Driving to the track
 

Tom, I'm curious how the "driving up to" part works.

Do you drive up on the RR's? Do you bring rain tires? What about tools and spares? A second person to help?

How do you get home if something breaks?

Yes. Driving on the freeway doesn't get them hot enough to count as a heat cycle and the tread wear is inconsequential. The only downside is that they don't drive very well in the rain so if I get caught in the rain (which has happened a few times), I have to slow considerably (around 50mph max) to avoid hydroplaning since the RR's don't really have any tread.

I usually use one new set of tires per race weekend. Sometimes I'll get the new set installed before the event and then drive up on new sticker tires, race all weekend, and then drive home on them.

Alternatively, I'll drive up on a used set of tires, maybe do some practice laps the on the used tires, and then get a new set of stickers installed onto the wheels at the track by whomever is providing track tire support. This requires planning ahead to order the tires so the tire support folks have them there. They will remove the old tires from the wheels and mount and balance the new tires.

I usually have a jack with me (I put it in the rear trunk) and then borrow a second jack from someone else and remove and re-install them myself.

No rain tires. I run what I brought or what I ordered ahead.

I bring a basic set of tools with me in a small tool bag. But the real answer to this question is that I don't plan on doing ANY work on my car at the track so I stay on top of all of the maintenance and repairs to make sure that my car is going to get me there, race the weekend, and get me home without requiring any work. My car is in tip top condition when I pull out of the driveway and everything that needed to be done has already been done.

If I did everything before I left correctly, I won't need a second person to help because there's nothing to do except check tire pressures, clean the windshield, and fill gas.

But sometimes, stuff happens despite all of the planning and work beforehand. In this case, I have made arrangements with one of the shops that provides full track support (they have a crew/mechanics and lots of equipment) to provide mechanical support on an "as they can get to it" basis and I pay by the hour. Of course, they have to support the cars that are paying for daily track support first, but if I need some help they can usually work me in and fix minor things that can be done at the track.

When I can't fix it and the track support team can't fix it, I call my good friends at AAA and have the car towed home (or to a local shop). I have the 200 mile towing option. If I'm further away then 200 miles, then I can usually get the car transported back by one of the track support teams (they usually have a spare slot in a trailer and can bring it back to their shop where I can get AAA to pick it up and tow it to my house or my preferred shop.

How I get home depends on the distance and situation. I can ride with the tow truck, hitch a ride home from a racing friend, or have my wife drive out and pick me up (again, depending on time, distance, and what I can work out). If I'm really far away, I could get an Uber to an airport and get a flight home or rent a car and drive a rental car home.

After the accident three weeks ago, I got a ride home from a friend who was going past my house on his way home. It was actually a very nice ride home in his 2016 Jaguar Type-F Coupe. :cool:

Just to give you an idea of how often this happens, out of 75 or so trips to the track, I've had to get home some other way than my Boxster 5 times so while its not common, it does happen every now and then. To be specific, I have ridden in the tow truck twice, got a ride from a friend once, had my wife pick me up once, and rented a car once.

Last, the police don't bother me at all. I have actually only been pulled over once and the officer said that it was because it "caught her attention". I think that she just wanted to take a look at the car. I've been followed a few times for 1-2 mins but then they either pull off or go by. But I also don't drive very fast because of the attention that the car attracts. This morning on my way north out of LA on Interstate 5 over the grapevine and into the central valley, I was doing 75mph in a 70mph zone while most of the traffic was moving at 80-85mph.

Overall, it was a great weekend - I got back out there and drove the best that I could! There were some teething issues with the car and I made some mistakes that didn't help matters. The results by the numbers weren't what I hoped for but no worry, first world problems. I'll post up all of the details tomorrow.

Unfortunately, most of my left front inner fender liner was laying on the track and taunting me as I drove by each lap.

Any track day you can drive your car home was a good track day :)

Ok, for the record;

Saturday, Race #1: Qualified 9th of 12 cars. Finished 10th? (went off)
Saturday, Race #2: Started last. Finished 10th?
Sunday, Race #3: Qualified 9th of 11 cars. Finished last. (ran out of fuel)

The numbers really don't do the weekend justice and to be honest, racing at the back of the pack is just as fun as racing at the front of the pack.

On Friday, I did three practice sessions to shake down the car and everything was fine. However, in Sunday morning's practice, the low coolant light came on (temp light slow blinking). By the time I got into the pits, there was coolant pouring out from under the front bumper cover.

We got the bumper cover off and everything looked fine (of course), but our best guess was that the lower radiator hose was leaking where it attaches to the radiator. Both the radiator and the lower hose were replaced during the repair so that connection was completely new but those factory clip-style hose clamps are known to be questionable so we threw a standard screw-type hose clamp on and hoped for the best.

That seemed to do the trick but by the time that I got the water refilled, qualifying had already started, so I went out to qualify without the front bumper cover and watching the temp gauge closely. I won't blame my 9th qualifying position due to any of this as that was probably where I'd have ended up regardless, but it did add a new level of stress to qualifying!

I'll post up details of the rest of the weekend as I post the videos.

With such a quick turnaround you are lucky to make the track.
Great job!

*** Weight Update (Last one!) ***

Min weight is 2,650 lbs. The goal is to finish the race with 1/8 of a tank (2.1 gal) and be at 2,660 lbs.

After Sunday's race, I drove the car onto the scales and got an unofficial total weight of 2,646 lbs with almost no fuel (the car was sputtering on the last lap of the race).

Adding 2.1 gals at 6.2 lbs/gal = 13 lbs + 2,646 lbs = 2,659lbs.

Looks like the weight is spot-on!

And yes, had I been officially weighed after the race, I would have been disqualified for being 4lbs underweight so I'll need to be sure not to run too low on fuel during a race or I could be underweight. Another lesson learned.

Start eating dessert and you wont have that problem. Put on a few pounds Tom. I have more than enough so I never have this problem

I haven't heard anyone say something like this in about 15 years! :D

Here is a video from last weekend's racing at Buttonwillow. This is the second race on Saturday where I started at the back. Comments are embedded in the video as usual. Enjoy!

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Very cool, I love the commentary, I think it is one of my favorite parts.

Great pass at the end!

Steve and everyone else who has echoed this sentiment, thanks. I am thinking about trying to do a voice over narration soon so I can add more commentary...

Thanks and it takes cooperation and awareness from everyone on the track. I tried my best to hold my car down and not track out too early. At the same time, the #9/Andrew Weyman had to keep his cool and hold his line as the other car was sliding by across his front end and then I appeared next to him on the inside! I was glad that it all worked out ok.

All of the repairs, including paint, were actually completed the week before last. I think that it turned out quite well!

You can see that we painted the yellow headlights black and I have a new pair of side marker lights that I'll install tomorrow. Over the next week or so we'll get the graphics replaced.

A BIG thanks to Tyson Schmidt and Brad Keegan at Pro Motorsports in Burbank, CA for the high quality and quick repair work!

Lookin good Tom!!!

Told you it would buff right out :)

I miss BSRs and especially BW

If you speed up your hands at turn in you can get the car to rotate and let the rear of the car do some of the turning for you!

Seems like your shift cables might need adjusting at trans re the issues with shifting - I had a bought of that I had to fix.

Is that blue SPB in the video a TuneRS car?

Thanks for the comment, I use that technique quite a bit at some other tracks but haven't tried it much at BW. I'll see what I can do with it at my next visit.

I'd love to blame the shift cables for my problem, but this one was purely operator error! :o

To the best of my knowledge, the blue Boxster is an ex-HRG car (Hergesheimer Racing Gruppe in Lake Forest, CA), but I could be wrong.

There is nothing like a cup of coffee and your video first thing in the morning to get the day started. So cool. Thanks for posting.

Thanks Chuck!

Working on the Race #3 video right now. Since I went to three cameras, the editing is taking me a little bit longer. Should be ready in a couple of days...