Do we need a safety rating system for tracks?

You spend a lot of money on a helmet, a HANS device, proper harnesses, a well built roll cage and an FIA homologated racing seat.   You discussed with your friends and other racers, you scoured  the internet for the latest information in the quest for safety.

But how much do you know about the safety of the surface you will be driving on?

Photo:Jefferson County Sheriff's Office

This past week end there was another accident which took the life of a driving instructor.   It happened during what is supposed to be a low risk, low speed novice event at Summit Point's Jefferson Circuit.

The picture tells the story, it does not take all that much speed for a tree to do that to a street car, which is why trees have absolutely no business sitting unprotected on the side of any racing surface. (at least one that is not rallying, which is why a real rally car is built from the cage out).

Summit Point is a complex of tracks in rural West Virginia.  The main track is a favorite or club racers, it has very nice layout but the safety standards are mostly of 1950s vintage.  There are substandard tire walls,  no fences around the track allowing for four legged chicanes to suddenly appear and there are actually berms lining the sides of the track.

Hit one and the predictable outcome is either a launch into the trees or this:



People have complained about this track for years but they keep going back,  mostly because alternatives are few.  I'm sure this is a situation repeated around the world.

Online discussion about this latest incident predictably broke up into two camps: the "motorsport has to be dangerous and drivers know what they are getting into"  group and the opposing camp.

The contention of the first group is that people should know the risks and make decisions based on that.  But, let's get real, nobody checks track safety, certainly not the guy who signs up for his first ever discount track day after watching countless internet videos of professionals sliding supercars with impunity.   Fact of the matter is, even if one wanted to,  there is no rating system for tracks, a standard by which a track can be rated and available for drivers to base their decisions on.

Serious injury to your person or your car for free track time or for setting the fastest lap in a Track Day session might not be what you had in mind in your value/safety calculations.  Given the choice, I would much rather be on a racing surface that allows you to make mistakes and get away with maybe just some flat spots and a red face.

A rating system would likely not be popular with track owners, safety is expensive and people's eagerness to close their eyes to glaring problems in order to get track time means they can get away with it.

Please discuss, I think ultimately it will come down to drivers voting with their money and a public shaming of track owners who don't want to invest in the safety of their customer base.

Racetracks, Cars and Deer do not mix

Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia is notorious for wildlife intrusions.   A varmint chicane can appear at any time and any place but the favorite spot seems to be just before Turn 1, coincidentally the fastest spot on the track.

That annual Race, Drift, Beer and Boobs festival that is Hyperfest took place over the week end and while most had a great time, the driver of this C5 Z06 was probably not in the mood for venison.

Want to see a video of what hitting Bambi well north of 100 mph looks like?

Two day Summit: NASA Spec E30 report

Pete and the Freep raced their Spec e-30 at Summit Point in August. Here is a chronicle of their week end as told by Pete.

"Last minute" would be the operative word for the Spec E30 race at Summit Point in August.

Freep and I planned on leaving New Jersey early for West Virginia but, of course, it was not to be. Freep had trouble getting down to the Axis secret warehouse due to some very bad thunderstorms. In reality his being late was not the end of the world as Justin and I were still in the process of replacing the transmission in the Axis #343, cracked housing mount. After a very quick gearbox swap, 66 minutes to be exact, we loaded up the cars and headed down into the night and never ending rain.

Morning brought us lots of sunshine and dry track conditions. Some triple checks on the cars and it was off to practice. Freep in # 232, ran only a few laps to shake down the car, I on the other hand used every second of available track time. In the middle of the previous race at Pocono, #343 had ABS issues and during practice at Summit it became clear the fix had not worked.

Qualifying was uneventful in a good way, I was only a few tents off the leader. i would start the race in P4 with the Freep in P5.

Rather than the usual roll and go, NASA decided on a traditional standing start, WOW we were excited: Australian V8 super car style with 500 less HP! Continues, with videos, after the jump

The green flag dropped and the action was on. Freep and I got off to a great start, the first few laps were exciting.
The lack of ABS was hurting me, I could not slow down as well as other Spec E-30s and in Turn 5, Robert Grace in the orange car, hip checked me pretty hard. The incident left Grace's car blowing smoke all around the track. At first though was tire rub due to contact, but soon after my windshield was filled up with oil. My car was feeling very different than in qualifying and for the rest of the race I battled with the Freep. After Grace had thoroughly filled the track with oil and smoke he finally pulled off about halfway through the race, handing me the last podium step and P4 to the Freep.




On Sunday I had to figure out what changed with the car. A quick check on the alignment jig and found both left side wheels not pointing in the proper direction. Damaged alignment corrected, it was time to qualify.

Sundays times were almost a second quicker for everyone, the track was in great shape. I would start the race in P4 again, with the Freep in P6. We all set up and ready to go.

But then, a rain shower came about 45 minutes before the race. Minutes before the race and conditions changing by the second. After extensive conversation, Freep and i decided full wets were the way to go. Rolling to the grid it wasn't clear we made the right decision but everyone else was on the same tire. A rolling start for Sunday was called because of conditions.

After a very limited visibility run down to turn 1, it was time to test braking without abs for the first time. I guess i was so excited about actually having made it into turn 1 that I quickly ran out of talent on the exit. Too much gas for too little grip and I lost three spots in three turns.
I gave an encore exiting turn 9 and ended up in the middle of the track yet somehow, didn't get hit.
(on board with the Freep)



Next lap a full course caution came out and we ran around with the pace car for a long time. by then, I could hardly see Freep, i think he was in P3 and i was P13. During the yellow flag the rain stopped but the track was still very wet.
After the caution it was looking like a 2 lap shootout. Freep lost a position then got it back before the end of the race to finish P3. I guess the long caution period helped me remember how to race in the rain again. I managed to pick up 7 spots in 2 laps to finish P6. At the finish line i had P5 to my right and P4 about 3 inches ahead.

Overall i think the Freep and I were happy with our week end results. Without mistakes and mechanical problems, i think we would have been fighting for the top spot each day. Competition is so tough in this series and i think the equipment has gotten better year by the year. Winter will definitely be the time to build some motors that can compete with the Mid Atlantic motor supplier. This years focus has been on setup, which has kept us up in the top of the pack.


(photos by Aldo Pinotti)
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Axis 1 Lap: Day 2, Summit Point, West Virginia

Day2 of the Tire Rack One Lap of America started at Summit Point, every one there early in the morning after getting in late the night before. The first real time trial was going to see the big dog , high horsepower cars shine. The Godzillas did not disappoint, I unofficially clocked Leh Keen in the TopSpeed Motorsports Nissan GT-R do a 1:23 lap...from a standing start! His fast lap was a 1:17 on street tires... just amazing combination of car AND driver.

Speaking of, I messed up our morning heat. The car felt awful with weird breakaway midcorner, not confidence inspiring on the key fast corner of Summit. I came in 33rd overall only to remember I had not reset the shocks after the autocross run no wonder the car felt wrong. Before the afternoon run, and after a quick phone conference with CG, the other end of the Axis of Oversteer, I changed the balance so the car would push and lopped off 13 seconds from my cumulative time! The afternoon limited the damage and we ended the day in 6th overall, first among the competing BMW. Not bad for an old car!



After the event wrapped we drove to South Carolina where, tomorrow, we'll rung at carolina Motorsport Park and the BMW PErformance Center, then we drive to Daytona! I must be insane.

Here is video from Contour and Traqmate overlay (with apologies to Risi,) of the second session. Cars get one reconnaissance lap then three laps from a standing start are added for the final result.


end of post

Tin Top Attack.

Just because I've been on vacation it does not mean the rest of the Axis has been sleeping: check out the Freep's heroic climb from 17th on the grid to 5th place at the 2010 NASA Hyperfest SpecE30 races a held at Summit Point in West Virginia last week. Check out the near misses, notice how "the Freep don't lift" and don't miss the Felipe Massa style opportunistic pass towards the end of the clip!

Thirty seven minutes into the 40 minute, the Freep was attacking fourth place but a fuel pickup problem forced him to pull back and maintain 5th place. NIce driving.

UPDATE: added rear view cam after the jump...

Three into two equals.... aaaaargh!

A lesson in physics at Summit Point when a Spec Racer Ford tries to squeeze through... "can I make it? I think I can...ooops"

BTW, emergency response took less than 30 seconds from when the car stops, good job Summit workers, that's quicker than people got to Massa's car in Hungary!

Check out a different view of the incident AFTER THE JUMP





More Summit Point

Bump Draft Summit

The Axis spec e30 division was at Summit Point for the NASA Mid-Atlantic race and our own Fearless Freep sent us this report from Day 2:

Day 2 produced another P4 quali result and a P6 finish out of 14 cars for Pete Thibault and Team Axis.

Robert Allen was on pole followed by Skip Bennet, followed by Johnny Allen and then Pete. Behind Pete was "The Hedgehog," Chris Cobetto and the rest of the pack.

Pete got a good start but was immediately out-powered by Cobetto who passed him before Turn 3. During the race, Pete suffered contact from behind when in Turn 1 his car slipped out of gear and Carter Hunt popped him from behind. Carter's car took the real damage and its hood release was triggered but they both soldiered on.

The next moment of fun came when Pete got into an argument with his ABS computer and the ABS won. Pete sailed off Turn 5. He reentered the track behind Carter, only loosing the one place. As the middle-of-class cars, Pete and Carter then joined forces and began to catch the front pack, using a good bumpdraft technique from about 6 seconds behind Robert Grace. They closed the gap somewhat as lap traffic and tire wear came into play (Pete's RA1 pressures were perfect thanks to help from a well knows ALMS team which shall remain anonymous), but the two ran out of race. After pushing Hunt around helpfully, Pete took a superb run through T10 and passed Carter at the checker flag for 6th place.

#343 Driver Quote, Peter "It Wasn't My Fault, Don't Call Me Fat, Stand Back And Let Me Fix It" Thibault:

"I had an excellent car today, better than yesterday thanks to fresh Toyos and some alignment tuning. Had I been able to keep it on the track, I'd have been fighting for podiums both days."

#343 Acting Crew Chief, Fearless "Why The Hell Am I Not Racing" Freep:

"I gave Peter a good car both days and helped him strap his fat belly in both days. Photos of Justin's sister were strategically placed in the cockpit and may have caused the offroad excursions... We'll revisit the cockpit photo strategy before the next race. My biggest challenge of the weekend was when I had to get us packed up and out of West Virginia as quickly as possible so the stewards couldn't find #343. My work here is done."

Videos from Thibault's and Robert Allen's cars are after the JUMP

Team Axis takes on Spec e30...some more.

You've read of The Freep's Spec e30 racing here before, now meet Team Axis's latest hotshoe, Pete Thibault. Two weeks ago at Summit Point was his first competition week end, let's hear from him how it went, after the jump.

Summit Point NASA Weekend


Friday 4-24-09



We're driving down to Summit Point, and it starts to hit me, I'm going racing!
Pretty nervous about what to expect, but for right now I had other things to worry about.
Driving a 38 foot RV with a 24 foot enclosed trailer takes looking ahead on track to a whole new level. After a few hours man handling the steering wheel, we finally make the Summit Point pits. It was close to 9PM but Stee and AC reserved a great spot to park.

A quick unpacking and off to tech to get the log book signed off. Passed tech inspection, with a suggestion to put some numbers on the car. I laughed and said it was all under control. Just when I arrived back at our pit, Freep arrived with his whip and, with AC, and myself, started to slap on the graphics on the cars helped by a few beers, pizza and a million southern flesh eating bugs. Some BS, then bed time.

Saturday 4-25-09

Freep and I were the first up. We took the chance to give the 2 cars a final look over before the day started. The warm-up session in my mind was key for this weekend. The last time I had run Summit not in the rain was about 2 years ago. Oh yea and not in the new car. So not only was I a rookie racer but a virgin in this car at this track. During the 20 minutes or so of driving I was feeling pretty comfortable with the car showing a little understeer when pushed hard. A few of the very fast spec e30 drivers did not run the practice session so i did not have a real good idea how the field would mix up. That rookie brain of mine also had to register the speed difference of the spec 944 cars, very different than Spec e30 . After a quick tire swap and sway bar adjustment andI waited for qualifying.




As I clipped on the steering wheel for qualifying the horn would not stop going off. Wow, was this really happening?

Gave Justin the wheel to quickly come up with a fix and ended up going out for qualifying slightly later than I wanted to. Pushed the car pretty hard right from the start. The sway bar adjustment made the car feel a lot better. The horn decided to have a mind of its own and always seemed to go off when I was by another car. Not the impression you want to give as a rookie and on the main straight I was trying to rip out the horn wiring. The honking was getting in my head pretty bad and I got pretty sloppy with a slight off track in turn 1 and some very sideways action in turn 10. Just as I was pulling in the pits at teh end of the session, and with everyone waiting to get off pit lane, the horn went off again. I felt like a total dooshbag. After all that I qualified P8 out of 17, about 2 seconds off the leaders time.

Race time, I slapped on my gear and headed to the grid early. Little did I know I would be sweating my man junk waiting for everyone. Got a 10 min sign from a grid worker, so i just closed my eyes and used the HANS tethers to get in some quasi sleepy time.

Was a little worried about the start, but then remembered what Freep had said to me, "1st corner just get in survival mode, then continue the race". As we were lined up , rolling towards the start finish line, I was trying to look for the green flag and get close to the car ahead of me. Saw the flag but let the guy in front get a little farther ahead then I would have liked.

Down the straight I go, while being passed by 2 cars. I over braked into the first corner thinking everyone would slow up, like they did in comp school, but nobody did. I lost about 2 or 3 more spots. Lost 4 or 5 spots in my first thirty seconds of racing but I was through the first corner! Slowly I picked up the pace and started passing some cars in the first third of the race. Had a great battles with Stephen Kapuschany, and Justin Silver. Highlight of the race for sure. I ended up finishing in sixth place. I was happy about how I felt in the car, but sad that it was over.



Sunday 4-26-09

Sunday, an early qualifying then a long wait for the 40 minute race. Had the car inspected by the crew and all looked good. I woke up with a better understanding of what I need to improve on and where and I was ready. In the qualifying session I found a good Spec 944, one that had been running pretty good the day before, to draft. Unfortunately we ran into some traffic, causing some slow lap times. Decided to slow down a little and cool the tires and got some space on track. It worked, I had a great last few laps for P5. Later Robert Allen stopped over to chit chat and informed me that because he was a few pounds under weight, P4 for the race was mine but I was still about 2 seconds off the leaders.


(Pete Thibault aided by Farnsworth Styles)
This time I pulled the car on the grid and got out to get some air. Talked to a few guys, then it was strap in and race time. Thinking in my head that this first corner will have to be better than Saturdays. On the start I was slightly back from the front row but it was better. Car felt a little sloppy going down the straight and into the corner. At first i thought that I had a lot of rubber buildup on the tires, then it got worse. The culprit? A loose right side wheel , I had to pull in.

It was a disappointing problem, but good experience and I learned a few new things. All said and done, raced all weekend, got the car back in one piece and had fun. My first race weekend was a great success. Now its time to move on and focus on Hyperfest in June!




Home

Summit Point, West Virginia 4/26/2009 by AC



home

Postcard from Summit

Hello from West Virginia! Busy day, some mechanical issues but some great racing from Pete and Stee in Spec e30 and GTS3. More after we get back, but this was unanimously voted as the coolest moment of the day!

And here is the rest of it.

Off to Summit Point

Busy week end for Team Axis: CG is at Lime Rock with PCA debuting his freshly painted Cayman S race car while Stee, the Freep, Justin, Pete and I are off to Summit Point for a NASA track week end. Stee will be running in GTS3 while the other guys will be slugging it out in Spec e30. I will have to be content running in the ever prestigious Track Day World Championship for now but I'll try to take lots of pictures between instructing sessions.

If you are there, come find us and say hello!

Here is a old classic some of you more newer readers may not have seen and a more recent clip from Stee, who had an exciting moment when his newly installed brake bias controller decided to pop off in turn one!

And here is the rest of it.

LoBuck.

Before we dive into another megadollar Formula 1 extravaganza under the light of Singapore, I wanted to remind our readers that Axis is not all about F1 (though I will admit a serious addiction) it's about passion for the sport.

Of all of our friends, Spencer Anderson is one that for me really defines this passion. If the soul of motorsport the world over is grassroots racing, I think you'll agree Spencer fits the bill.



We all met Spencer at local New York area autocross events. He always had the same mostly white Honda Civic and usually got out of work duty by grabbing the announcer microphone and sarcastically commenting every driver's run, much to the delight of those actually working. Over the years you started noticing that he became one of the best drivers in the area and started winning not because he had the latest, coolest better car but because he was...better.

Actually you can't really miss Spencer, there simply are not that many 6'8" drivers with a mohawk around. I attribute part of his success to his very own "Unfair Advantage". Spencer is so tall that he essentially sits in the back seat of the Civic. The effect is very loBuck DTM. His steering colums has three large spacers, a quick release hub and a dished wheel, the pedals though are in the stock position. No, Spencer does not need an alarm in his car, no thief could ever drive away in it.

Eventually the track bug bit and he went on to track days and now NASA H2 racing. Spencer is the one you quote when your friends tell you racing requires a large budget and a tow vehicle. Not only does he do all his mechanical work but he driver the car to the track, he races it and when the checkered flag falls parties in it.

Axis interviewed Spencer after his first win in a NASA race at Pocono Raceway recently.




Axis: You recently won your first race, tell us about it
Spencer Anderson: oh man. that was the Pocono race with NASA-North East. With the South course being a short at mid 50sec laps and a pretty good field of cars both faster and slower, it all played out in traffic managementfrom qualifying strategy to using slower (and faster) cars to your advantage in the race

Axis: You race in what class?
S.A.: H2 class in the Honda Challenge series.<

Axis: How did it feel to win?
S.A.: I actually took a minute before I realized I had won. when it sunk in I, of course, went nuts. cheering and clapping in the car for it was a hard fought battle.

Axis: later you got pole for the next race but...
S.A. Day two I understood what its like to feel the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
Qualified on pole in h2 and was again leading when in 4th gear entering the bowl something went wrong and the engine was down on power and developed a bad misfire.

Axis: And that was the end of your engine...
S.A.: I hugged the wall and parked the car outside in a safe spot and watched the rest of the race.

Axis: Let's go back...how long have you owned lobuck for?
S.A.: This particular edition I have owned for about 4 years. 'lo-buk' the name started out as a couple guys racing on the worlds smallest budget

Axis: and lobuck is a...?
S.A.: 1990 honda civic si mostly white in color
Axis: which had how many miles when you bought it?
S.A.: we're not exactly sure. estimated around 140,000, it has over 170k on it now I think.

Axis: let's go back to the beginning...
S.A.: I started autocrossing in 2000 and from the first run i knew i was hooked.
Axis: always with a civic...
S.A.: no, those days i was driving the coolass (1990 Olds CutlassSupreme 5 speed manual and the HO quad 4). Basically, I drove that car all of 2000-2001 just to learn.
Then in late 01 I bought my first Civic. the 1991 civic standard. That car had 130k on it when i bought it. it has close to 300k now. Having only 70hp, that car thought me how to carry speed.
Axis: Yes and you do that well as we can see from the Summit point in car video.
S.A.: yea. once i transitioned to a car with a little more power i found i could run some quick laps.
Axis: now your present Civic weighs about as much as a large toaster oven...
S.A.: eh, a large toaster WITH bread its coming across the scales at 2470 with me in it, about mid 2100 without driver.

Axis: how much of an unfair advantage do you attribute to the fact that you essentially sit in the back seat and alter the weight distribution?
S.A.: well, the car does scale up nice when I'm sitting in it. I don't have much choice tho. as I am.....taller than most drivers.

Axis: Tell us a bit about the modifications to your car.
S.A.: Well, suspension wise, the car has a set of buddyclub race shocks (rsd's) and my own spring rates. extended front shock mount for added travel.
OEM Honda front swaybar, 22mm rear bar set on full stiff. some adjustable rear upper control arms to tune the camber up. Brakes are upgraded with 11" front rotors (stock is 9.5") and rear disc. Hawk ht-10s stop the car very well.
Engine currently is a stock b18b1 from an Acura Integra LS (no vtec) and the transmission is from a 1999 civic si with an upgraded lsd and final drive.
Spec tires for Honda challenge are the Toyo ra-1s, we may be switching to r888s sooner or later.

Axis: Now, do you find your suspension setup better suited for a bumpy track like Summit Point or carrying a keg in your trunk?
S.A.: lol, it was 'ok' on the bumps at summit point the last time i was there. but with the keg in the hatch and the shocks on soft, it felt great through the paddock.

Axis: That is one of the all time great motorsports photographs...care to sum up the moment?
S.A.: one word. PARTY.

Axis: Plans for the future?
S.A.: Hopefully hone my racecraft and fine tune my vehicle set up and run up front.
Axis: you're sticking with Honda?
S.A. I'm sticking with Honda. Honda is a fantastic car which has allowed me to win races
and NASA is the best club around.

Axis: Who do you like in F1 this year?
S.A. : Sadly, i have not been following F1 this year. BAR has been doing absolutely horrible.
Axis: ahem.....BAR went out of business two seasons ago.
S.A.: That shows the last time I watched an F1 race. I'm more into Australian v8 supercars, Grand Am cars and things of that nature.
Axis: a tin top man. What's your favorite car message board?
S.A.: my fav forum is a toss up between the NASA drivers forum, roadraceautox.com and honda-tech.com
Axis: ...and your favorite car web site???
S.A.: AXIS OF OVERSTEER.COM of course!


pictures by The Dough.

Get off me SON! from The Dough on Vimeo.

Don't presume.

Let's continue the series of articles about getting ready for track season.   

The vast majority of the time things go smoothly on the track but there are times when things go wrong.  It's just the way it is and as CG says, if you track often enough it's not a matter of if but of when.

In this article about open passing I mentioned awareness, let me show you what happens when you take things for granted.

I was at Summit Point last year, running in the instructor group when I came, with a group of other faster cars, upon a car running very slowly off line, letting everyone through.   Like a fool I presumed he was doing just that, running slow, maybe with a problem and pointing all traffic by... so I followed.   What happened next is, as they say, history.

I was mad at myself for trusting the other driver had seen me,  I was pretty pissed the other driver turned in without looking and his explanation that he was showing his passenger the racing line...

In the end you have to be an adult and accept that this kind of thing will happen and you just take it as it comes.  There was some explaining to do but we both took our lumps, shook hands and went on our way.  I used a hammer to bend back the sheet metal, got a new tire and drove just fine the next day.  

I was quite lucky to have friends who helped me fix the cosmetic damage perfectly and at a very reasonable cost.

Next week we will see what can happen when things go REALLY wrong.

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The Final Summit

Stee and SpencerLoBuck are the bravest among us, they went from NYC down to Summit Point West Virginia Sunday for one final run at the EMRA time trials. From the weather reports it looks like they are in for a cold nasty wet time so, to cheer them up, I thought I would dig up the archives and post some Summit Point videos from track days past. Keep it shiny guys.

UPDATE: Spencer won his class in the Time trial!!  Way to go Spence,  I put it all on the unfair advantage of you being able to drive while sitting in the back seat of that Civic!!

Summit Bombastic


A close Shave







More Video From Summit Point


Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

The Stee and I ventured to Summit Point last weekend, planning to be the clowns we are and hoping for a good time. All we needed were reliable cars, good weather, and that awesome NASA Mid-Atlantic atmosphere. Well, 1.5 out of 3 ain't bad, right?

Stee's M3 has been giving him the fits with a mystery cooling problem, but with brilliant throttle management in 104 F ambient temps, he kept the S54 from turning itself into calamari. That doesn't count as "reliable," but he had fun nonetheless.

Speaking of the temperatures, we didn't get great weather but summer in West Virginia... well, you really shouldn't ask for much. It honestly got up to 104 F on Saturday, then a line of thunderstorms came through juuuuuuust in time for my SpecE30 race at 4:05pm. The lightning, hail, and downpours were enough to end our day... but I was the last one to clear the grid because I was so ready to race. Besides, in weather like that, I discovered you'll never feel safer than when you're wearing a 6-point harness, HANS + helmet with double side nets, and have an 8-point cage surrounding you. For a moment I was thinking "bring on the F5 tornado!"
But then there was the paddock party to attend followed by a track walk of Summit with the classroom instructor. NASA does it right.

Fast-forward to Sunday morning. The genius squad behind NASA Mid-Atlantic found a spot at 8am before the regular day began, and gave us a make-up race at that time. It was a new experience to race first-thing in the morning, on a "green" track thoroughly scrubbed overnight by Mother Nature. We had to contend with variable grip due to mud on the track, etc. As you'll see in the video, mud on the windshield was somewhat of a concern for me at the start of Lap 2.

I got whooped in this race, which put me against the best SpecE30 racers in the country. It was a great exercise for me and helped identify a number of weak areas in my racing envelope. The car has good power but has weaknesses in [areas I won't disclose publicly]. My driving... well, let's just keep working on that racecraft, shall we?


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Mudbath!

There is a rational explanation for the picture below but all I can say about it at this time is: "film at 11"!

Axis at Summit Point this week end.

badbadM's Spec e30, affectionately named "La Bomba" and Stee's e46 M3 are at Summit Point for the NASA Mid Atlantic race and HPDE. Someone keep an eye out for those two please!

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...

The Week of Awesomeness

that's what Stee called it.

In one week the five of us managed a combined 13 track days, 2 races and a Pro-Solo Event. I don't know the others odometer are reading but I drove 1308 miles from last Tuesday: NYC to Watkins Glen to Summit Point, West Virginia back to NY. A mini One Lap Of America.

Many things happened, all good except for one incident of car to car contact which caused some bent body panels on my car. Very annoying but very fixable, the video will provide for some interesting analysis and discussion later on in the week.

but let's cut to the competition highlights of the week end: Adil came in second at the Washington DC Pro-Solo in Street Touting Unlimited with his Evo IX: great job Adil!

Pro Solo mixes autocross with a drag race start where reaction time is key. Here are some of Adil's emails to us during the week end:

"Friday was christmas tree drag start launch practice. Most people did a few passes. Having never done drag starts, I decided to keep trying until I got a 0.5x reaction...poor clutch. It took 15 attempts. The Evo clutch is stout!"

"Holunfie doing well again. John Winchester leading Kevin Lau for a 1-2 BSP Sweep. I am just holding down 2nd in STU, Corey is on top by 1/2 second.
More launches today..clutch is holding. Pro Solo is very fast paced and I think Lee Piccone did a pair of great courses. "

"This stuff is insane. Very fast paced. No time to water tires in between runs. Learned something from Dadio:

1) when looking ahead don't look cone to cone but entire areas with cones only in peripheral vision. That way u don't have that moment of 'lost' as u move your eyes from one section to the other.

2) don't think of anything during a run. The way to change a brake point or something else is to drive it that way mentally b4 the run to let your subconscious learn it.

Anyway as far as results for me, Corey won STU, I was one second behind and into second place. Coreu was 4th pax overall. Daddio 1st. Holunfier John winchester won BSP and was 7th pax overall. He is on fire.

Many thanks to the Holunfie crowd for helping with all things during my rookie pro-solo. "


The other highlight of the week has got to be BadBadM's driving in the second race at Summit Point. He drives in the Spec e30 class which with NASA gets bunched in on the track with the Spec 944 class and for some bizarre reason, the Toyota formula racers! It's chaos out there.

I have prepared a video of the entire race, 17 minutes (109meg.). It is very much worth the wait for the download. I think there may be perhaps one lap where nothing much happens, the rest is fantastic close racing. BadBadM has learned some great moves out there and seems to have a fondness for the carousel section of Summit. A great moment is when he pressures the gray e30 in front in the last two more erratically, misses more and more laps: Mr. Gray starts driving more and apexes until he finally spins out just in front of BadBadM at turn 3.

The race ends with a red flag because of a "Porsche in the trees"...no injuries though as far as we know. BBM comes in 6th (we think...since no official results were posted as on yesterday...he might have been seventh!"





download

Hyperfest!

What the hell is it? I don't know but it looks like the ultimate fun for the hormone rage crowd!

the commercial says it all.

Anyway, the second leg of the Axis mini One Lap of America takes us to West Virginia where we will be instructing and judging the Daisy Duke look alike contest !