ATTENTION: Eagles Canyon Track Day - Sunday, September 14th
Hey guys,
In case you didn't know, Eagles Canyon Raceway in Slidell is now offering monthly track days open to the general public. The next scheduled event for cars is coming up on Sunday, September the 14th. Cost is $150 per person, and I believe there are still slots open in all three groups (beginner, intermediate, and advanced).
Click on Eagles Canyon for more information. See you at the track!
ATTENTION: Due to impending weather from hurricane Ike, this weekend's sessions have been moved to Oct 4th (Cars) and 5th (Bikes). All current registrations will be automatically moved to those dates.
Little fish in a BIG pond.
Ok I had fun at Hallett two weeks in Novice group. I never got passed except once by Track Dog driving Zig's car. Well, today, I got passed at least a half dozen times and I never passed anyone.
Ummm there was a Volkswagen Golf in my Novice group at Eagles Canyon but he was never on the same stretch of track I was. That was the ONLY car that probably had less hp than mine. Our novice group included that Golf, my NC, an S2000, a BMW, a Cadillac CTS, a convertible Carrera (more on this in another post with pics), a Lotus 7 look alike with Pontiac V6 Supercharged, and if that's not enough we even had a Shelby Cobra. The intermediate and advanced groups were packed with Vipers, Vettes, Porsches, some Beemers, another Caddy, and who knows what else but you get the idea. Mine was maybe one of only three four-bangers on the track today. Oh and there was a suprising lack of Rotaries out there too! Altian was a no show so I was representin' the MME crew solo!
Now I was lookin forward to getting schooled by Altian but since he couldn't make it I was at the mercy of the lottery. You see, if you've not been to a casual track education day it's kinda like going to the local playground as a kid for a pick up game. You, as a novice, show up in a Shelby Cobra and you can quickly see who has heirachy as instructors, or at least who calls "shotgun" the fastest. So Altian and Bryan (the original trackmaster referred to earlier in the thread about roll bar rules) were no shows and instructors were one less than novices. I'll tell ya now it was slightly embarassing standing next to my car in the grid with a bit over a minute to go and no instructor. Even that damn Golf got an instructor!
::Rant::
Finally, the stand-in track master, Keith, said he'd ride with me. Now Keith's a nice guy and very knowledgable but his communication was sometimes confusing and his grabbing my wheel at times was a bit unnerving. So after the second heat I asked him if he'd point out the line in two specific areas I had trouble with. Instead he drove my car with the following group and showed me. Then it became clear and I did just fine on the third so I was cleared to solo on the fourth heat. WooHoo!
:drive:
So I get my camera mounted up with the rig I borrowed from mk2tmr2 (worked great BTW Thanks!) and get ready for my solo on the fourth. Winds are gusty today and my camera is a bit right side heavy so I think maybe I should use Carazzie's smaller, lighter camera instead. I load it on the rig and push record for video right before leaving for my last run.
It was my best run. No distractions just me, the car, the track, and the camera in my rear view mirror. I was chasing the s2000 out of the gate and it (as usual) gained distance on me. But I kept at it, focused on my line until I saw a yellow flag. The S2000 spun out in the canyon and I was back up on him again. Never passed him though. But never got passed on that last heat either so I felt pretty good about that.
Now here's the bad part. You'll hafta take my word on all of this 'cause I have no video. Changing cameras last second meant changing cards too and the dayum card in Carazzies camera was full! And I can't EVEN BLAME HER 'cause it was MY CARD! DOH!
::Censor::
So anyway, long story short, (I know - too late) I had fun today even though I was the only Miata (and only Mazda) and made some new friends.
The canyon is smoother than Hallett and faster IF you have the hp. My top speed was 90 at both tracks and I used 2nd thru 4th on both tracks but 2nd more today. The straights are longer for easier passing (I would assume if I did pass) and the canyon part is very fun for our kinda cars but dangerous with poor throttle control. Those descending ess curves can bite your ass because your speeds through them are deceptively fast and if you go off the track down in the canyon part you're gonna hit large rocks and canyon wall. Seems like there was more grassy "slop space" surrounding Hallet's track.
I'm tired. I'll post pics (no video 'cause I'm an idiot) tommorrow.
Pics of cars at the track
