In car footage from the event. Watch a 600hp viper blow its engine rite in front of me. 115+mph oversteer through turn 8.. etc.
This is getting to be a bad habit. I had heard about this event through Richard Wynne, and wasnt sure if i would be able to make it. On friday the previous week i had dropped my car off at GoldenGate Acura for the 60k mile service. They said it would take about a day. I get the car back *tuesday* the next week. Thats 5 days! (4 open service days, including saturday) Im glad i get the car back in time for the event, only there is a problem. They couldnt align it because the guys couldnt get it onto the machine. Damn it! I say whatever, and pick it up.
I spend the rest of the day trying to find somone who will align it so i can leave San Jose at around 9pm. Now, this isnt just a normal alignment. After having the car flatbedded from bakersfield (for more info on that click here), the alignment was knocked all out of wack. I would have to put about 40-50 degrees of left steering just to go straight.. you could clearly see the front toe was way off by eyeballing it. I stopped by Frey, and they said to try Custom Alignment. I go over to Custom, but all their tech's are gone for the day (its about 6pm). Im bent now... so i go back to work and finish some stuff.
I was asking around on the net if anyone knew were i could get it aligned that same night, but couldnt get anywere. I finally get fed up and go home. When i get home i notice my RC cars on the floor... ive adjusted their suspensions so they go straight... could the NSX be much different? (bad sign #1) I get the NSX up on the jack, and take a peek at the front suspension.. looks simple enough.
It looks like the passenger side front is the worst out of all the wheels.. you can clearly see it toeing out when the driver side front is straight. I adjust the tie rods for the passenger front and go take it out for a spin.. just to see what effect it had. It doesnt seem to have changed anything... jack the car back up again, and turn in the rod alot more. Take it out again.. definitly changed now! Only, its worse... i dont get it.. the rod turns into the housing thing on the hub.. if i turn in more rod it should push the rear of the wheel out, causing more toe in.. rite? (bad sign #2)
I look at it for about 15 minutes wonder what i did wrong.. im confused now. Well, i dont know why its doing that, but if i take the adjustment out more it has to have the opposite effect rite? I adjust it back a little past what it was before i started 'fixing' it, gets a little better.. then i adjust it about 3 turns more and take it out for a spin. Viola! It goes straight again! Take it out onto the freeway to see if its still wondering all over the place.. doesnt seem as bad.
Its now midnight... if i take off now, i can make it to willowsprings by about 4:30-5:00am, sleep for maybe 2 hours and be at the track before 8am.. i deceide to go for it. (bad sign #4)
At the first gas stop i load up on Jolt.. they have some new flavors, the mountain dew look alike one is pretty good. I5 was pretty dead on a weekday night, just truckers.. so i made some good time. The car wasnt wondering around that bad at higher speeds (not that i would ever exceed the posted limit), but it really didnt like the creases in the right lane. (the indentations caused by semi after semi driving on the same place for years)
I make it to the hotel i stayed at last time i was down there without incident.. it seems the coyotees have learned to stay off the road. I check in for the room, and ask the guy for a wakeup call at 7am. He looks at me like im a mental patient. He says, 'did you say 7am sir?'. (bad sign #3) 'Yes, please.' i reply.. and go off to my room. I go to bed around 5am.
I wake up a few minutes before 7 and get ready. Im not too tired actually.. i just want to go flog around the track. :-) Stop and top off the gas tank, get some chocolate milk, and grab some dunken stix and im off to the track. There is a line of about 5 semi's waiting to get into the gates.. a dunlop semi.. honda semi.. hmm.. did i have the wrong day? Surely semi's arent going to be here for a school... it turns out that the coming weekend was a AMA Superbike race.
8:30am i make my way over to the drivers lounge, and see whats going on. I meet the instructors, and a few of the students. They explain to us what the schedule is for today (basically, i *whole* bunch of track time.. wee!), and some rules. All the regular stuff, if you spin come in, no passing except on the back and front straights, dont pass under breaking, and try to wave faster cars by. Only 8 students are there! 6 of them had done the previous days school on the streets of willow, the other hadnt driven on this track before (in a full race viper gts!@#!). There is only 2 instructors, but it looks like each student will get some time with them. We are going to run 30 minute sessions, and then break for 10-15minutes between each session for the entire day. Around 1pm we take a lunch break for pizza, and a short classroom session.
My first session really sucked. The car was *everywere*. At > 80mph it was swerving and diving into the dips on the track. It was *way* sensitive on turn ins, and would almost oversteer with the slightest input. I thought maybe it was just me, and after the session i talked to one of the instructors. He says its probably the bad alignment, and having the different front/rear brand tires wasnt helping. I ask him to do a lap or 2 in the car, so we jump in. I can see him fighting it on turn in and he motions to me when it starts swerving down the straights. We pull into the pits and he says its definitly a handfull!
This really sucks! I want to go flog around.. but the car is so sketchy at speed im not sure if its worth it. One of the guys from the Honda semi walks over (i had accidently pitted in the padlock area were the semi's were.. hey there wasnt any signs!) and we talk about the car for awhile, and the superbikes. He is checking it out and looks at the suspension. He says wow cool, fully adjustable! (The bulb in my melon turns on!) Oh yah, i still have it on the softest setting for the ride up here! Crank down all 4 corners to full stiff, and take it back out on the track.
Its still sketchy, but not nearly as bad. I figure i can run the rest of the day with it like this. After the session i come into the pits and my forearms are *seriously* pumped up. (bad sign #5) This isnt supposed to happen in a car! Sure.. when i race motorcycles it happends all the time.. but not in an NSX! The car is so squirelly i have a deathgrip the whole 30 minutes.
We continue driving 30 minute sessions with 10 minute breaks until lunch. I realize im running on fumes and deceide to go top off the tank again. I come back to the track and grab some pizza the instructors had delivered. The instructors go through the proper technique for each corner on the track.. and answer all the questions the students have.
My speed is slowly going up.. its almost like im having to learn a whole new car. The back straight leading into turn 8 is scary! There is a small dip/dogleg thing and even without turning the car dives to the left (which is were the apex is). I learn to counter steer for the dive rite before it happends to get through in a straight line. Then the car will want to swap ends going into 8. It dives to the inside, except it feels like the rear wheels still want to keep going straight (guess the rear end alignment is fubared too). The car is also acting funny under braking into turn 1 and turn 3. The backend is getting *very* loose.. its hard to keep from dropping the outside tires into the dirt. Im not sure if its the tires, or the alignment (or maybe both).
During the session after lunch, i was following around a guy driving the race viper gts. We were entering turn 8, and his engine blew! I talked to him after the fact, and he thinks it may be something with the fuel pump or electrical system.. *hopefully* not anything internal. I seen a bunch of smoke come from under his car, and he said the cockpit filled with white smoke (if one good thing came out of it, my in car cam caught it all!).
One of the other cars is pretty much a full race M3. Its got the brembo brakes, dinan supercharger, cage, race tires, etc. It has a full interior, but other stuff was stripped out. That thing is fast!
Durring our second to last session (we end at 4:30pm), i notice that the car works much better the harder you push it. I starting pitching it into the turns, and taking turn 8 at about 115. 115 may not seem very fast, but you should see the incar footage. Notice that the steering wheel is almost straight, and the backend is oversteering all the way around! It would have sucked to spin off there, but i had the camera rolling so it would have been entertaining. :-)
Last session.. my hands hurt! My upper body is so tired from hanging onto the car and trying to keep it going straight. I have about 1/4 tank of gas, and figure thats plenty for the last session (bad sign #6). We go out and im running pretty fast now (for me). Im lapping everyone (except for the guy in the m3, he left before the session started) and getting used to were the car is diving etc. I check the gauge coming down the front straight, and notice im on empty! Doh! Guess thats a day for me.. i pull into the pits and hang out while everyone finishes the session.
The instructors give a small briefing and hand out some goodies and its time to go home. As im on the way to the gas station (again! at $2per gal.. i could get race gas) i check the trip meter. 612 miles! I know its a little over 300 from my house to willow.. 300 track miles in one day, kick ass! My hands are so sore i can hardly unscrew the gas cap. I make it back to my house at around 10pm, try to locate all the tools floating around the cabin, (i bring every tool i have, and the jack.. except this time i dont need any of it. go figure) and hose off the car.. wow thats alot of brake dust!
The brakes were still fading.. even after the flushing/bleeding by the dealer. If uncle sam wasnt taking all my money i could grab one of the sweet full brake systems from cooltech, RM or comptech. I think im just going to get the RM rotors/pads and run motul fluid.. see if i can cook those too.
Alot of the people who were watching the track sessions came up and complimented on how well the nsx looks on the track. I guess being lowered with the big wheels and front spoiler on there it looks pretty cool.. it would look alot cooler if i could drive faster!