Here’s video from the morning race at Lowe’s.
Lowe's Video's
Patton
#2
Tank slapper by Laura is at 12:06.
Narrow entry into the infield makes this track scary.
RP
IndyJim
#3
Slight correction (for me anyway) narrow entry into the infield means that when someone loops it and blocks entry it gets scary…
scottmc
#5
ukrbmw wrote:
I had 4 or more cars get sideways at the entry to the infield… Laura, Bill the yellow 944… it was almost common place. It’s amazing there wasn’t more metal-to-metal contact.
It was great fun. I’m looking forward to going back
jlevie
#6
It is downright scary when a car goes sideways at the entry to the infield. The red Miata with the taped up rear end got loose just in front of me and backed into the right side concrete. That would have been okay, but the car bounced off the wall and was moving to the left as I went by. The separation between me and other objects could probably have been measured in inches. There was no impact, but at least this time I could see it coming.
Jones
#7
I had a great time at Lowe’s, except for one minor mechanical problem.
This was my first time at Lowe’s and I was really looking forward to it. You could tell from the time sheets in practice that it was also the first time for many others as well. I was surprised to see the times drop so dramatically and consistently all the way thru the grid. Not that the track is overly technical or anything but there are a few tricky spots. I am always amazed at the skill level in Spec E30, we really dont have any “bad” drivers amongst us. Fortunately we were also very clean this “weekend” too which is nice.
I was feeling lost on track in practice but qualifying was much better. I qualified 7th for the first race with tires that I knew were on their last leg. I had almost zero tread pattern showing on my 888’s before the first race. As I headed toward pre-grid I heard an awful, unmistiakeable sound of a completely toasted wheel bearing on my left front. It sounded like ball bearings in a blender…hmmm, probably shouldnt rip around the banking at 130MPH like this. I turned the car around and watched the first race from turn one with Al who had toasted his motor on the first hot lap in practice.
Robert Patton had a wheel bearing (Robert, by the way, please send me your address and Ill pay you back immedialtely, thank you very much)that he graciously gave me and told me to “get to work” fixing it. As always, Jim Levie was nearby and with his help, I had the wheel bearing changed in no time flat, ready for the afternoon race. Big thanks to Jim for the help and Fred for a couple of tools.
As I have said before, its the people in NASA SE and Spec E30 in particular that make this hobby of ours so much more than just driving on track for a few hours a day. I feel lucky to have met such a great group of people, even if the ones ahead of me are all dirty, dirty cheaters. 
The grid for both races was a combined group start, not done by separate classes. the grid was set for the second race by times from the first. This meant I was starting dead last, in 33rd spot since I did not turn a wheel on track in race #1. As you can see from the video below, I got a great start and had lots of close racing in the first 1/2 of the race. I made my way up to 7th in Spec E30 where I would eventually finish. I ended the video before lots of open laps where I eventually caught the blue and white Miata on the last lap to finish 18th overall. Not bad for having two corded tires on the right side and one on the left. They werent too bad but certainly explained the lack of grip in the infield. People were certainly eating my lunch there but man, was it fun!
I really liked the format of squeezing almost a whole weekend’s worth of track time into one day but you really do miss out on a lot of the off track fun that is the SE. It was great seeing everyone once again, hope you enjoy the video. Have fun at RA in August, I will miss that race due to work.
Video from Race #2 http://www.vimeo.com/groups/SpecE30/videos/5481118
-Brian
M3Bill
#10
Who is in charge of putting together the top 10 times to add to the track records section?
ctbimmer
#11
M3Bill wrote:
[quote]Who is in charge of putting together the top 10 times to add to the track records section?[/quote]That would be me…but we don’t capture top 10, more like top 1.
M3Bill
#12
ctbimmer wrote:
[quote]M3Bill wrote:
Oh. Silly me…I just assumed that because most tracks have the top 10 listed that we track the top 10. :cheer:
155MPH
#14
IndyJim wrote:
[quoteNo video but let my words create the images in your mind’s eye.[/quote]
Is that a Christopher Cross lyric?