Oh, an eventful track day.

A huge learning experience for me, well, because everything just went wrong that day. This was the strictest event I've ever seen, though given the circumstances of the groups I suppose it's somewhat reasonable.

The event was mixed motorsports, grip and drift however the groups were set up like garbage. There were two grip groups, intermediate and advanced, and the last group was both beginner grip and ALL drifters. So there wasn't a dedicated drift group and this caused a lot of annoyance on track. There were evo's and corvettes on the asses of all the low power guys and passing by was only allowed on straights. Seemed like a lot of guys including myself were giving up corners to let them pass by and get off our bumpers.

Another rule that limited our group was that if you spin out, meaning all 4 tires on dirt, then you get black flagged. I mean, honestly, practically everyone spun out in the first half of the day. It was 50 degrees out, and it was full track so there were a lot of 3rd gear turns. Our group accommodated all the drifters, beginner, intermediates and the advance guys AND threw in those beginner grip drivers to boot.

I was black flagged during the second run, and due to a mistake I made after getting flagged (entering the pits through a way I shouldn't have, my fault but it seemed reasonable to me at the time since it was where I was told to go the previous session) I wasn't allowed to hit the track for the rest of the day.

I managed to get into the last run of the day and during one of the uphill blind turns, I managed to spin out and hit a burm and it's lip pretty hard and bent one of the long champs. It seems fixable but man I was pretty bummin.

And to kick off the "everything happens in 3's" superstition, about 10 miles away from home I noticed my oil pressure gauge read zero. I pulled over, popped the hood and it sounded okay, but within the next few seconds I heard a tapping so I turned it off immediately.

I was so aggravated man! Poured in 3 quarts of oil, turned it back on and it sounded all normal after a couple seconds and the leak was a small steady stream coming from the oil filter area. Probably from the sandwich plate, who knows. I'll have to see later.

Forced to miss a bunch of sessions, bent a wheel, lost oil pressure, geez man! Just about everyone I've met who goes to the track has been faced with a ton of problems like these and I guess it's just my turn.

Anyway, good learning experience. Gotta check the motor, fix the wheel, and get it out to the next event.





snuggie!








we had to put numbers on our cars for the photographers

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

So stoked, I tinkered all morning and I think it's set. Time to have a feast and rest for the coming day.





I gasped when I saw this, how scary!

OH ITS ON

Got a spot in bobs donuts!

BOBS DONUTS REGISTRATION IS...

I just looked up registration to pay for the event and unfortunately


Man, I really should have registered sooner. I've been itching to go back to buttonwillow since june's event, here's hoping someone drops out or I get in there some how.

SPIDERWEBS EVERYWHERE

new ebrake cables, rotors and pads. The rears better lock up! Also checked under the car for damage from buttonwillow and everything seems to be good, the downpipe and muffler sorta got beat up but it actually bent the downpipe into an oval and it lines up with the frame rail now. more clearance with no exhaust leaks! haha














and more wood vinyl

S12 AND BUTTONWILLOW RACEWAY

Man, what a fucking trip! I had a BLAST, thanks Son for hosting such a dope event! There was so much seat time and it was really chill.

Driving there wasn't too bad, until the whole tread of a tire flew into my car. I was driving close behind a friend and it just went right under him and flew out right into my lip, smashing off one of the lip supports and a few zipties so it was saggy the rest of the day. And right before my group went out for their first session, I find out that the tire bent my exhaust up enough that it grinded against an axle and made a hideous noise. Luckily, it was metal to metal and it didn't do any real damage. I spent a good half hour fixing that and then hit the skid pad.

After drift-o-cross last September, I didn't think I was really ready for the track. It's intimidating man! During drift-o-cross, I wasn't really feeling the car and spun out more often than I liked. But after the new tension rods and alignment, the car felt like a whole 'nother car all together! Went out and did a couple figure 8's and decided to hit the track with group C immediately since I missed my group. Went around for the cold lap, and it's pretty scary at first(especially phil hill, jesus) but right after the cold lap I clutch kicked into the zorro(check the track layout) and the car felt great. The seemingly narrow track felt much wider after the confidence kicked in and I got that GROOVE ON.

With the new caster (6ish, stock is 4 for s12), the steering return was really great. The car responded super well and I started trying to connect the turns in the zorro. Started the day with mostly power overing, only to realize how dope some clutch kicking would do. So, Matt9000 sat in the car for a couple sessions and helped me master clutch kicking the entire sweeper at the bottom of west loop with a single clutch kick (with KA!). I revved the crap out of this thing and hit the rev limiter like all day! (thanks again Hung for wiring up that digi tach, haha so I know now)

The car was also really, really reliable. It lasted longer than a lot of others at the event. It was 95F there and my car stayed at a consistent 185F the entire time, no spikes. I dirt dropped a lot and kept sliding until I hit pavement again and also slid into a lot of burms, making the front of the car bounce all over the place but the car just kept sliding and handling like a champ. Every time I hit the dirt and rocks, I'd feel it under the car and immediately eyeball the oil pressure gauge.

OIL PRESSURE?

GOOD.

And kept it going!

It was great to finally reap the benefits of all my work/time/money. The car was really amazing this time around. The tires lasted forever too! Didn't expect that with -5.5 camber and 1.1 total toe-in the rear. I started the day with some super DEAD 195/50/15 federals and that lasted me a good two sessions, could have lasted one more. And the entire rest of the day the car was on semi-new 205/50/15 falken ziex 512's that were bought before JCCS last year. I drove the dick out of those until they started flapping against the car and that was pretty much the entire day.

The driving was pretty much all day from 9-5pm and it was really casual with a ridiculous amount of seat time. There were groups but eventually people just went out whenever they wanted to. Track etiquette was also good and all the guys present were good peoples. Lots of bromo times and just all around too much fun. Can't wait for the next event!

On another note, I was really, seriously planning on swapping the rear end to a ford solid axle. But after how well the car performed at buttonwillow, fuck it. Even the tire wear was great so I honestly won't even bother. Money better spent on tires!

There was NO MEDIA there, pretty bummed. But I did give my camera to Trinh and Yuta and they got some pics from a spectator area though only from a couple angles. I think there might have been some people video taping with point and shoots so I hope stuff like that eventually floats around to me.

DIDN'T RAISE MY CAR! I was surprised how well it drove, no problems whatsoever at my height. The PBM coilovers too! Bouncy and horrid on the street but rides like butter on the track. It's like night and day.


rubber from full lock after first sesh




Manny's car getting super dug in


Alex's car also getting dug in... Hahaha!


Yuta bro checking it out


Of all the rest of the dry dirt Alex, jesus
















BRYON STUTTS (drftwerks) DRIFT QUEEN








Trinh, Sarah, Ryan


















hit the burm and keep going man!




Bryant getting stuck, nice meeting you dude! this guy was crazy on the track




Bryon


And the falken ziex 512's that lasted me most of the day, not bad!


end of the day


and incredibly tired, home. car made it in one piece and gave me absolutely no problems! Damage was pretty minimal too, a ton of dirt and rubber, lip support, lost a couple interior pieces, snapped a sunroof cover bracket, and the rear pleather from my hatch is like falling off.

And you can probably tell how excited I am with all those exclamation marks, I'm stoked on just talking about it!