with each group on track for about 30 minutes. Since this was our first trip to the track, Jake and I both started in the beginner group. After lapping everyone in the beginner group in the first session, we were moved into the intermediate group ... and eventually were moved into the advanced group. Participation in SCCA events provided excellent background and experience and the transition to the track was pretty simple.

In total we ended up with about 12 hours of seat time! They had race fuel at the track ... and we went through PLENTY of it. With lap after lap after lap there was a lot of time to experiment with different lines and to work on keeping the car in balance. I learned a lot and had even more fun than I ever expected.

There was an exciting mix of cars at the event. John Morris, the new ownder of the Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch was there with a group of about 10 other drivers in Radicals. John Morris is the western region distributor for Radical race cars ... and sells more Radicals than anyone else in the world. For those of you with XBox, these are the same Radical S3 Turbo race cars as in Project Gotham Racing 2 ... unbelievable cars! Imagine a car with 550 RWHP that only weights 1250 lbs. Other cars included a mix of Porches including a GT3S, GT2, 911 Cabriolet, Boxter S ... one Z06 Vette, some BMW M3s, Audio S4, S2Ks, R32s, quite a few Mitsubishi Evolutions including one of the new Evo RS's.

The racerfactory group did an exceptional job organizing and running the event. Much like the URSCCA ... a great group of people that we thoroughly enjoyed meeting and hangin out with.

One of the highlights was taking a ride with John Morris in his Radical. Holy shiiite those things are fast! Fastest time in a non-Radical was the Z06 vette with a time of 1:56. In the Radical, John Morris times were in 1:37 and mid 1:40s!

Jake ended up beating my best time by .2 seconds. He ended up with a 1:58.109 -- 3rd fastest time for the event for a non-Radical car -- and I ended up with a 1:58.364 -- 4th fastest time for a non-Radical. Two fastest cars were the Z06 (1:56) and another S2K (1:57.9).

Many thanks to Christian from Modern Garage for coming down at his own expense to double-check the tune and setup of the S2K.

We're going to garage the S2K out in northern cali this winter, so we can make it out to the many track events in northern and southern cali. I'm hooked!

Here's a shot of Jake from the first (beginner) session:


Here's a shot of Jake riding with me in the second session:

MattH25

That's right! He probably did that with his mullet in his eyes half the time too!

Sounds like you had a blast , also, very impressive times you have there. I may have to make it out sometime as long as I can convince everyone I turned a 3 minute lap cause I'm a "newbie"

msm_s2k

The "he" in the Z06 was a she!

She was probably about your age too ... and the Z06 was red.

Euclid

it was matt in a wig

MattH25

That was supposed to be between you and I!!!!!!!!!!

S2K1

Sounds like fun Mike! IVRA is having an event at the end of October I believe out at Wendover as usual. You get plenty of track time there although it isn't very organized. I may bring the RX8 out there.

Bryant

Sounds really fun. I used to auto-X my CRX and alwasy wanted to get to a track. With the new car I hope to get out more often. I am pretty sure I will be at the IVR event along with a few other friends. It would be nice to see other S's out on the track.

GideonP

Wow, I didn't realize there were other S2KI members out there that weekend. I was there for saturday in the bone stock Sebring Silver S2K. I just picked up the S two weeks ago so this was my first track day with it. I jumped in with the beginner group but moved up to intermediate midway through the day as it seemed that I was passing too often in beginners. However, I do remember that the only car that passed me early on was that silver Evo. Makes me feel better now, knowing that you guys eventually ran advanced.

I actually came into the event wondering what type of mods I would want to start with in the S. However, after letting my friend (advanced driver) take it around for a couple of laps with me riding shotgun, I quickly realized that the stock S2000 was still a much faster car than I am a driver. It was a great learning day for myself and I felt that RacerFactory did an excellent job organizing and running the event.

Hopefully I'll get to 'catch-up' with you guys at a future track day. Cheers!

msm_s2k

Hey GideonP, sorry we didn't have a chance to talk. I posted some pics that may include some shots of your silver S2K. Pics are available from imagestation. If you don't already have an account, you have to register to view or download the pics ... good news is registration is free. Here's the link:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2973055093

There is an interesting sequence of pics of a black VW losing it on turn 8. Sequence is pic 1422 through 1429. In 1429 you can see the car just barely see the car in where it finally stopped (look behind the bushes).

-MSM