Events

7/25/2004

Above is the last picture I'll ever take of my Electron Blue 2002 Corvette Z06.  I traded it in last Thursday for the new Ford F150 FX4 truck you see pictured below it.

I had more fun in the Z06 than I believed was possible, but now after nearly 2 years and 35000 miles the time has come to move on.

My reasons for buying a truck are many, but chief among them is that I have two teenage boys that I need to be able to haul around, and having a 4x4 will make it easier to take them to some exciting and interesting places.  The Corvette was nearing the end of its factory warranty period, and after what I've put it through, I really didn't want to get stuck with any major repair bills in the near future.

Goodbye little blue car, it's been great.  We went many wonderful places together, Road Atlanta, Sears Point, Laguna Seca.  You survived two Open Track Challenges, and a reckless teenager driving a Z28.  I hope your next owner will take you to the race track occasionally so you can continue to do what you were built to do.

Say hello to my new daily driver, a brand new 2004 Ford F150 FX4 4x4.  It is loaded with nearly all of the available options.  It is my first 4x4 pickup truck, and only the second pickup truck I've ever owned (the first was my 2000 Lightning).  I'm looking forward to all of the new adventures you will facilitate.

What will I do for a track vehicle now?  I am still debating about what my next fun car will be.  I would like something that I wouldn't feel guilty about gutting it and installing a roll cage and doing a lot of track specific modifications, but I would also like something that I could drive around on the street as well.  Now that I have a tow vehicle again, my options have certainly expanded.

Stay tuned!

6/30/2004

Here's a gallery of pictures of my TrackPC project.  As you will see, my car entertainment system has taken on a life of its own.

6/16/2004

I've posted some track video from Laguna Seca here.

6/13/2004

Congratulations to Team Corvette in placing 1st and 2nd in GTS and 6th and 8th Overall at the 24 Hours of LeMans race this weekend!

It's great owning a car that is represented by a factory racing team in such an historic and respected racing series.  It makes you feel like you are part of the experience.

6/07/2004

I had a truly wonderful weekend last weekend with Green Flag Driving at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, CA.

After having driven the track numerous times on a variety of simulators, the track seemed immediately familiar, although the elevation changes were more dramatic as expected.

Rick gave me one of the best passenger rides I've ever experienced on his second session on Saturday.  He is an incredibly smooth and talented driver, and he inspired me to work on being smoother.

By the end of the day on Sunday, I had a rhythm establish and felt that I had a pretty good handle on the track.  I would like to return to Laguna someday as it is definitely one my top five tracks that I've driven.

I can't say enough about how well the event was run by Green Flag Driving.  If you ever have an opportunity to run with Green Flag, don't pass it up!  This was one of the best run open track events I've ever attended, and they take great care to make sure you have a fantastic driving experience.  They are all about maximizing your track time, and they very actively use blue flags to encourage passing.

I'd like to say thanks to my friend Rick Bailey for telling me about this event and bugging me to sign up for it.  I'm looking forward to attending more events with Rick in the future.  Please visit his OpenTracking web site for lots of great information regarding our sport.

I'd like to thank my friend Cherie for taking a whole bunch of great pictures during the event, including the really awesome corkscrew sequence you see above!

Thanks to Dan at Glenn's Alignment and Brake Service in Huntington Beach (9/631-2888).  I take my car here for alignments, and these guys meticulous set it up.  It always feels so great after I get it back from them.  If you need an alignment in the OC area, these are the guys to go to.

Thanks to Lynn at Freedom Signs for her excellent work on my decals.  If you are in the OC area give Lynn a try for your decal and sign business.

5/03/2004

I've signed up to run with Green Flag Driving at Laguna Seca in June.  I'm very excited about the opportunity to finally drive on Laguna.  Should make for a fun weekend!

4/26/2004

Another OTC finished.  A lot of fun, but also a lot of work.  I never did get the web based scoring system up and running.  Too many other fires to fight this year, so maybe next year.

I'm happy to report that the TrackPC managed to survive over the 5 days of highway and track abuse.  I still have a lot of work to do on it, but it seems like a promising project.

I've posted some picture that I took during the event here.  

Also, be sure to check out my friend Jonathan Blevins' web site and order a copy of the DVD that will contain over 4000 pictures that they took during the event.

4/22/2004

It is a beautiful Southern California day here at Buttonwillow Raceway Park.  As we finish up the OTC, as usual there is high drama leading into the afternoon sessions.

Doug Hayashi and John Dearing are battling for the overall win, and at the present, Doug's car is sitting in the garage with a broken front left suspension.  Wayne Mello is driving the parts necessary to fix the car up from Orange County in his Ferrari 360.  Doug likely only needs one fast lap time to seal his victory, while Dearing needs to beat him by at least two places for the overall win.

UPDATE:  Congratulations to Doug Hayashi and Erik Messley on winning the overall OTC and their class!  John Dearing takes second.

4/21/2004

Well, we got a nice taste of Sears Point Raceway today.  It rained in the morning, so both of our morning sessions were wet.  I rode with Jonathan on the first session after lunch, and he posted a 1:59 laps and a couple of 2:00 laps.  I went out in the next session and posted a 2:02 lap, just before one of our fellow Corvette drivers broke and spilled fluid all over the turn 4 area.

Now I'm wishing for another day here, as one dry session just doesn't cut it.  I'm sure I'll be back soon to try it again.  It is a very fun track with lots of elevation changes and some 80-90 MPH esses.

As we finish today, Doug Hayashi and Eric Messley look to have the overall championship in the bag.  As long as they finish in at least 2nd place tomorrow, they will win the overall.

Now we're heading down to Buttonwillow near Bakersfield for our last day.

4/20/2004

We had a good day today at Thunderhill, aside from a rollover of one of the Evo's on the back straightaway.  The #8 car spun around backwards, off track, and backed into a berm, causing it to tumble end over end.  Luckily both the driver and the passenger were not seriously injured.  The car was not so lucky.

Doug Hayashi set the fastest laps again today, putting him into the overall lead by 5 points.  The overall win is still up for grabs, with Hayashi, Dearing, and Coffey in the hunt.

Thankfully, our drive from Thunderhill to Sears Point was a short one.  We arrived at Sears relatively early in the evening.  I am looking forward to driving at Sears for the first time tomorrow.

4/19/2004

I spent most of the day working on the OTC scoring system.  When the results were tabulated for the first day, we were in 4th place in our class.  2nd through 4th places were very close, so we might actually be competitive this year.  I'll know more when I get today's results tabulated.

It was windy today at Willow Springs, but we had an enjoyable day.  We finally got the rest of the decals affixed this afternoon, as you can see in the picture above.

Doug Hayashi posted the fastest times today in his Flamemobile NSX.

Now it's on up to Thunderhill in Willows, CA, about 8 hours from here.  We will likely arrive sometime around midnight.

We are looking forward to a great day at tomorrow.  Thunderhill is a very beautiful place and we always have fun there.

4/18/2004

We had a great day today here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Jonathan posted a string of great laps.  Hopefully we'll know where we stand after I get a chance to tabulate the results later tonight.

The fastest car on the track today was a Dodge Viper driven by John Deering, followed by Doug Hayashi in his Acura NSX.

From here, we're heading to Willow Springs International Raceway, near Rosamond, CA.

4/15/2004

It's OTC time once again.  Beginning on this Sunday, April 18th, I'll be involved in 5 days of open-track fun.  The event stretches from Las Vegas to Northern California and back, and visits 5 of the areas best road courses.  See the OTC web site for complete details.

The car is nearly ready to go.  My good friend's Jonathan and Ron Blevins are in the motorhome heading West as I write this.  I will be heading over to Las Vegas Saturday morning to meet up with everyone.

Jonathan will be co-driving the Z with me again this year as his coupe project is not quite ready for the track yet.  I should be disappointed for him since I'm sure he would rather be competing in his coupe, but I'm actually rather elated to have him on my team again.  We are entering the T1 class this year, which means we will be driving the car from track to track and running on street tires.  It should be an exciting class and I am looking forward to piloting the Z across the beautiful California countryside.

On Saturday night, Carroll Shelby is hosting a mixer for us at his facilities at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  That should prove to be a once in a lifetime experience.

As in the past couple of years, I'll be working the OTC scoring system, and this year I've cooked up a little something that will hopefully be a hit with the competitors.  The scoring will be tabulated onto a web server that can be accessed by the competitors in near real-time.  This will hopefully enhance the competition as everyone will be able to see what everyone else is doing and can adjust their strategies accordingly.  If possible, I hope to provide updates to the OTC web site in a timely fashion so the general public can share in the excitement.

Another project I've been working on over the past few months is the TrackPC.  This is a fully functional personal computer that fits in the trunk of a car, with a touch screen LCD mounted in the dash.  I've developed and integrated a prototype system that interfaces with the vehicle's factory On-Board Diagnostic system to record real-time data from the car's computer system, including speed, RPM, temperature, fuel and timing curve, and other available information.  This is coupled with data received by a GPS navigation system, an accelerometer, and combined with video recorded while the car is on track.  I'm hoping this system will be of interest to many open-track participants and I will be testing it during the course of the OTC.

Be sure to check back here often as we will be posting updates and pictures as the event progresses.

3/07/2004

It's been a long while since the last update.  Yes, the Z is fixed.  Good as new.  Almost.

They didn't do a very good job aligning the hood, so the headlights are rubbing it when they are open.  Also, they replaced my 2002 "Z06 405HP" badges with the incorrect 2001 "Z06" badges, so I need to get that taken care of.

I found a great deal on a tire trailer and a couple of sets of wheels and tires last week, so I'm set up to hit the track again.

NASA was at California Speedway this weekend, so I went by and did some work on a new version of the OTC scoring software, and managed to get a few laps in along the way.  Thanks John and Ryan!

Here's a few pictures I took from the event.

I learned a new motto while I was there:  "Friends don't let friends drift."  What is up with this sport?  I think it was invented by the tire companies as a way to sell more tires to people too dumb to know better.  I mean, sheesh.

I'm planning to attend the NASA ButtonWillow event on April 3/4th, which will give me one more opportunity to test the OTC scoring system before the main event starts on April 18th.

10/18/2003

There I was...  returning home from a trip to the grocery store.  Sitting at a red light with a nondescript Honda on the lane just to the right.  The light turned green, the we took off normally and all of a sudden a loud BOOM off to the right and a black blur whooshes past and takes off the front end of my car.  

A college kid in a late model Z-28 Camaro had run the red light and the Honda t-boned him.  After the Honda struck him, he began to spin around, and then I t-boned him.  He continued to spin around and ended up backing into a street light pole on the far left corner of the intersection.

Luckily, everyone was unhurt.

The Honda suffered severe frontal damage, and the Z-28 had severe damage to the driver's side, and it appeared that the rear wheels had been severely bent due to the impact with the curbing.

Here's a few pics that we snapped.

I'm not sure if there is enough damage to total the car, but obviously it will never been the same.  Hopefully the kid's insurance will  take care of everything.

Stay tuned!

10/01/2003

Paul Mumford was killed Wednesday, Oct. 1st, when his private plane crashed near Chino, California.  

I met Paul at the inaugural OTC during which he drove his Viper ACR to a 2nd place overall finish on street tires.

 In the 2003 OTC he again placed 2nd overall in his Viper Comp. Coupe.

This summer, in his very first professional race, he placed 3rd at the SCCA SPEED GT Championship race at Road America after starting 22nd. 

In September, his second professional race, he won the SPEED GT race at Laguna Seca.

Paul was one of the nicest guys I've ever met, and probably the most talented driver I've ever had the opportunity to know.

He was a true hero to many of us and we will miss him dearly.

Godspeed Paul

05/7/2003

Jonathan Blevins has posted his pictures from the OTC on his web site here.

He has a CD with over 2100 full size images for sale on there.

04/13/2003

Well, the 2nd annual Open Track Challenge is now in the books.  The event went very smoothly and it seemed that all the competitors had a great time this year.  Although the event was a lot of fun, it was also very exhausting and I have to say that now that I'm back home again I'm glad that it is over.  I am however looking forward to next year's event with enthusiasm.  It promises to be even better and I'm hoping we can get even more of our friends involved next year.

Our team improved our overall results by one place this year (17th vs. 18th last year), but interestingly the entire field was not affected by attrition nearly as much as last year, and the competition was much stronger.

I would like to thank everyone that contributed their efforts into make this such a great event!  I would like to give special thanks to Brian Provost for putting together such a terrific event, John Lindsay and Ryan Flaherty for ensuring that it ran smoothly, Doug Hayashi and Wayne Mello for hauling my tires around and letting us use their truck during the event, Gene and Merl Anderson for doing such a great job with timing and scoring, as well as the rest of the NASA crew that worked so hard during this event.

It was really great getting to see some old friends, and making some new ones too.  Getting to meet and drive on the track with multi-time SCCA autocross champion John Ames was a real thrill.  I got to see my friend Kevin Rogers from Texas in his Shelby Cobra.  Watching Paul Mumford click off those amazing lap times trying to best the Radicals was really cool.

But the best part was getting to hang out and team up again with my good friends Jonathan and Ron Blevins.  They truly made the event a pleasure to attend, and we had a great time again this year.  I'm looking forward to next year already.

Ron and Jonathan took an incredible amount of pictures (over 2000!) throughout the event, and will be selling CD's containing their pictures.  I will post the web site and contact info here when it becomes available.

I managed to snap over 300 pictures myself, which can be viewed by clicking here.

04/12/2003

News flash!  After this morning's first session, the fastest Radical has about a .600 second lead over Paul Mumford's Viper Competition Coupe!  The competition for the overall win is going to come down to the wire!

After 2 sessions, Paul Mumford was behind by a mere .018 seconds over 3 laps.  He will place 2nd overall behind the Radicals.

We had a great day here and Jonathan ran a string of 1.29 lap times.  We decided to just run the first two sessions and call it good, as I corded a tire in the 2nd session and we didn't want to hassle with getting another set mounted up.

We will be attending the OTC banquet this evening at Planet Hollywood at the Forum in Caesar's Palace.

04/11/2003

It was windy today at Willow Springs, but otherwise a great day for open tracking.

I forgot to mention that on Wednesday at Thunderhill, I had the opportunity to take a few laps in Paul Mumford's RSR spec racer.  The car was a lot of fun to drive, but a little tail happy.  I managed a 2:28 lap time, while Ryan Flaherty, after a spectacular off track 180 degree airborne excursion, still had a 2:17 lap time, and had a best of 2:11 a few laps later.  Mumford was clicking off 2:06's in it earlier in the day.

Ron took an awesome shot of Wayne Mello flying over the Cyclone at Thunderhill on two wheels that has to be seen to be believed! 

We had some great track time today, and Jonathan's best lap time was a 1.33.748, and I had a best of 1:40.031.  Paul Mumford set the fastest time of the day with a 1:21.962.  If Paul can win tomorrow, then he will win the overall since he will have 4 wins to the Radical's 3.

I skipped my last session today because we had an opportunity to test drive Paul's shifter karts, and they were incredibly fast and fun to drive!  It took a little while to get used to driving them, but after that they were very fast.

We are now headed back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for our final day.  It has been a long hard week, but we are entering the home stretch now.  We have had a lot of fun over the past week, but this event definitely requires a lot of endurance and we will be glad when it is finally over.

04/10/2003

A beautiful, sunny Northern California morning gave way to a windy afternoon at Thunderhill today.  We had another fun day today, and enjoyed running the track in the clockwise direction.

I neglected to mention that I had my first ever 4 wheels off track excursion yesterday.  I tried to carry way too much speed through the turn that leads onto the main straightaway (turn 15 I think) and ran out of room at the track out, which resulted in a little bit of farming on my part, but luckily the car seemed to take it in stride.

I was reminded of yesterday's off as I tracked out of turn 2 (turn 14 counterclockwise) and the back end started to step out.  I caught it, but overcorrected a little, so I decided it would be better to steer off the track than risk a spin so close to a great big concrete wall.  So that was my 2nd 4 wheels off experience in two days.

My third one came in the last session, where I braked entirely too late for turn one on the main straightaway (we were seeing speeds north of 125 or so) so I proceeded to utilize  the convenient run off area at the end of the straight.  Once slowed to a reasonable speed, I cut across a bit of green grass to get back on the track.  All in all it was pretty tame compared to the other two agricultural experiments.

Another moment of excitement today came just before my first session.  After getting strapped in and ready for the session, driving over to the grid I heard some grinding sounds emanating from the rear of the car that told me the rear brake pads were shot.  I drove back over to the trailer, and with Ron and Jon's help, managed to swap out the rear pads in less than 10 minutes!  I didn't even miss any of my session!

Jonathan's best lap times today were a string of 2:05's and 2:06's.  I managed a 2:11 in my last session.  The Radicals won the day overall, and solidified their 1st place position in the overall standings.  Paul Mumford will have to win the next two days to have a shot at the overall title this year.

We had a nice dinner last night at "Franco's" in Willows with many of the OTC participants in attendance.  It was really great that we had a night off where we didn't have to travel and could all hang out with each other.  Special thanks to Ryan Flaherty and John Lindsey for driving us over.

Last night when we got back from the dinner, we learned that Corvette Mike had flown his head mechanic up from SoCal to swap out the clutch in his Mosler which had disintegrated earlier in the day.  His mechanic he had completed it by the time we got back from dinner and Rupert could be heard driving it around on the local roads at obviously rapid speeds.  Unfortunately today they somehow managed to punch a hole in their oilpan, so they were calling on the PA to see if anyone had the equipment necessary to weld aluminum to repair it.  The Mosler is an amazing car, but it is disappointing that it hasn't fared better in the competition so far.

We are now on the road back south to Willow Springs (about 450 miles from Thunderhill).  Having driven there at the OTC last year, we are looking forward to returning.  It is a very fun track with some banked turns and a very fast sweeper.

04/09/2003

Had a great day at Thunderhill today!  It is such a fun track.

Jonathan's fastest lap was a 2.04.034, while I had a 2:09.784.  Paul Mumford beat the Radicals again with a best lap time of 1:51.334.

After the regular sessions, I had the opportunity to drive a Renault Spec Racer race car, which was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow, we drive the same track again, but in the opposite direction.  Should be a lot of fun. 

04/08/2003

A beautiful, sunny, warm California day greeted us today at Buttonwillow Raceway Park outside of Bakersfield, CA.

Jonathan lapped the track with a fast time of 2:08, while Paul Mumford set the fast time of the day with a 1:55.9, beating the Radicals.

We're headed up to Northern California now to Thunderhill Raceway, which is one of our favorite venues.  It is long, fast, and has lots of hills and blind turns.

The Z06 held up well today, although we managed to cord another tire.  We mounted up two more slicks and are expecting 8 more to meet us at Thunderhill tomorrow, which should hold us for the rest of the event.  While the slicks were being mounted, we put a fresh set of rotors and brake pads on.

We're looking forward to another great day of open tracking tomorrow!

04/07/2003

Another fabulous day today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on the Derek Daly School's Road Course.

Jonathan drove the Z06 to a 1:27.921 fastest lap, while I managed a 1:30.075.  Fast time of the day was a 1:20.041 set by the #98 Johnson-Dalen Radical.  Notably, Paul Mumford nearly bested them with a 1:20.228 in his Viper Competition Coupe.

The competition got tougher today, moving us into a tie for 7th place in our class, a tie for 14th in our division, and a tie for 16th Overall.

Next up, its a 335 mile hike over to Buttonwillow, which is just outside of Bakersfield, CA.

For your viewing pleasure, here's a great shot of Doug Hayashi in his NSX on a flying lap today making the most of the curbing (check out the rocks flying) and the Vegas Strip skyline in the background.

On the Isn't technology Wonderful front I'm uploading this update while traveling down the road at 65 MPH in the middle of nowhere in the motorhome.  My laptop is communicating to my mobile phone via Bluetooth, and my mobile phone is talking to the net via GPRS.  Slick, huh?  Next year I expect to have no less than full broadband in the motorhome.

04/06/2003

We had a great day today at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump, Nevada.

Jonathan knocked out a string of fast 1:47 laps, while the fastest time of the day was set by one of the Radicals at 1:36.

Next fastest was 1:41 by Paul Mumford in his brand new 2003 Dodge Viper Comp. Coupe.

Unfortunately in setting our fast laps we managed to cord our left side tires, so we placed a call to our tire guy to have 2 more sets shipped 2nd day air to meet us at Thunderhill on Wednesday.

We're heading in to Las Vegas for a big buffet at the Rio, and some R&R before tomorrow's excitement.

04/05/2003

We had a great practice day at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park today in spite of the fact that it was very cold and windy.

We got a new set of slicks mounted up and put in a couple of good practice sessions.  The car is ready to go and we managed to get half of our stickers on, but nightfall and cold, windy conditions prevented us from getting the passenger side completed.

Tomorrow we will start our first official day of competition.

04/04/2003

I arrived in safely in Pahrump, Nevada this evening and hooked up with my friends Ron and Jonathan Blevins, who arrived here this morning from Oklahoma with the RV and trailer.

We will be getting up tomorrow to finish prepping the car, and then spending the day at the Bragg-Smith track for a practice and tuning day.

We are looking forward to a fun week!

04/03/2003

I've been prepping the Z06 for The Open Track Challenge which beings this weekend.  My friend Jonathan Blevins and I will be co-driving my Z in the Unlimited 1 class.

My friend Chase Card donated a Recaro SPG racing seat to the cause, which I installed the other night.  Contrary to popular believe, Recaro does make a seat that will fit in the C5, and they also have a custom adapter bracket for it.

I took a few pictures of the install which can be seen here.

Stay tuned to the web site over the next week as I will be trying to post updates on our OTC progress daily...

05/7/2003

Jonathan Blevins has posted his pictures from the OTC on his web site here.

He has a CD with over 2100 full size images for sale on there.

04/13/2003

Well, the 2nd annual Open Track Challenge is now in the books.  The event went very smoothly and it seemed that all the competitors had a great time this year.  Although the event was a lot of fun, it was also very exhausting and I have to say that now that I'm back home again I'm glad that it is over.  I am however looking forward to next year's event with enthusiasm.  It promises to be even better and I'm hoping we can get even more of our friends involved next year.

Our team improved our overall results by one place this year (17th vs. 18th last year), but interestingly the entire field was not affected by attrition nearly as much as last year, and the competition was much stronger.

I would like to thank everyone that contributed their efforts into make this such a great event!  I would like to give special thanks to Brian Provost for putting together such a terrific event, John Lindsay and Ryan Flaherty for ensuring that it ran smoothly, Doug Hayashi and Wayne Mello for hauling my tires around and letting us use their truck during the event, Gene and Merl Anderson for doing such a great job with timing and scoring, as well as the rest of the NASA crew that worked so hard during this event.

It was really great getting to see some old friends, and making some new ones too.  Getting to meet and drive on the track with multi-time SCCA autocross champion John Ames was a real thrill.  I got to see my friend Kevin Rogers from Texas in his Shelby Cobra.  Watching Paul Mumford click off those amazing lap times trying to best the Radicals was really cool.

But the best part was getting to hang out and team up again with my good friends Jonathan and Ron Blevins.  They truly made the event a pleasure to attend, and we had a great time again this year.  I'm looking forward to next year already.

Ron and Jonathan took an incredible amount of pictures (over 2000!) throughout the event, and will be selling CD's containing their pictures.  I will post the web site and contact info here when it becomes available.

I managed to snap over 300 pictures myself, which can be viewed by clicking here.

04/12/2003

News flash!  After this morning's first session, the fastest Radical has about a .600 second lead over Paul Mumford's Viper Competition Coupe!  The competition for the overall win is going to come down to the wire!

After 2 sessions, Paul Mumford was behind by a mere .018 seconds over 3 laps.  He will place 2nd overall behind the Radicals.

We had a great day here and Jonathan ran a string of 1.29 lap times.  We decided to just run the first two sessions and call it good, as I corded a tire in the 2nd session and we didn't want to hassle with getting another set mounted up.

We will be attending the OTC banquet this evening at Planet Hollywood at the Forum in Caesar's Palace.

04/11/2003

It was windy today at Willow Springs, but otherwise a great day for open tracking.

I forgot to mention that on Wednesday at Thunderhill, I had the opportunity to take a few laps in Paul Mumford's RSR spec racer.  The car was a lot of fun to drive, but a little tail happy.  I managed a 2:28 lap time, while Ryan Flaherty, after a spectacular off track 180 degree airborne excursion, still had a 2:17 lap time, and had a best of 2:11 a few laps later.  Mumford was clicking off 2:06's in it earlier in the day.

Ron took an awesome shot of Wayne Mello flying over the Cyclone at Thunderhill on two wheels that has to be seen to be believed! 

We had some great track time today, and Jonathan's best lap time was a 1.33.748, and I had a best of 1:40.031.  Paul Mumford set the fastest time of the day with a 1:21.962.  If Paul can win tomorrow, then he will win the overall since he will have 4 wins to the Radical's 3.

I skipped my last session today because we had an opportunity to test drive Paul's shifter karts, and they were incredibly fast and fun to drive!  It took a little while to get used to driving them, but after that they were very fast.

We are now headed back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for our final day.  It has been a long hard week, but we are entering the home stretch now.  We have had a lot of fun over the past week, but this event definitely requires a lot of endurance and we will be glad when it is finally over.

04/10/2003

A beautiful, sunny Northern California morning gave way to a windy afternoon at Thunderhill today.  We had another fun day today, and enjoyed running the track in the clockwise direction.

I neglected to mention that I had my first ever 4 wheels off track excursion yesterday.  I tried to carry way too much speed through the turn that leads onto the main straightaway (turn 15 I think) and ran out of room at the track out, which resulted in a little bit of farming on my part, but luckily the car seemed to take it in stride.

I was reminded of yesterday's off as I tracked out of turn 2 (turn 14 counterclockwise) and the back end started to step out.  I caught it, but overcorrected a little, so I decided it would be better to steer off the track than risk a spin so close to a great big concrete wall.  So that was my 2nd 4 wheels off experience in two days.

My third one came in the last session, where I braked entirely too late for turn one on the main straightaway (we were seeing speeds north of 125 or so) so I proceeded to utilize  the convenient run off area at the end of the straight.  Once slowed to a reasonable speed, I cut across a bit of green grass to get back on the track.  All in all it was pretty tame compared to the other two agricultural experiments.

Another moment of excitement today came just before my first session.  After getting strapped in and ready for the session, driving over to the grid I heard some grinding sounds emanating from the rear of the car that told me the rear brake pads were shot.  I drove back over to the trailer, and with Ron and Jon's help, managed to swap out the rear pads in less than 10 minutes!  I didn't even miss any of my session!

Jonathan's best lap times today were a string of 2:05's and 2:06's.  I managed a 2:11 in my last session.  The Radicals won the day overall, and solidified their 1st place position in the overall standings.  Paul Mumford will have to win the next two days to have a shot at the overall title this year.

We had a nice dinner last night at "Franco's" in Willows with many of the OTC participants in attendance.  It was really great that we had a night off where we didn't have to travel and could all hang out with each other.  Special thanks to Ryan Flaherty and John Lindsey for driving us over.

Last night when we got back from the dinner, we learned that Corvette Mike had flown his head mechanic up from SoCal to swap out the clutch in his Mosler which had disintegrated earlier in the day.  His mechanic he had completed it by the time we got back from dinner and Rupert could be heard driving it around on the local roads at obviously rapid speeds.  Unfortunately today they somehow managed to punch a hole in their oilpan, so they were calling on the PA to see if anyone had the equipment necessary to weld aluminum to repair it.  The Mosler is an amazing car, but it is disappointing that it hasn't fared better in the competition so far.

We are now on the road back south to Willow Springs (about 450 miles from Thunderhill).  Having driven there at the OTC last year, we are looking forward to returning.  It is a very fun track with some banked turns and a very fast sweeper.

04/09/2003

Had a great day at Thunderhill today!  It is such a fun track.

Jonathan's fastest lap was a 2.04.034, while I had a 2:09.784.  Paul Mumford beat the Radicals again with a best lap time of 1:51.334.

After the regular sessions, I had the opportunity to drive a Renault Spec Racer race car, which was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow, we drive the same track again, but in the opposite direction.  Should be a lot of fun. 

04/08/2003

A beautiful, sunny, warm California day greeted us today at Buttonwillow Raceway Park outside of Bakersfield, CA.

Jonathan lapped the track with a fast time of 2:08, while Paul Mumford set the fast time of the day with a 1:55.9, beating the Radicals.

We're headed up to Northern California now to Thunderhill Raceway, which is one of our favorite venues.  It is long, fast, and has lots of hills and blind turns.

The Z06 held up well today, although we managed to cord another tire.  We mounted up two more slicks and are expecting 8 more to meet us at Thunderhill tomorrow, which should hold us for the rest of the event.  While the slicks were being mounted, we put a fresh set of rotors and brake pads on.

We're looking forward to another great day of open tracking tomorrow!

04/07/2003

Another fabulous day today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on the Derek Daly School's Road Course.

Jonathan drove the Z06 to a 1:27.921 fastest lap, while I managed a 1:30.075.  Fast time of the day was a 1:20.041 set by the #98 Johnson-Dalen Radical.  Notably, Paul Mumford nearly bested them with a 1:20.228 in his Viper Competition Coupe.

The competition got tougher today, moving us into a tie for 7th place in our class, a tie for 14th in our division, and a tie for 16th Overall.

Next up, its a 335 mile hike over to Buttonwillow, which is just outside of Bakersfield, CA.

For your viewing pleasure, here's a great shot of Doug Hayashi in his NSX on a flying lap today making the most of the curbing (check out the rocks flying) and the Vegas Strip skyline in the background.

On the Isn't technology Wonderful front I'm uploading this update while traveling down the road at 65 MPH in the middle of nowhere in the motorhome.  My laptop is communicating to my mobile phone via Bluetooth, and my mobile phone is talking to the net via GPRS.  Slick, huh?  Next year I expect to have no less than full broadband in the motorhome.

04/06/2003

We had a great day today at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump, Nevada.

Jonathan knocked out a string of fast 1:47 laps, while the fastest time of the day was set by one of the Radicals at 1:36.

Next fastest was 1:41 by Paul Mumford in his brand new 2003 Dodge Viper Comp. Coupe.

Unfortunately in setting our fast laps we managed to cord our left side tires, so we placed a call to our tire guy to have 2 more sets shipped 2nd day air to meet us at Thunderhill on Wednesday.

We're heading in to Las Vegas for a big buffet at the Rio, and some R&R before tomorrow's excitement.

04/05/2003

We had a great practice day at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park today in spite of the fact that it was very cold and windy.

We got a new set of slicks mounted up and put in a couple of good practice sessions.  The car is ready to go and we managed to get half of our stickers on, but nightfall and cold, windy conditions prevented us from getting the passenger side completed.

Tomorrow we will start our first official day of competition.

04/04/2003

I arrived in safely in Pahrump, Nevada this evening and hooked up with my friends Ron and Jonathan Blevins, who arrived here this morning from Oklahoma with the RV and trailer.

We will be getting up tomorrow to finish prepping the car, and then spending the day at the Bragg-Smith track for a practice and tuning day.

We are looking forward to a fun week!

04/03/2003

I've been prepping the Z06 for The Open Track Challenge which beings this weekend.  My friend Jonathan Blevins and I will be co-driving my Z in the Unlimited 1 class.

My friend Chase Card donated a Recaro SPG racing seat to the cause, which I installed the other night.  Contrary to popular believe, Recaro does make a seat that will fit in the C5, and they also have a custom adapter bracket for it.

I took a few pictures of the install which can be seen here.

Stay tuned to the web site over the next week as I will be trying to post updates on our OTC progress daily...

04/03/2003

I've been prepping the Z06 for The Open Track Challenge which beings this weekend.  My friend Jonathan Blevins and I will be co-driving my Z in the Unlimited 1 class.

My friend Chase Card donated a Recaro SPG racing seat to the cause, which I installed the other night.  Contrary to popular believe, Recaro does make a seat that will fit in the C5, and they also have a custom adapter bracket for it.

I took a few pictures of the install which can be seen here.

Stay tuned to the web site over the next week as I will be trying to post updates on our OTC progress daily...

03/10/2003

Finally got around to capturing some video from my recent track events in the Z06.

Here's some video from Hallett and Road Atlanta from last season.

03/08/2003

I attended my first official California track event with my friend Rick Bailey at California Speedway.  The event was a NASA open track event and I'd like to thank John Lindsay for his hospitality!  The event was very well run and had a nice variety of cars and drivers.

California Speedway is where the NASCAR Winston Cup guys run when they are here, so it is a very fast banked oval super speedway.  The NASA event allowed us to run on about half of the oval before dropping down into the infield road course, which was a lot of fun.  Here is the track configuration we ran:

Having this much oval to work with allowed for some very high speeds, and running turns 1 and 2 at high speed was a very exhilarating experience to say the least!  When I ran MIS in Michigan, we started off in turns 3 and 4, and about the time we reached our top speed, we had to slow down for the turn into the infield.  Here it was the opposite, requiring a significant amount of courage to carry the speed you had built up into turns 1 and 2.

Since this track is only about 45 minutes away from me, I have a feeling I will be returning here often.

Here's a few pictures that I took, and a video too.

02/22/2003

Cruised up to Buttonwillow with my new friend Rick Bailey and his nephew Fred for the Viper Days event.

Here are some pics.

01/11/2003

Happy New Year!

Well, it looks like we made it though another year!  I hope everyone had as great a year in 2002 as I did!  I can truly say it was one of the best years of my life, which just keeps getting better!

I'd like to say hello to all of my friends back in Oklahoma!  I miss all of you very much, and I am starting to get a little homesick, even though California is turning out to be a great place to live!  Living close to the beach and only a couple of hours away from the mountains is a lot of fun!

One of the perks of living out here is that I was able to attend the LA Auto Show for the first time ever.  There were a lot of cool new vehicles and concepts, including the phenomenal Ferrari Enzo.

Here are a few pictures that I took from the show.

12/07/2002

I'd like to take a moment to thank all of our veterans for their service to our country on Pearl Harbor day.  The rest of us are able to enjoy our freedom thanks to you!

The past few months have been very busy for me.  My office in Oklahoma City is being closed, so I accepted a job transfer to our Tustin, CA office.  I moved to Newport Beach, CA in mid November, and so far I am liking it out here.

There is so much to see and do out here, I've been spending what little free time I have exploring the area.  The picture you see above was taken on a winding road in the Santa Monica mountains, near Malibu, California.  It is a very scenic area, and a lot of fun to drive around (once you get over all of the sheer drops with no guardrails.)

The weather out here is very nice, as expected.  While OKC was getting snowed on last week, we had sunshine and 65 degrees.  Because of the great weather, they have track events year round, and I'm anxious to attend a track event when I have some time. 

The Z06 is enjoying it out here immensely.  The speed limits are mostly over 50 MPH, there are plenty of lanes to drive in on the highways, and there are lots of fun hills to navigate.  I'm looking forward to getting to know the area better.

9/24/2002

Spent the weekend at Road Atlanta with my good friends Jonathan, Jennifer, and Ron Blevins, and my nephew Rob.  We were attending a BMW club driving school there.

Jonathan's "old blue" Mustang had engine problems on Friday, so he ended up driving my "new blue" Z06 for the remainder of the event.  He didn't seem to mind being behind the wheel of a Chevy too much, and ended up turning some very impressive lap times by Sunday.

The event was sponsored by the Peachtree Chapter BMW CCA and was very well run.  The only complaint I had is that they would not allow me to drive on Friday, even considering my previous open track experience, and the fact that I'd driven 900 miles to attend the event.  I guess I wasn't too disappointed about this since it rained all day Friday, but it would have been nice to have the extra track time to get familiar with the track.

Jonathan and I shared the same great instructor, Bob Hooks, from Winston-Salem, NC.  Bob was a Road Atlanta veteran, and had us driving the right line in no time.  Bob took me for a thrill ride in his BMW race car, which was a lot of fun and very educational.

Since I didn't get to drive on Friday, I decided to bleed my brakes and replace the front rotors.  I'd felt a little pulsation in the left front rotor recently that I wanted to fix.  I also had a brand new set of Goodridge stainless steel lines waiting to go on.  Normally, I avoid doing anything new to the car within two weeks of an event, but since I'd done the s/s lines on my 99 Hardtop, and they went on so easy, I decided to go ahead and do them on Friday.  Mistake.

I was finishing up the last corner of the car (driver's front), and somehow managed to over torque the banjo fitting on the caliper, stripping the threads.  Part of the blame must lie with Goodridge, because the replacement banjo bolts are significantly shorter than the stock ones, and there are fewer threads to engage in the caliper.  

Anyway, we hopped in Rob's Trailblazer and set out for Atlanta, while I tried to get enough coverage on my cell phone to call some Chevy dealers in search of a new caliper.  I managed to find one in stock, but it was on the other side of town, and at rush hour there was no way to make it there before they closed.  We had to wait until 8AM the following morning, at which point we discovered that the caliper they had in stock was not the correct "red" Z06 caliper, but a plain gray C5 caliper.  So now I have a gray caliper on the left and a red one on the right, for the time being.  Rest assured I'll be ordering the correct red caliper soon.

We got the caliper installed Saturday morning, and only missed our first sessions.  The Z06 performed superbly for the remainder of the event.  We did managed to finish off the stock set of rear brake pads, which caused a bit of a panic on Sunday to try to find some replacements, but luckily a fellow Z06 owner at the event happened to have a set of pads with him.

Just before we left for the event, I received a set of CCW (Complete Custom Wheel) wheels with Goodyear racing slicks mounted on them.  Thanks to John at CCW for hooking me up with this superb setup.  They are 18"x11" wheels with 11 1/2" slicks up front, and 18"x12" wheels with 12 1/2" slicks out back.  The slicks are so sticky, it is incredible, and they all manage somehow to fit underneath the fenders without sticking out.

Unfortunately, it rained off and on all weekend, so we were swapping the slicks on and off, but the Z06 did very well even when we were out running on the stock street tires.  When we had the slicks mounted up, the cornering power was just plain silly.

Jonathan was clocked at a 1:42 lap time, which we were told is pretty darn good, and I managed a 1:52 lap.  Down the straights the Z06 just walked away from everyone else.  There was really only one car that had anything for us, and it was a BMW race car.

All in all it was a pretty good weekend, and Road Atlanta is now officially my second favorite track that I've driven, behind Road America.

I have a lot of video that I'll get posted here someday, but in the meantime you can enjoy all of the pics that Jonathan, Jennifer, Rob and I took over the course of the weekend.

8/24/2002

Headed up to Hallett again today for High Speed Touring.  The day started out rainy, but dried out after lunch, so we got some dry sessions in.  My best lap time was a 1:31 in traffic, but I was definitely going faster than the last time I was there.

We flushed the brake system with Motul RBF 600 on Wednesday, and that really improved the braking systems endurance.  Also, on the last trip to Hallett we had seen some high transmission temp warnings, and none on this trip due to the cooler ambient temperatures.  A tranny cooler is definately in my future.

Here are a few pics that we took.

8/10/2002

Went up to Hallett today with my friends Jonathan & Jennifer Blevins.  The weather was a little hot, but tolerable, and we had a fun day!

I managed a 1:31 lap time in the new blue car, which I was pleased with considering it was my first day to have it at the track, and my tires are going away.  I think it should be good for mid to high 1:20's once I get used to the car and with some new tires.

The Z06 drives very similar to the way the 99 Hardtop drove, but it isn't quite as tail happy, which is a good thing.  The traction control was much less obtrusive than the 99's, and I left it on all day long.  I was actually enjoying the active handling system once I got used to it.  I could toss the car harder into the corners and let the active handling sort things out a little.  It was a lot of fun!  The Z06 obviously has a lot more power than the 99 had, and it just tears out of the corners and roars down the straights.  I was seeing nearly 115 MPH or so on the main straightaway.

This car is simply a joy to drive.  It is so easy to get it to do precisely what you want it to do.  It is going to be a lot of fun to learn how to get the most out of it.

Here are some pics that we took.  Thanks Jennifer!  :)

8/6/2002

My friend Jonathan Blevins and I headed up to Tulsa for the Tuesday night Cruise-In at Jason's Deli at 61st and Memorial.  We were happy to see Martin Henry in his Electron Blue 2002 Z06 and some of our SVTOA friends there.

Here are some pictures that we took.

7/31/2002

Well, as you can see, the temptation of 2.9% financing was just too much to bear, and I'm now the proud owner of an Electron Blue 2002 Z06 Corvette!!

I really wanted a RED one, but all they had left was blue.  I guess I can live with it!  :)

I will try to post some impressions of it here once I had a chance to drive it a little, but so far, I'll just say: 

WAHOOO!  :)  

6/14/2002

Went up to Hallett today for the Mid-America Ford Performance Meet.  I was very happy to see a lot of my old Mustang friends there!  As usual there were lots of cool Mustangs and performance Ford's to be found.

Here's a few pictures that I took.

5/28/2002

My good friend Jonathan Blevins burned me a CD with all of the pictures that he and his dad Ron took during The Open Track Challenge, and gave me permission to post them to my site.

You can check them out here.

5/22/2002

Well its been a long time since the last update, but I've been pretty darn busy lately (yes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, although my friends know the real reasons I've been away.)

I've just returned from the inaugural Open Track Challenge event out on the west coast, of which I was one of the 5 original organizers (the notorious Zen Five:  Brian Provost, Jonathan Gleason, Doug Hayashi, John Lindsey, and myself)

I think the event came off much better than any of us anticipated and was a complete success.  Most of the participants seemed to have a great time.  Of course there is a lot of room for improvements, so we are already starting to plan for next year's event.

I would like to thank Ron and Jonathan Blevins for their wonderful hospitality and for allowing me to co-drive their awesome #203 Blue 89 Mustang Track car.  We managed to finish 18th overall out of 61 entries.  The complete event results are available here.

I took a grand total of 871 pictures during the trip, and you can feast your eyes on them here.

I would like to say thanks to everyone who participated in the event, and congratulate my fellow organizers for their hard work and a job well done!

I'm looking forward to attending the event again next year, and helping to make it even better.

3/24/2002

Went to Hallett yesterday for High Speed Touring to get familiar with driving my good friend Jonathan Blevins' car.

His car is a highly modified 1989 Mustang notchback that is set up for open track events.  We will be running it in the Open Track Challenge in May.

This car has a built all-aluminum 331 motor with a solid lifter cam and a dry sump oiling system.  It is probably making around 380 HP to the rear wheels.  It has a full Griggs suspension (except for my Maximum Motorsports Torque Arm), so it feels very familiar to me.

We were running on spent BFG R1 Rain tires, but I still managed a respectable 1.33 lap time.

The car is an absolute blast to drive and the motor is positively angry.  It feels like a real race car.

Here's a few pics.

3/19/2002

I attended one of the most well run autocrosses I've ever had the pleasure of attending last Sunday in Muskogee, OK.

Kudos to John Joyce and the rest of the NEOKLA region folks for putting on a great first event of the season.

Also, kudos to Brad Holliday for designing another fabulous, fun-to-drive course.

I ended up with a best time of 57.0, while my good friend Buck Morris managed to beat me by .3 seconds on his last run.

Martin Henry drove his Electron Blue Z06 to the fast time of the day, which was a low 55 second run.

I ran off and forgot my digital camera and camcorder, so I didn't get any pics from this event.  I'm hoping the NEOKLA region will post some on their web site.

3/13/2002

I thought of one other aspect about the Evolution school that disappointed me.  

On Friday and Sunday our runs were timed, giving us 5 segment times and an overall time.

Unfortunately, they did not hand out the times until noon, or the end of the day, which made them much less beneficial.

It would have been much better if they could have given us a time slip after each run so that we could compare our runs as we made them.

3/11/2002

This past weekend I attended the Evolution autocross school down in Mineral Wells, TX with my good friend Buck Morris.

Here are some pics I took.  We also took a whole bunch of video which I probably won't get around to capturing for some time.  I think I must be behind by about a year on capturing video by now.  I don't know if I'll ever get caught up!

We attended all three phases of the Evolution school on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, braving some seriously cold extremely windy weather on Saturday.

Overall, I feel that the school is a good idea for anyone interested in improving their autocross skills, but I was a little disappointed with some aspects.

First and foremost, I feel that the amount of seat time was very inadequate for the amount of money that we paid ($465 for 3 days of school).  We spent a lot of time waiting around for our turn to run, and when we finally got to drive, we were only allowed a handful of runs (8 at the most, sometimes only 3).  

I felt that just about the time I was starting to get a handle on the technique we were focusing on, my session was over.  This is just like the way a typical autocross feels, but I was hoping for a lot more seat time at the school.

The other thing I was not thrilled about was the instructor to student ratio.  There were only 2 instructors allocated to 12 people.  During our driving sessions, we usually always had an instructor in the car with us, which was good, but it seemed like we were always waiting around for our turn to run.

The last complaint I'd like to mention is the fact that we were required to work the course like a typical autocross, even though the cost was a lot higher.

I have to say that the TrackTime driving school I attended remains the most impressive driving school that I have attended, primarily due to the amount of track time and quality of instruction I received.  I would recommend this school to anyone wishing to improve their driving skills.

All in all I would certainly recommend the Evolution school to anyone wishing to improve their autocrossing skills.  The quality of instruction is very good being that most of the instructors have won National championships at least once.

I am very enthused and delighted with the performance of my Corvette.  I just can't say enough about how well it handles.  It responds instantly to any control inputs, and it is very balanced.  It is very easy to induce oversteer with a little bit of throttle application, but it is extremely controllable and I am able to catch the car easily if it starts to get out of hand.

Its really great to drive a car that does not understeer, even while negotiating the tightest turns.  There is really no comparison to my Mustang, which would understeer horribly around the tighter turns even with 3 degrees of static negative camber and a Griggs front end.

It will take a lot of seat time for my driving skills to catch up to the capabilities that this car offers, but I'm already enjoying the benefits.

In other words, I'm firmly convinced that if you are looking for the absolute best sports car for the money, get yourself a C5 Corvette.  You won't regret it!

2/24/2002

As expected, the Vette is a superb autocrosser!

Even on a course that seemed like it was designed for a shifter kart, it was eminently tossable.

It responded instantly to anything I asked it to do, but it will take some serious seat time before I can take advantage of all this new capability.

Luckily, I'm enrolled in the Evolution autocross school in two weeks, which should give me a lot of seat time to get familiar with the new car.

Fast time of the day was a 46.5, and my best time was a 48.8, while my good friend Buck Morris had an outstanding 47.7 in his killer C4 Vette.

Here are a bunch of pics from the event.

2/16/2002

Went to Hallett today for the first open track day of the season.  The turnout was pretty low, so we had plenty of room on the track.  The weather was absolutely perfect with mid 60's temps and sunshine.

The Corvette was a lot of fun to drive on the track!  It was very predictable, and I was very comfortable with it almost immediately.

I was seeing speeds of just over 100 MPH on all of the long straights, without really pushing very hard.  I feel like I can at least match my best lap times that I had in the Cobra with some more seat time.

My good friend Jonathan Blevins was wringing out his "Old Blue" Mustang today to get the kinks worked out in time for our entry in The Open Track Challenge this May.  Jonathan had a best ever lap time of 1:26 today!  Great job!

Pictures are here.

Overall I am very pleased with the Corvette and feel that I made the right decision in buying it.  It has already proven itself as a daily driver, and should be at least as good as the Mustang was for open track (in nearly stock form), and I'm expecting it to be a much better autocrosser.

We'll see how I can do next Sunday at the first OK region SCCA event.

1/1/2002

As you can see, I've switched gears a little here.  Its a new year, and I've got a new car.

I traded in the Cobra last night for a 1999 Corvette Hardtop.

Here are some more pics of the Vette.

My Cobra was returned to bone stock condition, which was amazing considering the mods that it had.  Many thanks to my good friend Jonathan Blevins for his help in getting it ready to trade!

Here are some farewell pics of my Cobra.  Yes, it is the same car.  Amazing huh?

Originally I had my sights set on a Z06, but the deal on this hardtop was just too good to pass up, and I can always upgrade to the Z06 later if I want.

This car is phenomenal to drive!  It rides so good and it is so responsive compared to my Cobra.  I can't wait until I have a chance to drive it on a road course!

Happy New Year!