can i still use the milano's for sunday? if someone else wants them they can have them, i just don't want to be on my all weather tires. sorry i haven't called, i'm a ******* with the phone, always forget and i'm in class from 10-10 today. thankfully we are wi-fi so i can check the forums!

 

I burn more off my all season tires for now... probably will get new rubber in the next three months anyway.

All packed and ready to go... now ... gotta get some sleep...

 

X'ed, thanks for the call today... It made a double check of those Milano wheels / lugs again to make sure... They will not fit onto the car without special shaped / length lug bolts, which as I now remember, I had to get when I bought the wheels.

 

AND... he doesn't have anymore...

Beautiful day at California Raceway. Got a nice front straight video of Derek on a good run.

Can't wait to drive this track tomorrow for myself... it's MASSIVE!

Wheee!!! I'm sooo pumped!

 

Jody: I just got home (sat evening)... I didn't know you brought your laptop down from SF...

I don't know what happened to me today... After the second event, I felt like I hadn't slept for 3 days... Perhaps it was all the stuff Friday getting the car down there early, teched etc. and then racing all day. And then, to top it off, the lack of sleep last night and having to wake up early to pick-up Joseph...

My times today were 12 seconds off the pace from yesterday and I just couldn't focus. Hell, I had lower class cars with faster times in that third event... for that matter, I couldn't even carry-on a conversation after lunch... All I wanted to do was sleep...

Well, it's 7 pm and I'm going to take a shower and sleep ASAP and not get to the track until 6:30-7 am... Please walk the other guys through the paces in the morning, tech, registration, etc. and feel free to open the garage. I'll park my truck in the other lot, so they can use the space we have coned off...

I'll call you from the road in the morning...

 

Some beautiful twist of fate has allowed us to get garage #33 which is in the same door bay as the one we already had #32. We now have TWO garages for Sunday and can probably fit all four Crossfires in there (well... part way for two).

So the garage issue is solved... We will try and keep two of the three car deep spaces coned off directly across from the garages for our Crossfire cheer squad.

As for me... I had a GREAT day on the track... only one underwear check necessary after a spin out directly in front of me and another driver in turn six. Sphincter factor of about 8.5.

I did manage to hit just over 130 mph on the front straight before having to get out of it to coast into turn #1. Entered turn #1 at 120 mph and proceeded to slow down to 105 for the remainder of turn #1 and then kept it at 105 for all of turn #2 and into the back straight just before turn #3. Then went down from 105 to 45 in a really short distance... I think those Porterfield pads are DEFINITELY bedded now.

Can't wait to see the other two Crossfires in class tomorrow... GET THERE EARLY to get tech inspected. The driver meeting will start promptly at 7:45 am... so I suggest getting there no later than 6:00 am when the doors open. I will arrive at about 6:15 am and will be available for questions and guidance after that.

Cheers!

 

man i can't wait, finally got the sticker done, was more of a project than i thought, but they look really good. i'll be there at 6 am tomorrow. now i got to find out what i have to bring, i sorta slacked of with this thing this month. i have to bring the tech sheet, right? do they give me a number or do i put my own? i'll go look over at nasa forums right now.

 

You can put a number on with masking tape... we have some for you to use.

Bring: Tech Sheet (pre checked by you), printed copy of your e-mail receipt. If you still need a helmet, Derek will be bringing one for you to borrow. This helmet must be present for your tech inspection.

First thing... Pick up the helmet from Derek before you get in line for tech inspection just outside the center garage area (right next to the impound area on the garage map) and get tech inspected. (If you don't have a cover on your battery positive terminal and they call you on it, simply promise to put some tape over it and we'll make sure you get that fixed).

Second thing... find our garage and park your car.

Third thing... get over to the middle garage building in the meeting room and sign your waiver form to get your green wrist band. You will NOT be allowed on the track or in the hot pit area without one.

Fourth thing... stay in the meeting room if it's almost 7:45 am. The drivers meeting starts then followed by the HPDE orientation class.

Hope that helps.

BTW... here's a video clip for fun.

 

Whew... what a great weekend... tiring, but great.

I'd like to thank the Crossfires that showed up Saturday to give us support at the event. SRT_SIX and ??? (can't remember the forum name).

I'd also like to thank X'ed and SRT6_crossfire for participating with me in the HPDE event. I know we didn't get to go out at the exact same time on the track... but it was still cool seeing other Crossfires out there with me.

SRT6_Crossfire, please let us know the status on your brake wear sensor.

Pictures to follow in their own thread. Video also for those who actually care what some of my sessions looked like from the car.

Cheers!

 

NO... I THANK YOU and DEREK aka HDDP!!! for being such great guys and helping me with my car trouble. Sorry, had so much stuff going through my head at the time that I should have offered to buy all of you dinner and drinks. Next time, we go out, I owe you guys at least that.

BTW, car is back to normal, besides the brake sensor. After the 40 mile drive home, the check engine and esp/bas lights went away after I restarted the car. WHAT A RELIEF! Oh and a few miles after driving on the freeway, had to pullover and do an emergency stop... because I couldn't remember if I torqued the bolts on my wheel, and the last thing i wanted to see was my front wheel racing past me on the freeway. and it was by the way.

Give me your email address so I can send you a copy of the pic with the hotties. Also if you can send me a copy of the four of us lined up.

Mike... as much as you're sorry about passing me on the no passing zone... dude.. i knew you didn't have any choice to do that with the speed you're carrying on that oval and braking for you would have been disastrous.. I probably, would have done the same.

We kinda lucked out that 1) my car didn't go on limp mode while going over 100 mph and 2) I knew you were behind me and the moment you disappeared from my rearview mirror, i knew you were about to pass me.

If i didn't see you prior, i was at that point of the track where I was supposed to track up and would probably have hit you or forced you to the wall. Either way, end result wouldn't have been pretty at that speed. Oh and thanks for lunch.

Jody - yes put videos and pics please.

thanks again guys...

 

Jody: I just got the car off the trailer and in the garage... I had to check out this video you shot on friday...Thanks for posting the video, but when I started to check it out, it buffers to 100%, starts to play, the locks-up just at the point where I'm entering the tunnel to the hot pit lane and then starts to rebuffer again but locks-up at 15%...Could be an encoding error... Granted I'm on a MAC and your on PC... But I have the mac version of MS Media player... I think you should try to DL it and see if it plays all the way through.

Alright, I gotta get the rest of the stuff out of the truck and loaded into the garage...

Perhaps you should start a new thread Post Cal Speedway... And we'll all start posting there... I gotta get back to work...

 

Never mind... It plays through after I changed some settings...

 

yeah hernan, it was a sticky situation, i just go so used to you pulling away from me at that point that when i had so much speed on you i got stuck and didn't want to hesitate so i just made a decision, maybe not the right one, and went with it. i didn't want to back off with how high i was banked, but anyway, it was all good in the end. we had some pretty good sessions since we were together most of the day, i had alot of fun trading positions with you. i only wish i had some of those horses you do.

hddp, thanks for the driving advice and helping me mentally map out the track mentally.

jody, thanks for getting me all set up in the morning and pointing me to tech.

but guys, i think next time i go on a sunday, i'll be ok if i get it at 7. i was literally the first car at the track, but at least i got teched first!

also, i really enjoyed passing that evo 9 on my last run. i was waiting all day to get a run in with that guy. it was really really fun, the crossfire has really great brakes and handling stock.

anyways, it was a great time!! maybe if im not so tired next time we can all hang out after, i just couldn't sleep last night. thanks again!

 

WOW,
Sounds like you guys had a blast. Love the pics too x'ed.

HDDP, hope you got my voice mail. I was snowed in at the airport in Baltimore when I called. ARGHHH... Wish I could have been there. Didn't even get home till early early this morning (sunday).

See yall next run!

 

No problem Hernan... Glad to see you and Mike at the track today. I think we could have tracked down the problem sooner, but who would have figured the MAF would have popped-out of the throttle body ? And isn't it in a great place to not be able to see it, or get your hand to it ? PS, Now I know that the MAF is located in a different place on the SRT6... Mine is at the top of the intake, yours is tucked way under the bottom side... We never would have figured that problem out if I hadn't had my hand stuffed under the TB when it backfired and I felt a puff of air / exhaust come out a hole at the base of the TB... Then, I reached down further and felt a sensor dangling and couldn't see it from my angle... Thank Jody for having the patience to re-insert it from the other side of the engine... I'm not sure why it would have popped-out in the first place unless it was seated properly... Did you guys have the backside of the air intake and elbow off the car at some point ?

Ah well, I gotta eat... Jody is going to start another thread for all of our "after Cal Speedway stuff"...

PS: Get a new brake wear sensor, I think they're about $10... You can drive the car fine... They are only to alert you when your brake pads are wearing low...

 

I think I'll just pick up in Mike's 'track day pictures' since it's already there.

 

i'll pm you the pictures tonight jody. i was sooo tired that i left my key in the door of my car at the train station this morning!!! i haven't freaked out that much ever before!!! luckily my girlfriend doesn't work until much later so she was able to get the key, but man i was close to a meltdown, after the most fun day of my life i almost lost my car. anyway, i'll send all you guys pics tonight, i got pics of all of us, about 20.

 

WOW!
While I was watching NASCAR I could have gone to the track and watch you guys. I did not realize that HDPE was an educational driving as well. I have always wanting to take some courses on offensive driving or at least how to better handle my xfire or any other car for that matter on the road.
The next time you guys get together let me know and I will take pictures for you. I have great lenses to get all kinds of shots.

 

Well, HPDE is exactly what it stands for "High Performance Driver Education" and in level one, which SRT6_Crossfire and X'ed were in, they send instructors with you to help you learn the line, how to brake, enter, apex and exit your turns along with much more.

These instructors are all race licensed and are a wellspring of knowledge about the course and how to handle your car.

If you do join us, you will probably have a hard time taking pictures if you are participating in HPDE.

Hope to see you at the next California Crossfire Racing event... Thanks for the stickers X'ed... they ROCK!

 

no prob, i think if you run a hair dryer over it and smooth it out you should be able to get rid of the bubbles. i'm going to try it soon. i also got one of those cool stickers that is the shape of the racetrack, i'll be putting that on soon too.