NASA-AZ Bondurant West May 31, 2014 Early AM

Brief

NASA-AZ held its “Spring Finale” at Wild Horse Pass West Track early in the morning on May 31, 2014.  This was my first ever early morning event and it was totally worth getting up a *little* early.  The Bondurant West Track is a perennial local favorite here in Arizona.  It is local, available and convenient.  Yeah, it doesn’t have a lot of elevation change… but it has a superb paddock, grid and Track-on / Track-off setup.  For me, your humble author, it was the very first track I ever drove with NASA (in the pouring rain) and so will always have a place in my cold, damp heart.

Best of all we had the outstanding support of our local Arizona corner workers supporting the drivers at every turn.  I was at a recent event where I saw about 50% of the corner workers not even watching the race, backs turned to the oncoming cars.  I can tell you from personal experience that our corner workers are an outstanding resource preceding and during an “on-track event”.  They are our eyes and ears into the car and track conditions and our thanks go out for helping to make this all happen on the hot long days.

This morning event was a Time Trial and Time Attack points event and a great turnout for HPDE classes, but was not a Race Group points event.  So for many this was a rare occasion to mix it up with the TT / Race cars and it made for a great variety of speeds and track presence.  With the gates opening at 4am many were arriving in the morning darkness and getting things setup for the action. As usual our tasty Lulu’s Taco Truck was there to provide food and beverages.

Our next event is in July with SOCAL at Willow Springs, sign up early for discounted pricing: https://www.drivenasa.com/event/1856

HPDE

HPDE had a great turnout this event with the regular cadre of instructors, drivers and cars.  The West track is always great location for new drivers since it affords a great viewing platform right on the paddock to see the entire track and visualize the corners and straights.    HPDE One is the place where our new drivers come for initial track experience and learn about flags, track etiquette, mirror and seating position of the cars and get an introduction into high performance driving.  Once HPDE One has been mastered the instructors coordinate advancement into HPDE 2, 3 and 4 with increasing levels of skills, speed and performance.

West DE1

Congrats to drivers that have advanced through the various levels.  Next begin to set your sights on points events such as Time Attack and Time Trial and even race group.  There is a real pleasure in watching your points accrue through the year as you participate in the various events.

Additionally, keep in mind that there is a “Competition School” coming up later this year, most likely to be held at Inde Motorsports Ranch in Wilcox Arizona.  This is a superb training venue to drive much deeper into the rules, flags, techniques that come with high performance driving.  Even if you intend to spend another year in HPDE events, having completed Comp-School will give you far more knowledge and make you a better driver overall.  Speak with your Group Leader, mentor or Tage to discuss a plan to participate in this exceptional value in driving education.

 

UMS Tuning Time Attack

The Time Attack Series sponsored by UMS Tuning (http://www.umstuning.com/) was treated to the most heat of the day, starting at 10:35am and running a 15 minute session.  By this time of day it was a solid 100 degrees at least and felt like a bit more.    Our cars struggle in every way with this type of condition due to high induction air temperatures leading to high “density altitude” which robs power and causes engine computers to reduce power in an attempt maintain engine health.  Brakes, tires, drivers and every other component suffer exponentially more in the hot summer weather.  But what else was there to do this Saturday morning??

We had 9 drivers compete in this Time Attack event and below are the highlights and links to Season Points.  These smaller events are a good chance to pick up some extra points which just may make a big difference come December!

TA-A

  1. Aaron Hiar – 01:09.177
  2. Todd Hiar – 01:09.483
  3. Brendan Garvey – 01:11.424
  4. Jake Casto – 01:12.717
  5. Jeremy Nosko – 01:13.289
  6. Jon Via – OMG SO Fast~!

TA-B

  1. Philip Robles – 01:05.235
  2. Jeff Abrams – 01:05.791
  3. Eric Kennel – 01:07.675 :: 85pts

Official Season Points Standings updated here: http://forums.nasaaz.com/showthread.php?p=56058

 

Time Trial

Time Trial was mixed with Race Group (test / tune) for 3 relatively short 15 minute sessions starting at approximately 6am, 8am and 9am.  This format leaves very little room for adjusting and tuning between sessions with most drivers content to just find some shade and hydration.

West Morning TTBecause of the combined nature of this event all drivers participated in the briefing and debriefing (aka “download”) moderated by Jeremy Renshaw to review the rules and procedures specific to this unique competition.

At the moment of writing the Time Trial points and results have not been posted, please standby for the official announcement on our excellent forum:  http://forums.nasaaz.com/index.php

 

What’s Next??  Socal Crossover in Rosamond, CA!  Join us at Willow Springs track in Rosamond, CA:  https://www.drivenasa.com/event/1856

Please keep an eye on the forum for more details on this July event and make sure that cooling system (and beverage cooler..) is up to speed!

Author:  Tom Johnson ([email protected] / 602-628-2701)