Racing talk

[Robochan]

Post up racecar things. No guns, politics, show cars or racism.

 

I joined the site thinking I would be the next pro drifter when I was 16. I have never attended a drift event but I got started with autoX and HPDE. I spent more time driving than documenting but here is what I have.

 

I started in my 1990 mazda miata. I love drving it at every autoX and at midohio it was fantastic. Only problem I had was piss poor drivers in power cars being able to fuck with me. (Still from an onboard of a bird flying at a challenger)

http://imgur.com/gDSKn9c.jpeg

 

I recently purchased a modified 2002 Z06. I have so far taken it to 2 autoX events and was able to take it to a BMW club HPDE and loved it. Had trouble down shifting smoothly but that's more of a growing pain with the car. Best part is it fixed the miatas problem. Doing 140+ means no real street car with a lesser driver can hold me up. Downside is that it eats rotors and pads like jones goes through cars.

 

http://i.imgur.com/hbVBJpq.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/81ihOVq.jpg

 

My goals for next year is to get a compitition license so I can try to convince people to let me drive their cars and also to start instructing with auto interest.

[Green Bastard]

I know I am going to sound like a noob, but what does HPDE stand for? I have seen it used a few times, just never decided to ask.

[Robochan]

I know I am going to sound like a noob, but what does HPDE stand for? I have seen it used a few times, just never decided to ask.

 

No this is the exact reason I started this thread. It stands for High Performance Driver Education. It is an event that allows you to learn to become a safe driver and operate your car at full speed around a course. They have classroom instructions as well as instructors who ride with you to insure saftey and education is priority 1. It should be used as the first stepping stone to either open lapping days or wheel to wheel compitition racing.

[Aaron]

About 3 years ago, I started out auto crossing. I had just purchased my 2012 VW Golf R, threw some light mods on it and bought some Sumitomo HTRZ3 dedicated summers. I managed to beat Jones in his TTRS once, so I was happy with that. :gabe:

 

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r247/A4SHO/September7058_zpsf3eda1d6.jpg

 

Later that year, I did my first and only HPDE at Mid Ohio, with quite a few CR members. It was a blast, but it toasted my tires.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r247/A4SHO/tires_zps7b96d406.jpg

 

The next spring, I bought my first set of 200TW tires, BFG Rivals, and did a full season of autocross. I did pretty well, managed to come in second in my class at Buckeye Miata Club for the season, and even managed to beat Jones in his GTR, once. I was happy.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r247/A4SHO/GetImage13_zps05aae527.jpg

 

I also managed to get 2 1/4 records for stock tune MK6 Golf Rs, both ET and trap speed. This shows the ET, another had a best MPH of 100.XX.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r247/A4SHO/AJB_8019_zpsd94c45eb.jpg

 

This year I went through a bit of a car identity crisis, sold the red R, for a 99 FRC that lasted 6 weeks roughly, then back into a VW Golf R. This time, I kept the mods to a down pipe and slicks. The grip was unreal, and with struggling competition, I managed to get my first FTD.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r247/A4SHO/20150529_203238_zpsb2hseu6i.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r247/A4SHO/20150531_155145_zpsxuh2rkrw.jpg

 

I got tired of understeer, and the familiar VWs I've had for 8 years, and finally found the car for me. It's a big bitch, but the power is great, rwd is awesome, and it gives me a lot to learn.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r247/A4SHO/Mustang%20BMC%203_zpsg0siukjf.jpghttp://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r247/A4SHO/Mustang%20BMC%202_zpsryekc6q4.jpg

 

My goal is to do the factory camber mod, and get some 18s with the hot autocross tire and try to compete at a national level in SCCA next year.

 

Also, with Miller's help, and a few core autocross guys from CR, we will be running the United Ford Owners autocross season next year.

[pontiacfreak142]

unlike the other 2 so far, i like just going in a strait line lol.

 

bought my firebird 10 years ago with no intentions of racing it, got a call from a family friend who raced at trails and wanted to see what my car would run. after that i was addicted. first it started with bolt ons and gear, then pulled the heads and had them cleaned with addition of the cam and torque converter. next thing i knew i was bracket racing weekly and running mid 13's with a v6 f body.

 

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj294/pontiacfreak142/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_4917-S_zpsjfyawuyl.jpeg

 

knowing that that car wouldnt be any fun on the street once i finally got the 383 swapped in, i picked up my GTO. since the firebrid is down this year while i work on the swap, ive been playing with the gto at the track and managed to get the pig down to a 13.4 in stock trim on drag radials. i do plan on eventually autox' ing the car at some point. ive also started picking a few goodies for the goat as well lol

 

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj294/pontiacfreak142/GTO%20clean_zpstn6suwje.jpg

 

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj294/pontiacfreak142/Mobile%20Uploads/20150924_203910_zpsjwl5fsfx.jpg

 

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj294/pontiacfreak142/Mobile%20Uploads/12071369_1184502661576938_800972901_n_zpsuodwetau.jpg

[2highpsi]

My racing addiction started in like 1999 when I went to a track for the first time. Back then I was driving a 1985 Camaro Z28 (which I thought was the baddest ass car in the whole school parking lot )

 

This is a pic from those days:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii37/jordancampbell2008/rollinem_zpsb2610c2d.jpg

 

My love of cars has never faded. My tastes may have evolved, but I always have and always will have a respect for almost every kind of car and racing.

 

After a while I found myself being pulled toward turbo AWD cars (thanks fast and furious) and owned some of these:

 

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii37/jordancampbell2008/P1000215.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii37/jordancampbell2008/blueevo.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii37/jordancampbell2008/29D82ED9-4FE8-453C-A959-4CEC6BCA0CB2-1872-00000202F7880211_zps6b57af4b.jpg

 

The fastest of that group was the silver Evo, which I was able to get down to an 11.1 @ 130

 

 

After that I thought I needed something that looked less "boy racer" so I went back to my domestic RWD roots and built a terminator:

 

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii37/jordancampbell2008/18ec7b5a.jpg

 

That car was super fun... but I couldn't get it to ET worth a crap. It was a tire smoking machine. lol

 

 

After that I decided I wanted to get a "jack of all trades" Something I could drag race, road race, drive across country or anything.

 

That led me to my first GTR. With just bolt ons, I got the car to run a 10.1@137 and also did well at some auto-x events:

 

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii37/jordancampbell2008/2014-08-buschur-010_zpsnkh405in.jpg

 

Earlier this year however, I stumbled across a nice GTR that was extremely cheap due to having a blown motor. I decided to sell my black one, pick up the blue one, and do a real build.

 

So far we have upgraded the motor and trans, and got the car down a 9.90@138

This winter the car will be getting a full turbo kit, which on it's highest setting should lay down 8.80s @ 160. I also intend on having a lower HP setting that I can road race the car with.

 

Here she is so far:

 

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii37/jordancampbell2008/7B170B7D-FB46-4AD9-BAEA-3370FB41A985_zpsnlcrnlgt.jpg

[Cordell]

I got my first ATV when I was 4 years old, got my first kart when I was 8. Won 2 local championships when I was 13-14. I struggle with the fact that the best racing I did was 20 years ago.

 

I got back into ATVs when I was 19, and after getting hurt I moved on. My back is just too torn up to mess around with that stuff anymore. I bought my Camaro when I was 23 (actually my wife bought it for me), I did some drag racing stuff, and had lots of fun on the street.

 

The recent years of trying to stick to legal activities I tried Miatas, they make a good autocross car but notmuch else so I bought the Vette. I ddon't know what I want to do now. I still want to street race but I also want to stay married. Autocross is okay, but I've lost a lot of desire to go do that. Working on cars everyday is taking it's toll. I have always and will always love cars, speed, and racing, I just think right now I'm looking for the next big thing for me.

[SRTurbo04]

Grew up in southern California, with dirt bikes and quads in the sand dunes. Moved to ohio and got out of dirt toys and into cars.

 

in 07 Bought a srt4 and decided to use this car for anything i could get it into. Obviously i drag raced it a time or two, or three, or over 1,000 passes at the track :fuckyeah:

 

http://www.columbusracing.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=465&pictureid=3564

 

 

OOOO LOOK CONES!!!! Even autoxed it over the years

 

http://www.columbusracing.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=67&pictureid=400

 

Also in there i had more dirtbikes, boats, jet skis also did some drag racing with a bike (500+ passes fml)

 

http://www.columbusracing.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=68&pictureid=6986

 

Then i gor married, had a kid, and bought a house. Sold most the toys for now but will get back into a fun toy shortly. Untill then i will rock the Gramps car. AMERICA!!!

 

http://www.columbusracing.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=954&pictureid=8300

[AudiOn19s]

Like many here I've been a gear head since Day 1. I started working carrying golf bags and doing whatever I could to stash away money at the age of 13 so that I could have a cool car for myself as my first car.

 

At the age of 15 I bought a 4 cylinder S-10 with a great body and a blown engine and did a v8 swap. It was a fairly simple configuration. Short block was actually built by NAPA but was a 4 bolt block, 9.0 compression with Hyperutectic pistons, blah blah blah. Had a couple of shops help me with little things like positioning the engine, welding in the engine mounts, and fabricating the transmission cross member that were a little above my head at the time. Went on to add a mild stall, good set of aluminum heads, intake, carb...oh and yeah the NOS system to it. All pretty much from reading hot rod and car craft magazine articles and working on the thing in my spare time in my driveway. Thing ran high 11's regularly on the setup it roamed the streets with. Not bad for a daily driven car in the late 90's. Wish I had a decent digital picture of it, loved that thing.

 

I also started to Auto-x in various Porsche 944's with my father at the age of 16. Found this to be fun as an add on to the stuff I was doing "At the dragstrip" (on the street) with my truck. The nicest one was fully setup with coilovers / bars / etc and was a hoot to drive. I spun this car into a ditch on the first date with my now wife. Looked similar to this except it was an NA car with turbo look

http://www.bakody.com/Rennlist/CharlizeEbay10.jpg

 

When I graduated from college I bought myself a brand new '01 GSXR 1000 and immediately started setting it up for track days. Brake upgrades, shock and fork upgrades. Did a couple seasons of track days on bikes as I could (not nearly enough) until I made a mistake and went down. Injured my shoulder pretty badly. 6 months of recovery and not being able to ride for nearly 9 months I sold this to pursue track days on 4 wheels. In many ways I regret not going further on bikes, but in my fat / old state I wouldn't be worth a damn anyhow. Pictures of my bike:

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture015-1.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/rear1.jpg

 

So then I focused on HPDE / track days on 4 wheels moving forward. Tracked the M3, 996 Aero and finally the GT3. I started as a driving instructor in these events in limited exposure in 2010 and then in 2012 went through PCA's national program and became nationally certified as an instructor for them.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/CRRollingPictures095copy.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture127.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/DSC_0353.jpg

 

While I have always had the desire to race, and feel I'm talented enough to give it a go on a pretty decent level, I don't have the resources to do so, particularly time. I'm never going to be paid to race a car...I'm way past that prime, and as much as the desire is there I've found the sweet spot where I spend alot of time at the track, and more importantly alot of time ON the track for relatively little money and commitment. I get way more seat time than most racers could ever get, and while it's not for a trophy seat time is seat time. I enjoy instructing and helping others more than I could have imagined. It also drives my never ending desire to acquire knowledge on all things performance driving related. It's actually allowed me to break through a couple of driving plateau's of my own and become a better / faster driver in the end.

 

I set a personal best lap time this year at Mid Ohio in the GT3 just to prove I'm not getting old and slow just yet. I dipped into the 1:35's on the club course and had the thing not broken this last outing that would have translated into a very low 1:32 or high 1:31 on the pro configuration. Not too shabby for a 380hp / 3000lb car.

 

I can't see giving it up, I'm hooked for life. I'm going to be that old man still out there lapping when I'm 70 and hopefully not in everyone's way...cause I'm still going to be enjoying the hell out of it.