Sundays...

Usually I hate going out on Sundays. I usually stay home and bum around just to relax and get ready for Monday. However, this Sunday was much different. The roadcourse was open again and was still free. Seeing how I had so much fun on Saturday I had to go again. This time i was a bit more prepared. The night before I just got an alignment from Sears Auto out on the island at 4000 Jericho Turnpike. The tech that performed the adjustment called himself Kenny. Man, this guy was more meticulous than I was. I told him the specs I wanted and he did everything he could to get them or as close as possible. So I had my front camber set to -2.5 deg and rear was -1.5 deg. I managed to max out my TEIN camber plates and required to run about -1 deg on my knuckle bolts. Before the session started, I also checked my tire pressure to ensure I was running less air then my last run on Saturday.

Anyway, after waiting in the blistering heat for 45 minutes and talking a number of people on the line including a Yellow 2003 Evo 8 GSR with a built 2.0 Liter stick looking block and a 20G (which by the way was one of the smartest builds I've ever seen, I mean instead of throwing money at the car they just used whatever worked and still made power) that car was truly amazing and was quick around the track. I finally reached teh staging area and to my surprise I was the lead car again. So i got the instructor again in my car and he was really cool. He actually owns an Evo with a stage 5 Buschur built motor and racing coilovers with other various suspension work. Unlike my last instructor he let me get on it and he knew how the car would react. So needless to say it was a fucking blast! My friends, Rob's wife (White Evo X) and Howard(Evo IX MR) [in that order] lined up behind me and I was able to lose them within the warm up lap. I even got the car sideways and he just told me to give it more gas. haha After that session I was confident enough to join the advanced group as I was slowed down by a Toyota Tacoma with 19's and almost hit the wall at the banked right hander with a dive to the apex. I thought that session was fun...

We got off the track and got back on line and let the cars cool off. This time all three of us lined up in the advanced group and I was really hoping to see what kind of driver Rob was as he used to drive rally cars back in Hungary, so I let him go in front of me as Howard followed behind me. As the ambient temps of the day were close to 105 degrees you can only imagine how much heat the cars were producing that day. My oil alone hit 110 degrees Celsius and brake cooling proved to be a challenge without having cooling ducts. Regardless the car felt GREAT, the alignment did the trick. Everything just worked. Less body roll and it literally handled on rails, even running on pretty used RT615's the car was so controllable. Kudos to Kenny at Sears for helping me set it up even after hours.

I was pretty confident that I would do well in the advanced group but I was rather disappointed because we were stuck behind some pretty slow cars. To make matters worse the cars were barely track prepped and the SRT8 Charger in front had snow tires on. It obviously didn't do well against the Evo's. As we left the stagging area and headed on the track I immediately got on it, since everything was warmed up from before. I was definitely harder on her than I was in my last session. Rob was given a 10 second lead, and by the end of the 1st lap I started to catch up to him. By the end of the 2nd lap I was on him. Then by the time we both got to the 3rd lap we were stuck behind the charger and we both had to slow down since there was no passing allowed. As frustrated as we were there was nothing we could do except for Rob to flash his Hi-Beams at the guy and nearly making him crash into the wall... HAHA The charger didn't seem to happy on the track but we weren't too happy either... My impression of the second session is pretty much this... My car kicked ass hands down! The tires got lose enough for me to have a little fun and pull slight drifts from my corner exits and the turn in was simply amazing and stunning. I just wanted to go faster and faster but my lack of gas and my rising oil temperatures caused me to slow down earlier for a cool down lap. Hopefully I can fix this issue soon.

My final verdict of the entire track day weekend. Amazing. I can't tell you how much fun it was unless you were there. I've never experienced anything like it. If you were there and you drove your car the right way you would know. If you weren't then all I can say is you missed out on good clean fun. It's a great track for beginners it's not that fast but you can still have fun especially if the car is tuned for it.

Part 1
The camera was located in Howard's car and Rob's wife was driving the Evo X in front and I was in my Evo that was in front of her. The commentary is also provided by Howard. Enjoy...