Buttonwillow HPDE re-cap 11/16/03

[Carlos Gutierrez]

For those who have never been to a road course before, to drive or just
to catch some rides, you don't know what you're missing!  Whatever the
vehicle, stock or modded, I know you'll have a blast if you do drive.
Those that drove for the first time on a track at the SE-R/SERCA Nat'l
Convention in Birmingham, AL a few weeks ago can attest to this!  We had
copious amounts of fun just beating on our rental Grand Am!

It sure is nice to have a cushy daily driver ('96 G20) *&* a track slut
though, so after that track day & not having driven anyone else's car I
felt like I had to get my fix, in my own car.

So last Sunday I was lucky enough to attend the Nat'l. Auto Sport
Association's (NASA) last High Performance Driving Education (HPDE)
event of the season at Buttonwillow, & ran for the 1st time in group #3
(int./adv) config. #13 CCW.  NASA offers an excellent HPDE program,
which I have taken advantage of on several occasions, all at
Buttonwillow Raceway (~2.25 mi.).  I am looking forward to running Big
Willow at WSIR next year, which is considered a more dangerous track,
once I get all my safety equipment installed.  I don't plan on joining
the SE-R Cup, but I do want to feel like I can push the car more, which
should be nice & stiff after installing the cage.  Next step in the
lightening department over the next few weeks is removing the sound
deadening (black tar on the floor) w/ the dry ice trick!

I am also lucky enough to live only 1:45 min's away from the track, so I
made it there by 7:15 AM to find all the se-r heads there waiting.  Tom
& Rob/Phil had their garage set-up, & the Jim/Andris transporter was a
sight to behold.  Nice score guys!  I got set-up & BS'd w/ Boonie &
Shannon for a bit, then headed over to the group #3 drivers mtg. & joked
to Boonie that I was gonna shave off quite a bit of time from my (Davin
Hashiba) ;^p smokin' 2:40's a couple years ago at the ClubSi shootout.
The weather for Sunday cleared up but I was actually hoping to be able
to run a bit in the wet stuff for the first time.

We had only about 10-12 cars in the group & the first session out there
in over a year was like getting on a bike again.  Heck there were some
fast modded cars too, Viper, C5, Boxster, WRX, Spec 7 racer, Factory 5
repli-Cobra & some Hondas/Acuras.

Oh yeah, my dedicated track slut is a B13 ('91 Sentra SE-R) w/ the ABS
disabled, NuTech modded ST front bar, NuTech rear bar adj. at mid
setting, 2 rear JW Random Thoughts Racing STBs, Hypercoil Gen 2's w/ AGX
at 3/6, B14 15" wheels on 205/50/15 Azenis w/ about 30-40% left & the
car was very loose but then it dawned on me that I was in such a hurry I
didn't check & set my tire pressures!! D'oh!!  Sure is funny how this
one detail is *so* important in car control, well, that & the fact that
the track was cold ~45 F.  So it made for some real tail happy
experiences, & once after doin' ~100 down the straight I got sideways
around turn 1 & caught it pretty smoothly, which prompted a big
thumbs-up from that CW. :)

I didn't bother coming in b/c the sessions were only about 20 min's at
best so I decided to take it easy & just play w/ the line a bit & keep
all 4 on-track.  There were a couple cars that went off though, but not
as bad as you'd expect w/ the track the way it was, & I learned
something new at our post session down load meeting.  If a student/HPDE
driver puts all 4 off at any point, you lose your passenger privileges
for the day (instructors of course are exempt).

I checked the pressures w/ Tom Paule's digital gauge & holy crap were
they all fubar'd!!  Not to mention I somehow had developed an undetected
slow leak in the LR, which was at ~20 PSI! =8^0  I leveled them all out
to 35 cold per Tom's suggestion & boy what a huge difference that made;
along w/ fellow B13 driver Colleen Egan's suggestion to soften the rear
AGXs down a notch to 5.

That 2nd session I followed our group instructor, David in the white
Integra GSR, & it really helped in a few spots I was really having
trouble with.  I felt like I picked up speed in many places I was being
tentative in, & definitely shaved a couple more seconds off my times
just by following him.  That coupled w/ the optimum tire pressure & a
softer tail, the car was now so nice & neutral, I came back in grinning
ear to ear after dicing it up w/ Colleen & her UCSB pal Joel in his E30
M3.  We were all pretty even in that session w/ my HP edge in the
straights on her, & his on me.  But in the turns it was 1, 2, 3 & oh
what fun!  I followed Colleen who had a transponder to check her lap
times & she was running ~2:27-8's.  So I was glad to see that I was in
that neighborhood, & knocked a whopping 15 seconds off in 2 yrs!!
Woo-hoo!   Then of course Rob Cadle tells me they are running like 20
seconds faster in the Cup race, yikes!

The 3rd, & my final session since I had to get goin', we also a great
time again, & I seemed to be able to take the crest at Magic Mtn.
(off-camber left over a knoll) at around 60, which was plenty fast for
me thanks, & easily ~105 down the front straight.

The whole day just being able to see old friends, meet new folks & just
be bale to hang out w/ good folks is always a cool gig.  I finally met
Cynthia, Phil Usher's great cooking/baking better half, & their 7 y.o.
pony, err, Great Dane "Gregor" :)  Sure is a shame these sedate,
beautiful animals don't have a long lifespan.  Great time chatting w/
her about them, & travel abroad.

Cheers to all who were there & had as much fun as I did, though I didn't
take as many pics as I'd liked to, especially of the racing albeit only
Rob & Tom were in it.  Here are all 5 (Buttonwillow 11-16 folder):

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/sercag2000

You can see the Cup egg of Jim Howard that Andris was driving when an
errant 911 rolled back out into his way & contact was made.  Luckily
Andris & the Porsche driver were OK, but general consensus placed the
blame on the other guy for not making sure it was clear before letting
off the brakes.

My favorite pic is the new low-tech-Thai-ming device on that NX steering
wheel!:)  "Happy Motoring"!

Carlos Gutierrez
SERCA SW R.E.
#29 track slut B13