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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Pocono '09 Day 3:Beautiful Day on Monday. We enjoyed ~70 and a bit breezy during the second and final track day of this year's
event. I have updated the gallery with a bit of a cross-section of photographs from the track. http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm308/3zero/Pocono09/ Only one incident marred an otherwise perfect day, as an acquaintance of ours lost control coming out of the last
turn and stuffed his very quick RX-7 into the outside wall. The gentleman driver was unharmed. Some in-car video
from the GT2 will be forthcoming. -Wheelman out
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Pocono '09 Day 2In spite of a rather dismal looking morning, the day actually shaped up to be a rather pleasant day at the track.
The rain had stopped by the time we reached the track in the morning, but it was still colder than normal (mid 50's)
and a stiff breeze didn't help anything. The track was still pretty wet by the time the first run groups started,
but a dry line had formed by the afternoon sessions, so all was good. The Automobili Lamborghini folks were demo-ing
the new LP640 SV (for Super Veloce'). They are pretty insane looking (typical last-iteration Lamborghini fare).
Otherwise, attendance was fairly sparse on account of the weather, but good times were had by all that were there. I
didn't get started early enough to get any of the couple-hundred pictures from the track today posted, but hopefully I
will get a chance to throw a few up tomorrow. 'til then!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Pocono '09 Day 1:Rain..... This was the lightest turn out for the car show that I have seen in probably 10 years (since the last time
it rained). The Cadillac Allante' club showed up in force though. I suppose they should also look at letting
some Chrysler products onto the lawn now, since they are owned by Fiat and all.... Still managed to take a few pictures
and upload them in spite of the molases connection here in BFN, Pennsylvania. http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm308/3zero/Pocono09/Oh well, hopefully the weather will at least allow one or two good days at the track. Fingers Crossed. -Wheelman
out
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
I can't get that...I'm in the zone.For those that don't get the title: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWM5EYI65wo
Yes, I've been a bit preoccupied lately. Since the track day at Bluegrass Motorsports got pushed
to 7/17, I wanted to find something to do. I found a NASA HPDE at Road Atlanta, and I do not regret that decision.
Everything went well, car survived, blah blah. Now I get to turn right around and head up to Pocono, PA
for the Le Belle Macchine D'Italia meet. I should return thoroughly jaded by having seen pretty much every modern
Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati along with some classic fav's like DeTomaso Panteras & Mangustas. Throw in
the odd Koenigsegg, Z06, and the Porsche GT2 we are sneaking in to the pasta-fest and you have quite a collection.
I will of course post copious pictures upon my return.
-Wheelman out.
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Nashville Super Speedway: End of an Era....for now.
I've only driven NSS
on one other occasion....one other not-very-successful occasion. So I feel
it's only fitting that the track that highlighted the extent of the problems with one of my cars also serve, in possibly
one of it's last-hosted events to fully vet the renewed fitness of my other car. 4 full sessions and a bit for fun,
nearly 70 laps, and a 300mile round trip to and from....with no issues what-so-ever (knock on wood out of habit).
Friday Nights in the Old City: The Knoxville "UTDM" meet.
You
may recall my last article describing the great atmosphere, massive turn-outs, and unfortunate dispersal of this meet in it's original manifestation
and wonder why it's cropped back up as a headline on the site. Well, it seems reports of the event's demise
may have been somewhat premature. A few enterprising folks took the initiative, moved the location to a public parking
area under a bridge, next to some railroad tracks, in the old city....and even went so far as calling ahead to KPD.
As a result, UTDM rides again! In honor of this momentous occasion (and as an excuse to play with my video editor, and
take more pictures of the NSX) I've compiled the requisite cheesy video:
Pocono 2011. Setting a new record for late updates on 3-Zero.net: So, amidst my own vehicular trial
& error, we arrive at the time for our annual pilgrimage up north. My plan was laudable: Take my lap-top,
run the usual mini-blog on Sports Car Frenzy and TennSpeed, then dutifully update this site shortly after returning. Well, 2/3 isn't bad I suppose. Much to the chagrin
of my hypothetical/imaginary readers here, I became thoroughly distracted with shaking-down my recently resurrected NSX and
consequently failed brutally at web-mastering. Ok. Enough with The excuses. The forum links above will take you to a general account of the proceedings,
and the pretty pictures below link to many more, nearly-equally-pretty pictures.
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Driving an irregular oval - Nashville Superspeedway: My inability, thus far, to crack
the mystery surrounding the MR2's cooling system has festered into a point of acute personal shame. History provides
a veritable cornucopia of solutions for such indignity: wearing a scarlet letter, becoming a hermit, Seppuku, etc...
However, since I'm really not handy with a sewing kit, the housing market is crap, and I really can't be bothered
to die right now, I figured I might have better luck just fixing the problem. However, I first must find that which
requires fixing, and the only way to find said "that" involves looking for the problem in the only environment where
it occurs: the racetrack. Enter a conveniently timed event at Nashville Superspeedway, hosted by the Music City Mustang Club. The 1.8
mile "road course" configuration provided a test bed for the cooling system. I trailered the MR2 to the event,
splashed for a garage bay, and brought the proverbial bag of tricks with me. After 3.1 sessions of driving, and several
hours roasting myself over the hot engine bay, the problems persist, but I eliminated numerous variables. Naturally,
it's nothing simple or easy. With that said, I did manage a little fun on the track, some of which I have shared
below:
Video:
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