Obligatory VIR Post - It's overdue
04-25-2006, 05:04 PM
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Obligatory VIR Post - It's overdue
There were two great days at VIR. The Potomac Audi Club did a wonderful job as always. Thank you very much to the club organizers. What a fun and well-run event. Weather was perfect. Rand Pobst was there at the very beginning from the previous weekend of racing, but no major public appearances.
When I left at around 3:00 today, there had been only one car which had gotten bent up, which is very good by normal standards. The first day went without any significant incident.
My new Kumho MX tires and Stoptech brakes did very well, although I was a little disappointed with the Pagid Orange track pads. I bedded them prior to the event, yet on the second day, there developed some type of pad build-up on the rotors. I now need to figure out how to clean up the rotors, whether by re-bedding the pads, or using something abrasive on the rotors.
Here are a few of the pictures I took:
Arob seeing how much he can get the allroad to lean through the Oak Tree turn. Rob, you have a great car. Of course, it's not a race car, but how many people can take their wagon to the track. Good job!!
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0026.jpg" border="0">
Tony looking quite sharp. He must have waxed the car prior to the event. Note the photography work, with the blurred background and slightly blurred wheels.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0043.jpg" border="0">
Anand in his white GTI was blowing the doors off of everybody all day and getting passes, like this. I was quite impressed that Induktion closed shop for two days and brought everyone down to the track to help out, if needed. I did relay the post of today from Giggles to Ed for Ed to call home because he was missed. The guys of Induktion all thought that was cute.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0132.jpg" border="0">
Potomac Greg doing well in the new AMG.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0065.jpg" border="0">
Sancho, with me in the background. Sancho and I were exactly the same speed. We took 4 or 5 laps with him right on my tail. No matter what I did, I couldn't pull away but he wasn't close enough to get a pass. I eventually slowed down and gave him the pass to work on my heal-toe shifting and my lines.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0184.jpg" border="0">
Good bye.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0165.jpg" border="0">
Jim
P.S. For those of you in the pictures, I'll try to email a couple of pictures to you, but I may not get around to this until the weekend.
When I left at around 3:00 today, there had been only one car which had gotten bent up, which is very good by normal standards. The first day went without any significant incident.
My new Kumho MX tires and Stoptech brakes did very well, although I was a little disappointed with the Pagid Orange track pads. I bedded them prior to the event, yet on the second day, there developed some type of pad build-up on the rotors. I now need to figure out how to clean up the rotors, whether by re-bedding the pads, or using something abrasive on the rotors.
Here are a few of the pictures I took:
Arob seeing how much he can get the allroad to lean through the Oak Tree turn. Rob, you have a great car. Of course, it's not a race car, but how many people can take their wagon to the track. Good job!!
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0026.jpg" border="0">
Tony looking quite sharp. He must have waxed the car prior to the event. Note the photography work, with the blurred background and slightly blurred wheels.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0043.jpg" border="0">
Anand in his white GTI was blowing the doors off of everybody all day and getting passes, like this. I was quite impressed that Induktion closed shop for two days and brought everyone down to the track to help out, if needed. I did relay the post of today from Giggles to Ed for Ed to call home because he was missed. The guys of Induktion all thought that was cute.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0132.jpg" border="0">
Potomac Greg doing well in the new AMG.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0065.jpg" border="0">
Sancho, with me in the background. Sancho and I were exactly the same speed. We took 4 or 5 laps with him right on my tail. No matter what I did, I couldn't pull away but he wasn't close enough to get a pass. I eventually slowed down and gave him the pass to work on my heal-toe shifting and my lines.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0184.jpg" border="0">
Good bye.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0165.jpg" border="0">
Jim
P.S. For those of you in the pictures, I'll try to email a couple of pictures to you, but I may not get around to this until the weekend.
04-25-2006, 06:00 PM
#5
Jim- Thanks for the quick posts. Take your time on the rest.
I hope I got a few more decent ones of you. I never saw the "wave" when I was clicking.
Trip home was great. Averaged 70MPH until Tysons Corner, then 15MPH. Welcome home! On the was back, I passed the old Mercedes 190 2.3 16 valver (trailered). My instructor drove an old Benz C-class, but re-powered with a Ford Racing small block V8! Very much a home-made racer. Driver/instructor was Toby Milne, an old IMSA racer.
Highlights:
> The C32 was great. Not a hiccup the whole time. Gobs of power (128 down the back straight) and solid handling for a relatively soft setup. Lots of understeer at first, but I dropped pressure in the fronts and it got better.
> Tires (Conti-Sports) were weak, and I did my best to kill them. But alas, they survived. Left front and right rear took the most abuse.
> EBC Red Stuff Ceramic brake pads were great. Just a little fade in the final session, but otherwise fantastic.
VIR is an awesome track but fairly complex. I think I have about half of the turns figured out. I'd love to hear from a first-timer.
Trip home was great. Averaged 70MPH until Tysons Corner, then 15MPH. Welcome home! On the was back, I passed the old Mercedes 190 2.3 16 valver (trailered). My instructor drove an old Benz C-class, but re-powered with a Ford Racing small block V8! Very much a home-made racer. Driver/instructor was Toby Milne, an old IMSA racer.
Highlights:
> The C32 was great. Not a hiccup the whole time. Gobs of power (128 down the back straight) and solid handling for a relatively soft setup. Lots of understeer at first, but I dropped pressure in the fronts and it got better.
> Tires (Conti-Sports) were weak, and I did my best to kill them. But alas, they survived. Left front and right rear took the most abuse.
> EBC Red Stuff Ceramic brake pads were great. Just a little fade in the final session, but otherwise fantastic.
VIR is an awesome track but fairly complex. I think I have about half of the turns figured out. I'd love to hear from a first-timer.
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04-25-2006, 07:29 PM
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Wow! Great pictures, Jim.
That Oak Tree turn is a tricky one - one that I need to get down IN NOVEMBER!!! 
)
Great to see you again, and thanks for posting the pics. I'm dumping them right now, and hopefully will get them out tomorrow.
As far as my brakes, I too have developed some type of build-up on the rotors (I believe). Spoke to Jimax about it, and he suggested re-bedding them in as well. Perhaps I'll try that this week.
)Great to see you again, and thanks for posting the pics. I'm dumping them right now, and hopefully will get them out tomorrow.
As far as my brakes, I too have developed some type of build-up on the rotors (I believe). Spoke to Jimax about it, and he suggested re-bedding them in as well. Perhaps I'll try that this week.
04-25-2006, 07:50 PM
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First timer chiming in.
VIR is a great track, and yes, "fairly complex" hits it on the nose. I THINK I have about 1/2 of the turns down. I had the tendency to "come in" too early on many of the tricky ones, which in turn threw me way out of line for the next apex. During the times that I did hit them right, I had come into them much slower (which I'm sure I needed to do). I got the Oak Tree right about half the time, and the uphill S's (sorry, haven't memorized all the numbers) were the easiest for me to get down.
I ended up running only one session in the afternoon, because I wanted to go on an instructor ride. I was fortunate enough to go on TWO of them (KJ and Induktion Ed), and am glad I did so, because they both "showed" me the proper lines throughout the entire track, which gave me a better perspective on what the hell I was supposed to be doing. I hope to improve in November, and will definitely be running in the Green group again.
I ended up running only one session in the afternoon, because I wanted to go on an instructor ride. I was fortunate enough to go on TWO of them (KJ and Induktion Ed), and am glad I did so, because they both "showed" me the proper lines throughout the entire track, which gave me a better perspective on what the hell I was supposed to be doing. I hope to improve in November, and will definitely be running in the Green group again.
