Tenth Anniversary MotorSport Ranch Cresson Texas

[zelig]

I was as gentle/rough with Doug as I was with Chad... but Chad lasted longer! In the morning, I felt stupid for not bringing the DRZ, but by late afternoon I was glad I didn't have to load it on the trailer before the 90-minute drive home. Thus I had enough energy to run six sessions on the 1.3... and sneak in a few laps on the 1.7...

It was great seeing my GTSS homies again! Congrats to Dave on breaking the curse. The D16 sounded sweet even from the lunch line. And of course, the Husky is the business.

So overall, a pretty great day. Let's do it again in a few months when it's not so friggin hot!

[OldTLSDoug]

Once again, thanks for the ride in the scary little car. I got the inside info on how shook up my buddy Misfire was after the ride in the little bastard. Nice work Chad, I was smart enough to puss out early before I got my heart rate up.

Good on you Chris it was fun sir.

Funny, he doesn't look like an evil Canadian Bastage Farging Icehole Fatguy Scaring Mazda Driver, or does he............?

[gixxerjasen]

Wait...did you call Chris a fatguy?

Nice pic Doug, but the goatee does show off his evil side. Think he's fast in his car, try keeping up with him on a bicycle.

[OldTLSDoug]

.....Fatguy Scaring.........he scared me, not himself, Semper Fi, reading is fundamental.............baaaaa baaaaaa. Got you excited with the sheep noises I bet

[TL Lurker]

Sounds like you guys had a blast!

[Misfire]

Write up i posted on another forum..


The day started off like any other trackday, go slow, warm the tires up and then start testing the traction. Woo Hoo! I fuggn’ love running on the track. This was my second day on a new set of BT002s and I can’t say enough good things about them. They feel awesome, grip is awesome and most importantly they inspire a lot of confidence when you are close to elbow draggin’ lean angles. I’ll be hard pressed to spoon a different tire on in the future.

I was truly riding at the top of my abilities clicking off much faster lap times than I ever had before. The combination of grippy tires, a well sorted suspension and clean racetrack was about as much as I could beg for. (and got) Carrying insane lean angles coming off the front straight and into the blind downhill double apex left hander was almost as awesome as standing the bike up and floating the wheel downhill at speeds approaching triple digits. I was trail breaking deeper into corners than ever before and just having a ball.

I finally felt like the Gixxer and I were intertwined in a mesh of rubber asphalt and sweat. (Did I mention it was approaching 100 degrees and I was wearing black leathers?) I feel like my riding has progressed quite rapidly this season and I can’t be happier with my decision to buy the GSXR. It is a wonderful machine and I fall deep and deeper into lust with it every time I lose a bit of plastic from one of my pucks. I honestly believe that the 750 is about as close to perfection as you can get.

Despite how much confidence I had and how much of a badass the day was encouraging me feel like, I had no idea what was coming next.

I bumped into Chris early that morning at sign in and he told me that he brought his car and not his bike. He drives a 20 year old Mazda Miata. This car, as far as I know is mostly stock with the exception of maybe some suspension work and some stickier tires.
I gave him a hard time for not bringing his bike and razzed him a bit about driving his car on the track rather than his bike.


FAST FORWARD to lunch..

While we were sitting there under the EZ-UP taking a break and enjoying some shade, Chris drives up and offers me a ride on the track in his car. His car session is about to begin and he was being “kind” enough to see if I wanted to try something different. I asked about safety gear and he told me that the only thing necessary was a helmet, so I scooped mine up and hopped in his car. I had NO idea how much my perception of driving a car on a racetrack was about to be altered…

Chris, whom I’ve ridden bikes on the track with for about 4 years now, is a very responsible, safe and moderately paced rider. He rides with a much larger safety margin than I do and generally has higher self preservation values than most of the people I ride with. Chris is the guy that you would want in control if you were going to send a family member out onto the track.

Armed with this knowledge of Chris and the perception of him that I had developed over the course of several years of watching him ride, I climbed into his car.



This is where things got a bit fuzzy..

As we pit out onto the track I was quite surprised that we were immediately going fast. Apparently Chris’s Mazda doesn’t have to do a warm up lap to get the tires acclimated to the track because we pulled out and headed down the hill at speeds I’m sure were approaching tripled digits. Now I’ve been down that hill at those speeds a hundred times on a motorcycle so you can imagine my horror as Chris was still accelerating as we raced past my normal braking markers.

At the end of this downhill run is a SHARP left had corner with hardly any runoff. I normally drop two gears and trail brake through there but in the car we were still accelerating! I’ve seen a lot of riders eat shit in this corner and if Chris’s entry speed was any indication, we were about to be among those ranks.

At the very last second (and I mean last..) Chris expertly grabbed a downshift and drifted the car around that corner at a speed that nearly made me pass out from…... fear. Yes, I admit it; I almost shit my pants. I absolutely couldn’t believe we rounded that corner, at that speed and stayed upright. Tires were squealing, smoke was lofting and then there was me pressed up against the door like a bug to a windshield. The G Force was incredible. Even more incredible is that this WAS the warm up lap. We went much faster every corner and every lap. WOO FUCKN’ HOO!! I went around that racetrack with nerves on edge, eyes half closed, but puckered and me trying to resist the urge to scream like a little girl.

For the next 15 minutes I was amazed at how fast that car could be piloted around the track. It was like a roller coaster without any tracks. Uphill, downhill, decreasing, increasing, double apex, off camber… you name it and Chris seemed to defy the physics that I had grown to know about MSR.

I’m not sure if I shit my pants in the first corner or the last but I did about 15 minutes on the track in the Miata with Chris and it has forever changed my outlook on cars and tracks. Riding in a car at speed on the track was an emotional experience for me and left a lasting impression and new respect for those that do it.

I was actually motion sick when we stopped. It was an awesome experience that I’ll be sure to say “Fuck YOU!!” to next person that offers a ride in their car. I’ll stick to motorcycles thank you very much!

Oh yea… What I didn’t know about Chris is that he was driving a car on the track long before he started riding bikes. He has been to driving academy’s and schools and knows how to drive the damn thing. He is much faster in the car than I can ever be on a bike and I have to thank him for the experience. I would probably do it again but I’m gonna need a firesuit, 20pt harness, parachute and a blindfold. (Seriously I'd ride along with Chris anytime..)

For the record, Doug did 2 laps with Chris and called it quits. Doug's description was, "uncontrolled terror with the real capability of dying." ha ha!

Chris, You fukn' rock sir!

.

[OldTLSDoug]

Bragging huh? Chad is tougher than me, I knew to puss out early. Old age and such. I need to get Chris down here to teach me to drive the little Mazda. I believe it is the Supermoto of track cars. I will get one someday....... Hopefully soon.

[TL Lurker]

Tell Chris that I would love a spin as well. Heck, maybe he can teach me how to throw the GTO around a track.

[Misfire]

Originally Posted by OldTLSDoug

Bragging huh?

Well, I did last longer.. I gotta take what I can get.


Russ, that would be awesome. I'd love to watch from the sidelines!


Woo Hoo!

.

[zelig]

Nice writeup, Chad! Having seen how fast you guys are on two wheels, I fully expected y'all to be bored by four. So the feedback from you and Doug pretty much made my day.

The car still has stock suspension, which was probably helping make y'all queasy. I should probably upgrade the radiator -- because she gets warm after repeatedly pedaling hard up that hill -- but I love being able to say "20 years old and stock as a rock". (Did I mention 94rwhp and 30mpg?)

Doug, just say when. You know, these days you can get one cheaper than an SV650. And if you do get one, I will come install your mods for free.

Russ, anytime sir. And I would LOVE a ride in that GTO -- those things are bad ass even withOUT twin turbos.

Look at me blathering on about cars. I need to get faster on the DRZ!