#roadatl

New Post has been published on http://www.eatsleeptinker.com/2015/06/03/2015-mitty-at-road-atlanta-2/

2015 Mitty at Road Atlanta

Yes I know I’m way behind in posting updates to the blog.  I’ve been somewhat overburdened with getting my Spec E46 ready for racing.  I’ve found myself in a recent lull in car work, so I might as well get you caught up with my latest automotive and motorsports ventures.

Moving back home to the East Coast has certainly made it much easier to attend the broad range of auto-related events held east of the Mississippi.  Last Fall I attended the Eurofest car show at the BMW plant in Greer and more recently the Rolex 24 at Daytona.  I still haven’t made it to the Savannah/Hilton Head auto week, Amelia Island, or the Vintage in Salem, but I did have an opportunity to swing by the Mitty at Road Atlanta.

For a brief snapshot of the Mitty, I might as well go to the official description:

The Mitty is recognized as one of North America’s most prestigious vintage racing events. Sanctioned by Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR), The Mitty attracts a diverse lineup of legendary machines from all eras and brings them back on track just as they raced in their glory years. It’s like a living, breathing museum of racing history unleashed on the famous Road Atlanta circuit. Whether your interest is Can-Am, F1, Trans-Am, Camel GTP, or even NASCAR- you’ll find a great lineup of cars that is sure to bring back memories.

My father and I made a day trip out of it, having just a 3 hour one-way drive to the event.  We took my ’98 M3/4/5 (that’s M3, 4 doors, 5 speed) so as to better blend in with the featured marque crowd.  The trip was dual purposed, as I also was picking up a new AiM Smarty Cam HD rev 2 from driving coach Peter Krause who was on hand helping some big-bucks teams with their squiggly lines.

After linking up with Peter and getting a quick tutorial on setting up the camera, my father and I just roamed the paddock at length.  There was plenty of precious metal to gawk at.  Things like Zagato Astons, Lightweight E-types, Mclaren CanAm prototypes, and of course plenty of vintage Bimmers.

We then moved over to the infield area, walked the pro-paddock where we had the luck to catch the BMW heritage race cars lined up in the hot pits.  They weren’t running yet and no one seemed opposed to me hopping the barrier for a closer look.  They had the PTG E36 in its Yokahama red, white, and black livery, the winning number 6 at that.  Also the later PTG E46 in PFC sponsorship trim.  Behind those two was the famous “Batmobile” CSL coupe, as seen in the official poster at the top of the page.  Bringing up the rear was a current Team RLL Z4 GTLM car, painted in throwback livery to match the CSL and commerate the ’75 Sebring win.

Just as I was about to move on, up came a golf cart loaded with drivers.  Now I’m not the longest running road race fan, so I can’t name too many drivers, but Boris Said is a bit hard to miss.  Wearing street clothes, he hopped over the barrier and climbed in the E36M3.  A few seconds later all four cars were snorting and burbling.  They took off, not to race, but to bring the cars around to the pit entrance to be loaded on the carrier back to RLL’s base.

http://www.eatsleeptinker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BMW_Vintage.mp4

New Post has been published on http://www.eatsleeptinker.com/2014/12/12/chin-motorsports-rdatl-30nov14/

Chin Motorsports @ RDATL 30NOV14

My last trip to Road Atlanta was my first time at the Braselton, GA track, and it instantly became my favorite course.  The combination of flowing rhythmic sections, coupled with big elevation changes, and just the right amount of fast sections make it a great track for even street oriented cars like my E36 M3.

I signed up at the last minute, literally the day before the event began, but was fortunate to get a spot on Sunday.  I just wanted one day, something Chin usually does for solo’d drivers.  Since I haven’t run with Chin east of the Mississippi, I was given provisional solo status, which would mean a check out ride with an instructor in the morning.

I ran the track during the morning warm-up by myself, just to make sure I remembered the track and the car was alright.  Then for the first session I had an instructor for the first session.  Strange that I had been grouped into “Blue” on all previous Chin events, but now I was running in Green/Yellow.  I suppose they are a bit more picky given that they are actually selling out their groups at these more established tracks than the newer ones they were just starting to run in Texas.

The local Nissan GTR club must have organized a group run, as there were tons in attendance.  Plenty of novices too, which made things a bit interesting given their speed capabilities.  Fortunately everyone played nice, though we were limited to passing on the straights, which hadn’t been the case when I ran in September with the CCA.  So some of the higher powered cars had to be a bit judicious with their throttle application and allowing slower cars like my 16 year old BMW around.

The weather was perfect for the weekend, nice and cool, not cold and no rain.  The track was as grippy as I remembered it from last time, and the car ran well.  The power steering lines even managed to stay connected!

My lap times also improved a bit, managing to break into the 1:47’s from my previous best of 1:50:58.  Actually that’s quite a bit of an improvement, and I think I probably did a bit better.  I had purchased a new phone after my last track day and forgot to pair it to my external Bluetooth GPS receiver, so all the times were based off a 1hz refresh rate.  So essentially the exact points where I crossed the Start/Finish may be skewed.   Either way it was fun to get back out on the track, especially one as rewarding as Road Atlanta.

My cousin even came down from Upstate SC to spectate, taking his E46 M3 out for the parade laps.  I even convinced him to take a ride with me during a session, something my father continues to refuse after his life altering experience around Texas World Speedway in a very fast S52 M Coupe.