Scary moment at Hallett

Just got back from the weekend at Hallett. Good times for sure (hotter than hell Sunday though!). One of the guys (nice guy, John D.) in my run group had a scary moment, but he's ok and the car only missed one session! This was in the second session Saturday and he was back out for the fourth session and all sessions today.

Unfortunatly, I have committments and won't be able M@H this year (made the last 3 and it's a bummer to miss this one ::Rant::

For those of you going, remember to be nice to the Bitch.....::Drive2::

ps. Miata content at the end of the vid (fastest miata of the event if I do say so myself LOL)


http://vimeo.com/12542992

Wow what a shot! Glad he's ok. Sorry you won't be there in September. When did you get the wing and how do you like it?

Wow! Crazy video. Glad to hear the driver and car were okay.

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Originally Posted by altiain

Wow! Crazy video. Glad to hear the driver and car were okay.

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+1....can't believe the car stayed upright.

It's hard to tell what he did wrong to get into that shape. Any comments as I will be joining the group for my first attempt at this track. Also speaks well of the construction of a vette.

There is a highpoint, or rise, in the track right in the middle of a slight ess turn before the bitch. If a driver hits it too fast and tries to change directions, the car gets light on the suspension at the lip and doesn't respond well to the steering. Take that as straight as possible and don't take it so fast as to not have enough braking zone down into the hard right (the bitch) that follows.

Add this video to my list of excuses for not attending Hallett. ;)

Its pretty simple, don't turn the wheel after you commit to #8 on entry, until you hit the bottom of the hill. I went through there a 80-85mph and as long as you square up and take #8 with no steering angle, it won't loop. Its definitely super-fun to rip through that section and up #9. There were a couple places where I was a little hot on closing rate and prepared to go off track...but I stayed on the entire day. There were some awesome passes in AI in that series of corners.

I was amazed to see so little damage on that vette. Tires walls are awesome.

where's the video of the turbo miata spinning there on the warm up lap? think it was '08 m@h

What mr brg said. The secret to the Bitch is committing to the right line before cresting the hill. Get it wrong on entry and try to correct mid-corner and you'll end up with the same result as this guy.

Coming into the toilet bowl on the 1.3 at MSR is similar. It is downhill to the toilet bowl, but there is a hump mid-hill, try to make a steering correction over the hump and physics will win every time.

Glad everyone is okay, but how much did he have to pay for damage to the track?

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Originally Posted by jrj512

Glad everyone is okay, but how much did he have to pay for damage to the track?

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One of the Steven's brothers told me they only charge people for wall damage when their attitude encourages it.

pic of car after walled?

I would have needed a new pair of pants after that lol.

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Originally Posted by jeff_man

pic of car after walled?

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You wouldn't know it hit a wall, it only needed a good buffing.

hi!
http://hallettracing.net/gallery/alb...reen_Miata.jpg

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Originally Posted by Titus

Add this video to my list of excuses for not attending Hallett. ;)

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Meow...

The Bitch isn't all that terrible as long as you get the entry right. If you come in wrong, and try to correct your line, you will find yourself brailling the tire wall. Just remember to get the car straight and settled before you jam on the brakes...

This guy did it wrong at M@H in '08... but he sacked up and got right back out on the track. :)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3246/...a3c58926_o.jpg

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Originally Posted by mr brg

You wouldn't know it hit a wall, it only needed a good buffing.

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someone told me once if they where going to hit a wall they wanted it to be at hallett

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Originally Posted by jeff_man

someone told me once if they where going to hit a wall they wanted it to be at hallett

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Some estimate over 1-milliion tires on that site...and at $3-8 processing per tire, don't expect Hallett to go away any time soon by the hand of a developer or investor. The track is a Superfund site, lol.

Also, if you go off at #9, you can always go straight through the gate and stop on asphalt.

crazy video! props to the really nice slo-mo camera shot :clap:

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Originally Posted by SixAce

Miata content at the end of the vid (fastest miata of the event if I do say so myself LOL)

http://vimeo.com/12542992

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Nice lookin' Miata. And fast, too, I hear.

Maybe we'll get an TxMC official update from spoolin2bars here pretty soon.

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Originally Posted by altiain

What mr brg said. The secret to the Bitch is committing to the right line before cresting the hill. Get it wrong on entry and try to correct mid-corner and you'll end up with the same result as this guy.

Coming into the toilet bowl on the 1.3 at MSR is similar. It is downhill to the toilet bowl, but there is a hump mid-hill, try to make a steering correction over the hump and physics will win every time.

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Same thing at Hallett Turn 9.

BTW, I learned how to go off at the Toilet Bowl. Definitely can't flat foot it over that hill unless you take the right line. :)

okay here's the results. i don't have the final lap times so i'll post approx. times right now. also i broke and had to leave early, so if something changed after the last session, lmk.

unlimited class:
1st place: daniel l. (sixace) 1:28.962 10pts.
2nd: trey r. (mr.brg/hustler) 1:30.126 8pts.
3rd: john z (spollin2bars) 1:32.545 6pts.

modified class:
1st place: john w. (wags) 1:33.xxx 10pts.
2nd: jacob g. (jacob300zx) x:xx.xxx 8pts.

John, hope you got home ok? You had a rough weekend and most definetly get the hardcore award. The drive itself must have been brutal, the the issues at the track, breaking and having to drive fancy pants home...geez..Thanks for making the trip up and keeping us organized for the TxMC. The small turnout was to be expected given the location and I'm sure they'll be back out at TWS is they can stand a little heat.

Trey, congrats on getting under 1:30, that's pretty close to mine! You wanted to see vid of my 1:28 but I forgot to turn the camera on. Anyway, heres a better one from Sunday (1:27xxx) that should have been a 1:26 but I screwed up the last turn and the next one would have been better but I went 4 off and was DQ. I'll work on getting the data overlayed and post that up when I figure it out...

http://vimeo.com/12568348

Michael, I put the wing on before the April TWS event. I like it fine. I think it looks cool. Faster? Dunno, but doesn't seem to be lowing me down much at least. Check out the slo-mo videos of my car at the above link. Birdseye includes them with the photo cd and I think it's a nice feature. Hopefully you guys at M@H will bring some good shots back.

Bobby, I spoke with the driver of the vette, he said he just went in too hot. Watching the vid and his suspension, I'm guessing he's going in hot and possibly lifted a bit as his car hit the entry curbing. He was using that curbing alot which I thought was a bit scary when following him, but then watching my own vids today, I hit it now and then too...who knows? It's just one of those turns you get used to and slowly build up speed in. I've got a handle on the entry, it's the exit that I need work on LOL...


Here's some more random birdseye pics of my car from the cd. I forgot my camera (and my helmet, driver suit, spare brake pads, etc) or I would have gotten more of everyone else. I also threw in a pic from my first Hallet for the memories.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixace/

Sorry about posting the links. My skills at embeding (and multi-quote) and not up to the kool kidz abilities. Someday...

SA

Dan those videos are fantastic! The slow mo's show how smooth you are and right near the edge of traction. The on board video reminded me of Gary and Thomas. The car sounded like Gary's and skitted like Thomas' driving. I think Gary had a FTOD at 1:26 or 1:25 last September there and I think Thomas did a 1:27 in Jimmy's Fuji Racing car. Dude you're definitely quicker than last September. Congrats!

Congrats to Wags on another modified win!

Congrats to Trey too for losing the heels! ;-)

Awesome Dan!!!

Gotta get the Fuji Racing car back out to Hallett once the rotary swap is complete.

LOL thanks but referencing my driving to Gary and Thomas is a bit over the top! Gary did FTOD last year @ 1:25xxx. It was my first time with the supercharger and I was at 1:34 so I'm happy with the progress so far. If you play my vid at 2x speed it "may" resemble Thomas last year. Watching my vids I still see some bad habits that I thought I cured at TWS in April and again at Cression running TT with the PCA gang.

Big props to Ken O. First time at Hallett. On the frst Saturday session he gridded right behind me to learn the line. After about 3 laps he blew by me up the hill between 1 & 2 and checked out! He turned a 1:27xxx to my 1:28xxx. Sunday was a repeat, I picked up a second and so did he. In the vid, he's the silver speck in the distance...Enjoy the Hoosiers Ken, you earned them. My only chance at TWS in August is more "limp mode" or he overheats it. Stupid bimmer LOL.

Also, Big Thanks to Wags for the trackside support with my brakes and to Hustler for humping, oops, I mean pumping them. See you guys in August!

Thanks for showing me the line.
You drove great. Ever session your times dropped.

I still have several places where I need to improve. Looking forward to next time. Hallett was a fun track.

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Originally Posted by spoolin2bars

2nd: trey r. (mr.brg/hustler) 1:29.xxx 8pts.

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Where is Johnwag??? I thought 1:30.1 was my best? I never saw the last time slip so I'm not sure, lol.

Damn Dan, you're significantly faster than me through #1...I can't hang through there. You're cooking if you dumped #10 that bad and still ran a 1:28. How much stickier are those Hoosiers than NT-01's?

I desperately need to balance my car, the front right is chewed up compares to the rest. I think I should be able to run 1:28 or maybe a 1:27 in my car before I put on the aero. Luckily I have 2-days at Hallett in September to work on it. I still haven't done this car justice, but it takes a lot of testosterone to really believe "there is enough grip to enter X corner that hot, with that much throttle" especially when you consider the amount of time I spent working on that car.

yeah, the drive was like torture. it really was.. i had to think about chicks giving birth to man-up and stay in the car longer than an hour. the seat was cutting into my legs (in fancy pants) and the seat was up in the dash so i couldn't stretch my legs which made them ache terribly and finally my heel (from having my legs bunched up) felt like it was being sliced the whole time! the heat in that car was incredible, but thankfully the weather wasn't so as long as i was moving wasn't too bad, plus the pain in my legs kept me from feeling the heat. although i did have to make a wet t-shirt shift boot to prevent the volcano that is there without one. lol

anyway's enough bitching, hallett was a cool little track, that i'm sure is worth it if you "TOW" your vehicle up there, but not if you drive a race car 13hrs. each way. the thing that sucked for me was that i never got that money session. at every event, especially if it's just an open track day or something, there's that 1 session where you get a good lap on the edge, or have a good battle with someone, that really makes all the blood sweat and tears (and $$$) worth it. well i didn't get that, i didn't even get my "speed" fix. first session, i was just out putting around trying to memorize the track, the only cars that went by were ttu monster vettes that i couldn't keep up with to find the line or braking points etc.. the second session i was starting to work on some corners, but before we went out, the grid guy told everyone to watch out in turn 1 for oil. so i had to stay all the way inside there. (arguably the most important corner and fastest) i thought i was in far enough on my first lap and slid a little so that corner was ruined. then the vette hit the wall, and they had a local yellow, so still able to work on speed in other parts of the track, then finally i was catching up to a blue miata and noticed smoke from his tailpipe before turn 2, well i thought maybe he blew his motor or something so i slowed a little more than usual for t2 and still managed to get spun around once i turned in. so i just pulled in after that, there was only a min. or 2 left in the session anyway. turns out the guy blew his head gasket and was dumping coolant. so i never even got a complete flying lap. i'm sure i could have dropped seconds by taking 1 at speed, but my stupid old brittle wiring harness put an end to my weekend. did i say enough bitching? my bad.

i most mad i didn't get to play with six ace or trey at all. well there's still 2-4 events left so hopefully next time guys. and i aprreciate those who made the event. the trophies were a little bigger for hallett and hopefully someone took some pics of the winners. i'm sorry i couldn't stick around but i had a long torturous drive and had to get going. trey i fixed your time and will double check the final session when they post it on nasatx.

I had no "good battles" either, but I did get to sleigh a session of Cobras, Vettes, and CMC cars which felt great.

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Originally Posted by mr brg

I had no "good battles" either, but I did get to sleigh a session of Cobras, Vettes, and CMC cars which felt great.

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don't worry, i'll give you some love at miata@hallett

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Originally Posted by jeff_man

don't worry, i'll give you some love at miata@hallett

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Hopefully "love" involves you staying away from me and not talking all the god damn time.

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Originally Posted by mr brg

I had no "good battles" either, but I did get to sleigh a session of Cobras, Vettes, and CMC cars which felt great.

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Did you sleigh them with your Stardust Propulsion Unit? :rolleyes:

http://bigbearcabinblogs.com/blogs/w...a-sleigh-2.gif

Dan, congrats on getting a 1:27! I knew that you and the car had it. We'll throw some DTC 60's on your car next time. :)

Trey: glad to see that your car held together and that the oil cooler setup dropped the temps. We still need to make improvements on the car and getting you into the 1:27s.

Big Thanks to Jake Groves for letting me drive his miata and to John Z for handling the miata challenge stuff!

Headcheck from hallett last fall: Gary ran a 1:27.xx on Hossier R6's, Thomas ran a 1:28.xx on NT01's, I ran a 1:30.xx on NT01's. The official spec miata record as of last fall was 1:29.7. The fact that more guys aren't running under the spec record with more power, tire and whatever else, is a testament to the fact that we need to spend more time on handling and driving the car to the edge.

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Originally Posted by Titus

Add this video to my list of excuses for not attending Hallett. ;)

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You don't drive fast enough to have that problem. ;)

Seriously though, the people who I have seen go off on the Bitch and hit the wall are driving 10/10ths. Most people just run off in the grass with the biggest damage being a bruised ego.

corrected the lap times for trey and six ace. these #'s are from mylaps amb. i didn't have my car (that held the leader board) when i posted the original times. six ace, at first i looked at the merged times for sat. and it showed a 1:29.0xx time for you. but when i looked at the individ. sessions, it showed the 1:28 time for you. it wasn't until i saw the dq that i understood why the merge showed the slower lap time. well, for TxMC purposes, we are using your fastest lap, it doesn't matter if you put a couple wheels off later in the session as far as the challenge is concerned.

wags, yeah, of course we need more seat time (better driving...lol) and work on the handling side. it's known that power isn't everything especially when it comes to miata's. but i'm not worried about it. the goal is there and i think we are making progress. plus, i like to look at the spec miata times for the weekend that we are there. over here in texas we have a big diff. in weather conditions (temps.) for not having seasons. cali. on the other hand is perpetually beautiful sunny 70deg. year round! (jealous) plus it's a little tougher pushing for the last tenth when you are driving such a huge investment (like trey) or you need to drive your race car home afterwards (like me). although, we aren't actually to that point yet, we still have seconds to shave before we can get to work on the final tenth. but really, it's not so much that for me. i think i have been losing the most time just from not being familiar with the tracks, and the constant change in parts and setup i've been doing all year. shocks,wheels,tires,weight,aero,diff.,alignment etc... have all been changing month to month. i don't think i've ran the same tires at more than 1 event all year until hallett which i only got 1 real session on. but i'm pretty much zero'd in on my setup now. only thing i might change is a rb tubular frt. bar and re-install my oe rear sway. it's gonna be nice just focusing on driving the rest of the year.

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Originally Posted by spoolin2bars

wags, yeah, of course we need more seat time (better driving...lol) and work on the handling side. it's known that power isn't everything especially when it comes to miata's. but i'm not worried about it. the goal is there and i think we are making progress. plus, i like to look at the spec miata times for the weekend that we are there. over here in texas we have a big diff. in weather conditions (temps.) for not having seasons. cali. on the other hand is perpetually beautiful sunny 70deg. year round! (jealous) plus it's a little tougher pushing for the last tenth when you are driving such a huge investment (like trey) or you need to drive your race car home afterwards (like me). although, we aren't actually to that point yet, we still have seconds to shave before we can get to work on the final tenth. but really, it's not so much that for me. i think i have been losing the most time just from not being familiar with the tracks, and the constant change in parts and setup i've been doing all year. shocks,wheels,tires,weight,aero,diff.,alignment etc... have all been changing month to month. i don't think i've ran the same tires at more than 1 event all year until hallett which i only got 1 real session on. but i'm pretty much zero'd in on my setup now. only thing i might change is a rb tubular frt. bar and re-install my oe rear sway. it's gonna be nice just focusing on driving the rest of the year.

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My statement wasn't aimed at anyone person. My statement is more of personal dissatisfaction. I'm harder on myself than anybody else (though, it's fun to give Trey a hard time) and i'm very disappointed that i haven't driven better/equal to the spec record at more texas tracks. Clearly, we can all be faster.

After driving Jake's car, I realized that suspension calculations and corner weights make a huge improvement on handling and I'm very disappointed that all of this time, if I would have corner weighted my car, it would have made the handling leaps and bounds better. I knew the benefits of corner balancing, but experiencing it first hand (in the rain) showed me that the handling of my car, while good, isn't the best it could be and I'm leaving time on the track.

i know what you meant. hey atleast your car's not f/i !!! besides, you haven't driven your car in months. you shouldn't be hard on yourself for not driving other peoples cars faster than the spec record! lol
i think jakes car has 60whp right now! anyway's, i think everyone's going in the right direction. sure i wish i was blowing out the spec miata lap records, and i should be, but honestly, the people that own those records have 10x the experience i do. plus, unlike what emilio was saying about the cali lap records, there is a big diff. in time between the lap record here and the fastest spec of the weekend. the fastest 2 spec laps at tws were 2:03-04's by really good experienced spec racers. but the spec record held there by jason saini is a 1:59.xxx ! that's 4 sec. difference! maybe weather can acct. for a 1/2 sec. of that time, but where's the rest coming from? changes in track condition/surface? jason's that much better? we'll get there man.