Just wondering.

 

During their Open House several weeks ago, they were giving low-speed demo rides around the track. I managed to talk my way into being one of the drivers.

Put about 35 miles on the car giving demo rides. The track appears to be a fun little beytach. Tight corners, some off-camber. I expect the extrance to one left-hander (when going counterclockwise) to be particularly interesting, cuz right before it there's has a kink to the right in what would otherwise be a braking zone. The Evo pushed unmercifully through there. I later rode in a friend's G35 Coupe, and it was nicely balanced through there and he could steer it with the throttle.

They also engineered in an "elevation change". Basically, it's a "yump" of sorts. I heard cyclists say they will have to brake before hitting it. I'm wondering whether this will be the site of the first carnage at the track.

The only thing that worried me was the proximity of the pits (and associated wall) to a turn exit. One of things I like about MSR-Cresson is how far the pits are from everything.

I should soon be able to give a better report. I'm signed up for the 12/03 event with the SVO/Mustang club. (So I'll miss the local meet.) Lots of kewl cars signed up, including a few Elises, Z06s, three Vipers, and a Ferrari. But only one AWD out of 65 cars. Guess who will be praying for rain?

In preparation, the car went into the shop today for a new clutch....and a lightweight flywheel. I guess the flywheel would officially be my first mod. I think I'm getting the bug.

 

Sweet report. The Porsche Club is going in December for an "open house" and they have scheduled their first DE for January. This is going to be so much better than driving to College Station and staying over night. Sucks about the pits, I guess they don't have as much land as Cresson?

 

No, they got PLENTY of land. You'll see. They've actually got a motocross track somewhere out there.

One of the MSR owners has an Evo (saw it at the Open House). I'm hoping he'll set up a RallyCross track. I know there's some local interest.

So, PCA decided to go out? Kewl. Two of the PCA bigwigs rode with me during one of the demo runs. They were checking out the track for suitability for a DE. They had some concerns, but I guess the concerns have been addressed.

I've heard mixed reviews about Porsche guys welcoming non-Porsches to their events. But these PCA guys told me to come on out. Everyone agrees that the instruction is top notch, and the Porsche guys I've met at other DEs have all been cool, so you just might see me in January.

 

I haven't been there but I'm going to Driver's Edge in January. The first event of the year is at MSR Houston!

 

where is MSR Houston? What do you neet to race, fire extinguisher and helmet?? Man, I'd love to try this out, it'll be my first time. . .but that damn local meet!@!!

 

Make that 2 AWD out of 66 cars . I'll be there as staff on Saturday with my black Evo.

 

http://www.msrhouston.com/home

 

all slots filled, dammit, I suck at life. ..

 

They sure have a suck website though. They've had that website up for a while and a bunch of my friends thought it was some kind of scam at first. With all the money that they were trying to raise you'd think they'd have a more professional website.

If you miss out on the Driver's Edge, you can join the Porsche Club's DE, but only if there are slots available after the members sign up. I'm sure the BMW club will also have events there.

 

Don't worry about the local meet as the meet won't start until late that night (after 10pm) ........

 

First and foremost, it's not racing. Seriously. It is, however, ***-hauling of a kind that I can almost guarantee you've never done on the street. Seriously.

Typically, all you need is a fire-rated helmet, cotton clothes with a long-sleeve shirt, and a car in "good shape". "Good" in this context means better than streetable condition (like pads more than 1/2 thickness, brake fluid less than 6 months old, etc).

Find an organization you like and then check out their specific requirements. In Texas you have a choice of NASA, the TWS Motorsports Club, The Drivers Edge, Porsche Club of America, the BMW club, and probably another one or two I'm forgetting.

Also, do some reading about these events. A guy totalled an Evo last year doing this. A few weeks ago a guy tumbled a MINI end over end in Turn 7 at TWS. He went to the hospital with broken bones and head injuries. He's gonna recover, but will have some permanent hand injuries that will affect his ability to play guitar. You need to understand what you're getting into.


Well, we all gotta have our priorites. Lemme see.....should I sit in a parking lot and talk about cars, or drive on racetrack as fast as I dare....hmmmm....I'll have to think about that one.

Track days wear me out, and I'm usually in bed sleeping like a baby by the time a typical parking lot meet would start. So it probably is a "one or the other" thing.

I think spectators are allowed at the event. You might want to roll on by to check it out. I did that at TWS before my first DE.


Niiiiiice..... I got first dibs on rides with you when you go out in the instructor group.

 

I hope I'm not in the instructor group! Not sure exactly what I'm supposed to do out there but it's certainly not instructing (you'd find that out if you rode with me ).

 

I don't know how it is for other car clubs, but at the Porsche Club events, your car has to pass a safety inspection from an authorized mechanic (dealer, indies). You have to have at least have a Snell 2000 Automotive Helmet (not motorcycle), cotton cloths with pants, no shorts and no sandals. Everything has to be removed from your car that's not bolted down (mats, junk in glove box, spare tire tools).

But that is all, no harness, no special tires. These are driving events and not racing, so your insurance should cover it. There is a lot of classroom instructions for beginners and you can't go solo unless you've got a lot of experience. Its a lot of fun, the S2000 guys have run with the Porsche Club before. MSR is a godsend to Houston, how can the 4th largest city in the most powerful nation in the world not have a good track? Hopefully they'll build another if this one is successful.

 

It's official: the track rocks!

It's got slow, twisty, off-camber bits. And it's got fast bits. The slowest, twistiest bit comes soon after the fastest part: the back straight where I approached 115 MPH. By contrast, the only place I'm faster at TWS is the front straight; on the TWS back straight I only hit 105 MPH.

The "Yump" rocks. I think it's officially called "The Elevation Change", but I call it The Yump. A Z06 about to pass me lost it over The Yump and did a nasty tank-slapper before giving it up and putting both feet in.

There's a great section after The Yump and before the final two corners. It's high-speed (100 MPH) but kinda twisty. I could gain ground on anything in my Yellow run group, including a Z06, E30 M3, and Cobra R that were otherwise faster than me during the course of a lap.

It's not all wonderful, though. Coming out of the final turn, the wall along the pit straight is just waaaay to close for comfort. Everyone I talked to thought that the pit wall would be the first place someone would trash a car at the track. As of yesterday no cars had been lost.

The pit exit is pretty much blind (for the person coming out). You really can't see what's on the pit straight until it's too late to do anything about it. I think they really just got the pits wrong. But there are "hot" and "cold" pits, like at TWS, which is good.

At a couple of places around the track there are drainage feature that someone might encounter if they messed-up badly enough.

All in all, though, the track was a blast. I got down to 2:04 on the 2.4 mile CCW (counter-clockwise) configuration. I clocked a visiting Driver's Edge instructor in an Evo with plenty of suspension mods and some minor power mods at 1:55.

Unfortunately I was ill and couldn't make it back out today to try to better my time.

The annual SVT-Mustang event was the first at the track, and the facilities were not finished yet. We were using Porta-Potties, there was no intercom system, etc. But it looks like it will be great when finished. The covered paddock (for those who got there early enough) was welcome. I'm not sure the tent-like structures are waterproof, though.

The SVT-Mustang guys put on a good event. It was at least the equal of the TWS Motorpsorts Club events I've done and better than the NASA events. And I detected no bias against non-Fords. They were just all rabid car guys (and girls).

I might try to get out for a Porsche Club or Driver's Edge event there in the future. I'd like to see what their instruction is like.

UFO: good meeting you!