Hi all,

Day one for NFME was a wet, sloppy overcast one and although it managed to cancel the drag racing, the road course action went full-tilt from 8 AM until about 1:30 PM.

The first set of sessions went with standing water on the race course, and we were all driving on rain slicked surfaces. My first session made me think something was broken under the car because it was so tail-happy. Second gear, forget it: A recipe for disaster. Third gear, okay, so long as you didn't go past 3/4 throttle. The first lap, when I hit those esses, I thought for SURE something was busted due to the massive oversteer, but as the track dried out, the oversteer problem went away.

All of the sessions were 15-minutes apiece, and we had three driving groups. The second session was still a little dicey and tell thr truth, I was running a big gun-shy. Still, I concentrated on finding the smoothest line. Session three was great, as the track was now dry and the tires and brakes were getting hot. We were all running fast, starting with a yellow-flagged zone that extended from Grant's tomb, through the pit road, and back onto the course at the 1000 foot mark. After that, it was green-flag and you could run balls-out to about 110 MPH before dragging it down for the entry into the carousel. The esses were faster each and every time, but there was still a big puddle at the end of the esses in the middle of the two hard 90's before the last mini-straight that brought you back into Grant's tomb. If you weren't able to avoid the puddle, you had to pussy-foot through the 90's and onto the straight or else the back end would come out.

At 1:30 the weather started getting better, so we gave the track over to the drag race prep who wanted to set it up for a 5 PM test & tune. We had free access to the test & tune drag race, but unfortunatley at about 5 PM, the rain came down and deluged the track again. Now it's cold and misty, so it looks as if there's nothing going on until tomorrow morning, when we do drag racing and autocrossing.

So far so good, although Mark F's car busted some wheel studs on the way here, and Andris Skulte busted his new T56 in some inexplicable manner... I'm not sure that he even got to do one session. Whatever it is, it's the same strange issue that plagued his previous build. Andris had to pull his car off the trailer on the way here (to accomodate Frouhar's busted car) and drive it nearly 900 miles to make it to Memphis. Then this happens with the T56. Hopefully he comes up with some solutions. If not, then I guess I'll try to at least lend him some seat time in mine (if he wants it) for the autocross.

Well, we're about to head out for some of those famous Memphis Ribs so I need to get going.

It's a blast, and I'm having great fun.

Cheers, and take care,

-Dan Burk

Dan,

Sorry I missed it this year. If things improve, maybe I'll make the next one to help the 3rd gen numbers (unless someone buys my car).

Mmm....ribs. I remember going to Corky's in 2005. That was a good time.

same thing I did not go there this year because my LS2 is not done!!! I decided to do too much N .. I shuld there next year>I hope so...

First day was a tad rough, second day was EXCELLENT weather, the road course was fun both days. The track still has some washboarding in the braking zone approaching the 90-deg turns but it's manageable and smoothes out before the turn-in.

The hotel this year was perfectly situated, ~3 miles to the track and all back roads so no traffic.

With the town of Millington just down the road, there were plenty of parts stores and fast food nearby. And the "Pig 'n Whistle" BBQ joint was ~8 miles away, worth the drive with ribs that were great. No fighting downtown Memphis traffic, no crime problems, just a great place to be.

Jim Davidson brought his photog equipment and picture printer, and any pictures ordered were available for pickup the next day at the track. Very professionally done right down to the plastic protective bags.

Aside from the guy who vomited on the car I was working on in the hotel parking lot, I had no troubles and hope the next one goes as well.

Sounds like a good time despite the weather! Hopefully I can make it back sometime, '03 and '05 were fun!

Now now, Joe didn't vomit, he simply shot beer out of his nose when someone made him laugh a little too hard!

I had a great time, only spun out once in the esses and luckily kept all 4 wheels on pavement. The rest of the time I was chasing a miss, so I wasn't able to push the car very hard. Still managed to go out and have a little bit of fun though.

-jt

I can honestly say that this event was the most fun I've had in many years. I SO NEEDED this! Kevin, Jared ,James, Andris, and everyone else... Thanks!

The road course was great fun... I only wish I hadn't gotten carried away on that second (or was it third?) session, that resulted in greased-up tires and faded brakes... I couldn't slow it down in the Esses and drove over a curb, then lost nearly all brakes by the time we got into the hot pits. I spent the remaining sessions in the back letting the wheels cool off enough so that we could bleed them brakes. Nothing looks bent or broke though.
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The UBE decoupled torque arm seemed to work great. No brake hop whatsoever, except when I was doing stupid stuff like downshifting into third at 100 MPH, then popping the clutch without getting the foot onto the gas... Damn that heel-toe braking stuff... I just can't figure it out!
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By the way, who *was* that guy with the ice chest on wheels, with the mason jars full of funny tasting liquids, anyways? I woke up the next morning feeling like someone was sitting on my chest!
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Dude, I am like, ready to sign up and pay for next year's event already!

Doh! Good thing you didn't let me know you had the UBE torque arm, not only would I have been under Deano's car installing his rear end, I might have been under yours uninstalling the TA!