Thunderbolt Recap

[Darren]

Another great RTR DE weekend!  The weather Friday was a bit cold but Saturday and Sunday were very nice...We couldn't have asked for better weather to end the RTR DE year!

Big thanks especially to Myles and Paul for keeping the event running until 5 pm.  Usually the group decides to bug out early on 3 day events on the 3rd day -- this time we had open track from 4-5 pm which was just awesome track time!!!  Maybe we can even make that the format for 3 day events???

NJMP is especially expensive so getting more time for our money is a great thing.

Paul -- thanks also for allowing us to run our Lemons Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU) car with its unicorn horn.  It was very funny to see the horn flying around the track lurking just above the guardrail like a shark fin.  Let us know when you're ready to race with us -- our Lemons team is continuing to grow.  We now have 2 cars and we're making plans to build a very wacky 3rd car.

The IPU was fast!  Driving it at various times were Jeff Kiersh, Ed Tatios, Jason Mahoney, and myself.

How was everyone else's weekend???

[KennyB]

What a perfect weekend to end the RTR season!  Couldn't ask for better weather.  I don't think any cars left in need of body work (that I know of) although a couple did suffer mechanical failures. 

My car ran fine and I got some good input from a few very fast drivers.   Working with Bob Turgeon and the DA set up looks promising.  I'm trying to sort out the run files now to see what it all really means.

After VIR in a couple of weeks, its the end of the season for me.  I'll be anxious to see everyone at the track next spring.  I also offer thanks to Myles, Paul and the rest of the guys that make DE such a great time.

[bobt993]

Ken,

I stopped over several times on Sunday, but could only find a helmet on the roof of your car. Drop me a pm so we can look over your data.

[betegh9]

I wasn't there Friday, but Saturday and Sunday were awsome!!  With 2 students and sitting in with various white drivers I was kept a bit busier than I wanted and thus could not make my rounds visiting and socializing with every one.  Don't be mad,  I'll try to catch up next time.  Oh!  The winter is just too long...........Did Miles say that we will have a snow track event in January?........race what you bring.

[Jimbeau]

betegh9 wrote:

I wasn't there Friday, but Saturday and Sunday were awsome!! With 2 students and sitting in with various white drivers I was kept a bit busier than I wanted and thus could not make my rounds visiting and socializing with every one. Don't be mad, I'll try to catch up next time. Oh! The winter is just too long...........Did Miles say that we will have a snow track event in January?........race what you bring.

Ditto to the "busier" part, but it was still great fun and I was dog tired by the time I ran out of brake pad on Sunday afternoon so it was a good time to just sit at Pit Out and watch (and listen to) Darren scream around the track terrorizing all the Green solo students. Great event. Thanks Myles!

I'll bring my X-drive to the snow track event if Myles will set it up! But seriously we ought to do a "Pre-tech" tech session or something in Jan/Feb or just sit around and critique everyone's track videos and TraqMate data (and drink a beer or two). I'd actually pay admission to watch Ed K and company "string" align Ed's car or some similarly educational track setup activity to relieve the cabin-fever. I'm already dreading winter up here if you can't tell.

[emayer]

Glad everyone had an incident free and fun weekend! 

Please keep the comments coming so I can continue to live vicariously...

I'm not excited for winter but if Miles is able to put together an event I'll likely be there with something having 4 doors. 

[Darren]

Jimbeau wrote

...Darren scream around the track terrorizing all the Green solo students.

I think I was playing nice

I hit 2 pieces of debris on the track during those long sessions -- one coming out of the carousel, something black on the right, might have been a big rock. And then again later I hit something roughly baseball shaped and black going onto the front straight.

One of the two of them ripped 2 holes in the floor of my car!!! Sort of scary -- I think I need to install a foot protection plate on the floor on the driver's side.

[Wally]

Darren wrote:

.

Paul -- thanks also for allowing us to run our Lemons Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU) car with its unicorn horn. It was very funny to see the horn flying around the track lurking just above the guardrail like a shark fin. Let us know when you're ready to race with us -- our Lemons team is continuing to grow. We now have 2 cars and we're making plans to build a very wacky 3rd car.

Darren, The "Unicorn/ice cream" car was as safe or safer than most of the other cars there. The safety equipment and installation were excellent. Letting it run was a no brainer. The Unicorn horn was better attached than all the Easy Pass transponders.

[Gene]

Awesome weekend indeed!  My car (Darren's former #43 PTE blue Integra) was running great and I had a blast.  RTR events are always well run and this one was true to form.

Renting one of Bob's data boxes was a huge benefit, I went from a 1:39.019 in the first session on Saturday to a 1:35.298 on Sunday.  Not bad for 140ish HP!

[Jimbeau]

Darren wrote:

Jimbeau wrote

...Darren scream around the track terrorizing all the Green solo students.

I think I was playing nice

I hit 2 pieces of debris on the track during those long sessions -- one coming out of the carousel, something black on the right, might have been a big rock. And then again later I hit something roughly baseball shaped and black going onto the front straight.

One of the two of them ripped 2 holes in the floor of my car!!! Sort of scary -- I think I need to install a foot protection plate on the floor on the driver's side.

You always do, I was just kidding. Your car does "scream" though particularly when the rest of the cars have stock exhaust.

I thought I saw something hanging down under the passenger side footwell when you came in? I'm guessing this had something to do with the "chunks" coming from under the car that the corner workers thought were your tires?