The black 911 with the gold bird on the hood looks like something I would own.
The black 911 with the gold bird on the hood looks like something I would own.
Cotton said:The black 911 with the gold bird on the hood looks like something I would own.
The license plate also reads BANDIT
The gold latice BBSs look nostalgically Pontiac also
And one of the drivers is Scott Coors out of Denver, so there may be a beer connection. 
spacecadet said:In reply to z31maniac :
Buffalo says it in the podcast... GO NOW!
I have friends who have never gone despite constantly trying and saying they would go.
I may have discussed this sometime before. I know I blew Pastrana's mind (and probably lost his respect forever) when I told him I had no idea who his team manager was, nor that he'd participated in OneLap. I never read the Car & Driver articles.
For me, everything started around 1999, and a Dodge Neon fanatic known as Dale Seely under the "Lake Effect Racing" team banner... who uploaded hilarious post-event reports onto a now defunct website. He attempted to post live-streams of the event, from his own mini-van back in 2005. He's the reason I finally got off the couch, onto a track, and eventually in to OneLap.
He wrote this back in 2004, and which I just now found this live version. Mazdeuce followed a recipe he didn't know, almost to the letter. Because he wasn't looking for a class win, he avoided the NOS. There's also a similar "I hear from people all the time about doing OneLap, but they never show up" that spacecadet mentioned.
There used to be a shirt that floated around the event to the effect of "Run with the Big Dogs, or Stay on the Porch". Being a Lap Dog has nothing to do with bringing a 911 GT3RS, GTR, or 1LE whatever... it has everything to do with showing up with a well-sorted and prepped car (Brakes!), and running it ably, attentively, and just within your limitations.
Life is too short to sit around and say "I'll do it someday, or when I finally have that [awesome car]". Don't do that. Stand by your family and financial responsibilities, don't take risks outside your ability to understand them... but beyond that, you have the means to be there next year.
Go. Go Now. Life is too short to sit on the porch.
I'd like to go again but considering I can barely get a hall pass to go to a 1 day auto-x, where I'm home by 4pm, I doubt I'll get a chance to run One Lap again.
sleepyhead said:
Renault, testing everyone’s OCD
Frengineering...
Heavy One Lap withdrawl this morning. Drove the kids to school in the Accord. It's still a good car.
Some numbers. 5800 miles on the nose. 200.46 gallons of regular gas costing $562.32 door to door. Cumulative mpg was 28.933 including all track time. Not as good as I hoped, but we had a lot of idling in grid and transits in the 75-80mph range. I'll call that acceptable for a track car.
I don't know what to do with myself today.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Your Accord does better MPG on track than my Mustang does commuting. I think you win there.
One of the Corvette guys (I think Pete with the C5 Z06) joked about the Monday after One Lap feeling like a 'reinsertion' into normal society. He wasn't kidding. It seems weird to not be starting my days scootering around a racetrack in some godforsaken part of the country trying to find things to aim at followed by driving really fast and then taking a stupidly long drive to do the same thing the next day... intermixed with joking with new friends and nightly solicitations for taking maple syrup/bourbon shots out of the back of a C6. That was the new normal. I miss it.
Nice to be surrounded by family again and back in my own bed at nights though. The food is definitely better. Plus I've discovered these odd things called 'vegetables' and 'fruits'. Though this 'job' thing leaves a bit to be desired...
"There used to be a shirt that floated around the event to the effect of "Run with the Big Dogs, or Stay on the Porch". Being a Lap Dog has nothing to do with bringing a 911 GT3RS, GTR, or 1LE whatever... it has everything to do with showing up with a well-sorted and prepped car (Brakes!), and running it ably, attentively, and just within your limitations."
this all day and twice on saturdays...
you'll never have the time unless you make the time. sign up. plan. go.
Away from the forum, on email, facebook and in real life, I've been talking to a lot of people about One Lap in the past couple of days. My genuine hope is that when I go to register next year I get waitlisted because every one of you sign up before me. Go be awesome.
mazdeuce - Seth said:Away from the forum, on email, facebook and in real life, I've been talking to a lot of people about One Lap in the past couple of days. My genuine hope is that when I go to register next year I get waitlisted because every one of you sign up before me. Go be awesome.
I'm jonesing so bad right now I'd do this bish alone if I had to next year. That would suck a little.... but I'd still do it.
In reply to bobzilla :
Other that the fact that you need a minimum of two drivers as stated in the rules, I like your enthusiasm. I would also suggest reading the rules.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
I was going with a blowup doll strapped into the passenger seat and wearing 2 different helmets and driver suits. Oh, I had this planned out.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth & bobzilla :
I don’t think that going to those extremes will be necessary.
Some people asked about the Teslas during the week.
Only 150 extra miles to get to superchargers during the week.
sleepyhead the buffalo said:In reply to mazdeuce - Seth & bobzilla :
I don’t think that going to those extremes will be necessary.
Are you sure? I already bought the doll.
In reply to bobzilla :
I'd bring it anyway even if you have a 2nd driver at this point. Might need a 3rd for some reason.
spacecadet said:In reply to z31maniac :
Buffalo says it in the podcast... GO NOW!
When seth and buffalo invited me last October I said yes without hesitation... I talked with buffalo about being his transit driver in 2017 in the early part of the year and for a while after - officially bowed out... I wondered if I missed my best shot to go....of the past 5 years...
So I was determined to make sure I went now.. I have friends who have never gone despite constantly trying and saying they would go.
Trust me I'd like too!
But wanting to doesn't magically give me the money or time to do so. I was all set to have a BUNCH of stuff paid off by the end of the year. Only for my mortgage company to have screwed up and now it's jumping $400/month and the next my girlfriends hours got cut from 40 to 15.
But I will make it happen.
Daylan C said:In reply to bobzilla :
I'd bring it anyway even if you have a 2nd driver at this point. Might need a 3rd for some reason.
Good call.
I'm listening to the SlipAngle (presented by Motoiq) episode and am at the part where the guy is talking about bringing the Big Bad Wolf. Seems like it'll be a fun episode.
In reply to minivan_racer :
I hope you enjoyed it. It was fun to do and even more fun to listen to because of the range of people involved. Robert Thorne has a closet full of national championship autocross jackets, but also raced the K-pax McLarens for a season or two. Scott is only a couple of years into the hobby and already has two One Laps and his first wheel to wheel race under his belt. Tim has played on the Ring while I spend more of my time taking things apart than actually driving. Pete is five years into the driving part of the hobby, has a couple of autocross nationals trips, and had now finished a One Lap and hasn't done a proper track day yet. We're all over the map, and we were all there doing the same wacky event.
so, I've probably got a multi-part recap thing to post up...
1) Insights that you might not have garnered from our and others' coverage
2) Camera and Electronics Experiments Takeaway
3) My own personal driving takeaways from my 7th OneLap attempt.
This post will focus on part 1)...
Comfort and Type2 Fun at OneLap:
Apexanimal, driving a stock motor, stripped, caged, suspended, braked and non-aeroed Miata placed 5th in SSGT2B, and 42nd overall. Despite being in an “uncomfortable” car, Apexanimal and Crewcheif were all smiles all week. They deployed superior driver and preparation mods, and reaped the rewards.
The truth is, you spend the most time sitting in grid waiting to go out, not driving to the next track. Use that time wisely, so you can focus your energy on your performance. Even if you’ve got a long transit in an uncomfortable car, you probably need to be asleep for 25-33% of it… and that’s why they make Bose Headsets and ASMR.
It’s possible to be miserable, sleep-deprived, and still make good decisions and have fun. Is it a good choice? Do all the comfort-inclined have a point? Sure? Maybe? It’s all about mindset and awareness; make conscious decisions, test it out yourself.
On Being Strategic
Class Structure
SSGT1BB, SSGT2SB, and Mid-Priced Sedan together made up more than 50% of the grid. However; Econo, Vintage, Alt Fuel, SUV, and Luxury all had 4 or fewer entries. You can be successful at OneLap without being in the Top 15, if you pick your class right (and read the rules about the classes).
Vintage this year probably had the best chance of notching a win, since all the cars had missed sessions, several were multiple. A win would have been hard, but a 2nd was do-able.
Luxury was the matter of dragging out some kind of big expensive depreciated sedan and going to have fun… with a non-zero chance of notching 2nd in class. First was probably out of range, since they finished in the Top 5.
Alt Fuel was dominated by the Teslas. But, this year was a shorter transit year, and I’m not sure how early they made it in each night. Brock adding a 300miles, in a different part of the country, and there’s a good chance they’re not back. Grab a GS450h, give it some brakes and tires, and get a class win?
Econo was 3 entries again this year. The 4cyl Camry is probably the benchmark, and placed 2nd, ahead of the Sonic. First was an 8th gen Civic making wonder whining supercharger noises. A fourth entry would have probably been battling for 2nd or 3rd trophy.
Being Strategic - Events & Scores
The wet skid pad and autocross events are important, especially if the autocross is in the first three days.
This is something that takes some time with the event to realize, or for me it took a little while to ‘grok’; and it’s probably less applicable to teams up at the pointy end, and more important for mid-rear pack participants:
Score the most points you can in the first 3 days.
Attrition took out 10 cars in the end, but there were sessions towards the middle/end of the week where there were 12 scores not recorded. The low point for entries were day 4 and day 5, where 65-66 times were recorded per session, taking ~60points out of the possible scoring mix, and making it that much harder to slip other cars between you and the cars around you.
Similarly, having a good setup, a good ‘feel’ driver, and some experience with the pad can give you a big gap out of the gate, compared to people that haven’t done a skid pad (wet or dry). One of the big reasons we didn’t end up All Remaining Cars, was because we nailed the first two events: the Wet Skid Pad, and the Autocross. Doing so gave us some margin for when we hit the big tracks where we were at a power disadvantage.
If you a Lap Puppy team, and you’re thinking about soliciting people to come along, I’d strongly encourage you to have one of your drivers prioritize getting autocross time in.
ok, wow... that ended up being a book. Guess I should get cracking on editing some photos from the dry skidpad.
The wet skidpad is one of the most interesting events to me, because you rarely see the leaders (Hollis being one notable exception) finishing at the top.
And while you might expect a Mclaren to do well in a handling contest, you certainly would not expect a Camry to tie with it would you? Yet that's what happened this year. and The toyota folks were able to garner themselves an extra 120-150 points compared to their usual finishing postions throughout the week.
Man, real life really slows me down. Here’s some pics from NCM:
I’ve got another ~35 that I’ll be posting up through the day, hopefully
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