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Hands up who loves to open track their vic? ::me! me! me!::



The track near me, Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, offers a excellent technical course and a very affordable open tracking fee. I am not a fan of 1/4 mile runs, I prefer a challenge involving turns and such. And Hallett gives me that in spades.



2 weekends ago was the first open tracking event of the new season, and yours truly was there ready to have some fun. I had my newly made cam mount ready to try on track, talked my girlfriend into going with me, but the weather was not being very friendly. It was COLD AS HECK.

Cold track + cold tires + rusty driver (been since last August since I tracked it) = 02 Civic spin outs.

Since I had my camera running, I caught these fine peices of driving skill on tape. And, thru the magic of the internet, I can share the prime cuts with you fellow 7th gen owners. Do not try this at home, your living room is probably not big enough.



Due to bandwidth issues, I have poasted them on my yahoo drive space. You can access them here:

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/realflow@swbell.net

Then goto GCM Stuff and pick from the two oopsie videos (in QT format).

The first spin was no biggie, the car started right back up and went on. The second spin tripped my inertia sensors and my engine light came on. Took about 4 hours for it to shut back off and run normally. Needless to say, that 2nd spin during session 2 left me out for the rest of the day.

I taped the whole sessions (about 17-18 minutes each) but due to the 10 meg upload per file limit on Yahoo, I cannot poast the entire clips. So, the spinouts will have to satisfy your need for now.

Enjoy,

r

 
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fun fun!!!

injen

 
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weeeeeeee! [IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

 
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OOOO, i see a cousin of mine in that pic.... Thats awesome you were sharing the track with a new Z, I love mine and cant wait til winter is over to do some autoX....

 
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I bet you scared the s**t outa your girl with those spinouts. You could see her head violently shaking all over the place. As for that Camera Mount Test movie, that was pretty funny. I never knew our cars could make that gallopping noise...

 
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Hey where is that track? I live in NE and I wouldn't mind driving a good distance to get my skills down, best place to do that is the track. Any way, town/state? Thanks man.

 
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yeah, thats a track version too, very sweet! he didn't seem to be taking the car as hard as he could of, I think he was enjoying the ride more than anything else. who's yer cousin? is he involved with Green Country Motorsports or a rogue HST guy?

 
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damn look at all the other cars on the track. WRX,350,RX-7!![IMG]i/expressions/demon.gif[/IMG] oh and the vic..............j/k! sounds fun!

 
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Right after the first spin, she said something like "That wasn't exactltly the experience I was looking for." I wish I could record audio with my video to get the fun bits said in the car, and the squeal of the tires as I slide.

The gallop was a jab at someone who told me my car had no horsepower. I added 1 horsepower to prove him wrong[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/IMG]

r

 
Rep Power: 304

It's located just outside of Hallett, Oklahoma...

There are tracks all over the US who offer open tracking, just have to look around. We are lucky here to have Hallett, both for the technical difficulty and for the price. We pay $75 for a day's event, most tracks you pay alot more than that. But if you add it up, the tires, oil, rotors, you are still spending extra money to enjoy a good hard day on the track.

Can't stop me unless Im broke!

 
Rep Power: 304

There were some nice rides out there that day including an older nissan Z, the new 350Z track edition, a ford pickup (beleive it or not) a couple of miatas, my friend in his black wrx, some nice mustangs, a kit cobra, a crazy dood with ***** of steel in a old ford escort, and a few others.

Our regular group usually has a NSX, a few porsches, and at least 1 or 2 bmw M3 as well. Always a blast to see the cars rock the track. And if you are out of cash you can always ride shotgun with someone for the fun.

r

 
Rep Power: 326

Thanks with the reply man, good luck with future events.

 
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Haha... your camera test video was pretty funny. Love the sound effects. SSSCCCRRREEEEECCCCHHHHH! [IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

BTW.. the oopsie video's don't work for me [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG]

 
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i wish there was a track around here, that would be sooo much fun!!!

 
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Any error messages or anything? Need QT 6.1 I think, as I am using mp4 to compress them...

 
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Wow... good stuff!

I so wish there was an open track here in SoCal. In order to get on a track here, you have to join an auto club that rents time at the track. These clubs usually want you to practically turn your car into a racecar: roll cage, fire extinguisher, etc etc. Too much trouble. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/IMG]

I would love to take my car on a track like that!

 
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For kicks, I decided to chunk apart the first session entire vid and upload to my yahoo space. When it's complete, it should be 11 parts of about 8.5meg each to DL... you can put them back together yourself into 1 vid or watch seperate.

Will be located in same place:

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/realflow@swbell.net/

In the GCM Stuff folder, then goto the Hallett HST Feb 15 - 2003 folder and DL at your convience. Should DL pretty fast, it's premium Yahoo bandwidth.

(fri 810pm CST, got sections 1-9 up, working on rest, almost there)

 
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Yeah I feel pretty luck to have access like I do. The requirements are not too high either... must be a car, no SUVs or stationwagons or minivans and such. Trucks that are race designed like the Ford Lightening are allowed if you ask. You need to join COMMA but its only $35 a year. Once you got that, you just borrow a helmet or get your own, pay your $75 and then go out for some fun. Obviously ya remove extra crap from the car like sub box, loose items, but otherwise its open tracking and open fun.

Those group events you mentioned are excellent, usually they hold DE events that are well worth the money if you can find them. Try your local PCA, they usually have Drivers Ed events at local tracks for a reasonable fee and offer instruction. Our's allows anyone to enter their events if you ask, aside from events where novice drivers are not allowed. SCCA has a driver's school at Hallett, so I am sure they do elsewhere too. Just a little more restrictive, rollbars and such required.

Nowhere else can you track a street car that I know of, aside from down in Texas at TMS/TWS via a place like The Driver's Edge.

r

 
Rep Power: 308

That looks fun! I wish I had a circuit near me

 
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damn your g/f spent the whole day in the car spinning out =p..... thats dedication...... anyone do any drifting and stuff hah

 
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hahaha good test...

 
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Actually she got out after the first session because of the spinouts, and to ride with our friend. I thought it was kick *** of her to go at all even tho she had no interest... just to support me.

 
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yeah thats cool that your girl would do that for you, i'll give you a w0ot w0ot

 
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link for the lazy

 
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thank you!

for a second there, i thought no one was gonna do it

 
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I hope everyone interested was able to DL the session and watch/put together as one video.

Sorry I had to split it up, blame Yahoo. They allow 10 meg max chunks to be ULed.

fun fun fun

r

 
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Inertia sensors? What are those? What are they for? [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG]

 
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Most new cars have them. They shut off the gas line for safety reasons when the car tilts too much one way or another. My spinout was enough in several directions that it made them activate and my gas shut off.

Usually they reset on their own once the car has sat level for a while.

r

 
Rep Power: 419

Excellent video BTW. You owned that truck in the corners. Although he had you in the straightaways. I noticed that you drove very well after you passed him (until you spun out). I think passing him made you braver! LOL After that spin-out you slowed down. You also took some corners in a weird way. Especially right-handers. You stayed on the outside for way too long IMO. I can't tell 'cause there's no sound, but that was my assesment. Anyway, good stuff.