Super Roll I

I did a track event at Pueblo Motorsports this Spring which was organized by Nissan Sport magazine. The event was very well organized and I really enjoyed the layout of the track. Well jump forward a couple of months and David Muramoto, senior editor of Nissan Sport, asked me to help with instructing for a local event. Garcia Infiniti was the primary sponsor of the event and they picked up the tab for renting the track for two days.

On Saturday morning we laid out multiple obstacle courses on the track to safely introduce the novice drivers to threshold braking, obstacle avoidance, and a slalom. In the afternoon we removed the sea of orange cones and brought the students out on the track in a lead / follow format to show them the proper racing line around the track. With each track session we increased the pace to match the confidence of the students. I had a great group of people, who were very receptive to learning and trusted my judgement to keep them safe while moving at a high speed around a race track for the first time. Which thankfully was not misplaced.

The following day we built on the skills from the previous day and continued to increase the pace. I also encouraged them to ride along in my car to get a better view of the racing line and the driving inputs. They were all astounded by what they and their cars were capable of achieving in a controlled and safe environment. At the end of the day we organized a exhibition race with the instructors and encouraged all of the students to ride along to see what wheel to wheel racing looks like up close and personal. Shock and awe is the best way to describe the expressions of the students that took advantage of riding along. After two full days of track time they felt that they had a good idea of what was possible on a race track. The racing exhibition really showed what it was like to accelerate hard, threshold brake, and dance on the edge of adhesion through every corner. All while dicing it up with several other experienced race drivers with fully prepped race cars.

I have done plenty of open track days on a variety of tracks and have used several different cars with radically different handling characteristics but this was the first time I have done any form of wheel to wheel racing with open passing. It started out with a tight two by two grid with a rolling start that allowed one lap to warm up the engine and tires. Once the green flag waved it was a mad dash to get into position for turn one. The first couple of turns was very hectic as I tried to push the car to the very edge of its limits to gain a little distance from the other instructors. I had to be very careful with the corner entry speed as my car has a nasty tendency to understeer with little provocation. After two solid days of carefully driving the line I had it ingrained in my brain to the point that each braking, turn-in, apex, and track out point was second nature. It was just a matter of turning up the pace and carrying more momentum through each corner.

I didn't know what to expect during the first race and quickly got passed by the senior instructor in his track prepped 350Z with racing slicks. He went a little wide through the hair pin and it gave me a small window of opportunity to sneak thru and gain a position. After that he got caught up in a battle with a spec Miata and it gave me a chance to pull away and grab the checkered flag. During the second race our roles were reversed and I got caught up in a battle with the same spec Miata and ended up finishing third. For the final race I pulled out all of the stops and everything came together to clinch another checkered flag.

I don't think that two 1st and a 3rd place finish is all that bad for my first wheel to wheel racing experience. I've got to say that I'm pretty stoked and Nissan Sport didn't help my ego any by offering to sponsor my racing. They offered the use of their race prepped Nissan 200SX (B14) and a few sets of R-compound tires. I'll have to give this some serious thought but how can I say no to an offer like that? If I decide to go this route I will definitely be keeping a running blog of my progress.

Pics and video will be posted later.

Rowdy Muscle Car

I had the chance to drive a late ‘60s Pontiac Firebird with a 455 big block. It has probably been 15 years since I drove a car with a large carburetor and I forgot just how much force it takes to open the throttle. Two of my most recent cars didn’t even have a throttle cable. Instead they had drive-by-wire electronic throttle bodies which feels totally different than the old Firebird and requires little force to move the loud pedal.

Fred took me out for a ride and the car is pretty intense. He mashed the throttle from a roll and the tires immediately broke free. They continued spinning all of the way through third gear. Wow

On the way back he let me drive the car. There were several things that felt quite a bit different from what I’m used to such as: throttle, shifter, steering, brakes… I already mentioned the throttle. He had a Hurst shifter in the car. I’ve heard the name many times but I never realized what made them unique. First off it has two shifter levers. The shorter of the two engages reverse. The other is a T-bar handle with a small finger lever that can be lifted. To get it in 1st gear you lift the finger lever and push the T-bar forward. For 2nd gear you just slam the T-bar back. 3rd gear is quick push forward. Then lift the lever and slam it back to grab 4th gear. There is no way to miss a gate when shifting fast because there are no gates. It just moves back and forth. He even had an electrically actuated over drive. Sweet! I wish I had a similar setup in my car.

This short drive reminded me why I think muscle cars are cool but I would never own one. The car was a rocket in a straight line with gobs of torque and tire smoke to let the on lookers know that you’ve had lift off. All of that power can get you in trouble quickly. Not just with the local PD but also with your own safety. All of that mass made the car slow to turn in and the suspension control was barely adequate. Then there were the brakes. The engine only pulls 6 inches of vacuum and that hardly provides any assistance to the master cylinder. Even with pushing on the brake pedal with all of my might, the car slows at its own pace. Like I said before, the car is very cool but I would never want to own one.

Pueblo Motorsports Park

I’ve been trying to find more 350Z owners with an unhealthy obsession with driving. The New Mexico owners seemed to be filled with ennui. Where as the Colorado owners are much more involved. The first track day of the season was at Pueblo Motorsports Park in Pueblo, CO. Which is about 4.5 hours north of Albuquerque. The week before was a little busy as I got the car ready. On Monday the car was taken to an exhaust shop to have the Stillen dual exhaust repaired / installed and a custom hitch made. Well that took longer than expected (day and a half) and had a price tag to match. Then I had one of the Volk wheels rebalanced to get rid of a vibration under braking. An oil change was next. Followed by installation of Cobalt Friction GT-Sport brake pads on Wednesday night. I went into work early on Thursday so that I could drive up to Pueblo afterwards. I don't know if that was the smart thing to do because I was so tired on the drive up.


The track trailer and custom hitch worked very well. The only time I really noticed it behind the Z was when I was crossing the Raton pass. The cruise control kicked out and I had to down shift to 5th but I was still able to pull it at 80+ MPH. I was able to get there on one tank of gas and even managed to get 21 MPG while towing a 600 lbs trailer.

The next morning everyone got up early to meet for breakfast. The day started with some basic car control exercises: threshold braking, accident avoidance, and progressively faster follow the leader laps to learn the line around the track. After lunch we took to the track for some solo hot laps. That first session had me a bit concerned because the car has a strong tendency to understeer when entering a turn. The heavy understeer was also causing pad knock back which caught me off guard because I have never encountered it before. That was killing my confidence because the car was not turning in as expected and the first step on the brake pedal didn’t always work. Yikes!!!


When I got back to pit row I traded cars with David (organizer of the event, red Z pictured below) and we went back out for a couple more laps. His car had basic bolt-ons (Nismo sway bars, Eibach lowering springs, Koni adjustable shocks, and Nitto R-compund tires) but it drove so much better than my car. It turned in much nicer and was much more stable through the entire corner. David couldn't duplicate the knock back issue but he did comment on the motor. He said that it sounded great and it was an awesome advertisement for the Stillen exhaust. He also noticed a significant improvement in power over his car. Nice!

During the next session I backed off on the pace. With the lower corner entry speeds, I obviously had less push from the front end and the pad knock back also went away. So my confidence in the car started to come up and so did my enjoyment. Each session got faster as I started to get used to the line around the track. It has a very nice rhythm to it.


You start the lap by rocketing down the front straight at 120 MPH. As the brake markers fly by, you decisively stand on the brake pedal to drag the car down to 80 and turn into Turn 1. This is a very long high speed sweeper and you continue to scrub off speed as you inch the car towards the late apex. The track straightens out briefly but you hold the same arc and the car tracks from one side of the tarmac to the other in preparation for Turn 2. A quick stab on the brakes loads the front end and allows you to turn in sharply. This is immediately repeated for Turn 3. Followed by a quick drop through a little valley. Turn 4 is at the crest and is slightly banked which helps to maintain grip. As you exit the turn you drop back down into the valley heading straight for Turn 5. Which is a sharp right hand turn that quickly rises up the other side of the hill. At the crest of the hill is Turn 6 which is an almost blind double apex turn. This turn feels great when you get it right. The car straightens out briefly. Then you stand on the brakes, grab 2nd gear and toss the car around Turn 7 the hair pin. Turn 8 is another high speed sweeper but it was also where I had the most problems with terminal understeer. From there you pick a straight line through the small bends leading to Turn 9. Followed by a short sprint toward turn 10. Which is the launching area for the drag strip. This is one of the most important corners to nail because it leads on to the longest straight but I had confidence problems in this turn. The track is made up of alternating sections of concrete and asphalt. Which makes for a bumpy ride with mixed traction. This made for rapidly alternating understeer / oversteer which felt pretty odd. All in all I really enjoyed this track. It has a nice technical feel with a good variety of turns. I just wish it were a little closer to home.


I didn't get a chance to setup the camera or data logger for this event. I think Daniel was the only one who had a camera running. His 240Z was a thing of beauty and it was surprisingly competitive for a 30 year old car.

Time Attack

Ventured out with the local Porsche club for a time trial at Sandia Motorsports Park. We encountered a bit of freak weather and it was actually snowing on and off all day. On my first time out I figured that the car would be totally out of control but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of grip I had from the Falken Azensis RT-215 tires. Don't get me wrong, the car was still very loose but it was still manageable. My times were even within the top ten for that day and were faster than some of the 4wd cars. That shouldn't happen especially with bad weather. Anyways, check out the video to take a ride around the track.

New Home

Between driving out here and searching for a job I was also looking for a place to live. I was planning on renting an apartment for a couple of months to give Kerrie and I chance to get used to the city before committing to purchasing a home. Instead I got some pretty strong arguments from a lot of people to go ahead and buy a house right away. That didn't much time at all to find a house because I need to have this squared away before Kerrie and the cats arrived on 12/5/05. Needless to say this was a little stressful because I really wasn't in a financial position to do it but the first time home buyer's programs really helped out and I got some help from family too.

We found a small 3-bedroom house (1350 sqft) with a 2-car garage for a monthly payment that was little more than what it would cost me to rent a halfway decent 2-bedroom apartment. So in the long run this was right decision. It allows us to gain some equity and it gives us more space and privacy than what you can get from an apartment. So it is all good.

Job Hunting Part 2

After the cross country trip and several weeks of job hunting my funds were running low and I was feeling pretty desperate about earning a pay check. So I started to focus my job hunting on my marketable skills even though I didn't really want to be working in any of those fields. I submitted my resume to any opening that looked even vaguely similar to any of the following: sales, electro-mechanical assembly, quality inspection, internal auditor, CMM operator / programer, technical writing / illustration, and photography. I lost track of the number of resumes that I sent out and in my desperation I took the first position that was offered at a decent wage that had medical benefits.

That rash decision landed me a job at Sun Country Industries as a Quality Inspector and CMM operator / programmer. The shop was a filthy whole in the wall that produced aircraft parts for primarily GE and Eclipse. Some of the parts were technically interesting and others were on a completely different scale of size than what I had worked with at Hypertherm.

About a week after I accepted the job I received three more offers from other companies that looked much more promising but I felt that I had made a commitment and should see where it goes. My gut reaction is telling me that I just made a big mistake. I guess only time will tell.

Ventilating the Convertible

I can't believe what someone did to my poor car. It looks like some one threw a chunk of concrete out of a moving car and they were aiming for my rear window. Instead they missed the glass and the chunk of concrete ripped through the canvas top, hit the roll bar, and shattered through out the interior of the car. It made a total mess and a surprisingly larger bill. There was over $3,500 dollars worth of damage and a long lead time to get the replacement parts from Japan. This is sad because I hadn't even gotten the chance to have the rocker panel repaired (dent caused by avoiding the ice machine) before I have to file another insurance claim.