Street Fighter

Here are some photos of the on-track action from the Streets of Willow Springs.  Enjoy! :o)

The full gallery of photos can be seen here:
http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j121/USCTrojan4JC/04-18-2008%20Streets%20of%20Willow%20Track%20Day/?start=all

Playing in the middle of the Streets

Here’s the video of my first session at the Streets of Willow Springs (SOW) on April 18, 2008.

I tried to take it easy in the beginning and still spun on my second lap in the left-hander after the chicane. If you start watching at 3:25, you’ll see my spin shortly thereafter. As you can see, the car broke away from me suddenly. Does anyone have any ideas what may have induced the spin? I wasn’t getting onto the power yet nor was I entering the turn at an aggressive pace.

Here’s the video of my second session at the SOW.

This was the most fun session of the day as I had a great tussle with a R53 MINI Cooper S. First, he courteously let me by. When I saw I wasn’t able to draw away from him much, I let him by. He wasn’t able to pull away from me, either. He pointed me by a second time shortly before the camcorder’s battery died. I didn’t get to talk to him to find out what he’s done to the car, but I know he was on Nitto NT-01 R compound tires.

Here’s footage of my third session at the SOW.

I had a great battle with the driver of an E46 M3 Coupe until I ran out of talent around 9:45 into the video. I got loose exiting the chicane either from a bump or from trying to apply too much of my car’s 187 whp. I almost saved it, but ultimately lost.

You can also learn how not to drive a Porsche 911 on the track. The gentleman in the black 911 (997) was driving it too slowly for the fast intermediate group. He approached me afterward saying he didn’t like how close I was to him in the corners and was letting up on the straightaways so I couldn’t pass him. 🙄 Perhaps he is unaware of how much more powerful his car is than mine.

My best (timed) lap of the day (1:34.728) was during this session some time after the spin. The organization running the track day forgot to charge their AMB transponders on Thursday night. Because of that, timing was unavailable for sessions 1 and 2 and the transponder I ended up with ran out of juice between sessons 4 and 5.

Here’s my fourth session at the SOW.

I began this session with Barber Volkswagen/Subaru’s Alvin Tolosa riding shotgun to give me some feedback. After a couple of laps, I brought the car in and picked up my friend Louis who was participating in his first track day with his 2006 Lexus IS 350.

Here’s video of my fifth and last session of the day.

The driver of the E46 M3 Coupe I was chasing in the third session apparently got a lot better by the end of the day as I couldn’t hang with him anymore. In this session, my new friend Chris rode along with me. Chris was participating in his second track day with his 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Sedan.

I tried to apply some of Alvin’s advice of using up more of the track and going deeper into the chicane in this session. It’s too bad the transponder’s battery died before the session. It would’ve been nice to see what effect his feedback would’ve had on my lap times.

For those wondering what the vibration/sound is from the third session on, it’s my car’s left front wheel bearing throwing in the towel.

Hybrid hype?

Are hybrids the real deal or overrated?  What say you?  I think a lot of this debate depends on how much driving is done by the vehicle’s owner(s).