Autobahn Country Club

[shwah]

Never been to the facility, but hoping for a good IT turnout. I took a look at the track maps, and sure wish we could find a way to run the South or combined track someday.

Post up if you plan to be there.

I will be in a white ITB Golf, hopefully #20.

[michael baumet]

I shall see you there!!!!


Michael

[K_speed]

This will be our first time there too. From the look of things it should be a fun weekend. Hope to see a good turnout!

See you all there,
the amazingly optimistic CRX

[ITA_CRX]

I plan on going.

Can we camp at this track?

[shwah]

This will be our first time there too. From the look of things it should be a fun weekend. Hope to see a good turnout!

See you all there,
the amazingly optimistic CRX
[/b]

Should be fun. Hope it is not too crazy hot like it has been.

[ITA_CRX]

How many AS, ITE2, T1 and T2 cars normally show up?

I'm not exactly thrilled about running with them. The last time I did an AS hit me.

[shwah]

I spoke to the registrar for this event today. The numbers are pretty low for the event as a whole, but our group has the most entries. Hopefully we will see some more activity as the weekend approaches.

He told me that we are running the South Course, which is counter to the information that I have read showing the North Course. Don't know if this makes a difference on brakes or setup for anyone, but figured you would want to know.

See you folks there.

I plan on going.

Can we camp at this track?
[/b]

Yes. There are no hookups, and not much lighting at night. The region has been told there would be no showers available, but they were told the same thing last year and they were available...

[K_speed]

Can anyone tell me if we are running the North course or the South course for this race? The entry form that i got in the mail showed a picture of the North circuit but the one online shows the south!

thanks

[shwah]

When I spoke to the registrar he told me we were running the South course.

There are several repaved corners on the course according to a buddy who was there with NASA last weekend.

[shwah]

Well, we are certainly guaranteed some HOT racing this weekend.

Looking forward to seeing folks at the track tomorrow. IT is in group 1, which is probably the best possible considering the heat forcast for Saturday and Sunday.

Beware construction at the South end of 355 and at the interchange between 55 and 80. Allow extra time.

[ITA_CRX]

Ugh, what a long drive.

Because of concstruction the 5 hour drive from Detroit to 8.

It was hot on Saturday. I couldn't believe it. I'm not dissapointed they shortened the races.

The SCCA party was nice. I was surprised that almost no drivers went.

Sunday was better. The cloud cover moved in and cooled it off a little.

I had a good time especially since I won both days!

[R2 Racing]

Congrats, Jaime! What did you think of the track and the facilities? I have yet to be there so I'm just wondering.

[shwah]

It sure was hot! I missed the party because my outlaws live about a 35min drive South, so we headed there to escape the heat (well I actually spent the afternoon stealing parts from my daily driver to make repairs - see next paragraph, but the rest of my party moved to air conditioned locales).

Saturday was shaping up well. However, I did go off at the exit of 10 and drive at racing speed through a humongous mud puddle/pit. Unfortunately after the puddle ripped my fuel pump assembly from it's mounts it only stayed attached (via the hoses) for 4.5 more laps, rendering me powerless with my first lead ever.

Sunday was the most fun I have ever had in a car. Lots of close, tough, fair racing in ITB. Michael and I went side by side through the last 3 turns and I edged him by about a bumper for my first win . Heck the start alone was a blast. I guess you can't quite go 3 wide into turn 1, but it sure did make for some exciting racing .

In other good news, we also announced to our family and friends this weekend that we are expecting our second child in March. Needless to say I am walking on clouds this week.

Finally - I would like to modify my comment in the Firecracker thread about the 1st lap close call many of us had on Sunday. I took a look at Konrad's in car footage, and saw that he was clearly helped 4 wheels off into the inside of turn one. Regardless everyone did a great job of avoiding a near incident.

[michael baumet]

Wow, what a great race!!!! Chris pulled off a spectacular win which Im sure was as much fun to watch as it was to drive. I hated to loose but what a well deserved victory for Chris. Oh how I wish I had set up my vidio camera in the car before the race.

Initially I didnt care for the track much, I found it difficult and confusing at first but by the end of the weekend I was loving it and was wishing I had more time to tweek the best way to drive it. I hope next year we get to run the same track.

Congrats to Chris on the little one on the way and on a great ITB win.

Condolences to Chris with the ITS BMW for the unfortunate mishap during the Sunday morning session, I hope he can get it back on track without too much trouble or expense.

Michael

[ITA_CRX]

Congrats, Jaime! What did you think of the track and the facilities? I have yet to be there so I'm just wondering.
[/b]

You spelled my name wrong again. <_< Perhaps you should just use my last name from now on.

The portion of the facilities that is complete is very impressive. Its new and very nice. It has a country club feel to it. You quickly realize that you are dealing with rich people. And not just because of all the $100k+ cars driving through the paddock. The air conditioned 7+ car two story garage with a full bathroom, bar upstairs with two plasma screen TV&#39;s was also nice. That is where the SCCA party was (the food was exceptional, congrats to the Chicago region!). I heard the garage in the club house is even more impressive.

They are still building the south tower (I think it just needs siding and the A/C installed, they had a temporary unit I think). The tech area is loose stone and I&#39;m stunned it wasn&#39;t paved (adding a few pounds of stones to your tires is nice to do before weigh in though). The false grid wasn&#39;t exactly a grid. Its technically the parking lot for the Club House. So that was kind of odd, but could just be a make shift area until the full course is used.

As far as the track. http://www.autobahncountryclub.net/southmap.pdf It reminds me too much of Gingerman (the track was designed by the same guy). Accelerate, hard brake, turn, repeat. The 1-2-3 complex was fun until I realized after I broke for 1 I could just floor it through 3. 4 and 5 require slight breaking. For Turn 6 I&#39;d brake, down shift to 3 (I&#39;d be at like 6k in 3rd), then its flat through 7. (I think there is more time in 6 but I never really played with this turn to figure it out). 8 is a sharp right that requires a lot of breaking followed by a chicance right and left. Then the back straight that leads to a hard braking zone with a chicane right and left. Then is the last two turns to go onto the front straight. I think they might be flat in 4th (I never had the cohanes to try it, neither did Colin the previous week at the NASA race). The two corners are all about the entrance to the first. If you get that right there is enough track to put the car anywhere for the second corner. Then the front straight, hard braking and into 1. You&#39;ll eat a set of brake pads if you run a weekend there.

I don&#39;t know what it is, but the track seemed a lot faster than it was. I was running the the 1:43s +/- but somehow it felt like it should have been in the 20s. The laps felt quick and I&#39;m not sure why. It seemed like the track transitioned smoothly from one turn to the next.

It&#39;d be interesting to see the entire course, but I don&#39;t think I&#39;d venture back there because of the drive. Construction and 1 idiot added several hours to the drive (8 hours there, 7.5 hours back I think it should be closer to 5.5). So I probably won&#39;t go back.

Basically if you like Gingerman you&#39;ll like this track, if not, you won&#39;t.

One last complaint, the track management can kiss my ---. I paid $30 to camp with no guarantee of showers. Then those ------- decided to lock the bathrooms Saturday night. They locked the bathrooms sometime between 11 pm and 4 am. They didn&#39;t do that Friday night, they only did it Saturday night which makes it even stupider.

Anyone know what the ITA track record is? In more moderate temperatures I think the ITA cars should be running in the high 1:39s.

[shwah]

This was the first SCCA event at the South Track. Whatever the fast time of the weekend was is the track record.

I held the ITB track record for 24 hours :P

[ITA_CRX]

Wow, I hold a track record.