Dub Deliverance and Friday at the Track

This was originally just going to be a status update, then I realized it was getting REALLY long and had some good information to share with a wider audience.

Exhausting weekend.  Friday I had students in two of the three run groups and during Dub Deliverance I was instructing in nine of the on-track sessions.  I will start with Dub Deliverance and then double back to Friday at the Track.

Dub Deliverance is a great event run by TrackDaze and sponsored by VW, APR and NGP Racing.  This is a great event for anyone who wants a cheap track day because thanks to the sponsorship it is only $55 for participants.  Such a good deal that I was originally going to enjoy my time as a participant, but they needed more instructors and I have this flaw that makes me volunteer to help.  Somewhat sorry I did because I was run ragged on Saturday.

First I was in-car instructing a VW Employee around track in a MkVII Golf TSI (1.8T engine) that had some R bits and pieces on it (most notably, brakes).  I really like the styling of the new golf, although if that car had been a manual it would have made it more suitable for the track (The auto won't let you stay in the power band as easily).  Adding the APR 1.8T software probably would have made that even better, although it is not officially released for the MkVII yet, but I don't think the MkVII Golf (as opposed to the GTI) is in dealership lots yet.  The traction control REALLY didn't like the carousel constantly clamping the brakes as we went around it.

After that session I got a break (Because I wasn't back in time to hop in a Blue group car anyway) but then come green, I was in a MkV R32.  First ever time on track for that guy (and it turns out he was three spots down from us in the paddock).  Even though there weren't assigned instructors, I worked with him in ever run he did that day because I prefer the consistency.  (He skipped one session to let his friend use the car since his friend couldn't get his car ready for the track)  In the second and third blue group sessions I went out with Nate from NGP and helped him with the line on a couple parts of the course. I also instructed one of the cars in the second VW Employee session (Same driver, this time a MkVII GTI).

The MkVII GTI had nice power and was a manual.  The only problem with that car was it had completely stock GTI brakes and the driver who took it out the first session REALLY worked them so they started to fade about half way through the session and we had to pull it in.  The same problem happened with my green students R32, his brakes were still stock and his last run of the day he had to pull off early due to fade.  The very last session of the day for green/blue combined I ended up riding with a different student (despite REALLY wanting a break and wanting to start packing up) but he was a more passive driver (who still needed constant direction around the track, but at least he wasn't trying to drive into the hairpins 20 mph too fast or anything.  After that I was so wiped out I skipped my last track session and just loaded up the car.

Chrissy was also driving the car through the day in blue group but I will let her summarize her experience if she so chooses.  I also took the car out in two yellow sessions to get myself some extra track time, unfortunately, one had a bad start.  My brakes are sometimes a little inconsistent when cold, but they seemed to have enough heat in them from the other turns I went into leading up to the carousel.  Unfortunately, they weren't quite warm enough and I ended up hitting the carousel a little fast.  The car bounced a bit, slid up the hill, my skid plate scraped along the rim and I was shot out into the grass headed straight towards the tire wall. (see video below)  Fortunately I was still slow enough, especially with the added friction from scraping against the concrete, to avoid the wall.  And that was the second time that weekend I was four off (I was only driving one of the two times though, more on that later).

Now for Friday at the Track.  In Group 1A I picked a student in a MkV GTI who I had met at a previous Friday at the Track.  He was a great student who took instruction well and improved through the day.  He still needs to work on his threshold braking and cleaning up his line a bit in the back section.  For Group 1B I ended up working with three different students.  An E46 325i, a supercharged BRZ and for a very brief period, an Evo MR.  The Evo was a check-ride.  Another instructor had given him straight fives for two sessions straight and I was checking him to move him up to group 2i for the next event.  I told him I was just going to observe and only intervene if needed.  He didn't break hard enough for turn 10 on main.  At that point there isn't anything you can do because if you brake going into the turn you end up on the inside wall.  As we were starting to head out in to the graven, I just started yelling "Straight straight straight" so we didn't catch the front wheels and either roll the car or dart towards the inner wall.  The car started to slow in the gravel but one of the ruts in the sand jerked the wheel a bit so we started wiggling across track.  Once we were in the inner grass he gained just enough traction to gradually steer it away from the wall and we missed the tires at pit exit by about 2 feet.

So, we pulled into the pits, talked about it and talked to the pit control and headed back out planning on taking it slower.  He went a couple more laps, but had to pull it in after feeling a vibration and just parked it for the rest of the event.  He was actually much more shaken by it than I was (I was eerily calm during the whole thing).  His line also was sloppy when I was in the car with him so I think maybe nerves got to him knowing it was a check-ride.  So, I didn't put him forward.  So...that was my Friday and Saturday, how was yours?

And these are the cars of our life-Chrissy's list

Mike and I always talk about our dream cars.  It became more of a topic because of all the money in Florida made most obvious by that $250k+ car in a Sarasota parking lot. 

So, I'm bored since we're in the car and I'm not the driver (DUH!!).  So, I figured I would list my dream cars and allow for Mike to post the cars I may have missed or that we cannot agree on.  

The cars are in no particular order because that considers brain cells I do not wish to expend.  And quite frankly, if any one of these were to come into my possession I'm certainly not to decline if provided in the wrong order or even got the color wrong.  Also, it doesn't include cars that we own because obviously that's a dream fulfilled.

Keep in mind that I will most likely start to use the same adjectives because those few words basically explain why its on the list.

1. E46 BMW M3:  this is undoubtedly the best M3 of all time.  Power, agility and class are just a few of its attributes.  If I had my way, it would be totally blacked out.  I'd accept it as a convertible but would rather have the sun roof because the convertible I want [back] is on this list too.
2. 2008 E88 BMW 135i Cabriolet:  I want the one we custom-built back.  I want to put our country stickers back on it (yes, I still have those).  I want to drive it on the tracks.  One day, when there is available coin, I will run a Craig's list ad and it will be mine again.
3.  Lamborghini Adventador:  It's a gorgeous, fast and powerful beast of a performance car.  And why not? This is the dream list after all.  This car I want in red.
4. Volkswagen Phaeton: With its W-12 and awesome appearance, this all wheel drive dub, this is THE Volkswagen super car.  I would also accept the V10 TDI version of this car.  This beast needs to be completely blacked out.
5. Volkswagen Passat Wagen: This is what wet my pallet for the wagens.  Any engine will do.  I think I would like this in gunmetal.
6. Audi R8: Another speedy, fun car.  And its just hot!  I'll take this in black too.
7. Saturn Sky/Opel GT: This American sports car (yes, it was manufactured in Delaware, not in Germany by Opel) was the last hoorah for the Saturn brand, even if it was underpowered.  It had gorgeous lines and had potential to rank with other American supercars (after you stick a turbo or a bigger, better tuned engine in it).  This car will be silver also.
8. 2000-whatever Pontiac GTO: There is one at work that I see when I work normal-people hours.  It sounds beautiful with its throaty exhaust note.  It was the last super car from Pontiac even if it was imported from the GM Australian brand, Holden.  I will take the one at work because it is blacked out.
9. New SS: It's only sold for police patrol cars but it's also a very awesome reincarnation of a classic.  And it's rear wheel drive.  Not white is the color of choice.
10. Corvette: I'm excited for the new one due out next year.  Fast, powerful and the ultimate of American driving machines.  I like it in orange.
11. BMW 2002: This is not a BMW built in the year 2002.  2002 is the model.  I took an interest in this '60s bimmer because it's a BMW enthusiast car.  It's a treat to see one because this car is few and far between in numbers, unless you're in NJ.  It was powerful for its time.  I think the only color it comes in is orange.
12. Cadillac CTS-V:  I like this in the wagon but will gladly take it in the coupe.  Actually, can't say that I would mind having both in black. 
13. Ferrari California: Italian super car and I want it for the same reasons as the first Italian on the list.  And it would also be in red.
14. Tesla S: It's the cool and more powerful electric vehicle that looks good too.  Not too sure about my preferred color on this car.
15. Jaguar xJ: Not too much of a Jag person but this happened.  It's sleek and fast Jaguar done good with this one.  Black is the color for this. (Because the animal is black)
16. Porsche Carerra 4s: Another fast German.  It was always a treat to see this on the tracks over there.  I think black is appropriate for this too.
17. Nissan GTR: Again an awesome super car but this time from the far east.  Silver to compliment the carbon fiber details.

I think that is all of them.  I hopefully will be driving after the dinner pit stop so Mike can provide his take on the list.

My affinity for car work

Two different people have asked me fairly recently how I learned how to perform car maintenance and repairs.  One of those two people who asked was my father, so that tells you it wasn't him I learned from.  My step-dad was handy with tools, but mostly for wood-working (he used to make wooden toys to sell at craft fairs when I was a kid).  I had access to tools, but no one to show me what I was doing, so I was on my own.

First, a bit of background.  From early on, I liked to tinker and take things apart.  I used to take apart GI Joes and swap body parts just for grins.  In fact, I took apart many of my toys.  In Middle School, I decided to take apart the computer I had at the time and built my own in high school, so obviously I was always fascinated with how things work and taking them apart.

I started small.  I picked up a Haynes Manual for my 86 Cutlass Supreme Coupe and started with the simple stuff.  Oil changes, and changing the fuel filter.  That is about all the repair I did on that car.  Then I was off in College and got my truck, but that meant I didn't really have anywhere to do car work, except occasionally over Matt's house. I stepped up to doing brake pads next, differential fluid and spark plugs.  At this point, it was a combination of Haynes manuals and the internet, but still heavier on the former.  It wasn't until we lived in Germany and I had regular access to a lift that I started to get more serious and was seriously bitten by the mod bug on the Jetta and the 325i.  Now I was at the point where I relied mostly on write-ups I found on the internet.  I even dove into adding OEM parts that were only available in Europe which required some wiring to the computer and reprogramming.

There are still some things that I take it into the shop for because I lack the tools or confidence to do it, but as of last year I am to the point where I am comfortable swapping out brake calipers, bleeding the brakes, and just this week, I changed one of my axles myself.  No lift at home, but 4 jack stands and a much smaller version of me makes it a lot easier now too.  Still not comfortable enough to do a timing belt job on the TDIs though, so I have a ways to go before I am self-sufficient car repairs wise, but I do save a fair amount of money both doing my own maintenance and doing my own pre-track inspections.

So, I guess that basically covers it.  If you have any other car related questions, feel free to ask.

Part of what spawned this was on Saturday during Dub Deliverance, after my first session, I immediately jacked up the car and started looking in the front-left wheel area.  I knew SOMETHING was off, just wasn't sure what at first.  Turned out to be a failed CV boot.  My friend who was with me said he didn't think there would ever be anything he would experience in a car that would make him immediately jack up the car and look at the front drive-train.  Of course, much more is at stake on the track then on the street in terms of speeds and forces on the car, so hence my desire to immediately investigate after the session.

I have now driven my car on an actual NASCAR track

This weekend, I attended the first day of the NASA (no, not that one) HPDE event at Pocono raceway.  I registered for HPDE 2 (which is intermediate) because I only had one prior track day with NASA (my other experience was through other programs or just the track days in Germany).  Chrissy and I drove up Friday night and camped on the grounds for the night.  It rained all night, which was a bit annoying, and then in the morning it was foggy, rainy and overcast.  It was so foggy that we couldn't start the event :(  It didn't look good all the way up through about lunch time when the fog suddenly started to burn off, and burn off quickly.  This meant that we had to cram a full days worth of events into half of a day though.  This is where things got crazy.

They had two different track configurations running in parallel.  The North course, which uses turns 1 and 2 of the tri-oval and a road coarse section through the infield on the north end (duh).  And then there was also the brand new South/East course combination in the other end of the infield.  The North course was 2.5 miles, the South/East course was about 2 miles.

NASA muddled with the schedule and my group ended up being third to get onto the South/East course that day (after the Hyper-Drive and Instructor Groups).  That course was windy, off-camber at times, and fun as hell (especially in the Rabbit).  Because of the screwed up schedule, while we were supposed to have an instructor for our first session, we were given the permission to go out without an instructor if we were comfortable (I was).

After we finished that session, we had to meet with our group coordinator/instructor, Steve Van Blarcom, who has what must be the sickest M3 in the states.

Our reprieve from the track was short because 10 minutes later, we were on the North Course running clockwise.  My first lap I joined the line following Steve to see the line through the infield section, and then was off.  I was hitting about 112 mph before braking to turn into the infield.  I was hitting close to the same between turns 2 and 1, but I was slowing to around 90-95 entering turn 1.  Because my car is short on horsepower, I wasn't able to build much speed at the top end going down the straight, hence the small differential between Turn 1 and infield turn-in.

Upon getting off the North Course, I found out that we were already supposed to be on the South/East course again because the North course was behind schedule (since for the second weekend in a row, a white lotus crashed during one of the sessions.  I booked it over there, and did my next session.  After that one we had a brief reprieve.  During that reprieve I talked to our group-leader to see if I could get a check-ride to move up to HPDE 3 during one of the last two runs of the day.  I REALLY wanted to get moved up so that I could run the full tri-oval course with groups 3, 4 and instructors at the end of the day.

Steve didn't make it out during our next to last run, so I was a little nervous about making sure I got the check ride, but my bigger issue was with another driver on the track.  His car was MUCH more powerful than my little Rabbit, but i was kicking his ass up and down the skill areas of the course.  A train was forming behind me (while I followed him) so I would point one of them by on the back stretch, and he would point that person by on the front stretch, and this repeated for 3-4 laps.  That was very frustrating, but we talked after the session and everything worked out.  (you will see it once I upload that session).

The last session of the day, Steve made it out on the track with us (and blew the doors off of all of us) but he saw enough to give me my checkoff and get me my HPDE 3 wrist band.  With that all squared away, I was supposed to have about 30 minutes of downtime before running the full oval, but then they announced it was happening immediately so I had to go hop in the car and go.  Unfortunately, this meant I didn't have time to change the battery in the Go-Pro so as I am sitting on pit-lane about to pull out on the track, hit record, and it died about 30 seconds later. :(

During that last run, I found out what the practical top-speed of my car is: 120 mph.  The car just didn't have anymore pull in it after that.  Braking into Turn 1 and Turn 2 at that speed is an awesome feeling, but the fact that the car just couldn't accelerate much the last half of the straights just showed that the car needs MORE POWER!  All-in-all, it was AWESOME.  I moved up to HPDE 3 with NASA, I was able to run THREE different track configurations at Pocono, and I was able to drive on a super-speedway.

I want to give a big thanks to NASA, Pocono Raceway, the NASA staff, volunteers, flaggers and our group instructor Steve for an incredible weekend.  Photos from the weekend are posted on Flickr and videos from the weekend will be gradually uploaded to my YouTube account.  Enjoy my photos and videos from other track days at well.

"I feel the need..."

"Hello everyone, I am glad to see you all here today.  We have a new person joining us today.  Why don't you introduce yourself"

"Hi, my name is Mike, and I am addicted to speed"

"Thank you Mike. It takes a lot of courage to admin you have a drug prob.."

"I never said I had a drug problem.  I am addicted to driving fast."

"You need to leave now"

I have a problem.  Well, it is really more of a hobby, but it is an expensive, time consuming hobby.  You may have gathered from my blog that I am a bit of a car nut (and I will be writing another post about my "car problem" another time) and that I like to go to the track and drive.  Well, last year was my first 3 trips to the track stateside, and this year, well, I am going to be spending a lot of time driving around in large, jagged circles.



So far this year, I have done a TrackDaze event at New Jersey Motorsports Park, and a Seat Time event at Summit Point Motorsports Park.  I have a TrackDaze event next weekend at Summit Point, a NASA event at Pocono the following weekend, and a Summit Point FATT event on the 27th.

And that just covers July.  To make the Rabbit handle the track better,  have updated the front brakes to R32 brakes with Racing pads and slotted rotors, the rear brakes to GTI brakes and I put in high performance brake fluid and stainless steel braided brake lines.  I will be changing out the rear sway bay are sway bar end links in the near future, and I removed the back seats and the spare tire surround from the car for weight reduction.



The car has spent a fair amount of time the past few weeks up on jack stands as I prepared the car for the track season, and then performed the pre-trackday inspections before heading off to the track, which I have to do later today for next weekend.  It has also spent a fair amount of time at the gas pump too.  After July, there are three at least more track days I want to do this year:  one I am booked for in September at Summit point, a TrackDaze event in August at VIR (which would be my birthday present), and a NASA event at Watkins Glenn International in September.



The last one of those will be hardest to work out (I want to do the full weekend but Chrissy's work schedule may not allow it) but those are my plans for the year.  I might also look into the NASA fall finale at Summit Point as well, as I hope to continue to move up the ranks in NASA HPDE to possibly be an instructor in the future (because instructors get free - as in beer - track time!).  Shorter term, I may pursue becoming an instructor for Summit Point FATT, and I will think about that more after I see how I handle my lines next weekend.

I am a Track Rat Once Again

In the past two weeks I have spent a LOT of time on the Summit Point circuit at Summit Point Motorsports Park.  Last weekend, I attended the NASA Fall Finale running in HPDE1, and on Friday I attended the final Friday at the Track of 2012 running in group 2i (group 2 with instructor).  This still means I have only attended 3 track events state-side, but all three of those occurred in the last two months.  The good, the Rabbit holds up very well on the track, especially after I updated the front brakes to R32 calipers and slotted rotors.  The bad, this is a very expensive hobby to have.  I really need to win the lottery.

Old rotors vs new

My goals for this year were pretty simple.  I wanted to go into next year not having to run in the lowest group because that group contains all of the people who are first-timers on the track and they don't know how to react, are very intimidated, and can't process all of the information coming to them (and thus forget to do things like point-by cars that are on their tail).  I also wanted to evaluate my skill (since it had been a few years), my car (the Rabbit had never been tracked before), and gauge how I wanted to proceed going forward with track days.  Most of that has been resolved now, it is just the "going forward" part that I am not too sure about yet.

Coming through Turn 10 on Summit Point Circuit

I succeeded on multiple fronts when compared to my goals.  The Rabbit handled remarkably well thanks in large part to the JOM coilover suspension, APR Carbonio Intake, Unitronic chip tune, AWE Tuning exhaust, and for the second and third events, R32 front calipers with ECS Tuning slotted rotors.  I also want to give a shout out to NGP Racing, since they did the coilover install and have done some other work on the car.  The car is still relatively under powered since it is a naturally aspirated 2.5l 5-cylinder, but unless I win the lotto, a power-train swap would not be possible.  Handling wise, I need to upgrade the front and rear sway bars to either OEM GTI sway bars, or even beefier aftermarket ones.  OEM GTI sway bars that someone has removed from their car would be the least expensive solution.  There are other modifications that should occur if I continue to track the car heavily, and I will address those at the end of this post.

Notice the giant front brakes?

As for assessing my skill level, I can say that my skill level had not dropped off in any significant way in the years since my track time in Germany, and has now actually surpassed my original skill level.  While I don't have any official sign-offs for NASA events to move to HPDE2, my instructor during those events was impressed.  Given my status at Summit Point Friday at the Track events, it shouldn't be hard for me to skip to HPDE2 (or even 3) if I attend another NASA event at there. With the Summit Point Friday at the Track 2i group, I had an instructor for most of my first three runs.  I had a different instructor hop in the car during my third session, and he let me run solo for the last few minutes of session three and ALL of session 4.  With his, and my original instructor's signatures, I have been signed off to move to Group 2 SOLO in the future at Friday at the Tracks.  That also opens the opportunity to attend "Seat Time" events at Summit Point which allow me to even take a passenger along with me.  This makes Chrissy very happy.

Last run of the day solo through turn 10

Now comes the hardest part:  What are my plans going forward?  At the very least, I plan to attend many more events at Summit Point in the future, and the car will have to be able to withstand the abuse of double-duty because Chrissy will want to participate at least some in the events.  I also want to attend some NASA events at nearby tracks, such as New Jersey Motorsports Park, and Virginia International Raceway. Even a trip to Road Atlanta wouldn't be out of the question.  But how do I want to advance my "career" in NASA?  Do I want to work my way up to being an instructor (so I can get some free track-time)?  Do I want to consider competition, such as Time-trials?  Or maybe even the German Touring Car series?  Will I start competing in Autocross events? Time trials and actual racing would both actually increase my costs so I would have to hunt out some sponsors to offset my costs, and if I actually did want to compete, would I want to start over with a GTI for performance reasons ($$$$$$$$)?  Regardless of how I choose to advance, if I do plan on continuing this on a regular basis in the Rabbit, it will have to become more of a track car, and less of a street car.  It will be kept street legal though, because I still drive it on a regular basis.

Since it is a 2-door, we only use the back seat for actual people once in a blue-moon, so taking that capability away from the car is not a huge loss.  That allows for a roll cage to be installed in the rear of the car with a harness bar and racing seats with five point harnesses.  That would also help with the rigidity of the chassis going through turns.  So that brings the list of major upgrades still needed for track use to better anti-roll bars, cage, harnesses, racing seats, and upgraded rear brakes too.  Some "just barely street legal" racing tires would be good for the track events too.

So, now I need to decide where I want to go, and how I want to get there. I think becoming a NASA instructor would be awesome, but I have always wanted to be a "race car driver" so Time Trial at least gets that element of competition in there.  What to do, what to do?  Of course, I need to win the lottery first ;)

For more photos and videos, use the below links:

• Summit Point Friday at the Track 10/12/2012 Photos
• NASA Fall Finale at Summit Point photos
• Summit Point Friday at the Track 11/9/2012 Photos
• My YouTube videos - (Note - Videos from this week's FATT won't be up for a bit)

Friday at the Track

When I first registered for Friday at the Track at Summit Point Raceway I was disappointed that I had to run in Group 1 with an instructor given my past track experience.  That said, it was still well worth it and my prior experience definitely did make a difference.  For starters, the instructor normally takes the first lap or two behind the wheel in the first session but mine let me jump right in behind the wheel and drive from the get-go.  Unfortunately, although I turned the camera on for the first session, I forgot to hit record :(

To see all of the photos, see my flickr album.

On each run, the instructor reviews your performance on your safety, mental alertness, and handling of the car on a 1-5 scale.  The first run, the instructor gave me 3s across the board (which he said was SOP for first timers at FATT).  The second run he upgraded me to 4s.  The Rabbit has fresh pads and brake fluid but there was some green fade on the first run.  My brakes were apparently smoking visibly, but they were strong and held up.  After the first two runs, it was time for the lunch break.

After lunch, with the car still taking a break before the next session, it was time for me to hit the skid pad.  There is a circular stretch of blacktop that is wet down by sprinklers where you steer a Ford Crown Vic while the instructor works the gas and break.  The basic idea is to keep the car as close to following the inside line as possible while the instructor intentionally makes the car under- and over-steer. This was incredibly fun and challenging.  Despite the fact that you are fighting to keep the car going in the correct direction, you can't help but laugh and grin constantly.

Immediately after the skid pad session, it was time for me to hop in my car again and hit the track.  I guess I should say that the track time REALLY shows how much of the performance on the track is the driver and how much is the car.  There were many cars that would easily pull on me on the straight: Corvettes, some fast Minis, an Aston Martin, Audis, BMWs, and more.  I would often end up catching those cars and having them hold me up in the corners though.  Once the video footage has finished uploading, you will see that there were a few laps where I was almost keeping pace with a Corvette and an Audi S5, and was faster than them everywhere except the straights.

So, back to session #3 on the track.  This run I had a new instructor because my instructor from the first two runs was now running one of the skid pad cars.  The session started off with a bang with me putting down good strong laps, and then suddenly the car wigged out.  I lost all power, and the oil pressure light went on as I pulled out of turn 2 and tried to accelerate.  I pulled off the track right where I was, shut down the engine.  We were far enough off the track for me to pop the hood and check the oil.  Everything seemed fine, nothing was leaking so I turned the car over again.  It turned over and ran fine but suddenly died one more time.  I gave it one more chance to turn over and it fired up and ran smooth.  The oil pressure light stayed off and the instructor gave me the option of continuing on, or just trying to limp back to the pits.  I decided to cross my fingers, hope it was a fluke and press on.  The rest of that session, the car ran great.  I watched a car slide off track in a corner right in front of me but that was just because he locked them up in the braking zone.  He was able to get back on track and continue on, and to this point, at least in Group 1A, the day had gone well.

My instructor from Session 3 was actually surprised by how composed I was on the track until I explained to him about my past track experience in Germany.  As the checkered flag flew, he said he had no problem signing me off to advance to Group 2i, so I would just need to find another instructor for session 4 of the day and get them to sign off so I could advance.  He also filled out the last part of the review which is a rating of how much of my car's capability I was using.  The first instructor had forgotten that section.  He rated me as a 7.5-8 out of 10 for how much of my car's performance I was making use of.  I then had to track down my instructor from the first two rounds and have him check off the same value from my first two runs.  I was now one step closer to being able to move onto Group 2i!

After a break, it was time for my final session of the day.  I found an instructor, and we were off.  My run was going amazingly well.  This is the session where I was actually being held up by the Audi S5 and Corvette at times and was turning in similar lap times to them with their advantage coming from their speed and acceleration on the straights.  With just minutes left in the session, the Mustang GT driver that I had spent time talking to through the day lost it between turns 4 and 5 after dropping two tires off the track.  I didn't witness the actual spin, but I came around the corner right after it happened and the red flag came out. He can be seen off in the grass near the end of my session 4 video (which finished uploading as I write this).  Fortunately, he was OK, but I felt really bad for him.  The track was red flagged, and since I had to stop immediately rather than have a cool-down lap, smoke was coming up from my front brakes and over the hood of the car.  Once the red flag was lifted in favor of the black flag, we pulled the rest of the way around the track and into the pits to end the day.   My instructor for the fourth round also gave me 5's across the board and signed me off for group 2i!

I was ready to roll out and call it a day, but none of the scheduled drivers for the skid pad had shown interest in going down, so I jumped at the chance for another trip down to the skid pad.  This time, I was the only student in the car so I got to take advantage of the full 20 minutes, and the instructor let us have some fun.  After that, I turned in my card and called it a day.  I can't wait to go again (although I first need to get my issue from Saturday sorted out first, but a blog post about that will wait till another time.)

H2O International

This was the third year I have gone to H2Oi and the first year I registered the car in the show. This is also the third different venue I have seen H2Oi at and was my FOURTH show this year. (Waterfest, Vagfair and Dubs on the Boards being the other three)

Dubs on the Boards had its problems this year with people not knowing how to park, but it didn't turn into as much of a cluster fuck as H2Oi did due to shear magnitude.

This year H2Oi was at Fort Walley outside ocean city. The BABBQ on Saturday seemed to run well, but when Sunday rolled around things got bad. The first show arrivals were given plenty of room but then later arrivals ended up with nowhere to park and they were sent to spectator parking. At least this year didn't have a field become unusable because of rain.

The organizers have solicited feedback on how to run the show better but since this will be kind of lengthy I will post it here and send them the link.

Idea 1: measure out and mark the show parking area. Chalk, paint, whatever. Mark it so cars face opposite directions with a smaller gap between trunks and a row to drive in front. This would allow for better use of whatever space there is. This goes along with idea #2.

Idea 2: park classes together. Since the parking is now marked you can direct different classes to different rows. 

Idea 3: option of off site parking for spectators. This one is less likely to be implemented/have an affect unless the show is somewhere in OC proper.

Idea 4: Allow show cars a window of 1 hour before any spectator cars are allowed in.

That said, I don't envy them. They have a tough task. I didn't have any issues w/ this years show but I wasn't out getting stupid drunk Saturday night so was in place in the show car area just before 9am.
Maybe non of my ideas can work for the venue but I thought I would share my thoughts.

"Drop it like it's" a Volkswagen

At H2Oi, I purchased a JOM coilover kit from New German Performance. On Friday, Chrissy took it up to their shop in Aberdeen, MD to have the coilovers installed. So, now the Rabbit is riding low. I am not too happy about the noise of the suspension right now, but I emailed NGP about that to check if it is normal. I do remember even the stock suspension on that car making noise, just a different one. I LOVE the new stance of the car, and on the way home on Friday, a kid shouted out "Hey man, nice car" as I drove by. First time that has happened in the Rabbit ;)

You can see more pics on my Flickr account but I wanted to post one here on the blog.

Car Stuff

The Rabbit (aka Klopfer) is quickly approaching its 100,000 mile service. Need to call Dick's Autohaus to schedule an appointment to have it done there (why pay for the stealership to do the work?) Since I have the parts, will probably go ahead and replace all four rotors and sets of pads at once, if I can get the damn bolts off this time. I also have OEM front fogs lights on order from ECS Tuning to finally install even though I have had the appropriate switch on the car for over a year (and a year fog with the current tail lights).  The plasti-dip on the front badge came off when I washed the car last week, so I am going to use some actual paint this time when I black it out.  I will also (when I have time) priming and painting the rims black with wheel paint since the finish on the rims is looking pretty bad and there is some curb rash on them.

The Jetta SportWagen is almost out of it's bumper-to-bumper warranty range, nearing 36,000 miles since November 1st.  This weekend I installed my birthday present from Chrissy, OEM front fog lights ordered from OEMPlus.  They look awesome, unfortunately, I thought I had the appropriate CECM to plug them directly into to the controller and have them work.  The rule of thumb used to be, if you had the multi-function display in your dashboard, you had the high-line CECM which is compatible with front fogs.  Apparently, that is no longer the case, and my car has the low-line CECM, so doesn't have the proper pins for front fog lights.  Because of this, I then had to re-work the wiring some and use a relay to power the fog lights.  I am not 100% satisfied with the wiring right now, but it is safe, and will suffice until I get around to reworking it a bit.  This is why we ordered the rabbit fog lights from ECS rather than OEMPlus.  The OEMPlus kit is designed to plug directly in like they do in the factory.  We know the Rabbit has the low-line CECM, and the ECS kit uses a relay in its wiring harness already, so I won't run into the same problems.

I have also now ordered the dash cubby for the JSW like the European cars have, and the driver's side taillight with the rear fog in it, to further convert the car to euro-spec.  I almost never have to use the rear fog over here, but occasionally it is nice to have on 213 in the mornings or the Bay Bridge.  Also, it works better for getting tailgaters off your ass then tapping the breaks.  Just flip that on for a second, and it makes them think you are tapping your brakes, but doesn't have the risk of collision of tapping the brakes.

This coming weekend we are going to Dubs on the Boards in Wildwood, New Jersey, but won't be showing off the car, just going to check out all the other cars.  We will also be going to H20i in a couple of weeks down near Ocean City, MD.

Lastly, I still need to take some good photos of the JSW for the garage portion of my website, but it won't be happening today.  Overcast, rainy, and the car still needs a bath too.  Maybe Saturday if it is nice, since I will want to give the car a bath before driving to Wildwood.

Scirocco, how I want thee

Damn you, damn you VWOA. Damn you for not brining the new Scirocco to the US. It is one hot little hatch back. But nooo.....you are worried about how it will cut in to GTI sales. Well, guess what. There are people who would buy the Scirocco that wouldn't buy a GTI, and there are some visa-versa. How about this, you could limit GTI's to the 4 door if you really want to differentiate them. But bring the damn Scirocco here! Ugh....this is what I get for browsing through old photos.

Track Days

Ahh, days at the track. I was flipping through old photos in Picasa and came across this gem. This is Ben's 325ix, our Jetta and our 325i at hockenheimring after spending some time out on the track. Chrissy was cruising around int he 325i and I hit the track in the Jetta. I wish I could go to a race track here in the states as cheap as I could in Germany. That was insane! Here, it is insane how much it costs. Ohwell, just thought I would comment on that one. Oh, I also need to post up about the cluster fuck that was my domain name changes. Let's just say, google apps + custom DNS name + blogger with that domain name = chaos. Oh well, things are smoothed out enough with some behind the scenes magic using ZoneEdit.

Carsrst off, they

First off, here are the new parts in Kl0pfer (The Rabbit). The Dash cubby and the OEM Six-Disc changer.




They ordered the tool for the Jetta and it should be there tomorrow. Hopefully I will get the Jetta tomorrow or Monday...but time will tell.