Welcome to the Corvette Forums at the Corvette Action Center!

OMG! Now I can go with a SMILE :)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Moonunit 451
  • Start date Start date
M

Moonunit 451

Guest
Went to Portland International Raceway today with a local Vette Club. First time on a road course, 2 mi. I had a BLAST :louI creamed anything in sight! Course, I was in the novice class, but I spanked C5's and C6's handily as well as others. Not a soul came by me :D I'll post more later. The link is a 5 sec. small video, till nextg week when I can access high speed for uploads. It's not to long for dial up ;)

Had some cooling issues, otherwise, an awsome day. Everyone I knew thought I went really fast, and sounded awsome, as the video confirms. Probly did about 50-60 mi. What a KICK. It was the Last thing I really have wanted to do speedwise for a long time. Fantasies Fullfilled :cool

http://forus.com/moonunit/corvette/Portraits/RACING/PIR/MOV01217.MPG
 
Was that an SSR you blew by?
 
Edmond said:
Was that an SSR you blew by?

;shrug Super Sonic Ranger ? I don't know :L I'll have to ask my kid, I was concentrating on getting by whoever I could and trying to keep track of my temps and oil pressure.

Something has gone wierd with my computer and I can't paste (cut and paste) links on this forum for some reason (or I'd link to the course map). On the final corner before the front straight in that vid I was dropping oil pressure danger zone low as I ramped up the R's. I really had my hands full.
 
Dang moon,

Sounds good zipping around the track. Are you planning on posting more of the vid?
 
87blackroxi said:
Dang moon,

Sounds good zipping around the track. Are you planning on posting more of the vid?

I have several more short clips on small format, up to 15 sec. a nd some nice stills that my son took (he's really improved with the camera :)). I'll try to put up a couple pics this week when I've got time but the vid clips will have to wait till I go back to work where I hhave access to high speed internet.

I also got my whole last session with onboard video. It's an older 8mm camera and I don't have any computers with video in, so I don't know how to get it converted, resized and edited at this point, but I'm open to suggestions on that as well as why I can't cut and paste in this forum.

My son said he thinks that it was a black rustang vert, but it could have been one of the two Acura's, the winged jobs that I was easily trouncing :L On further inspection, looks like the vert.
 
Edmond said:
Was that an SSR you blew by?

I'm surprised the doors didn't fall off that black thing. ;LOL
 
Moonunit 451 said:
My son said he thinks that it was a black rustang vert, but it could have been one of the two Acura's, the winged jobs that I was easily trouncing :L On further inspection, looks like the vert.

That rustang got the through thrashing it deserved.:beer It almost looked like a couple of "blue hairs" out on a Sunday drive with the top down. They must have made a wrong turn and gotten on the track somehow. :L

:w
 
Hrtbeat1 said:
It almost looked like a couple of "blue hairs" out on a Sunday drive with the top down. They must have made a wrong turn and gotten on the track somehow. :L

:w

;LOL

Very cool Moon! :_rock Lookin' forward to more footage of that. :dance
 
Yeah, man! Totally something else, isn't it? I need to get you a copy of some of the in-car stuff I shot at Summit Point. Not awesome driving, but still fun to watch.
[RICHR]
 
That looks like it would have been a blast! Sure sounding good as you passed that other vehicle. :_rock
 
This sounds like lots of fun!! I have read elsewhere that in "cut and thrust" type road work many driver's actually prefer the C4 over the C5. The reason is because the C4 is sharper in such driving, whereas the C5 tends to be a bit softer, even though it has advantages in other situations. I remember test driving several used C5s and feeling they seemed to lack a certain "go kart" quality that I liked in my old, and beloved, C3. The first C4 I drove I instantly liked better than the C5s, as it felt like an improved C3 which still had the go kart quality without some of the downside. Incidentally, at the risk of sounding stupid, where is the raceway? In the Portland, Oregon area, or like the old Ontario raceway somewhere not associated with the name?

/s/ Chris Kennedy
 
I was in the Intermediate group with my gold 87. PIR is a lot of fun and Rose City Corvettes do an excellent job of putting this track day on and making it safe for everyone. I know that Chuck and Alan harp on this not being a race but just a chance to drive your car at speed in a controlled environment. But it's hard to just "follow" your friends.....:D

Did you see the two Vipers blow their braking points entering turn 8 and sliding into the grass?? I think a 'stang slid in the same spot between them.

The track definitely was greasy for the first run group of the day because of the ALMS race the week before and the SCCA club racing on Sunday but the second run group was much better after the sun put a little heat into the surface. My car seemed pretty loose until the tires heated up after about the 3rd lap.

What sort of speeds did you see? I can usually hit 115-120 on the front straight and about 112 or so on the back side if there is no traffic around me. Last year, when they pulled the Festival Curves (chicane turns 1-3), I would hit about 127-130 before braking for the right-hand sweeper.

I had a video camera in my car and it's a lot of fun to show the vid to friends who don't know how much fun these types of events can be.

Chris-- PIR is located right next to I-5 about 2 miles south of the Columbia River in the north part of Portland.
 
c4cruiser said:
Chris-- PIR is located right next to I-5 about 2 miles south of the Columbia River in the north part of Portland.

Anywhere near Cascade shipyard .... I think they called it Swan Island? I was there for almost two days. Didn't see much. Pulled in about 6 pm and flew out the second morning. Seems the cabbie went up the hill and jumped on the I-5 going south to get to the airport.

Was this a local club event or were there several clubs present? Do they do this often or is it a once a year type thing? That is just too cool!

I have done a lap at Richmond (RIR) and a lap at Darlington (on three occasions). They weren't "HOT" laps but they were in my personal vehicle ... not the Vette .... :cry. It was pretty cool to think about "lettin' her all hang out" though.

:w
 
c4cruiser said:
I was in the Intermediate group with my gold 87. PIR is a lot of fun and Rose City Corvettes do an excellent job of putting this track day on and making it safe for everyone. I know that Chuck and Alan harp on this not being a race but just a chance to drive your car at speed in a controlled environment. But it's hard to just "follow" your friends.....:D

Did you see the two Vipers blow their braking points entering turn 8 and sliding into the grass?? I think a 'stang slid in the same spot between them.

The track definitely was greasy for the first run group of the day because of the ALMS race the week before and the SCCA club racing on Sunday but the second run group was much better after the sun put a little heat into the surface. My car seemed pretty loose until the tires heated up after about the 3rd lap.

What sort of speeds did you see? I can usually hit 115-120 on the front straight and about 112 or so on the back side if there is no traffic around me. Last year, when they pulled the Festival Curves (chicane turns 1-3), I would hit about 127-130 before braking for the right-hand sweeper.

I had a video camera in my car and it's a lot of fun to show the vid to friends who don't know how much fun these types of events can be.

Chris-- PIR is located right next to I-5 about 2 miles south of the Columbia River in the north part of Portland.

ALRIGHT man, lets see a pic of your car! Sorry I didn't meet you :cry but I'm sure I saw your car. Wait, I met you, I was talking to you, parked right across from me with the MR and the rollcage. We talked about the Pony Express. Nice car! I tried to bump up to intermediate in the afternoon session but they weren't having any of it do to changing track conditions. It was OK, I just wanted to be able to smoke some on the back side. Post a link to the track cofiguration would ya? I can't link :mad

I was hangin with Jeff in the red ZR1 in your group. Here's another taste :) Now! Is that BadA$$ lookin' and right on line or WHAT :D
DSC01193_720.jpg
 
Hrtbeat1 said:
Anywhere near Cascade shipyard .... I think they called it Swan Island? I was there for almost two days. Didn't see much. Pulled in about 6 pm and flew out the second morning. Seems the cabbie went up the hill and jumped on the I-5 going south to get to the airport.

Was this a local club event or were there several clubs present? Do they do this often or is it a once a year type thing? That is just too cool!

I have done a lap at Richmond (RIR) and a lap at Darlington (on three occasions). They weren't "HOT" laps but they were in my personal vehicle ... not the Vette .... :cry. It was pretty cool to think about "lettin' her all hang out" though.

:w

PIR is a couple miles north of Swan Island and only 2 miles south of the WA/OR state line. You can see part of PIR from I-5 going south. Portland Meadows (horse racing and dog racing) is on the other side of the freeway.

This event is part of the Rose City Corvette Club "Classic" event held each year about this time. The club hosts a show and shine and banquet on Saturday, an autocross at PIR on Sunday and the track day on Monday. IIRC. the track day was $110 and included 4 run sessions and a spaghetti feed. You get about 2 pounds of spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and cake. Makes the afternoon session a bit tough after eating the lunch and second helpings.

The entire weekend is a tremendous abount of fun and the host club does a tremendous job of putting this event on. While RCC is the host club, there are club members attending from many clubs around the Pacific Northwest to include some Canadian Corvette club members.
 
Moonunit 451 said:
ALRIGHT man, lets see a pic of your car! Sorry I didn't meet you :cry but I'm sure I saw your car. Wait, I met you, I was talking to you, parked right across from me with the MR and the rollcage. We talked about the Pony Express. Nice car! I tried to bump up to intermediate in the afternoon session but they weren't having any of it do to changing track conditions. It was OK, I just wanted to be able to smoke some on the back side. Post a link to the track cofiguration would ya? I can't link :mad

I was hangin with Jeff in the red ZR1 in your group. Here's another taste :) Now! Is that BadA$$ lookin' and right on line or WHAT :D
DSC01193_720.jpg

Cool pic. The guy that was there taking pics probably has some of me but I forgot his website address. Turn 12 is always fun if you can get set up just right to power out of it. I usually get down to second gear right at the apex and nail the throttle just as you hit that piece of concrete on the right side of the curb and just let the car drift out to about 18" to 2 feet from the wall on the straightaway. Then 3rd gear as you go under the bridge and 4th about 1/3 the way down. I was hitting about 118-120 or so at the 500 foot braking mark and I would stand on the brakes and shift back down to 2nd between the 300 and 200 foot sign to make Turn 1 at about 40MPH or so.


Here's a link to a track map: http://www.portlandraceway.com/map2.asp The PIR website has lots of neat info including schedules for other club track days.

Definitely a fun day and the entire weekend that RCC puts on is always on my calendar!!

Did you watch the two-tone blue 85 that was in the Advanced run group?? He's run here for a number of years and he easily keeps up with the Z06's and Porsches! Lots of mods in the motor!

There was a guy in a Mustang that got tossed out about 10 minutes into the very first High Performance run group. He got blacked-flagged once and then on his next lap he did the same thing that got him the flag the first time and they tossed him.

I was told later that he had stolen two helmets when he left. This guy was apprently a really arrogant tool and gave the starter some trash. What turned out to be funny (stealing the helments wasn't funny) was the fact that he filled out the registration form with his address and driver's license number and paid by check! The info on the check even matched the reg info.
 
Thanks for posting the link.

I picked up one of those guys brochures. I'll post his link if I can find it, maybe he got me at my BAD coming out of the "Festival" that one time:lou he had some pretty :cool stuff.

Rustang dude, go figure. That's a shame, never new about it, I was just busy having fun, learning, and wishing I was in a group that could pass on the backside :r

I had some help with the lines my first couple runs, picked it up quick, and I'm convinced I could have run with the quicker of the upper classes powerwise, but I will admit, I didn't do the mega braking required to be real fast. I was about 15 sec of the "real" drivers, 1:40's. I did smoke this C2 race car though :)
DSC01199_1025.jpg
 
That's one of the ever-growing number of Grand Sport "look-a-likes" that are popping up everywhere.
The "real" cars are the ones that Zora used to spank the AC Cobras in the early 1960s.
 

Corvette Forums

Not a member of the Corvette Action Center?  Join now!  It's free!

Help support the Corvette Action Center!

Supporting Vendors

Dealers:

MacMulkin Chevrolet - The Second Largest Corvette Dealer in the Country!

Advertise with the Corvette Action Center!

Double Your Chances!

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom