May 13th Track Day in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Honda/Ecotec Atoms attending!

[Alec]

Good luck at the 'ring and with the new arrival.

Will definitely have to meet up and the Lakes sounds ideal.

There's going to be a new Atom soon, which is being shared between someone from Aberdeen and someone from the Wirral, just over the Mersey from me.

When they are changing over who has it maybe we could combine it with a meeting where one of us accompanies them on each half of the journey with a bit of a run when we are all together in the middle.

[Bottoz]

Less than a week away! I'll bring both of my sets of tires and hopefully to see how much of a time difference I get. I'll also see if the Ecotec Fan reversal makes a difference in AIT2 temps.

McFred, does the track rent transponders or will we just stopwatch it? And, is there any room for a few more cars? I have a C5 Z06 that want's to play.

[McFred]

Here's the info from the last WBI email sent:

[quote="Wallace"]Cost is $80 per car and gates open at 7:30 [Sunday morning]. Drivers' meeting 8:45. First car on at 9:00[/quote]

I don't think they rent transponders but I will talk to Wallace he's got a GPS unit that could be fun to borrow, otherwise It's usually by stop watch in my experince.  I know Sandia has the system but I don't know about the in-car units.

This is an unrestricted track day.  You will see everything from Honda Civics and spec Miatas all the way up to GT40s and Vipers.  There'll probably be a horde of STIs if the Suburu club gets wind of the track event.  There will likely be a Blue C5 Z06 and a yellow C6 Z06 to keep your friend company.  Run groups will be separated by approximate lap time.  Passing is only to be done on the front and rear straights, it's not a race just a track day.

This's gonna be so fun. 

It's too bad that RyanD can't make it.  Perhaps another time.  Arroyo Seco Time Attacks are at the end of the month. Might have to call in sick to work for that one. 

[Bottoz]

Ok. Sweet. I'll see if my Z06 friend and Audi A4 friend want to come down. If they do, I suppose we'll get a Hotel for Saturday night. If not, do they allow camping at the track?

[McFred]

Hmm, not too sure about that.  Might have to give them a call directly for that one there's a couple numbers you can call on the track homepage.  I don't see why they wouldn't let you but the facilities might be a little scant after hours.  Also if you're coming kinda early in the AM on Saturday you could drop by the Donut Derelicts carshow  'Vettes, GT40s and other stuff is likely to show up weather permitting.  I guess it's a weekly thing.

[Bottoz]

I won't get into town till the evening, and my other buddies can't make it. Know any good cheep hotels near the track?

[DarthChicken]

Well... how was it guys? 

[Bottoz]

Holy Crap. I just got in... unloaded... showered. 6 hours there, 6 hours back. I filled up one miniDV tape with video... and half on another. I'll try and edit/post some video tomorrow after work. SUPER BIG THANKS to McFred for letting me crash at their house Saturday night!

[McFred]

It was a lot of fun.  It got kinda hot (for may) but I'm not sure if that was a bad thing or not.  Here's some video from a mountain bike cam; the sound is really bad but it's better than just wind noise I guess:



Also a couple pics stolen from another board:




http://racingsouthwest.com/forums/index ... opic=43666

[1965Cobra427]

Awesome experience, wish I was there. Looked like a really open track with lots of room and realtively few cars. Great for working on your times. Did you guys do lap timing? If so, how did you compare with the other cars? Thanks for the video - it gave me my fix for today.

[John Lloyd]

Great video. 

[Bottoz]

Thanks for posting the Video clips!
I've got a few pics... and over an hour of video I need to review, edit and upload. Yes Randy, it was a pretty open track. We had about 7 cars in our group spaced out on an 1.65 mile 14 turn track. So there was plenty of room to play with. Sandia is quite the technical course.... mess up one braking zone and you'll be up close and personal with someones old tires!

It was AWESOME playing cat and mouse with McFred's Atom. He gave me a point by... I'd lead for a bit. I'd give a point by... I'd follow for a bit. Seeing another Atom on the track (and even in person) brings a huge smile to my face. It was also cool seeing all the little differences between the K20a and the LSJ.

I chased around a C6 Z06 with massive 345 wide R-compound tires. He had more balls than I did approaching the walls at turns 13 and 14, so he carried more speed into those two corners and down the straight. But, by mid course I was back on his bumper. He said he was getting around 1:31's.... I can only assume I was around or slower than a 1:31. But the day wasn't about times. It was about having a BLAST 'round a twisty track with another super cool Atom dude!

[Bottoz]

Video HERE.

I ran out of film during our Atom cat and mouse laps.  I brought two miniDV tapes, and the first one filled up right as we began to have some fun. This is the video from the second tape.

[Bottoz]

Finally uploaded the pics from 2 weekends ago.

Click pics for larger images.







And this one... after looking at it again I noticed something different. I had to go into the garage and see if something was wrong with my Atom. How many differences can you spot?

[Bruce Fielding]

[quote="Bottoz"]
How many differences can you spot?
[/quote]

5