I just wanted to give you guys a review of vegasgolf98's track event that I attended for the last few days in Pahrump, NV at the Spring Mountain Motorsports Park. Some of you Rennlist guys may have read the threads over there, but I thought I'd chime in.

I was very nervous about going to this event due to my hectic work schedule but I must say that I am glad I took 3 days off to attend this thing. I left LA at 10:30pm on Tuesday night and arrived at the Venetian 3 hours later without breaking any laws.

Spring Mountain is a 2.2 mile road course owned by the guy who owns Radical West. As such it is home to the Corvette driving school as well as the Radical "arrive and drive" program. It is a phemonal and challenging course where the car is constantly in transition. The first day we shared to some track time with the Spring Mountain Corvette school but we still got more than our fair share of track time. The second day we had the track all to ourselves with more track time than you can imagine.

Here are some of the highlights of the event:

-- Team support from Kent Moore and Premier Sportscar Service. Kent used to be the lead tech for the Petersen/White Lightning Racing team, winner of the 2001 24H Daytona and 2003/2004 24H Le Mans. Kent also employs the current race techs from White Lightning, who recently won the 12H Sebring to work on his customer's cars between races. The knowledge base of these guys will blow you away, period. These guys are the best of the best, if they can work on GT3-RSRs to win Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona, they are good enough for my GT2 and GT3!

-- Mike Petersen, the owner of Petersen Motorsports, brought his Turbo S and Fayence Yellow Carrera GT. He flogged that car hard around the track, sliding the car through tight corners and ripping hard down the straights. It was a real treat to wave that car by and follow through 2 or 3 corners until he disappeared. Between his driving and the car, it was unreal. When we watched the CGT from Pit Lane, it was mind-boggling how quickly he would catch cars in front of him. CGT makes every other car look like a slug, except for the 996 Cup car that was there.

--The CGT apparently hit a 1:46 there, the Cup car hit a 1:44 with Petersen behind the wheel. 4Kurves (Kevin) hit a 1:48 with his BONE STOCK GT3 with Pilot Sport Cups. Amazing!

--Fred (thusly) brought both his GT2 and GT3 to the track. Turns out in the hands of Craig Stanton, GT2 is quite a bit faster, but more difficult to drive well. GT2 is a great training tool to be a proficient driver.

-- Moton Clubsport, when properly set up, makes the GT3 handle like you would not believe. I had the opportunity to chase Bob Reed of Lapping Days in Fred's car with Moton CS and the corner entry speed of the GT3 was quite a bit faster than a stock one, and the car cornered flat through every corner. I am a believer!

--Instruction from Craig Stanton (2nd in worldwide Porsche Cup points and numerous GrandAm and ALMS wins) helped me to shave at least a few seconds off my times. GT3's on Cup tires that were passing me in the first part of the day had a much harder time after just 2 laps learning from Craig and his ultra-smooth driving technique. The guy's lines flow like water and it was eye-opening observing him drive. My only regret is not having the chance to take the car out with David Murray, who is an instructor at PDE and a former Porsche factory werks driver. Maybe next time.

--Had dinner and drinks with Kent (Premier Sportscar Service) and techs from Peterson/White Lightning. One of the most stimulating conversations ever about racing and Porsche tuning. Good to know we are on the same page about a lot of issues. I guess I'm not crazy after all. What a wonderful group of guys. I can't wait to see them at the ALMS races.

Most of all, it was fun to see and catch up with my friends from this board: Kevin (4Kurves), Paul (Paul S), Fred (thusly), and of course our gracious host Philip (vegasgolf98). Thank you Philip for an awesome experience, I am looking forward to the next one. All in all, this was a first class event and a must-attend for any experienced Porsche driver/enthusiast. Kent will definitely be seeing my cars for track setup!!!

 

wow, i wondered where you had been. love the venetian (my fav in LV) and would have loved to have gone with you. was it a private event or something?

ps. can you imagine that CGT on cup equivalent tires?

 

great recap of the three day it was a fun read and informative, we should try to set up another event like this if you have the connections, I would be up to help organize.

 

Thanks for the terrific recap Tyson! I'm so glad you could take time out of your schedule to attend. Due to the success of this event, we will offer another one in the fall (depending on track and instructor availability - they have to match up and it ain't easy). If you have any interest, just PM me with your e-mail and I'll put you on the distribution list for the next event.

We are going to take some of Tyson's and others' suggestions to make this event even better.

Thanks to all who attending and supported the event.

Philip

 

Tyson,

thanks for letting us in on this. I find these track days more appealing by the day. However, i am afraid that this will move me into a gt car sans psm and lead to a whole other addiction .

 

T, thanks for the great write-up. Sounds like terrific fun! It's funny when Craig gets in your car, isn't it? He drove a car of mine last year w/me as passenger, and I just told him "this car didn't know it could DO that!" Great guy, phenomenal driver. Too bad sports car racers aren't appreciated here as they are overseas. He's one of the best, so's Murray. Hope to join you out there later this year.

 

Great write up Ty, thanks...

 

Tyson,

Great write up; fabulous event!

Some additional comments regarding the GT-2 and GT-3; Tyson, I am joining your camp and focusing on improving my skills in the 2.

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...03#post2055603

Thanks everyone who attended for making it a memorable event!

 

Hey Tyson - great write up!

And thanks for the "amazing" comment. I too was amazed and to be honest not entirely sure where I picked up that extra half second or so. Towards the end of the day I consistently ripped off a series of laps that were sub 1:50 getting into the low 1:49's but that 1:48.37 was a truely inspired lap.

What is incredible to me is that the pro drivers have that kind of speed in hand over and over in race conditions. And when they need to they pull an extra second or two out of their pocket. Now that is AMAZING! It is a real eye opener to ride with one of those guys behind the wheel.

It was great seeing you on-track again. I think you have made tremendous inprovement and you are starting to really hustle that GT-2 around at good speed. But, crikes, get some good tires - you're going way to fast for street tires!

-Kevin

 

Great write up Tyson, glad you had fun; soon you'll be knocking on Kevin's door.

What times were the pros, Craig Stanton and David Murray running?

 

David did a 148.5 in my car, but he said he was only driving 8/10ths as he did not want to thrash my car. So, Kevin's time was as good as David's!!

 

Yeah, but I'm sure they have a couple of seconds under their belts. Seems like a 1:46 is possible for those guys.