Track day at Willow Springs

[GT2Racer2005]

Hey everybody,

I am goin out next tues, Dec. 7th with All Import Racing i wanted to see if there was anyone else who wanted to go.

My friend who is running the event told me that two Saleen S7s are going to be running at this event. I know its an American car, but the Saleen S7 is a sweet ride.

www.allimportracing.com

Jake

[Jack Olsen]

There should be a handful of us, there.

I'll be teaching the classroom session.

[mattr_914]

Is this group related to opentrackracing.com ? Both are in northridge, and both have the same text and pictures on your homepage.

[Jack Olsen]

It's an offshoot group. I think the idea is that they will charge slightly more, have slightly fewer cars, and eventually be running (slightly more expensive track rental) weekend dates.

CALLING ALL TOW TRUCKS!

RICE, ARONI

I DON'T HOW IT BLEW. I JUST HIT THE RED BUTTON...


Have fun Jack!

[RSupdate]

Hmmmm.....

Perhaps it's a knee-jerk reaction, but the mere titling of the event "All Import Racing" makes me shudder........

gives me flash backs to the TCRA TT event I did back on 9/25-26 at BW........ hoardes of ricer cars which made it impossible to get a clean lap...and a couple of seconds after you get by the last pak of 'em at T6 .... I enter T8 just over 115...and I run into yet another pack puttering along at 75-80....

No Lies. Lap after Lap.....

Best one of the weekend was this very well dressed driver of a brand new Audi A6 who was gridded up in front of me...and had a couple other "Import" 'bro's oogling his ride...doing the walk around...the whole 9 yards....

so we get sent out...and next thing I realize is this guy is right in front of me coming down from T3..and just past the alligator strip on the rt. side before T5

....He turns on his emergency flashers and pulls over to the rt. side, on the outside smack dab in the impact zone if one had to go straight off at T5...waving me and others behind me on by..

brilliant.

Not intending to be a nay-sayer...but that weekend gave me a lifetime's worth of "all-import" track time.

sorry for the rant.... but I just had to get this off my chest....thx for bearing with me.

[Jack Olsen]

This track day is split between 'All-Import Racing' and 'American Car Racing Association' (or something like that). If you look closely, you'll see the web sites are basically the same.

Both of the names are kind of silly, in my opinion. My guess was that somebody got a marketing idea about trying to stir up loyalties based on what side of the Atlantic (or Pacific) your car was assembled on. I don't think this makes a lot of sense, especially the way cars are built today. Is a Chrysler a German car, now?

The attendees will be the usual suspects, I'll bet -- mostly the same crowd from Open Track Racing. Lots of Vettes and Vipers. Lots of BMWs and Porsches. A few Asian imports cars -- but no drifters.

I'm less worried about crazy drivers at this event than I am about the slight chance of rain.

[nostatic]

That "slight chance of rain" is looking to be a certainty. weather.com is saying rain by 9am. Not looking like a good day...

[Jack Olsen]

National Weather Service is now saying a 30% chance of rain.

It's been a long time since I drove Willow in the wet.

[nostatic]

if it held off until the afternoon it wouldn't be so bad, but I'm not sure I want to wake up early to go 40mph in turn 8...

[Jack Olsen]

It's scary, but you can still take 8 at more than double that in the wet.

I just (optimistically) washed the car, since I have to be there rain or shine.

(I got a new digital camera for my birthday. The horror. The horror. )

[nostatic]

well, I stopped by TRE to pick up a spare helmet and lap timer, and just now swapped the duck on just in case. I'll check the weather reports late tonight and if it looks like it will hold off until afternoon, we're in. If not, we're sleeping in.

Guys! Have a save and fun day tomorrow! Hopefuly, I will be able to join you guys soon

Spank those vipers! Show them what you can do.

[Jeremy Cottrell]

Have fun guys. That shot of BB2 is breathtaking

[Jack Olsen]

Current outlook:

Mostly cloudy. A chance of rain in the afternoon. Highs 48 to 55. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph with local gusts to around 40 mph.

Rosamond weather link

[nostatic]

yeah, I keep comparing NWS with weather.com and knbc. weather.com has the most negative forecast, calling for rain by 9am. The other two say rain in the afternoon. The majority must be right, right? weather.com also said that it would be raining in Stockton by 3pm but a friend of mine drove up today and at 6pm it still wasn't raining.

[Zeke]

I think the guys have good day today, albiet very cold. Should stay dry until the drive home.

Good luck to all at the track.

[nostatic]

I hit the snooze button. I checked the NWS forecast at 5am and they were saying chance of rain in the am, rain in the afternoon, so I spent the morning in bed (hey, there are worse things to do). Of course now I'll hear the stories of, "oh man, no rain, almost no cars...perfect track day"

There's always next time...

[Jack Olsen]

In fact, the forecasted rain scared off just about everybody. There were, I think, less than 25 entries. So, they ran two run groups instead of three. By 11 am, they decided to just open the track up. In other words, as much track time as anyone wanted.

The first two sessions were dry, then there was some rain between then and lunch. I may be reaching for the silver lining, but rain is a great aid in teaching a track like Willow. Going through turns 2 and 8 at 30-mph-less-than-normal speeds in the wet allows you to learn throttle-steering and feel out the way the car moves between understeer and oversteer without having to face the possibility of a high-speed off if things don't work out.

The yellow group impressed me. I think there were only two or three times all day when anyone went off the track. None of them were high-speed offs. Like I said, starting out with a little rain helps everyone learn what they're doing before they get a chance to really push it.

The rain stopped during the lunch break, and the track was completely dry by the time the afternoon sessions started. The novices all got a chance to apply what they'd learned, and the regulars got a chance to open things up.

There was one brief sprinkle again late in the afternoon, but it only affected one session. Other than that, it was cool and dry -- on a just-about-empty track.

[DByers]

Sounds like it turned out to be a good day. I was so close to ditching work that I set my alarm for 4:30am and said if it wasnt raining I was going. Woke up to rain. In fact up here in SB in never really let up. Jan 19th cant come soon enough now.
Jack, were you able to use your visual aids for the class instruction? How many Pelicans (Porsche) guys were there? Any pics ?