# Laguna Seca Sucks!



## ffej (Aug 17, 2005)

Ok, that's totally not true. ///M3lissa & I were there yesterday - as was jvr826 - and we all had a blast!

A couple incidents took place:
My group was the first out on track, and while the air is misty and foggy, the track is much dryer than I expected. I'm on my third lap, setting up to take as much speed down the front straight as I can and the corner worker at 11 is wildly waving yellow. I get to the apex and there's a black E46 M3 trying to have sex with the K-wall, face first. The driver is standing outside the car, just sort of staring at the whole thing. Totaled. My first thought was, "Damn, that's not how you want to start your day." The second was "Great...there goes my first session." and my third was "Poor guy, that's gotta suck completely. Bummer of the highest order."

The other 'body damage' incident happened to a Z06 vette (driven by and instructor, no less) that made a pass between 6 and the screw, lost his brakes (according to the driver) and put the passenger side into the tire wall at the far side of the top of the corkscrew. Oh, and did I mention that this happened on THE COOL DOWN LAP????!?!?!?!? Also, I never lost my brakes, even at the end of the one session where ///M3lissa's and mine backed up against eachother - a full hour of driving hard. This was in a Z06, with those giant rotors & 6-piston calipers. I'm not sure I buy the guy's story, especially since the guy should have pretty much been coasting around the track, letting his brakes and other bits cool down...

I had two offs...

First was legitimate. I had just taken two better than I'd ever done before - tire squeal, slip angle, the whole bit. The kind of turn where I felt exessive Gs and thought "I didn't know the car could DO that!" and I was much faster going into three. My timing was off, I turned in a little early, and by the time I got to my (quite early) apex, I had two choices. Either try and save it and spin into the wall on the inside, or straighten the wheel, get on the brakes while the tires were still on asphalt and let the gravel on the far side of the track finish the job for me. I chose the latter. Got back on, pitted when I made it around, talked to Hunpin (the Marshal and all-around great guy that runs unlimitedlaps) and was on my merry way for some more lapping.

The second was uber-lame, but not at all dangerous. Lots of people left by the end of the day and Hunpin opened up the last instructor group session (day's last). Being the track junkie that I am, I drove. Had my best session of the day by far. Checkered flag comes out and I'm the last car on track. Literally. Wave at Katie (the start finish lady) go under the bridge, lift and coast down towards turn 2 while I'm checking out all the stuff they're doing for some mountain bike and other cycling stuff event they'll be putting on soon. Forget to wave at the turn 1/2 guy. Get around 2, stare at him, wave vigorously - all with some steering angle - keep waving, keep waving look out the windsheild and I'm headed straight for the #4 braking marker for turn 3. Oh, SH!T! In the dirt, in the gravel, around the marker, back on track to sarcastic applause from the worker at the turn 3 station. All this took place at about 30-40 mph, so nothing scary, just embarassing. When I get to the corkscrew, word has obviously spread about my stupidity, because the guy at the top there completely mocked me, laughed and said "keep it on the track, buddy!" All in all, it was very funny.

Other stuff happened, but nothing as drastic. //M3lissa got dive bombed by some
azzhat in a red evo not once, but TWICE in the corkscrew. Once on the inside, once on the outside. No harm, but dude also broke other intermediate group rules several times.

Had my first "mirror to mirror passing in a turn" experience. Not *nearly* as scary as I would have thought a year ago.

Two pictures that I particularly like...

///M3lissa, schooling a vette in turn 3:









ffej, getting the inside wheels nice & light at the top of the corkscrew:









As usual, the fantastic Dito Milan of gotbluemilk.com took the shots!
The whole set is here --> http://www.bimmerfest.com/photos/showgallery.php/cat/3179


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## ///M3lissa (Jun 23, 2005)

Neat :thumbup:


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## kjb (Oct 10, 2005)

Thanks for sharing! The photos are great.


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## Alvizzo913 (Oct 14, 2005)

Edit. Delete, read the rest of the thread.


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## jvr826 (Apr 22, 2002)

Here's pics of me, myself and I... pardon my arrogance, but my car looks damn hot riding on that new TC Kline suspension.

My passenger in the opening pics is Chris, an instructor with a 996 Turbo. I went out with him for a session and learned my I6 is a lawn mower engine compared to his car. Raw, relentless power that seemed like it would never end. :thumbup::thumbup:

That Evo guy didn't make me too happy either. If I saw him in my mirror I gave the point-by long in advance, slowed down, and let him pass. Better than meeting him in person in the dirt!

Really a fun track. I feel bad for the M3 guy in the morning session, really bad. That car was stunning. I also don't buy the Z06 story, especially if it was on cool down lap.

I found myself getting a bit competitive at the end of the day, is that a sign? :angel:

ffej, my session with you learned me a few things. My last session out I took 2nd gear on #2, #3 and #11 and had much better control thru the corners with higher exit speeds, which is the point of all this "training" we do.

Lastly, my hat is off to Hunpin for running excellent events. Everything is well organized, great lunches, and freedom to have fun, yet enough structure to be safe. This was my second event with Unlimited Laps and so far, my favorite group to run with.


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## Lanc3r (Sep 5, 2004)

Cool thread.

Glad you all kept the rubber side down. :thumbup:


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## wwb4 (Dec 29, 2005)

Nice write-up....sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. Happy to hear that no damage was inflicted except for to your ego.  Nice pics! :thumbup:


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## Andre Yew (Jan 3, 2002)

jvr826 said:


> My last session out I took 2nd gear on #2, #3 and #11 and had much better control thru the corners with higher exit speeds, which is the point of all this "training" we do.


2nd gear in 3? 2 maybe, and 11 definitely.

--Andre


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## ///M3lissa (Jun 23, 2005)

Andre Yew said:


> 2nd gear in 3? 2 maybe, and 11 definitely.
> 
> --Andre


Hmmm.. I wonder if Jeff meant to say turn 3 :dunno:

I experimented and settled on 3rd for turn 2 and 2nd for turn 11.

2nd gear just seemed to low for turn 2.

The rest of the course between 3rd and 4th.


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## jvr826 (Apr 22, 2002)

///M3lissa said:


> Hmmm.. I wonder if Jeff meant to say turn 3 :dunno:
> 
> I experimented and settled on 3rd for turn 2 and 2nd for turn 11.
> 
> ...


Yes, I used third gear in turn three all day except for the end of my last session when I experimented with second-year. Granted, I wasn't there long, but it did allow me to power out of that corner with more stability.

Turn two loved second gear, wish I was doing that all day.

Our cars are all geared differently, and I don't have an LSD, sometimes I just got to put the pedal to the metal!


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## cwsqbm (Aug 4, 2004)

ffej said:


> Other stuff happened, but nothing as drastic. //M3lissa got dive bombed by some
> azzhat in a red evo not once, but TWICE in the corkscrew. Once on the inside, once on the outside. No harm, but dude also broke other intermediate group rules several times.
> 
> Had my first "mirror to mirror passing in a turn" experience. Not *nearly* as scary as I would have thought a year ago.


Sounds a little less controlled than the schools I'm used to. An act like that at the events I've been to would get you kicked out.


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## ffej (Aug 17, 2005)

cwsqbm said:


> Sounds a little less controlled than the schools I'm used to. An act like that at the events I've been to would get you kicked out.


Which one?

This wasn't a BMWCCA school, more of an open lapping kind of day. The intermediate group has open passing in the straights (front, 4-5 & 6 - corkscrew) and pointbys required in other places.

The Advanced group is open passing anywhere, as long as you're not a reckless azz. The two mirror to mirror passes I had were actually pretty easy to deal with.

In one, I was passing a guy in an S4 in turn two who had taken a nice wide line the previous two laps. I was pretty much at his mirror on the inside by the time we were under the bridge on the front straight. Since he didn't seem to feel it was necessary to slow down enough to let me pass, I didn't feel it was necessary to give him the 20+ feet of track he wasn't even using in the turn before the second apex berm. By the time he got there on that lap, I was already past him and out at the exit.

In the other, a buddy of mine (IPrepared M3) was playing with a new Turbo Exige (NICE friggin car) and he passed me after the exit of 3. The Exige was right behind him and up next to me at the braking zone for 4, we turned in together, his inside line got him out of the turn faster than me and I just kept a little wide. No big deal, really.

The dive bombing, though...that's just bad. That guy had a co-driver in the advanced group, too, who was also a little bit of a tool, but not nearly so much. I'm not sure what that dude was trying to prove. A tiny bit of patience on his part and he would have walked away from our (as yet, still a little) underprepared M3 quite easily...


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## cruztopless (Sep 23, 2002)

Glad you two had a great time. All of your cars look great btw! I know one of the instructors and heard about the 2 offs and he showed me the pics of the z06 ... ouch. I've run with Unlimitedlaps at Thunderhill and it was a pretty good group. Thanks for sharing.


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## jvr826 (Apr 22, 2002)

Here's a link to a thread about the M3 incident, with pics of the damage. What a shame. The good news is, the guy is covered and his insurance is State Farm.

When I started this addiction two years ago, I called my SF agent to discuss my policy and he said as long as it's not racing, coverage would be based on the circumstances of the incident. This guy's car is a total loss and apparently he's covered and then some. I will keep an eye on it though to see what happens to his rates - over $24k in damage!

Ffej, he was out in the advanced group with you, wasn't he?


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## Jim44 (Feb 28, 2004)

ffej said:


> In one, I was passing a guy in an S4 in turn two who had taken a nice wide line the previous two laps. I was pretty much at his mirror on the inside by the time we were under the bridge on the front straight. Since he didn't seem to feel it was necessary to slow down enough to let me pass, I didn't feel it was necessary to give him the 20+ feet of track he wasn't even using in the turn before the second apex berm. By the time he got there on that lap, I was already past him and out at the exit.


Nice. This is the fun part for me, having to *think* my way past someone.



> The dive bombing, though...that's just bad. That guy had a co-driver in the advanced group, too, who was also a little bit of a tool, but not nearly so much. I'm not sure what that dude was trying to prove. A tiny bit of patience on his part and he would have walked away from our (as yet, still a little) underprepared M3 quite easily...


 Never quite understood that myself, but depending on how much of a clown they're being, I can work on my defensive line 

Jim - 4 days to the Laguna Club Race and counting!


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## ///M3lissa (Jun 23, 2005)

Jim44 said:


> Never quite understood that myself, but depending on how much of a clown they're being, I can work on my defensive line
> 
> Jim - 4 days to the Laguna Club Race and counting!


I noticed that I started to drive more defensively at this track day because of how some of the other drivers were (passing when they weren't supposed to). I actually enjoyed that aspect of it :angel:

Good luck at Laguna this weekend :thumbup:


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## Jim44 (Feb 28, 2004)

///M3lissa said:


> Good luck at Laguna this weekend :thumbup:


Thanks!

Jim


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