GPX event this weekend

[pecivil]

is there anyone going to the GPX event this weekend at the pomona fairgrounds??

Since it is supposed to pour and I can't fit a canopy in the lotus cause its too DAMN small, I am trying to find someone I know who will be there with a canopy I can barge in on. Its always easier to barge in on people you know than those you dont.

TIA

[AGill]

Hey Monte, I'll be going up on Sunday. We chatted for a bit at the last PDS if you remember. I have a crappy canopy that takes a while to put together (the big nice pop up versions don't fit in my car) but it will provide cover once drying off from it taking so long to put together! You are welcome to pull up a chair and if you get a chance I'd love a hand putting it together

[pecivil]

Adam!
Yes I remember you from the PDS. I would be honored to help put the canopy up!! Cool! Now I will only get soaked Saturday!!

[pecivil]

Adam,
have you ever run a DE at pomona? I was looking for google earth views of where the "track" is and there aint one as far as I can tell. Supposedly we go under a bridge tho. I have not run a DE in the wet b4 either. AutoX in the rain is a hoot, but a DE may be a tad more sketchy. My RA-1's are to the wearbars on the inside half of the tread and dont have any grooves. I am wondering if I should put on the dunlop street tires????

thoughts?

[AGill]

I've not run a DE there but did run the last AX. You won't find the track without really looking hard at the parking lot! That's because they paved the track surface over the parking lot. Think of the Q x2 with a designated race track paved about a half inch or more higher than the old parking surface. It's a huge venue and lots of safe runoff into the rest of the parking lot surface. I think the "tunnel" adds a little more excitement but we didn't run it last time so it will be new to me too.

I have not run r-comps in the rain so I can't help you there...I am running street tires and propbably would even if I had r-comps...if there is any sheeting/standing water on the track you might be glad you did! I'll let the more experienced drivers weigh in on this as well. It will probably rain a bit then stop...then rain a bit and stop for most of the day so it's a tough call.

I'm excited to run a new tire....kumho XS...apparently great in the dry but per the editors of car and driver, "diabolical" in the wet....hmmm....maybe I'm not so excited

[ChuckS]

RA-1's were Toyo's rain tire. With tread, they are great in the rain and wet. Without tread, ask Russell Shon as he drove our spec car back from Spring Mountain with some rain in the desert. Not fun! If you have some tread, they should be good. Best of Luck!!!!

[rshon]

RA-1's were Toyo's rain tire. With tread, they are great in the rain and wet. Without tread, ask Russell Shon as he drove our spec car back from Spring Mountain with some rain in the desert. Not fun! If you have some tread, they should be good. Best of Luck!!!!

Oh, yeah, that reminds me. Another important safety point for this weekend:

PUT YOUR WINDSHIELD WIPERS BACK ON.

With just partial rain sticking to the windshield, no wipers, and glare from the sunset, it was sometimes harder to see the road than it was to stay on the road...

[Cajundaddy]

Hi guys,
Yes it is game on at Fairplex for this weekend. The track is set and we are ready. Current forecast is for rain up to an inch on Sat. and showers Sun. There will be quite a few EZ ups and rain shelters around so don't be shy and join the huddled masses. It will be a hoot! Like one big skidpad course. I ran the track today on my full wets (street tires) and didn't like it so I mounted decent set of NT-01s. If there is standing water I will be surfing for sure. We are adding an AX style gate on Sunday at the end of the long straight before the tunnel so drivers will bring speeds way down before entering for safety. The snack bar is HUGE and they will be serving all day. See ya out there.


Hey Russell Schon,
Put on a shirt man. You are scaring the children.

[kleggo]

is there anyone going to the GPX event this weekend at the pomona fairgrounds??


TIA

AFAIK there were 6 or 7 SDR folk at the DE on Sunday.
the rain stopped ~ 8:30 am and the track dried out during the day.
fortunately we had some pro's from PCNA out with their cars drying the track.
After i watched how hard they were driving them, i made a mental note to NEVER buy a PCNA demo car

Adam G was their with his 993 and newly purchased steam roller 315s with an uber aggressive (for a "street car") alignment.
i heard him giggling after a run session and had to go for a ride. WOW amazing level of mechanical grip now present in his car.

Mike Brown and Carl V ? were also there driving Mikes 968. Man, ya gotta re-think that exhaust configuration!

I was driving Maya's 09 C2S. Much different than my 993!!
At first I thought it's brakes didn't work as well as the 993, but then also realized i was going into braking points ~ 20mph faster!
385 hp and PDK is different, you bet.
I was really surprised how well balanced the car was, 'specially during a high speed left hand throttle-steer sweeper

Unfortunately, one SD local had an incident and bent his car.
It was the first time i'd seen the red flag thrown and hope to see no more in the future for all of our sakes.
I don't know him and didn't see the incident, so i'll let others that understand the situation discuss if they choose to.

Driving on a wet track at speed was also different, and FUN.

Craig



Craig

[AGill]

Wow...what a day yesterday turned out to be!!! From the bad weather report to the giant puddles on the track once we arrived it wasn't looking good but somehow the blue sky appeared and the sun came out to save the day. It was a great and fun track and going under the "tunnel" in 6000 rpms 2nd made for some memorable sounds (unless you were behind Mike Brown's car...then you wouldn't able to hear a damn thing ) I think he said it was straight exhaust with a glasspack of some sort...he won the award for loudest car for sure! The 180 degree sweeper that lead onto the front straight was great fun. I was hitting 85+ through the middle of it which was pretty fast for a giant parking lot!

The PCNA white Panamera pulled out of the pits right in front of me on one lap and he got up to speed quickly so I was perfectly on his tail after turn 1...I did all I could to keep up with it but man, that thing has some acceleration! It pulled away on the straights but I gained on the corners...barely! It was a cool experience.

We all got plenty of driving in despite the delays which was surprising. And, it was very sad to see the 996tt cab wadded up in the wall. I met the guy (I think his name was Dan) earlier in the day so to be able to put a face to the car made it worse. He is a super nice guy and was fairly new to driving so I hope this doesn't spoil his futrue of performance driving! Best of luck to him in sorting things out.

[Cajundaddy]

Hey guys, I am glad you came out to play with us. The AX on saturday was under rain most of the day so it was a giant skidpad. It was fun with some good drifting exhibitions by all. My NT-01 tires do not like standing water. Standing water over paint stripes is like driving on ice.

The DE turned out to be good weather by 10:30 and though I was still tip-toeing through the water in the morning, I was in my element in the afternoon. During the last session of the day my brother and I were playing a little tag. Someone had spun just after the tunnel and pushed a bunch of water back on the track. The next time through I hit the water and my car just stepped sideways about 10 feet and after taking 1 cone, continued on course with no steering corrections. Wild!

Adam you were really flying on that fresh Kumho rubber! Carl Vanderschuit was instructing all day and just stepped out of one car and into the next. He probably was on track for every run group both days.

Tough day for Dan. I talked to him briefly after the event. There was really only one place to hit stuff on this track and unfortunately he found it. With 2 years of performance driving, an SDR-PDS grad, SDR-DE school grad, GPX Novice clinic grad, and several AX and DEs he had arguably some of the best training on the west coast. Sometimes you just get it wrong. The car did what it was supposed to do and sacrificed itself to protect the driver. Dan walked away without a scratch. He was still in amazingly good spirits and vows to come out and play again.

[genikz]

Did anybody happen to get some in-car video of the DE on Sunday? They're doing it again in June 2011, and I missed it this year

[Dave Diamond]

I have some in-car video -- now if I can figure out to edit and post it... Should be easy to follow because I was slow. It even shows the rainbow that appeared late in the day. Had no instructor, but a couple of free rides with the PCNA guys in the boxster and panamera before my first run session gave me some ideas about the line.

This was indeed a fun track, despite the rain and nearby snow in the morning. I'd recommend it, and would go again any time. Fast sections, some good slow-you-down chicanes, and that big 180 left hander -- what a hoot in the boxster.

Go next time. It was great.

[genikz]

Good enough for me Dave! I was 99% sure I'm signing up in June anyway. Thanks for the reply.