[Slate993tt]

Is anyone coming down from Norcal to this event? I'd like to go and hoping a few of you ZLE SpeedSF guys are coming down to it.

Chad

[silverbullet415]

I was supposed to go but can’t anymore, my buddy will be there in his gt350

[Booher]

I wanted to, but it's too far. Chuckawalla next month I think!

[ninetres]

I signed up for Sunday. Time to find out what an a10 ZL1 on 1LE rubber will do....assuming I can get a clean lap once I get a feel for the car on track.

[Slate993tt]

It was a great day at the track with , myself and Ninetres taking the Top 2 spots in the S1 ClassTime Trial. It was great seeing the Camaro's rise to the occasion and take out some dedicated race cars.

Thanks again NineTres, for the use of your Truck's Master Cylinder cap. This was the first time running with SpeedSF and I really enjoyed the event. Top notch people running that and great group of competitors as well. I'll be back for sure!

Winning time for me according to their scoring was a 1:53.760. We were running Buttonwillow CW#13.

[Slate993tt]

Originally Posted by silverbullet415

I was supposed to go but can’t anymore, my buddy will be there in his gt350

I saw 1 white GT350. Super nice car. Was that your friend? I did not get a chance to meet him though.

[cleoent]

Was this you slate?

https://youtu.be/lJ1sOkVtRe0

If so, wtf dude? You're a mess. If it wasn't you, I hope you found this guy in the pits and asked him to check his ego at the door next time.

[ninetres]

Originally Posted by cleoent

Was this you slate?

https://youtu.be/lJ1sOkVtRe0

If so, wtf dude? You're a mess. If it wasn't you, I hope you found this guy in the pits and asked him to check his ego at the door next time.

(Assume you’re referring to the silver car) He was caught in a traffic jam, finally got by the last car holding everyone up... while off line around a 100mph turn in the dirt/clag, and the let the S2K by right after.

He was running 2-3 second faster laps than the S2K all day. Might look bad in the video but it’s just one clip trying to managing traffic.

[cleoent]

Originally Posted by ninetres

(Assume you’re referring to the silver car) He was caught in a traffic jam, finally got by the last car holding everyone up... while off line around a 100mph turn in the dirt/clag, and the let the S2K by right after.

He was running 2-3 second faster laps than the S2K all day. Might look bad in the video but it’s just one clip trying to managing traffic.

In that short clip the 1le goes off track twice and waaaaay overcooks a corner another time, while trying to outrun a 300 hp s2k.

There's gotta be a better way.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by ninetres

He was running 2-3 second faster laps than the S2K all day. Might look bad in the video but it’s just one clip trying to managing traffic.

Intended as constructive criticism only . . . he seemed to be doing fine as long as he was putting distance on the S2k. It's when the S2k was challenging/closing/not being walked away from that his focus appeared to slip a bit. A little too much attention to the mirrors, perhaps (and I'm not going to take this any further). That last 4-off looked like he turned in from a couple of feet to the left of the line and as a result early-apexed the left and ran out of pavement on exit.


Norm

[ninetres]

Apologies.....I stopped watching after a minute or so into the video when Slate let the Honda by after clearing the traffic. I didn’t realize there was tons more action later in the video to critique.

I’ll just say this. Running a 1:53xxx around 13CW does not allow for frequent poor lines, AT ALL. I’m going to do some speculation after spending the day hanging with Slate, and getting to know him and his driving skill a little. He’s a good shoe, and was likely just trying to have some fun in an OPEN PASSING GROUP where battles like filmed here can be a blast. High HP heavy car vs low HP momentum car. If he lets the S2K by after some corners where the S2K can minimally match the ZLE corner speed.....he’s going to be turtling to stay behind it on the straights. If he stays ahead of him he will have the Honda up his ass in some braking zones and corners. That being said.....it definitely looks like he overcooks his tires and subsequently some corners. His 3Rs were essentially corded before the day started, and some scrub Pirelli slicks he also was testing were difficult to get into the proper heat zone. Hope he doesn’t mind me speculating what he had going on lmao.

I’m still working on cropping the damn PDR footage to post a couple laps of this battle

[Slate993tt]

Originally Posted by cleoent

Was this you slate?

https://youtu.be/lJ1sOkVtRe0

If so, wtf dude? You're a mess. If it wasn't you, I hope you found this guy in the pits and asked him to check his ego at the door next time.

Yup that was me at 8:30 am on a new tire combo that I was unfamiliar with and that was on like lap 2 or 3 of the day. About 8-12 other people went 4 off exiting the bustop that day at minimum. no one hurt and its common to do at that particular corner when pushing to find the edge. No ego but would be happy for you to come out and show me how it is done in your car since you seem to have a strong opinion on how it is. Not sure if I've offended you in the past or maybe you are having a bad day or you hate Porsche guys(me) Either way I'd welcome the opportunity to learn the better way that you seem to know. I'll be at WSIR Nov 14th if you want to show me.

Originally Posted by cleoent

In that short clip the 1le goes off track twice and waaaaay overcooks a corner another time, while trying to outrun a 300 hp s2k.

There's gotta be a better way.

His clip mentions his personal best of 1:56(which is awesome) and I was running 1:53's and will post the PDR screenshot to prove it but Ninetres was there and witnessed the mess in action all day long.

I will go out on a limb and say that guy in the S2k would own 95% of people that open track their cars with his 1:56. Can you run a 1:56 there? if so congrats because you are in an exclusive group believe it or not. BTW those S2K are sub 2700lbs and multiple ones there are over 400hp. They are far from stock and no one should take them lightly. Very cool cars in my opinion.

And until I see anyone post a faster time I'm going to sleep at night just fine with the performances I've put in with this car at the 3 tracks I've been too with it so far. But I will agree that lap was a mess no doubt. I overshot the exit of bustop trying a different way...I was wrong...no harm, no foul. I recently got back onto the track after a 8 year break and this was only the 2nd time at BW since I've been opentracking again....there's ring rust I'll be the first to admit but I'm just out there trying to have fun and be safe to my fellow drivers. But yes I will push the car to find its /my limit in areas where it is safe to do so. It might be different than what you do and that's ok. I'm not here to criticize anyone or there abilities. They had a time trial and I signed up and did my best for that day. in the end a 1:53.750 was fast enough for 1st place. Is it a good time for a ZLE I'm not sure yet but I have yet to see one do it? But for me I believe a low 52 is possible for me...I just need to get re-comfortable with BW is all.

Originally Posted by Norm Peterson

Intended as constructive criticism only . . . he seemed to be doing fine as long as he was putting distance on the S2k. It's when the S2k was challenging/closing/not being walked away from that his focus appeared to slip a bit. A little too much attention to the mirrors, perhaps (and I'm not going to take this any further). That last 4-off looked like he turned in from a couple of feet to the left of the line and as a result early-apexed the left and ran out of pavement on exit.


Norm

Norn, your a pro in my book so any words from you are welcomed as you have more than proven yourself(I have a Foxbody Coupe track car as well). I blew the corner no excuses.


Maybe that guy will post more videos of later sessions.


Chad

[cleoent]

Chad,

I think I found the problem. We have a fundamental difference in our view of what an open track day is and isn't. IMO, if you're sharing the track with other cars at an open track day, it's not the time to throw caution to the wind in the interest of pushing your limits. That's about the last thing anyone wants to hear coming out of a driver's mouth.

Stay safe out there, it seems like a lot of poor decisions went into the early sessions of the day, imo speedsf is stupid for having a time trial.

I've also been off track at BW so I'm no angel, but it was one time, and I immediately "cooled my jets." You had 3 incidents in a session. That's so bad.

I'll get off my soapbox. Be safe.

(That's my cousin in the s2k)

[Slate993tt]

Originally Posted by cleoent

Chad,

I think I found the problem. We have a fundamental difference in our view of what an open track day is and isn't. IMO, if you're sharing the track with other cars at an open track day, it's not the time to throw caution to the wind in the interest of pushing your limits. That's about the last thing anyone wants to hear coming out of a driver's mouth.

Stay safe out there, it seems like a lot of poor decisions went into the early sessions of the day, imo speedsf is stupid for having a time trial.

I've also been off track at BW so I'm no angel, but it was one time, and I immediately "cooled my jets." You had 3 incidents in a session. That's so bad.

I'll get off my soapbox. Be safe.

(That's my cousin in the s2k)

Not sure where to start on this one but my take is you/your cousin had a problem with me but didn't take the time to voice it in person and waited until later to bring it up on the internet. It would have been nice to meet your cousin as I really liked his cars and would have loved the opportunity to know more about them. Were you there as well to witness the full body of work or?

So in response let me give everyone my break down and my side of the video(great video btw and again super cool car the S2K is). One thing I want you to re-look at is the initial pass your cousin did on the Z4 after the short straight(.33 secs into the video) please notice that while I was still warming up(this is lap 2 for me IIRC) and caught in traffic I gave your cousin room on that right-hander because I thought he might try to force the issue on a deep dive pass(.35 sec in the video). So I from the on-set gave him lots of "racing room" which I feel is being very aware of the others arpound me but in doing so make me appear off-line. I wasn't that far off the line because I don't know what I'm doing. And at the 1:00 mark I stayed far to the left because again I didn't know what the intentions of guy(now identified as your cousin) in the S2K but I could tell he wanted by and I was trying to give him the room to do so(we are in the highest group with true open passing)...so in the matter of 30 seconds I left the door open for him to easily go by as my tires were still not up to temp at that point and we are just having fun so why close the door on someone first thing in the morning just so I can retain a preferred line. I erred on the side of caution because its better to give the room that have contact. at 1:22 I again stay in tight on the left to give your cousin LOTS of room to make it easy as I knew he was going to make his move there. at 2:24 I again leave lots of room for him and purposely don't shut the door on him(as there is no reason to) but in doing so it causes me to track out wide and he does the ol over under(again lots of fun). At 2:54 a single rear tire touches off as at that point in giving your cousin room 3 turns ago it caused the whole series to be off and its 4000lbs(the video really shows the weight of the ZLE my god) in a section that isn't the best suited for the big pig but I'm also trying not to slow the momentum down of your cousin. I raced a momentum car for about 10 years...I can empathize what he was dealing with at that moment. I was trying to be considerate. at 3:14 you'll notice when we came up on the M3 I slowed to make sure it was safe to take him on the outside of Riverside. Again this was the first time with these drivers so I needed to assess who I was out there with. At that point I already knew that your cousin was pushing from the very beginning(I respect that btw and it made the session fun). The rest of the video looks like a car that is 2-3 seconds a lap faster than the video car. The bustop overcooking is on me and the only time the car went 4 off as once that happens you back off.

Let me clarify a statement made as unfortunately I fear it is being taken a bit differently than I intended. By stating I push the car and myself that is meant to imply it is all done within limits and understanding that we are all just having fun and not getting paid to do this(at least I'm not getting paid). In no way am I out there to put anyone in harms way. I've been on-track since 1999 and never in my racing career or on-track days have I had a 13/13 or any contact with anyone else or a wall etc. You can critique that lap all you want and point out everything that went wrong. but everything that was off line was me giving room to someone I didn't know and I didn't know. Later in the day he never had that issue because we were running much different lap times and he knew it. But you weren't there that day(I don't think) your cousin, other drivers, SpeedSF staff , or the Track staff had a single thing to say to me other than nice job and congratulations. I was one of the last people to leave that day and thanked everyone that was there. Being SoCal based it was the 1st time I got a chance to run with SpeedSF and I found them to be a wonderful group that is passionate about their sport.

Yes, that was the first time on those tires and it took a few laps after the off to get a feeling for them. I'm still on the fence and the fastest laps were done on the 3R's.

Personally I felt the little back and fourth with your cousin was all in good fun, I gave him plenty of from from his first initial dive in pass and I will say I went on to give a courtesy wave every-time I went by him as the day went on. For me this is all just fun and feel we are all some of the luckiest people on the planet to be able to go out and pursue our passion for cars.

And just to drive this point home at no point did I say throw caution to the wind. I would never put someone else's life or car in that situation.

As far as SpeedSF's decision to conduct Time Trial I think that they had it done in a very safe manner as it was optional for people and thus if you didn't want to be around for when people are "pushing for a good time" then a driver could happily watch from the sidelines. Also it was not a surprise to anyone and thus if someone is uncomfortable with that format then they maybe shouldn't drive with SpeedSF or any other Org that does similar things.

I guess what I am saying is I respect your opinion on their format and will assume that you may not run with them because of that I I get it. I have a feeling your cousin and I would get along great if he actually took the time to meet and talk with me vs having his cousin(who wasn't there) post an inflammatory comment on a thread where I've been nothing but positive and encouraging to everyone.

Ninetres was there and ran in the same group as me.He's said his peace and I respect him for that. I had never met him before Sunday so he has no reason to come on here and say what he did.

So view it all as a problem if you want but the few laps with your cousin was actually quite fun and in terms of aggression he seemed every bit as aggressive or more in an opening session that I was and yet I have no critique at all to him. Matter of fact I respect him greatly forgetting after it right from the get go. I wouldn't be surprised if his best laptime was in that first session.