84 replies to this topic

[Johnny D]

I have to see what leftover xmas gifts I have. J~

I figured you guys wouldn't want my tea cup/tea set so I'm doing a gas card.
J~

[SCCA_Racer]

What is the criteria for the Raffle as far as financial worth? I RSVP'd with Ian but I am looking for more specifics on what to bring for the raffle. He gave me some ideas but their range of price seemed a bit large

[Johnny D]

A bottle or 2 or wine gives you an idea.

Last year they had 2 1/2~3 rounds of drawings so you should receive more back then you give.
J~

[Sacslider]

Results?

[Charlie Hayes]

Saturday

sutherland
schultz
holifield
hayes
evans

Sunday

holifield
sutherland
schultz
rawlins
hayes

Oregon guys are good.....next time though

[Brian Ghidinelli]

Is Phillip still running his SSM car?

[Charlie Hayes]

His car is SMT this year.

[dp35]

Good job Phil & Charlie!

[Brian Ghidinelli]

Nice drive guys, way to represent SFR!

[Johnny D]

A couple notables since after you see the videos we'll be talking about them anyway.

Peter T wrote off his car under the bridge going into 6 in the 1st race, he's fine with a couple of broken ribs, side impact.

Doug M hurt his car I think in test and borrowed others for the weekend.

Black Primer 53 with flames, I think Terry Gibson rolled his car and the corner workers gave him an award for racing all weekend after the roll.

J~

[Juan Pineda]

A couple notables since after you see the videos we'll be talking about them anyway.

And the #34 used up another of its 9 lives to survive a trip into the T4 tire wall. Car was fine, with just a little more character added to the well loved chassis. And on the plus side, this gave Juan the opportunity to install rev 5 of his bumper retention system, which passed a rigorous field test in the Saturday race.

-Juan

[Charlie Hayes]

"the design flaw was the zip ties, the bigger zip ties are superior!!!"

[Johnny D]

"the design flaw was the zip ties, the bigger zip ties are superior!!!"

I'm thinking he needs rubber about 3/8 think and 1" wide strapes holding it on.
Then it will just stretch and come back, maybe big bungee.

I have big zip ties on mine and work fine, but I don't seem to be finding all the thing to hit, like Juan does.
J~

[Alberto]

After watching so much of the wreckage, I'm happy to have survived with only red paint added to rear bumper from someone much faster than me "bump drafting" me between 3-4 and 5-6. Where can I get a "fudge Off" sticker I can stick on my rear bumper?



Rookie Class of 2011 had some highlights:

-Cliff and Gary made contact 100' before the checkered flag in one race. BFH and crow bar got the car race-able again.

-Terry "cuz that's how I roll" Gibson had a soft barrel roll on Thurs coming to a stop upside down at the exit of 4. Larry Oka and crew did an excellent job helping put humpty dumpty back together again and he was very racy the rest of the weekend. He was spitting fire out the tail pipe on each shift to match the flames on his side panels. Yeah baby!

Terry won an award as John said for racing the car all weekend.


- Brandon driving Sharpie had a spinning dance with another car somewhere around T9 iirc. The other car hit his rear pax side rear wheel. I looked it over and found the long bolt on the bottom had bent adjusting his alignment so we spent an hour Sat night hammering the bolt out. BFH and a crow bar to the rescue. The nice guy renting out the #1 white/red car was tremendous help and even aligned his car afterwards no charge. What a great, helpful guy!

Brandon's rear subframe also bent as a result of this incident. If anyone has a line on a straight rear subframe, please PM me.

Note to self: make sure that bolt is in my spares box....


- Austin blew the motor on Larry Oka's sunshine yellow/orange car. He got in the much stronger blue/yellow car and proceeded to improve his lap times and race position further.

-Joshua Fine had an awesome spin coming out of 10 right where I was expecting to track out. He took home lotsa goodies at the raffle Fri night.

-Charlie Hayes - kicked ass as usual.

- Me - did OK. Improved my lap times about 4 seconds compared to last Laguna race. Learned a lot. Won some cool stuff at the raffle including an ART tuned Air Flow Meter thingy. Made a huge difference. I also won some front brake pads from M&L Racing at the raffle Fri night.

- Greg Powell kept it clean all weekend iirc.



Wonderful, exciting weekend hanging and racing with you guys.

[Johnny D]

I edited Sat race last night down to 7 min and size but YouTube kept giving me error in uploads.

If anybody wants to give it a shot PM me.
J~

[Pete]

So I had my most severe accident in a miata this weekend. I've always been concerned about my Kirkey seat (basic economy model) but couldn't bring myself to plunk down the money for a good containment seat. To be honest I was mostly concerned about my spine in a side impact. I figured I was set with a head on with my Hans and harness. I put in a right side net and had the roll bar on the left. Anyway it was the first race of the weekend. I was driving a fairly conservative race, just trying to stay out of trouble. I got a good run on the car ahead coming out of turn 4. I made an inside pass in 5, giving a bunch of room on the outside. He ends up slotting in behind me and then decides to make a move to the inside for turn 6. Unfortunately he misjudged the room and clipped my rear bumper as he moved to the left. I immediately spin off the track to the right, heading sideways into the wall at 75mph. I remember feeling bummed that I was going to wreck and then realizing it was going to be a hard side impact - basically my worst fear. I grabbed the steering wheel really tight and contracted my muscles, bracing for impact. I hit really hard and felt the severe impact though my left side up and down the rib cage. It knocked the wind out of me and I just sat there all scrunched up in agony trying to breathe. I felt really dazed and then realized I was sitting in the middle of the track with cars whizzing by at 75mph. I think that was the scariest part thinking of being t-boned right into the same side that was killing me. Fortunately I was halfway up to turn 6 so everyone had ample time to move over. I talked to the driver who turned me and he was very sorry - an honest mistake running in tight quarters. Shit happens.

I've thought about it a lot and I think that not having the seat containing your shoulders makes the ribcage the main impact location. I believe that a full containment seat would have prevented the injuries. Hopefully this will be a warning to those who skimp on a good seat like me... I went to the ER to make sure my spleen etc were ok. Fortunately the CAT scan was negative other than a couple of broken ribs.

I've always heard you shouldn't race unless you are willing to walk away from the car. Unfortunately, with the car being totaled, it looks like it's time for me to do just that. I've really enjoyed the camaraderie and friends I have made at the track and am greatfull for all the help along the way. I'll be parting out the car in San Jose, so let me know if you need any parts (left side suspension not so good )

Pete

Race video: http://gallery.me.com/petedpm#100241

[Charlie Hayes]

At least your ok and you are here to talk about it. The video looked pretty crazy.


Saturday



Sunday



Need more work for some wins. Still haven't achieved the consistency I need/want. Sunday's race I had some bad luck with debris in turn 9 on the exit loosing my p2 spot to Sutherland. The rest of the race went downhill playing catch up and overdriving.

[Alberto]

Sorry for your loss Peter. Best wishes on a speedy recovery.

Let me know if you need a hand with anything. I'm in Mountain View.

I never trusted those seats when I was looking at cars. One of the reasons I decided to build my own so I could spec it exactly as I wanted it. I'm glad I splurged on all my safety equipment. I have a full containment Sparco Pro Adv.

[Johnny D]

Crazy start, lost a few at 1st, got them back in the end, Pete's crash, enjoy.

http://www.facebook....227926240568959
J~

[Tom Hampton]

Facebook? Not visible due to privacy.