I just came back from Pocono Raceway where I did the SRT Experience. What a blast that was. Morning started off doing casual laps around the track getting to know the cars .. 300SRT8, JeepSRT8, ChallengerSRT8 and ChargerSRT8. Everyone did 2 laps with each car following the instructor around the course. The group was split into two teams ... Shake n Bake and Buttercup. I was on the Buttercup team.
After the warm up laps it was time to do 3 laps (2 in the charger, 1 in the jeep) around the autocross course. I had never been autocrossing before and was slightly intimidated. If I placed middle of the pack I would have been happy. My first lap was decent. I didn't knock any cones over and my only mistake was not getting the charger inside the stop box. My time was 35.43 + a 5 second penalty. My second run was much better. Again it was a clean run and my time was down to 33.21 with no penalties. Then it was time for the jeep. My confidence was pretty good at this point as I was near the top of the pack and had had two clean runs. In the jeep I was able to rip out a 30.49 enough to put me into first place on my team (at the end of the day I placed third between the two teams the difference between 1st and third was less than .4s).
After lunch it was time for head to head. It was a small autocross course in the shape of a figure 8. Both drivers would start at the same time. Complete half the course and have to stop inside to stop box completely. The cars would be opposite sides of the track where we started. Then finish the second half of the course and end where we started. I did really well in that session. I had only one loss due to the fact that the nanny controls kicked in and slowed me down just enough to lose that race. I lost by less than .2s ... At this point my competitive streak and kicked in and I was pretty upset, but oh well.
Then it was back to the road course for balls out in each of the 4 cars. This was a lot of fun, but not as much as the AX or the H2H. We were breaking speeds of 110mph and going through the corners required much more concentration than in the morning session. I could tell that I was much more tense when I watched my videos. In the morning I was all chatty while during this session I barely said a word.
The afternoon ended with Hot Laps where we rode with the instructor while they drove the cars basically to the limit. As I mentioned, I placed first on my team and third overall which was good enough to win me a ride in a competition Viper. We hit speeds of up to 180mph and not once did I feel like anything was ever out of control. This car stuck to the road like flies on shit. No drama whatsoever. My friend Ed took his hot lap in the Challenger and he got out and basically had to empty his pants into the crapper. The instructor disabled all the nanny stuff and took the car to the limits. The back end was breaking loose through the corners, etc ... He had the time of his life. I almost wish my ride had been like that.
Overall this was a great trip and I had been toying with the idea of AX'ing my speed6. This has me definitely wanting to do that. I am sure I just got lucky, but maybe I have a knack for it. All my runs were clean and consistently in the top 3. What I loved most was how my brain just shut down and all i could concentrate on was the car and the course. Nothing else mattered at that point. Being that I am in a pretty stressful part of my life, that was a welcome change. I loved it. I have some pix I can share later.
http://drivesrt.com/
The ACR Viper for the second place winners on each team
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XiNT_vm6GVFecqL2zq2Mhg?feat=directlink
The Competition Viper for the first place winners on each team
https://picasaweb.google.com/102283520745605894946/August292011#5646272052399459346
https://picasaweb.google.com/102283520745605894946/August292011#5646272122817122530
The parking lot was a sea of challengers. There was an Inaugural Edition that someone had to balls to have chopped and turned into a convertible. Ugh! It was a hack job and didn't look good at all. We also showed up in an Inaugural Edition. Some of you might remember me posting some vids of when I went with my friend Ed to go pick it up in Northern NJ.
https://picasaweb.google.com/102283520745605894946/August292011#5646271278980649602
Video of me in the Jeep doing the Autox. It was a pretty short course but still a blast. There were about 40 people participating so I imagine the course had to be short enough to be able to allow everyone to do 3 laps and still get through an entire day. I definitely got a taste of something I like though
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/oZmltH4efOAHN9oaAtgd-g?feat=directlink
After the warm up laps it was time to do 3 laps (2 in the charger, 1 in the jeep) around the autocross course. I had never been autocrossing before and was slightly intimidated. If I placed middle of the pack I would have been happy. My first lap was decent. I didn't knock any cones over and my only mistake was not getting the charger inside the stop box. My time was 35.43 + a 5 second penalty. My second run was much better. Again it was a clean run and my time was down to 33.21 with no penalties. Then it was time for the jeep. My confidence was pretty good at this point as I was near the top of the pack and had had two clean runs. In the jeep I was able to rip out a 30.49 enough to put me into first place on my team (at the end of the day I placed third between the two teams the difference between 1st and third was less than .4s).
After lunch it was time for head to head. It was a small autocross course in the shape of a figure 8. Both drivers would start at the same time. Complete half the course and have to stop inside to stop box completely. The cars would be opposite sides of the track where we started. Then finish the second half of the course and end where we started. I did really well in that session. I had only one loss due to the fact that the nanny controls kicked in and slowed me down just enough to lose that race. I lost by less than .2s ... At this point my competitive streak and kicked in and I was pretty upset, but oh well.
Then it was back to the road course for balls out in each of the 4 cars. This was a lot of fun, but not as much as the AX or the H2H. We were breaking speeds of 110mph and going through the corners required much more concentration than in the morning session. I could tell that I was much more tense when I watched my videos. In the morning I was all chatty while during this session I barely said a word.
The afternoon ended with Hot Laps where we rode with the instructor while they drove the cars basically to the limit. As I mentioned, I placed first on my team and third overall which was good enough to win me a ride in a competition Viper. We hit speeds of up to 180mph and not once did I feel like anything was ever out of control. This car stuck to the road like flies on shit. No drama whatsoever. My friend Ed took his hot lap in the Challenger and he got out and basically had to empty his pants into the crapper. The instructor disabled all the nanny stuff and took the car to the limits. The back end was breaking loose through the corners, etc ... He had the time of his life. I almost wish my ride had been like that.
Overall this was a great trip and I had been toying with the idea of AX'ing my speed6. This has me definitely wanting to do that. I am sure I just got lucky, but maybe I have a knack for it. All my runs were clean and consistently in the top 3. What I loved most was how my brain just shut down and all i could concentrate on was the car and the course. Nothing else mattered at that point. Being that I am in a pretty stressful part of my life, that was a welcome change. I loved it. I have some pix I can share later.
http://drivesrt.com/
The ACR Viper for the second place winners on each team
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XiNT_vm6GVFecqL2zq2Mhg?feat=directlink
The Competition Viper for the first place winners on each team
https://picasaweb.google.com/102283520745605894946/August292011#5646272052399459346
https://picasaweb.google.com/102283520745605894946/August292011#5646272122817122530
The parking lot was a sea of challengers. There was an Inaugural Edition that someone had to balls to have chopped and turned into a convertible. Ugh! It was a hack job and didn't look good at all. We also showed up in an Inaugural Edition. Some of you might remember me posting some vids of when I went with my friend Ed to go pick it up in Northern NJ.
https://picasaweb.google.com/102283520745605894946/August292011#5646271278980649602
Video of me in the Jeep doing the Autox. It was a pretty short course but still a blast. There were about 40 people participating so I imagine the course had to be short enough to be able to allow everyone to do 3 laps and still get through an entire day. I definitely got a taste of something I like though
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/oZmltH4efOAHN9oaAtgd-g?feat=directlink
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