Roebling drivers school, Who's going

[Knestis]

Glad you made it down. Being in Group 2, I had a chance to watch your guys out there and it looked pretty, um...busy on occasion.

K

[emwavey]

Knestis wrote: "...it looked pretty, um...busy"

One situation I remember pretty vividly...
I was closing the gap on a 944, when a Spec Miata closed his gap on me more quickly. I let him pass and figured that I'd try and keep up and see if I could pass the 944 along with him. Just after letting him pass I noticed him dart off to the outside of Turn 5 approaching Turn 6.
Sure enough yellow flags were a-waving and two cars were perpendicular to each other. Surprising how calm I can be... I just let off and went to the inside of the "incident". It was one of the only times I wasn't really paying attention to the flagging stations. Newbie mistake, and lesson learned.

Later I talked to my crew chief, cool I had a crew chief, and he said that in listening to the scanner the way it was called in, the workers said something like 90% blockage on the course.

Sorry for rambling... I had such a great time at the school! I'd love to hear other folk's stories about the school. Got any?

-dave
8)

[timelapseracing]

I did make it down, but was the unfortunate soul who broke between the tech shed and the paddock. A problem with the machining on the head, the end of the cam broke, releasing the timing sprocket from its function... Ewwww. :/

But I worked F&C on Friday before the long drive back to MD. Hopefully on track for D.S. at Summit Point next month. Thank you to any of you who helped push my car back onto my trailer Friday. See you at the track -

Jason.
---------
ITA Nissan 240sx #21

[JeffYoung]

I went to the Roebling double last year, and completed it successfully -- in a British car no less.

Did want to add to a couple of the points above. I was AMAZED at the amount of carnage that weekend. One Miata into a tree at the end of 1. One Miata rollover near 3-4. On Escort rollover. One two-Viper melee (had to see it to believe it). One Viper-RX7-Capri (I think) melee. One GT3 car end over end down the dirt to the left of the front stretch. One black CRX that was fast, but spun every couple of laps.

Real race weekends are tame compared to that
zoo. Why is that?

[Knestis]

I suspect that it would have been woolier if it hadn't been wet - the rain caught a lot of people off guard and made them hesitant.

I was frankly pretty surprised at the number of people in the school who had significant track experience, compared to when I did this almost 20 years ago. As a group, they got up to speed more quickly and were more aggressive than any school that I've attended - or taught at for that matter.

There is a great in-car segment of a banzai attempt in 1 by a 944 against another ITS car over at honda-tech.com it was a classic no-room, door-banger that I have a hard time imagining in a regional, let alone a school "race." If that student had been my student, he'd be driving to another school next month.

K

[emwavey]

I made an attempt to discribe my experience with photos and stuff... some may call it an article.

There's also a link to some photos that my wife took.

Enjoy...

http://www.nerdsracing.com

[JeffYoung]

Kirk, you had a similar observation as I did. Before I went, I was told by people who had done the school at Roebling just a few years before that most there would never have been on track before. With my several years of HPDEs, I thought I would be far more experienced than most.

Wrong. You had guys with Solo 1, HPDE, all kinds of experience there. My run group was fast -- I don't recall it being that much different from a standard regional weekend to be honest with you, except for the constant spinning and wrecking.

Good point though. Perhaps too many people go in with my attitude -- all my HPDE experience will make me top dog. That ended the first time a car with 50 less hp dive bombed me into 3, adn then just pulled off into the distance. At that point, I decided I just needed to ride at a reasonable pace and get through it.

[88YB1]

My little Pontiac and I made it through the weekend with nothing worse than a brused ego.
I held to my original plan. Start at the back, don't push the car to the limit (meaning don't break anything) and come home with my novice ticket signed off. I accomplished my goals, but boy did I learn a lot between Thursday and Sunday. The school was fantastic. Hope to see some of you at raod Atlanta this summer.

Chuck
ITA Pantiac Fiero #34