Sears Point - a tale of two days

[Don Plumley]

NCRC/Trackquest was at Sears Point on Nov 14-15. Perfect weather at this legendary track. Jack, Tyson and Nostatic were joined by yours truly for his very first DE.

Jack and Tyson are on the road, so I thought I'd whet your appetites for Jack's more lucid story telling and photography with a few snaps and some interesting events. (que foreshadowing music. Dun dun duuuuuun)

Here's Black Beauty II, roof/tire rack off and ready to roll:


Nostatic's track-seasoned SC:


And my track-virgin Carrera:


Herr Doktor Schmidt and Jack begin making their evil plans:


Since it was my first track day, I was appropriately tagged:


Tyson cooks it up on the straight - preparing for an exhibition race on day 2:


Everyone had a great day. Well, Nostatic's car had a blown cam oil line, but with Herr Dr. Schmidt on hand and a new part, he made short work of the repair, once again proving how robust and easy to maintain these great cars are.

Hmmm, wonder what was in store for day two?

[Don Plumley]

Even better weather greeted us for day two. I started to get a handle on this very technical track. I became very good at giving a point-by.

Das Zoom after a day of track patina:


I'm feeling good enough for an Olsen-esq self-portrait:


Sears is a very difficult track. Intimidating walls everywhere keep all on their toes.

Tyson set his usual blistering pace (I got a ride!) and dispensed helpful track tips to all. One tip in particular: Don't over-cook turn 11. (11 is a hairpin at the end of a set of straights, speeds reach about 105 if you are Tyson). There's nothing to be gained, and much to be lost. Que foreshadowing music (dun dun duuuuuun).

I went out with my instructor in the red group session - funny, the cars already out were all back in the hot pit. Hmmm, wonder what happened?


















Oh No!


What happened, Jack? "Turn 11, spun into the wall."

What will happen to our heroic leader and his faithful steed? Is this the end of BBII - and/or the beginning of BBIII? Why didn't Jack listen to Tyson?

[mmastro]

Oh $hit....That's no Bueno.....Hope it's just cosmetic.

[Don Plumley]

Tyson inspects the damage:


How does it look, doc?


Tyson says - no problem, just a flesh wound. So Jack sets out with his usual flair for zip-tie engineering and:


Tah Dah - BBII is ready to roll! I particularly like the new 911RS brake light lens - cap from a can of brake cleaner. Nice work, Jack!

This shot shows the impact was a perfect side hit - notice the tread marks from the tire wall.


The force was distributed enough to limit damage to panels - the muffler/headers are shifted a bit, but Jack took it back to the track later in the day. When Jack posts I'm sure he'll have a lot more to say about his dance with the wall.

But was the day done for our heroes?

[nostatic]

a few more for the mill

second session I got black flagged for smoking in turn 10. Turns out the tensioner feed was spewing oil. Tyson called Hayden at Wevo who suggested we call S-Car-Go. 15 mintues later Calvin and I were driving Tyson's car to San Rafael to get the parts. Following a delay of about 20 mintues due to an overturned dump truck, we were back and Tyson had her up and running. Was able to get back out for 4th and 5th sessions.


Second red session today i heard the skid, but no big cruch, just a thud. Tyson wasn't out (conserving tires), so I thought, "hmm, hope that's not Jack."


At least he has a new paint scheme idea...

Needless to say the next two run sessions I was tip toeing through turn 11. Reminded me of when my instructor went into the wall in turn 4 at Laguna. Took me a day and a half to get over that one. I ended up bailing after the 3rd session today because my pit crew was cranky and I figured I'd quit while I was ahead. Frickin' tough track!

[Shuie]

dammit man. Glad everyone is okay.

[Don Plumley]

The exhibition race was great. Tyson was in a four-way battle for third place - against a Radical, Turbo, and something else fast - cars with bigger brakes and better acceleration. But racing first and foremost, is all about the man behind the wheel, not the car under his seat.

Tyson gave his challengers their money's worth, when suddenly on a 2-3 shift - bang! Try 4th - grinding noises. Oh No!

His tranny is hosed.

Our heroes packed up for the day, ready to go home:


Nostatic left a little earlier for the long drive back down to LA. Tyson flat-bedded his car to a friend's house, and is driving back down with Jack.

Now get this: Both are driving at Thunder Hill this weekend. So what's a die-hard racing guy gonna do? Drive up Friday with a spare tranny on Jack's roof rack (I kid you not), swap it into his car, then continue the drive up north to the track. Wow.

Stay tuned for more pictures and a better description from Jack and Tyson after they get back in the saddle after a very long day and drive.

See you guys next weekend at Thunder Hill!

(the pics degraded on the upload - I might work on that tomorrow)

[mmastro]

Tyson, Jack, Todd and Don....YOU GUYS ARE FLIPPIN' HARD CORE!!!!!!!! I Love it!!

[nostatic]

from the trip up




Tyson detailing his car...wtf?!? (pit crew not included)

[nostatic]

gratuitous shot day two:


Bought the boy a Ferrari (and a 917, not shown)


Gratuitous #2 JO-style (driving)

[gassy]

GREAT THREAD!!!
MORE PICS AND STORIES PLEASE.
PLEASE?

[nostatic]

well, here's my story, condensed version. Packed up the car Sunday morning for the road trip. The boy was going to be "sick" from school on Monday and Tuesday as mom had to be out of town on business. *cough*. We headed out about 10am after the obligatory stop at Peets. Tyson called around 11am saying they were at Buttonwillow. I was about a half hour behind them, so they (Tyson and Jack) hung out at Denny's until we caught up. We continued north up the fascinating I5, accompanied by almond trees and cow stench.

We took an unexpected turn west on the 152. Upon stopping for gas I discovered that Tyson and Jack were going to make a stop at Wevo. I knew my pit crew wouldn't appreciate that, so when we hit the 101 north I kept on truckin'. My destination was Don's house, as he had generously offered to put Calvin and I up for two nights. We rolled into Petaluma right on schedule around 5pm. Don and his family have a beautiful place in the rolling hills, and they made us feel right at home. Thanks, Don!

Monday morning it was beautiful and we made our way to the track. This was Don's first event, it was my first time at Sears Pt., but Jack and Tyson had been here before (Tyson's favorite track). I had Tyson for my "coach", running in the intermediate/point-by group. He went out with me the first session. My gawd, what a difficult track. blind corners, walls everywhere. The first session I was just trying to figure out what the hell was going on. By the end I knew some of the corners but had no clue from lap to lap what order they were coming in. Frustrating and scary.

Second session was better, starting to figure out where things were. What i've found is that once I figure out what gear I'm supposed to be in at certain points of the track I'm a lot more comfortable. That started to make sense and the lap times started to drop a bit. But man, did I mention that the track is hard and scary? Tyson didn't like my approach into 11..."too hot." I was used to the skid pad at Streets where if you overcook and spin, no problem. Here there is a tire barrier (as we now know).

As I said above, I got black flagged in the second session. Actually I had come in twice to get space as there were some really slow cars in the group. The second time I came in for a gap he sent me to the pits "smoking in 10." Tyson determined that the cam feel line was leaking, so a couple phone calls, a trip to San Rafael, and Tyson's expertise had me back on track for sessions 4 and 5 (only missing 3). Thanks Tyson!

By the end of the day I was getting comfortable and managed a 2:04 and change. There was a lot left on the table and I was looking forward to Tuesday (today). The evening saw pizza with the family, then wine with Don, Jack and Tyson. I retired early to try and get Calvin to sleep (pry him away from playing Battlefield 1942 with Don's son) at 10:30pm.

The am came way too early. The weather was even nicer, and I was looking forward to lapping now that I had a decent understanding of the track. Another instructor had offered to go out with me, so I took him up on the offer first session. I was in decent rhythm, and he had a few corrections, but in general I had decent smooth lines. Then Jack had his little "incident", and afterwards I didn't exactly have the fire in the belly. My second session was solid but I was really cautious going into 11. I was getting smoother and quicker in some sections (passing 993s , 996s and e63/e46 M3s make me happy), but still not really setting blazing lap times. Third session I took Tyson out with me and he ironed out a few places where I was wrinkled. And I treated him to a 345degree spin at the top of turn 2. He said, "I wondered why you were getting on the throttle so hard" as I said, "*****". All very controlled though...stayed on track, pointed the right direction, let a car go past then on our way again. I pitted to drop Tyson off, then finish the run session. The starter asked me what I did, I told him, he said "hold out your hands." I figured he was checking to see if I was shaking. He smacked them with his hand and with a wry smile said, "don't do that again." I went back out and obeyed his order. Great fun, great laps.

At that point my pit crew had had enough sitting around for two days, and due to the schedule it was either leave at noon or wait until 3pm. I decided to pack up as we had a long drive and I had to get the boy to school in the AM. We bid adieu to the crew, Jack with his crumpled but functioning car, Don happy and progressing nicely, and Tyson ready to race.

No excitement on the drive back I'm glad to say. Three warnings from the V1. And at 7pm we rolled back to the apartment. Dinner, laundry, vacuuming. Tired. Gotta run that track again. But it still will be hard. And scary.

[cantdrv55]

Great thread guys! Sorry about BBII Jack O but glad you walked away from it. I almost hit that same wall on Sunday during the Trackmasters DE.

After turn 10, I shifted to 4th and came jamming down at high speed then downshifted to 3rd and tried to take turn 11 too hot. In a panic, I lifted off the throttle and started drifting. That damn wall came up to meet me, I swear it. The only thing that saved me was the little voice in my head that yelled, TRACTION! Woke my a$$ up in time to step on the gas to get away from it. That experience scared the crap out of me but I did two more sessions and I think I have turn 11 figured out now.

[4to8m8]

Awsome read. Made my morning! Thanx.

[sixbanger]

Two things, First the tail light on jacks car seems to have a much larger lens then the one on my car. By this I mean taller.Are there two different sizes of the R tail light lenses? And Does the young boy have his seat belt on in the picture he is in with the radio in his hand?

[nostatic]

yes, he has his seat belt on (not obvious in the pic). He had just gotten the GPS (that he is holding) from a bag from behind his seat.

The "tail light" is the cap from a can of brake fluid. Improvised.

[widebody911]

'es just a flesh wound!

[ted]

We all have days like that, being so far from home doesn't make it any easier.
Days like that make you appreciate even more all your past track days where nothing went wrong.
The dreaded back to back to back track weekends (Sears and T hill) people get paid to to do that.
So what was the new color scheme concept?
Jack in the black there is no substitute.

[Jeremy Cottrell]

WOW! Thanks for the update. I have been wondering what was going on. Dont worry Jack, we have tailights, and the rest will polish out, no problem. Sorry about the tranny, Tyson, major bummer. Well like they say, that's racin'!!

[Don Plumley]

The before/after difference in BBII is pretty amazing. And in the evening light, Jack took a picture which looks like one from the magazine - this car is simply photogenic.