Heartland Park Touring Laps - May 2008

kabootist · Post by **kabootist** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:50 pm

May 14th seems to be the day. I will be in attendance and already registered.

List of people:

Kabootist
hctiev
MiniJayhawk (instructing)
dimini
MiniDave
petek (pending)

hctiev · Post by **hctiev** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:43 pm

I'm waiting to hear if they are going to allow me to move my registration from April to May.

MiniJayhawk · Post by **MiniJayhawk** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:38 am

I should be there instructing.

dimini · Post by **dimini** » Mon May 05, 2008 10:04 am

I plan to be there for the May 14 event. Let's hope they have a few more folks working the event this time.

Minidave · Post by **Minidave** » Mon May 05, 2008 12:13 pm

I'm in, as always, and especially since this will be the last one I can do till Sept. due to other commitments this summer. I'm still really hoping to do MITM this year..........if I'm not in Monterey at the historics.....and if other events don't conspire against me.

Hagar46 · Post by **Hagar46** » Mon May 05, 2008 12:36 pm

I'll be missing the May 14th Touring Laps at HPT. Had surgery on my big toe. Hate to miss the fun!

petek · Post by **petek** » Mon May 05, 2008 1:00 pm

I'm going to try to make the May event but I won't know until next week.

(sigh)

Too many irons in the fire...

Race · Post by **Race** » Mon May 05, 2008 4:42 pm

I was hoping to make it this month, but I will be out of town. Maybe June!

kabootist · Post by **kabootist** » Mon May 05, 2008 7:20 pm

Where we planning on meeting this time? Any suggestions?

hctiev · Post by **hctiev** » Mon May 05, 2008 7:50 pm

I should be in.

dimini · Post by **dimini** » Tue May 06, 2008 9:49 am

I'd be up for meeting at Bryants, again.

hctiev · Post by **hctiev** » Sun May 11, 2008 1:55 pm

I'll do Aurthur Bryant's. It's a bit heavy, but that will work.

dimini · Post by **dimini** » Sun May 11, 2008 6:32 pm

MINIdave has requested that we do a different lunch venue than Bryants. I'm fine with any of the joints in that neighborhood. Should we consider going back to Ted Montanas?

sliboa · Post by **sliboa** » Mon May 12, 2008 6:57 am

I'll be at the track on Wednesday. I'm a tentative 'yes' for lunch, but I'm not certain right now.

Minidave · Post by **Minidave** » Mon May 12, 2008 12:03 pm

Ted's Montana works for me...............1 pm as usual then?

kabootist · Post by **kabootist** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:28 pm

I'm good with Ted's, 1 PM it is!

petek · Post by **petek** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:42 pm

Wooo-hooo! I'm in for Wednesday; gonna test out them thar new rotors and pads that I put on the MINI over the winter.

I'll meet everyone at the track.

Minidave · Post by **Minidave** » Mon May 12, 2008 2:22 pm

Cool Pete, glad you can make it. Are you bringing your lap time recording setup?

petek · Post by **petek** » Mon May 12, 2008 4:46 pm

Yep. I never did get enough time to play with it last year so I still don't know wth I'm doing... but it is fun none-the-less!

hctiev · Post by **hctiev** » Mon May 12, 2008 6:23 pm

So we're at Ted's at 1pm. See you guys there.

sliboa · Post by **sliboa** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:15 pm

I won't be able to make lunch, so I'll meet everyone at the track.

hctiev · Post by **hctiev** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:44 pm

Cory - We'll see you at HPT!

Minidave · Post by **Minidave** » Thu May 15, 2008 9:41 am

Wow, I was totally pooped by the time I got home last night at about 9:30, but this has to be one of the best sessions we've had at Heartland Park! What a blast!

We met at Ted's Montan for lunch then headed west to the track, stopping for fuel and water along the way. The weather couldn't have been nicer, a light breeze and the upper 60's and sunny.

The track was clean, the staff were plentiful and well organized (unlike last month) and everything went off without a hitch. We got to run 4 sessions - which is plenty BTW! - and other than a couple of guys who would not move over and let us by, things went really well. I went fast enough to overheat my brake fluid by the last session of the day (I think Pete had this problem too) and as a real bonus, I got to have MINIJayhawk as my instructor the last session.

All I can say about Minijayhawk is that he's a real asset to the MINI club's track events (and the club) and if you get the opportunity to have him ride with you or to ride with him - don't miss it! You'll learn a ton and be going faster and smoother by the end of even one session. I was lucky to get to do both, drive and then ride with him in his 08 MCS. Fun stuff!

Here are the video's from my first three sessions, I did not record the last one with Minijayhawk riding and instructing - wish I had!

(BTW, listen to the exhaust on that Vette in the third vid, talk about burble!)

Session One

Session Two

Session Three

MiniJayhawk · Post by **MiniJayhawk** » Thu May 15, 2008 9:58 am

Thanks! I had a great time meeting you guys (again) and jumping in the car with the man, the legend, Minidave.

He was smooth with his inputs which makes it much easier to go fast by finding different lines, braking points, turn in, etc. He did great! I wasn't nearly as smooth as I wanted to be, but I am still sorting out the car and getting used to front wheel drive again. The R56 was outstanding!!! It far exceeded my expectations and look forward to getting out there with the guys I am used to driving with to compare it to my old E36 M3. I was able to basocally hang even with Brian's BMW 135i, but I think he suffered from the stock runflat tires a bit. the R56 had much more available oooompf coming out of corners than I thought it would.

All in all a good night at the track and I look forward to seeing more of you out there! Hopefully some of you can come out this weekend to the Audi event and jump in with some instructors for some hot laps to experience it yourself.

petek · Post by **petek** » Thu May 15, 2008 10:51 am

GREAT FUN!

The last session I did, in fact, loose my brakes due to the brake fluid boiling. Darn interesting coming over the hill at 100+ mph and finding your brake pedal going to the floor without the car slowing.

(Applying even MORE pedal did slow the car so I stayed on the track but really, really, really changed my braking points!)

I'll be changing the fluid this weekend or next and then I'll be looking at some way of ducting some cooling air to the front rotors.

Oh, the new brake rotors and pads work GREAT!!! I don't think there was a car out there that I couldn't out brake in a corner. I kept going deeper and deeper into braking and the car kept giving me more!

Somethin' like the ol' racing adage: "I was going so fast I was seeing Jesus at the end of every straight. It happened so often I started using him as a brake marker."