Mazdeuce does One Lap

You get 10 BERK YEAHs!

What, no Fergus?

Sadness.

I'm so jelly, the strawberry jelly in the fridge is confused.

If not the tuba, at least bring a euphonium. That'll free up some space, and nobody knows the difference. Failing that, bring an empty tuba case, and you don't lose much space. It's just a big suitcase. Or roof racks?

This is going to be great. Sub'd.

In before the tuba

Looking forward to this a great deal. I already know the answer to the Q. of 'Can I do the one lap please dear' and it's the same as most of my questions. 'Sure, earn the money and you can buy any car you want and do what you want with it' The trouble is the base amount for that to happen differs between her figuring and mine. By my figuring I could do it already in a Porsche Cayman S or a Shelby Mustang, but by her reconing I think I'm still a couple of hundred $k away from that point :( BAck to scrubbing the dishes and cleaning the floors for Bob Costas whipped me.

So I really want to see what the true costs are so I can feel better about not doing it.

Tuba case tool box. Problem solved.

Get ready to plaster that baby with lots of decals!

Fr3AkAzOiD wrote: Tuba case tool box. Problem solved.

That's.......that's actually kind of brilliant.

Wagon doing wagon stuff. We're NEVER late for school. [URL=http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/mazdeuce/media/

Will the stock pads hold up to track duty? I'm assuming yes, but you never know.

Sweet! It will be fun to follow you through the event. Looking forward to updates as you prepare.

Tuba or not to Tuba, that is the question. OK some body had to say it. Seriously though, very cool. Every year I think about doing this, just haven't done it yet. Maybe you already said this and I missed it but How many driver's will there be?

Harvey wrote: Will the stock pads hold up to track duty? I'm assuming yes, but you never know.

I'd want to throw on a set of track oriented pads just to be sure, that and double/triple check everything maintenance wise, and have a brand new sticker set of tires ordered/installed at tire rack the day before or something like that. Even then they'll probably be toast by the end of it.

That does it. I want one of those wagons now.

yamaha wrote:

Harvey wrote: Will the stock pads hold up to track duty? I'm assuming yes, but you never know.

I'd want to throw on a set of track oriented pads just to be sure, that and double/triple check everything maintenance wise, and have a brand new sticker set of tires ordered/installed at tire rack the day before or something like that. Even then they'll probably be toast by the end of it.

That's the plan for tires. Have Tire Rack put on brand new tires the first day, and have them be dead at the finish. Hopefully we can stash the take offs at Tire Rack for the return trip or have my brother in law (who lives 20 minutes from South Bend) hold onto them for the week so we have tires to drive back to Texas on.
The stock brake pads are pretty damn good, at least for my driving style. Prior to this weekend they had just over 70% pad left on the front and 80% on the rear. They have 7800 street miles, 30ish autocross runs and four track days (four 20 minute sessions a day) on them. They are made by Brembo in Italy. I'll start the drive with a completely fresh set of pads, and a spare set with a couple of track sessions to bed them. A set of stock brake pads for all four corners runs $350 shipped from Rock Auto so I'm planning on burning through $700 in pads. Ouch. The good news is that it takes less than five minutes a wheel to change pads, so at least I have that.

We'll have two drivers, myself and a good friend who I trust with the car. I will be driving all of the competition sessions, and he'll get a chance to drive any extra 'fun' sessions or last chance sessions at 80% or so. He's probably faster than me in all honesty, but it's my car and both of us have agreed that we're more comfortable with me assuming the risk on track.
Since this is 'my' One Lap, I'll be carrying pretty much all of the expenses. Entry this year is $3000, a set of tires is around $900, gas will be a LOT (cost estimste later) I still need a fire suit, and some other stuff. We'll split accomodations and food.
When I first talked to my wife about this I told her it was likely to cost me $10,000 to prepare myself and the car and do the event. We'll see how close I come.

I'm going to divide costs into pre-event costs, and event costs. Pre-event costs are what I spend getting ready. Safety gear, required track experience, consumables for track experience, that sort of thing. These costs will vary wildly. If you start with nothing but a car and some autocross experience they can cost quite a lot, if you're experienced on track, own all the gear and just need to show up at the start it could cost you pretty much nothing to get ready.
Event costs will be entry fee, consumables during the event, hotels, food and all of that.

I did One Lap in 2003, you're going to have a great time.

Make sure the new pads are bedded in and maybe consider brake ducts for the front. You mentioned already doing track days, so you already know if you need those.

The wagon will be handy for sleeping in, even if you get hotels, a nap at the track isn't a bad thing. Bring a good pillow. Try to get a 'proper meal' every now and then. Track food and drive-thru gets old fast. Drink lots of water.

Devise a plan for packing/unpacking the car quickly. Once done with your session, you'll want to get on the road right away.

Take lots of pictures maybe some go-pro vids.

Pre-event so far:
I started with a stock car, and my autocross helmet. No track experience. You need track experience to be able to enter the event. I am getting mine through NASA Texas and their DE program. Entry for a two day weekend is $300. I've done three so far and will do at least one more before One Lap. This is more than is required, but I feel that at this point, more is better, especially any experience with new tracks and coming up to speed quickly on them. One of the tracks is local, MSR Houston, and the other three are out of town. With gas, hotels and food all averaged in, it come out to about $500 a weekend, four weekends, $2,000.
I have a SA2010 helmet already but after my first track weekend I bought a Simpson R3 HNR. This was $700 (I think?) The R3 gives you some level of protection is a car that isn't using a proper harness. Is it as good as a HANS and a harness? No, but it's cheaper than a single ambulance ride and it's good peace of mind.
I've burned through one set of brake pads at $350, on set of Hankook RS3's at about $1000 for tires shipped, mounted, and flipped on the wheels once. The wheels I have for the event are TSW Nurburgring in 18x9.5. They were $288 each from Discount Tire Direct, something like $1200 shipped.
Add all of that up and I'm at $5250 and I haven't bought my fire suit yet.
Do me a favor and don't show my wife this thread, OK?

I already need to amend something I wrote earlier. My tire plan has changed.
Brock Yates just called to chat and give me some pointers and to let me know he's reading this thread.
He suggested that I get the new tires mounted at home and drive them up. This will clear them of mold release and give them a few heat cycles to toughen them up a bit and help prevent chunking. It will also prevent me from being 'that guy' who shows up at Tire Rack (which is NOT a tire store) hoping to get tires put on. Apparently they'll do it, but they'll do it in the way that people help the old and infirm because they feel sorry for them.
So......Brock is cool, he's watching us, and I entered last night and am already an idiot. The world is working just about how it should.

Too cool. I'll have to get to NCM to see you in action!

In reply to mazdeuce:

Hmm, touche....good to know the legend himself is watching over us. Thinking back, it would make more sense to not get them done there with an event going on. I've always just taken a day and run the 2hr north to pick up and have them installed, but never when an event is going on. Every time I have asked the sales person in advance though.

I'll have to remember what day they come through Grissom, if free I'll have to swing by and hang out.

1-awesome. 2-tuba case for storage! 3-consider a lightweight pop up camper like mine to cut down on hotel costs and sell it after the event. The V can haul a 1200 pound trailer easily.