Tag Archives: Corvette

Portland Trip: Day 6 – The Ridge Motorsports Park

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August 28, 2014

I wake up before six and am out the door by a quarter after. Fuel up and drive the eight miles to track.

I’m running the first day of a two day event put on by Hooked On Driving. At first I thought it was a bit on the expensive side, nearly twice what I normally pay for a track day. But if I had never done a track day before, this would be a good way to start. These guys are quite organized. When I check in I receive a packet with name tag, schedule, track map, and group sticker for the car. I’m in group B, intermediate. There’s the usual drivers meeting before we start, then each run group has a meeting of their own. Also, we have a “download” meeting after each session. I found this very helpful, particularly as this would be my only day on this track and it enabled me to make the most of it.

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My neighbors in the paddock

There was no tech inspection. I submitted a tech form which amounted to my signature and I think that’s all HOD wants for the season. They did inspect my helmet and apply a fancy sticker They have an air compressor set up for the general use, which I found very handy. They also have enough water and Gatorade for everybody to remain well hydrated.

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Corvette Z-51

One of HOD’s sponsors is Chevy. They had a Corvette Z-51 there available for test drives. I got mine scheduled for late in the day. Group A drivers could only ride but all other groups had their choice of riding or driving. I rode, thinking it would be a faster ride with one of their “coaches” behind the wheel. Unfortunately, he said he had to keep it under 5000 rpm and in sport mode. That meant traction control was on. He could mash the gas in the turn and nothing would happen until the car got through the turn. It wasn’t as fast as I hoped. I should have guessed, as I had passed it a couple of times during the day.

We ran five sessions, four of 20 minutes, one of 25. I forgot to turn on the camera for one session. I was consistently improving throughout the day. I improved my time on nearly every lap, except when I caught traffic or pointed someone by.

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GT-40 kit car

Weather was overcast in the morning, and cool. The overcast broke into scattered clouds by lunch time. I ran topless the afternoon two sessions. With the top off, I experienced quite a bit of turbulence. At my usual elevation, I haven’t gotten the car over 114. Here at sea level I was able to hit 120 (which is the fastest I’ve managed to get the car to go since I bought it). That got my head bouncing around quite a bit.

They put me in B group because I told them I’ve done a couple dozen track days. I noticed the group A guys were getting coaches to write comments in a log book. I’ve never had to do that. The B group was mostly Porsches. Also in the group: an Audi TT, an Ariel Atom, a WRX, a Miata, a Mini. The TT and I were running very similar times. One session I pointed him by early, a few laps later he pointed me by.

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Lotus 2-Eleven

I really like the track. I found it very challenging. It is draped along a ridge with the paddock at the base. That makes it a poor track for spectators – just the long straight and the corkscrew turn that leads to it visible. It has apexes on crests, blind apexes, off camber turns, dips and swales, turns of every speed and radius. Facilities were meager. The paddock is paved but small compared to HPR. No gas on the premises, but available only 10 minutes away.

Today’s video has really bad sound for some reason: all wind noise. The engine is only sometimes audible. Very disappointing. I’ll put a highlight reel together, but I’ll have to put music over it. I’m still putting the video together – it will be a few days before I manage to get it posted.

IMG_5967sI have a reservation at the Marriott a couple miles from Portland International Raceway. The drive from Shelton is Interstate all the way, but fairly scenic. I arrived at the hotel right at dark. There was a nice classic Jag parked by the door on a battery tender. It was moved into a nice reserved spot in the garage by the time I made my second trip to the car. Although I didn’t figure it out at the time, it was obviously there for the All British Field Meet (the day after my PIR track day).

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Classic Jag

Cars & Coffee & Pinball

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The first Saturday of every month a bunch of car lovers get together at 95th and Arapahoe in Lafayette. I try to show up every few months to see what sort of vehicles show up. Today was the biggest turnout I’ve seen there. A lot of these types of events are dominated by hot rods or muscle cars. This one gets a great turnout of exotics. I’ve never seen fewer than a half dozen Ferraris and, a wide variety of Porsches from different eras, a sampling of Corvettes, Jags, Astins, and so on.

I ordered a battery grip for the SLR, but it hasn’t arrived yet. So all these pics from the cell phone.

There always seems to be a Morgan or two. Not sure that I’ve seen the same one twice. Today it was a three wheeler.Morgan 3 WheelerThis was another surprise. Don’t see too many of these.WillysWalked by a Tesla S twice without giving it a second glance. At first, I thought it was a Porsche Panamera. Then somebody said “both trunks are empty.” Ah, yes. Something’s missing!

Boulder is full of Audis, but I don’t think I’ve seen an A7 before. I’m not a big fan of matte paints, but I like the lines.Audi A7These things start pretty early with the first people arriving about 7am. I’m not sure how long people are there, but people are coming and going all morning. Every now and then, somebody will make a rather noisy arrival or departure. About an hour after I arrived, this pulled into a spot:Corvette!

It didn’t take long to see this isn’t really a Corvette. Usually, they put the engines in the front.Corvette?He left at the same time I did. Or, he tried. Got it out of this spot and into everybody’s way before stalling it. And unable to get it going again. A bunch of people had to push him back into the spot. That’s gotta be embarrassing, with dozens of people watching.

No Ford GT’s today, but this pretty Noble showed up. I’ve seen a couple of these but I think this had the best paint – a bright, pearlescent yellow.Noble

I don’t think we’ve had Lamborghinis every time, but today I saw three or four. All driven by young guys, which I find surprising. Usually it’s the older guys who have the kind of coin it takes to own and operate one. I find them a bit over the top. But you don’t see too many purple ones, so I couldn’t resist. LamborghiniThat was this morning. This afternoon, Chris came over and we drove up to Lyons to play some pinball. I’ve been meaning to do this for quite a while but somehow never got around to inviting him.

He showed up here at 1pm and we headed north. They were closed when we got there – I didn’t bother to check first, but they don’t open until 3. So we went next door to Oskar Blues for beer and chat. It was not long after three when we finished our beers and the place was already pretty busy. At least half the machines were in play.

Joust

We played Banzai Run, Black Knight, Captain Fantastic, Joust, Space Time, Strikes and Spares, and Wizard. I had played Banzai Run before in Lyons and enjoyed it. Joust I’d never seen before, and the others I’ve played many times at other places. Joust is an odd one. Although it can be played solo, the idea is two players compete. The players stand facing each other and the table is peaked in the middle – balls can pass from one side to the other. The idea is to hit your targets but not the other player’s. It’s loosely based on the video game of the same name. One annoying feature is that every time you press a flipper button, it makes a little dragon noise from the video game.