Frankiman's street/track GTR project

[4door_r32]

Excellent tread. Great pics!!

[frankiman]

Chapter 35 - 'The' trackday 2010, part 1


so in an attempt to finish re-caping 2010, i decided to write about the skyline-only-ish track day a bunch of GTRCers had near the end of summer 2010, 5 days after the Ultraride 2010 (last chapter)

---------------
(all photos are from Marc Nelson)

so the idea started when Josh (Archaeicbloke) started asking questions about lapping and whatnot,
i told him he had to get a lapping club membership, or simply reserve a spot on an open lapping day with different groups,
but i said that the organizing and safety of open events was crap, and he didn't want to get a club membership for 'only' 1 day,
he then said <<why not have a skyline track day? just ourselves>>
well ok, it isn't that simple, first you need to reserve a track, find people willing to come to that day and drop deposits in advance to pay for the track, then organize the actual lapping day with groups - equipment - facilities - food - safety - etc
so i said that if he was really serious then i'd help him organize it

1st - find a track,
through all the choices (about 7 tracks within 2,5 hours from mtl) the closest track was the one i hated the most, SANAIR
it was also the easiest to rent, since not a whole lot happens there nowadays
since the was seldom spots available on the weekend, and that the renting cost was also higher on those days, it was decided to make it a friday
i don't like SANAIR because the surface is rough, the layout is too simply, it doesn't flow well and its too hard on brakes, but with the very long straight it makes for a fun 1st timer destination
so Josh made the call to SANAIR's owner to reserve a full day (9am-4pm)

2nd - organizing the schedule
Josh planned a small meeting one night at the famous Orange Julep meet in MTL, with a couple guys that would come too and a friend of his who also took part in lapping events like me
the plan was to put down on paper a good outline of the schedule for the day and the rules everyone would have to follow to acheive safety and order

3rd - communication
after that Josh sent everyone a message with the info
with alot of hard work, i've actually found that message in my archives, so here it is;

hey, so i got the info and its lookin' REAL good!!!

the track will be the "Circuit Routier - track 3" @ Sanair (40 minutes from montreal)
http://www.sanairracing.net/circuits.htmWHEN: Friday September 17
START: Be there ready to roll at 7am! (to make the most of the day)
END: we're getting a deal on the price so the only condition is we must be finished by latest 3 pm.
COST: there is an initial deposit due asap to reserve the track of $50 each, the remainder cost will Not be more than an extra $30... so $80 in total. (it really depends on how many ppl we are, the more ppl the cheaper it is obviously)
If you know somebody you would like to invite, please do so and have them contact me: fenixpulse@live.ca

REGULATIONS and info:
- No rules on manditory clothing (wear what you like)
- No ambulence on standby (me and a few other ppl are paramedics so no worries)
- No noise limits
- no helmets required (i reccomend you bring one anyways)
- passengers are allowed while on track!
- no limits on how many ppl can be on the track at once
- no flag person

essentially we make our own rules.... within reason.

nearest gas stations are a "Petro T" and "sonic"... not sure wtf they are or if they carry octane 94, so it may be a good idea to bring extra fuel in some cans.

THE PLAN:
the 8 hour long day will be split up into a series of different driving events... we will do:
- open lapping, competitive races, drag races (on the long strip), drifting

cars will be organized into 3 heats, we can decide who goes where based on what kind of cars each person has, each hour will be broken down into 3 sessions of 20 minutes, each heat gets 20 minutes on the track, then is rotated out for a cool down period.

we can also do one person on the track at a time, or every one all at once, im gonna take your suggestions and make a day plan based on the suggestions you give me as to what you want to do most that day.

also, if you want to be filmed and potentially in the movie we're making, let me know so I can put you on the list of cars to be filmed.
Please respond and provide me your full name, and your phone number where you can be reached.
Thanks,

the 'no helmets required' part was changed though, well.. alot changed

since i lived closest to the track, i set a meeting spot at a Tim's on that morning


------------------------

the actual track day

what i didn't think about was that meeting at a Tim's on a friday morning was a big no-no since it was absolutely packed

we barely found spots to all park

me and Josh


Marc and Tyler


while waiting for Mitch so we sat down to get a little something to eat
the other guys would meet us at the track directly,

epic-pic;


after that we all drove together to SANAIR and actually met up the other guys on the way, on the road,


well all stopped together at the last 94 octane gas station before reaching the track


skyline mob @ petro-canada


cars and jerry cans were filled up



then we arrived at the track entrance and waited for the owner to open the gate




so.. 7 skylines ; 4 GTRs 3 GTSTs ;
Me
Josh - Archaeicbloke
Marc - Nelsonmxmarc
Tyler - TW
Mitch - Mitch32
Marc-André - Klys ... and his father


after a while, Josh called the owner who told us to go completly around the track so he would open the back-gate near his house
then we headed for the pit area and set up camp for the day




after a little meeting about the safety, everyone got ready to go out



since the only ones with track experience were me, Marc-André and his father, we mixed into the pack to show the racing line to everyone while we all headed out together on track, slowly



i told guys to start slowly, but Mitch, driving his 600hp monster was a little too accelerator happy, and spun out twice on that first lap

after, Josh asked if he could ride shotgun with me to see what kind of speeds could be acheived,
after a couple warming laps, i started going a bit faster, not immensly fast though, the car wouldn't brake, anyway;
when Josh stepped out, he said << man i can't go that fast >>, but he did

after that, it was open, everyone went on the track as much as they wanted, following the rules

at some point during the day, Marc's father joined us, and took some pictures
nice 911 btw


and then a little while later another Marc-André, from Ottawa joined us with his SR20 AE86 for a little drift practice



its cool to have cars lapping and drifting at the same time on the track, given you always keep some distance between them


everyone had some fun throughout the day







continued in part deux -->

[frankiman]

Chapter 35 - 'The' trackday 2010, part 2


at some point, Mitch told me he had a hard time getting around the track, so i asked if i could drive it for just a couple laps,
OH MY LORD
does that thing go, i had never felt ~600hp, and darn it felt nice
the only issue was that the steering was still stock, and i couldn't get my knees under it, so when i turned the wheel, my hands were hiting my knees, making cornering very jerky
but then i understood why Mitch had difficulties, 600hp made the car hard to come out of corners without beeing sideways
oh yeah, theres also the fact that hes got a triple plate clutch, really stiff, and my driving position didn't make it any easier, on the track it felt great, but when going from a full stop, not so much
i found that out when i stopped (off track) after a lap or two to put a cone that someone else had hit back in its spot, when i tried coming back onto the track, i stalled the car 3 times, oops
there was almost the fact that mitch had the most powerfull car but the weakest brakes, which at one occasion i greatly overrated those brakes when i braked at the end of the straightaway from about 250 km/h and completely missing the hairpin by going straight by on the 1/4 mile section

but Mitch felt it was too much power for him, so i think he disconnected the vaccum line somewhere to lower boost (to WG actuator std pressure)

since i hated the track, and didn't find it pleasuarable at all, i decided to start drifting a bit, powersliding out of corners, just rookie tail-out stuff

but on one occasion i alsmost spun out when i hit a puddle of water and was facing a wall, i didn't try too much to catch hit and slid onto the infield on the oval part of the track

but throughout the day, i had 2 big issues ;

1-----------
the car wouldn't brake, at all, i had upgraded the brakes, but it felt much much worst then before
at the end of the straight, there are signs (5-4-3-2-1) to help time braking into the hairpin, well usually i started braking just before ''4'' from about 220km/h down to 65
but now i had to start braking where the ''7'' sign would be
it was pathetic, i didn't know at first what was causing it, but my best guess was about the AMS 2-piece rotors
thats why i was playing around powersliding because i knew it was pointless to try to go fast because of the brake issue

2------------
if you have read the last chapter, you know i was leaking power-steering oil, alot of it,
but in the 5 day span between UltraRide 2010 and the track day, i didn't have time to fix it
well i probably should have since i was absolutely pissing oil
i had to put 1/2 a quart after each session
and when i was empty my p/s pump was whining very loud
so because of that i didn't lap a whole lot during the day

but the moment that sealed my day was when something actually broke on the track

i was going down the straight at WOT, when i heard something metal falling of the track, at first i tought it was parts from the brakes,
so i let off the gaz, downshifted slowly, continued straight onto the 1/4 mile section, off-track, and slowed to a stop using the e-brake

i stepped out, and after checking stuff out, the only thing broken i could see was the lower part of the radiator shroud dangling underneath,
so Marc came to checkup on me, and i asked him to go get me some pliers, which i used to cut the zip-ties holding the plastic piece,
i checked everything else and it all seemed ok, but i had still dropped something metal onto the track somewhere

so i left the car parked there and walked all along the barrier of the 1/4 section trying to find what i had lost on the track, but never saw anything

so i walked back to the car, drove it into the pits, when Marc came up to me, having found an AC belt, completely shreaded, when i check under my hood i quickly realized that that was my belt, and that the AC tension pulley was also missing,


thats it my day was over



but still it was a fun day, very sunny and it was great to do that kind of stuff with a bunch of friends, when i usually don't know anyone else in those types of events

Videos

after realizing i wouldn't go back out, i still decided to take a bit of life out of my already used rear Azenis tires

also, during the day i filmed a couple laps with my GoPro HD

heres when Marc borrowed my cam for some an outing

and then Josh also borrowed it

it also has to be said that Josh's made making soooo much thick black smoke at WOT, since he was yet tuned at the time


the guy sitting next to Josh is Peter, who was filming use throughout the day made a great short film (unfinished) with the footage

watch the whole of it, someone looses a wheel !

^^ watch it ^^

heres a picture from the aftermath, lol


the studs snapped off


well thats all for now,
i'll try to re-cap the rest of 2010 in my next chapter
thanks for reading

[RABBIT]

Cool super old update,
great footage!
you got really squirely coming out of that drag strip part.
and i was expecting someones steering wheel to come off, i always do and they never do...*sigh.

[bobbo]

Nice Franki! I hope we'll be able to meet up at Tramblent this summer. My plan is for the BMW club event in August. Chalk it in!

[GoldNinja]

Well done! 8)

[nimblestix]

^ this is what made my mind up for me when i decided to buy josh's car,

that roar of the exhaust as it was pulling out of the corner behind the gray car....phew... i tell yah'
0:00 -0:08, 0:15-0:20, 1:27


Ive watched this video about 4 dozen times. Add another 5 from today

[gtrjon]

how much did the track day end up costing?

[frankiman]

I think it was like 100 each to rent the track
+ gas+food+broken parts lol


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[gtrjon]

wow that is CHEAP!

[frankiman]

When you just rent a track with a group of people its usually 50% cheaper than clubs, but the overall events are much better organized with clubs


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[rb26addict]

[QUOTE=nimblestix;505084]

^ 0:49-51 backfire

[RWD_GTR]

why 2 years behind? its 2012 now. lol

[allwheeldrifter]

what happened at 1:55 ? looks like the corolla lost a wheel!?!?!?

[allwheeldrifter]

nevermind....i just saw page 80