What's My Line: Thunderbolt Edition.

I truly enjoyed New Jersey Motorsport Park's Thunderbolt track. It has a bit of everything and it's not a track that is much more fun if you have a monster horsepower car.

As it's a rather new track I though I would do a track guide like I did for Monticello. Keep in mind this is MY line and lines are like..... everyone has one. To that effect I would encourage you to share your own version.

The line I describe is not the strict "driving school", safe line, please keep that in mind. It is always useful to learn the official version first before you start exploring what might work best for you and your setup. Safety first, don't forget. As coveted as th title may be, there is no sponsorship deal for the Track Day World Champion.

After the jump you will find a video of three laps, each faster than the previous, from my last session on Sunday. My fastest time over three days and I had a passenger with me, guess I need a little more work down there! To my chagrin I was not able to fully destroy my now ancient v710's which though certainly heat-cycle'd out, stubbornly refuse to chord or become fully gripless. Amazing tire in my opinion, now I'll have feel bad about buying a new set come next spring.

You can download my Traqmate file HERE.
And if you are a sick bastard you can download Stee Traqmate file for the Cayenne Turbo which he ended up running HERE



For the Video ->
PDA and NASA put on a great show, we had open track, NASA races (Congratulations Spencer Lo-Buk Anderson for your third in the Honda Challenge Championship!) HPDE, demo rides...and a beyond awesome BBQ. Joe Cassella truly threw the gauntlet down on NASA Mid-Atlantic with that feast!

Great way to end the season.



(Additional pictures by The Dough)


more pictures at TrackTime Photos.

Axis of Oversteer launches new service.

Axis of Oversteer will torture test your car to verify part durability and failure rates. CG and Adil got started this past week end during PDA's "Grand Slam Weekend" at Pocono Raceway. PDA ran all configurations of the track during the two days and with two drivers, the Exige-S was tested to the limit running the equivalent of 3 one hour enduros. Final tally: a popped off radiator hose and a cracked rotor car had to flatbedded home but it DID complete the day.

After a quick repair at Hunting Ridge Motors, the car was loaded onto a transporter and shipped to VIR where CG, on his first time at that track managed a very impressive 2:13 lap time.

He also got lap data from Matt Becker, chief engineer test driver for suspension development at Lotus. We will have a separate post on that later, suffice it to say that it was QUITE impressive.

After two days at VIR the car is driven to DC where it will again wait for CG to complete his TRI-TRACKTHLON at Lime Rock this next Saturday and Sunday with PCA.

OK Lotus, no charge for this one, but from now on...

Axis week end plans...

Stee, Adil and CG will be at Pocono Raceway doing PDA'a super week end running on all the different infield configurations. If you are going stop by and say hi, arrange to get on their video cameras...give then hell...whatever!

44 inches of sticky and 3 pounds of stoppy

Pictures like these can only mean one thing: winter is over and the driving season is about to start !
(all of you in year round track season areas, pipe down, we hate you! )
So a fresh set of tires goes on the rims and a fresh set of pads go in the calipers....both will be severely punished.

Remember you can help support the Axis site by purchasing tires online via the TireRack ad above and your pads from Off-Camber Motorsport.

AC and BadBadM will be at Pocono with PDA March 30.

So much for the damn groundhog!

The weather in the northeast is conspiring against the start of track season: in case you were planning on attending the PDA track day at Lime Rock this coming week end, make other plans.

If you missed it, PDA sent out the following:

"LimeRock track management has notified us that the facility will not be ready for use on March 24 due to the snow conditions. The replacement date that was given to us is Tuesday April 3. All those previously registered will be transferred to the new date.
We do realize that this date may cause a conflict for some and will issue a credit day at any track for those who cannot attend on April 3. If you CANNOT attend please send an email response to suzan@pdadrivingschool.com and we will hold a credit in your profile. PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND if you will be attending on April 3."

The overfed rodent had predicted an early spring this year, I predict he will get run over by T-Neck again.