Yesterday at Hallett with Chuckles:

a.k.a. Alston Jennings. Chuckles has a 2010 Cobalt SS that he brought out to Hallett this weekend. This car has been warmed over by a race shop in Arkansas: more boost, some go fast parts, dyno tuned, serious suspension improvement. I rode with Alston for a track session on Saturday. Let me tell you folks that this car is SERIOUSLY FAST, and his suspension is extremely well-balanced. And Alston is a very fast driver who is far too modest about his track driving skill. Once the front tires came up to temperture, I could hear and feel all four tires working together to make maximum grip, and Aslton did a superb job of maintaining that grip and balance. On Friday he got a 1:29.9 best lap, and yesterday, with my 240 pounds of ballast in the right seat, he pulled off a 1:31 on the 7th lap on an ever-so-slightly damp track. In a single 15 minute session we ran down and passed: a new Mustang GT, a Camaro SS, a Camaro ZL-1, and a new C7 Corvette. Had a moment of exitement when we got dive-bombed 2/3 into the braking zone for Turn 1 by a fully race-prepped Viper ACR (dive-bomb passing is supposed to be a big no-no during HPDE sessions).

Annnnnd then, in the second session his MAP sensor died And we were reminded, once again, just how dumb auto parts stores can be. Unfortunately, he is going to have to wait until Monday, when the GM parts counters are open, to get the correct MAP sensor. At least his car is safely parked at the Stephens Race Shop on the track grounds.

Alston, I very much enjoyed meeting and riding with you!

1:30 is pretty darn quick at Hallett for a street car.

stuart in mn wrote: 1:30 is pretty darn quick at Hallett for a street car.

And a FWD street car at that! For context, Spec Racer Fords are typically in the mid-1:20's.

It's been a number of years now, but I used to come down to Hallett once or twice a year to race in SRF (I'm a cousin to the Stephens family.) I was mediocre at best so I had to work hard to get down in the mid 1:20s.

I hope Alston chimes in in the next day or two to comment. I am going to consider it an accomplishment if I can get myself and The Millenium Escort into the low 1:40s before the end of this season!

Aw, shucks. I've never been called modest before.

Confirming my phone message, the MAP sensor was a red herring. When I made a little off-track excursion, I broke the intercooler.

I'm glad to get the sub-30 out of the way as I'm too old to be chasing a lap time for another year. The Bridgestone 71Rs were apparently good for 1.5 seconds.

I can't wait to go back out to Hallett now that its been repaved in a quiet a few spots.

We were in the :36s in my 1.6 open diff Miata a few years ago on super old R888s