Building a $50K Track Tool to beat $500K Track Tools

My nsx is old and needs some polish "paint". Starting to work on the cosmetic stuff. Installing new stereo this week.
I think the only difference we share is I trailer my car to the track and use Hoosiers.
I think for the most part we have similar mechanical bits. My wife claims I have spent more than a 100k on that Beast.
At one time she referred to the NSX as the other Woman. :)

The car is faster than I am. I’m ok with that...
Go to the track on the weekend drive it to work on Monday... Got to love it. :)
 
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My nsx is old and needs some polish "paint". Starting to work on the cosmetic stuff. Installing new stereo this week.
I think the only difference we share is I trailer my car to the track and use Hoosiers.

What's your tow vehicle? I would like a car I can drive to work that can tow an NSX without being hideous or massive. Even the big subarus only tow 2800lb...
 
Yeah, the previous owner was a little too aggressive with his buffing wheel and burned the paint on my roof along with all the swirl marks. I sold my GMC Yukon several years ago so I no longer have the option to tow. But it is nice to have good friends with tow vehicles...

This is how mine crossed the Rockies and Sierra Nevada mountains.
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What's your tow vehicle? I would like a car I can drive to work that can tow an NSX without being hideous or massive. Even the big subarus only tow 2800lb...

I have a GMC 6500. I got tired of buying transmissions for the F350 so I got a real truck. :)
You can see it on my Just racing link... Irony is I have never raced. I did get third place in the NASA TTA in 2006.
http://www.justracing.com/homepage/nsxnut

I sign up as an instructor or to steward to the events I go to. If it is raining I have been know to show up with street tires without the truck and trailer.

Some day I'll meet up with Robert. It is just a matter of time.
I have paired back to only doing Track Masters events. http://trackmasters-racing.com/ This is a good group.
I am on the HOD instructor list and others... Maybe some day when I have more time I'll go to more?

Later,
Don
 
I am on the HOD instructor list and others... Maybe some day when I have more time I'll go to more?

Cool! I have been meaning to do an HOD day with my NSX. Would be awesome to learn from a fellow owner.
 
Don that's a sweet setup you got there... Both of you guys really. I'm jealous.
 
Chuckwalla Valley Raceway w/Speed Ventures 3/23/13

I checked out California's newest road course this weekend with the Speed Ventures folks. As usual, they put on a great event, on time with lots of track time and a very fast field. With 0 track time on this course, I really through myself to the wolves by registering in the red/expert group. My first session was a real humbler but by the end of the day, I was able find a bit of rhythm and held pace with the usual assortment of GT3's, ZO6's, Lotus, S2K's and some crazy M3 difters. The track is very technical and I was on a steep learning curve but the car ran great all day. I was on NT01's for the first time which felt good out there other than some excess rub up front (235/40/17) which shredded my liners.
There was one fellow Primer out there, (9doors) with his well prepped NA2 and his wife's equally well prepped S2K. Everyone was super nice, very hospitable and I was amazed to have several people thank me for bringing my car out to play with them! I'll post some in-car video after I get it uploaded to YouTube.

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so tell me about the nto1, can you compare them to ra1....are they really wider than 235mm?
 
so tell me about the nto1, can you compare them to ra1....are they really wider than 235mm?
I have only used Hoosiers R6's & Toyos R888 on this car so I have no experience with RA1's. I can tell you they are wider than the same sized Toyo R888. As for performance, it is hard to compare given that I was on an unfamiliar track. They are very predictable and my guess is they fall somewhere between the Hoosiers and Toyos.

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They let you run with a bra?
Sure, why wouldn't they?
 
I've never been to an event where that was allowed. No matter the run group.
 
Must be an east coast thing. They say its can come off. They don't allow anything not bolted to the car.
 
I used to run with PDA and EMRA and used my bra....I gave up on it after being tired of fiddling.
 
Hey Rob, glad you met Nick. He's a great guy and the drives the sh*t out of that NSX! I'm so jealous.
Wish you could have made it out too. Fun track, fun day, nice people. I was particularly impressed with the quality of the tarmac. Probably because its so new but thats the smoothest and stickiest track surface I've ever seen.
 
I checked out California's newest road course this weekend with the Speed Ventures folks. As usual, they put on a great event, on time with lots of track time and a very fast field. With 0 track time on this course, I really through myself to the wolves by registering in the red/expert group. My first session was a real humbler but by the end of the day, I was able find a bit of rhythm and held pace with the usual assortment of GT3's, ZO6's, Lotus, S2K's and some crazy M3 difters. The track is very technical and I was on a steep learning curve but the car ran great all day. I was on NT01's for the first time which felt good out there other than some excess rub up front (235/40/17) which shredded my liners.
There was one fellow Primer out there, (9doors) with his well prepped NA2 and his wife's equally well prepped S2K. Everyone was super nice, very hospitable and I was amazed to have several people thank me for bringing my car out to play with them! I'll post some in-car video after I get it uploaded to YouTube.

Ah dam, I have been looking for a reason to head out to Chuckwalla again. When is the next event out there?

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How far is this track from SF?

Very far! LOL. Its in SoCal out past Palm Springs
 
How far is this track from SF?
As Dhalsim said, drive south from SF to LA (6hrs) then turn left/east and drive another 3hrs.

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Northern Californians are very fortunate when it come to world class race tracks. Infineon, Laguna Seca & Thunderhill are all easy commutes, where as all the SoCal tracks are way way way out past east jesus, except Fontana which I wouldn't be interested.
 
Northern Californians are very fortunate when it come to world class race tracks. Infineon, Laguna Seca & Thunderhill are all easy commutes, where as all the SoCal tracks are way way way out past east jesus, except Fontana which I wouldn't be interested.

If you happen to own something eminently streetable like our very own NSX, popping down to SoCal for a weekend of combined tourism and track time isn't an arduous proposition at all... Now if only they would let anyone who showed up in an NSX into the private Honda collection in Torrance.
 
CVR is a good 4+hrs East from even where I live in Los Angeles. It's an overnighter for me.

Evidently, CVR also used some kind of special compound they laid down for the track. Many people rave about it. It's sticky and smooth like you said. I'm hoping to get out there in my gixxer this year!
 
CVR is 1hr east of Palm Springs which puts it squarely in the middle of nowhere... If you have any intentions of running there this year I'd get motoring because they close June 1 for the summer. After 4 - 30min sessions I was physically ill from heat and exposure but I'm a NorCal boy whose definnitely not acclimated to desert heat, even in March.

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For summer days I would recommend a cool shirt. On a hot summer day this is good for 2 seconds. I kid you naught.
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=6427

I haven't been to Chuckwalla Valley. I passed by it on my way to spring mountain.
Looks fun.

I like driving a new track.
I have been to button willow a few times but it has always been 110 in the shade when I am there. Not ideal conditions.

Thunder Hill can also get toasty in the summer but not as bad ad the above. Always seems to be a breeze.

Later,
Don
 
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