So, my final track day of the year, ClubLoose’s Haunted Moves. I’ve been looking forward to this one for awhile as the last time I ran with these guys was in early August. It truly is a big family who just want to get together, burn tires and see how fast they can go, while getting as sideways as possible, as closely as possible to each other. The day started out interesting enough, Petty announced we would be trying the course backwards… which the last time that was done the car testing it wrecked into the wall. Anyway, so we headed out, did a solo run or two and started doing tandems.
Running the course in reverse is an absolute blast, it’s faster, more technical, and more challenging in my opinion. Unfortunately, like I always complain about, the car is lacking the power needed to get some of the sections done. If you watch the onboard video, in the first tandem I get caught out on our 4th or 5th transition by Bill getting on the brakes and then I lack the momentum to take the car back up the hill. It’s part of the reason why I just bang the limiter in 2nd as the car doesnt have the power to boil 3rd except in really high speed sections. I had probably some of my personal best tandems so far, really closed in on people nicely, and led some solid runs as well.
During the second session out, I was trying to pick up my entry speed, enter a hair earlier and carry my sideways action deeper into the turn for a better line into the T1/T2/T3 complex. Unfortunately for me I had a bit of driver error and didn’t get back on the throttle quickly enough and the car snapped back towards the embankment while I was in 3rd gear, not good! This was (believe it or not) my first crash on a race track. As to be expect as I was going fairly quickly (50mph or so) I’m relatively sore the day after, but otherwise in good health.
After I got dragged out, the car amazingly was only leaking in one spot. A pinhole on the radiator. The radiator was in a U shape with some waves to the fin structure, the radiator core was basically completely gone expect for where it bolted to the headlights, the swaybar was pushed back, bumper, undertray, fans, all destroyed. But mechanically the car was fine. So dmoffitt went and got me some Water Weld putty, and we put the car back together with some ratchet straps to hold the radiator to the bumper core, zip ties, and putty and I headed back out for the final session.
All said, a really fun day and a fantastic end to the season. I can’t wait to be back next year with more power, more steering angle, and a finished car.
Moses’ FC with a GNX motor and sequential gearbox.
Photos from Ian K
Videos:
Crash video:
http://vimeo.com/7267351
The thumbnail does a good job of telling the story, all I could see was sky, hah! I didn’t get the clutch back in quick enough and get back in the power so the car straightened out and I used the available… ahem runoff.
Highlights from Onboard the 350z, didn’t shoot most of my runs at the end of the day due to forgetting to swap tapes. I NEED a rear facing camera on the roof.
Exterior View of the crash from the grid, pretty funny looking.
