The Drivers Edge 2007: The S2 Lives!

Best recorded lap time: 2:17.5

Tech Notes:

• Hankook R-S2 tires (225/45-16), 35 psi (cold)
• Boost: 20 psi

Best track event ever! Finally, after years of hard work, setbacks, frustration and at least one awful shakedown run three years ago at MSR, we saw the fruition of our labor as my Coupe Quattro made it to a track event and performed beautifully.

The Drivers

One of the reasons this was such a great weekend was because of all of my friends who were able to attend. It was almost like the good ol’ days, when there used to be enough Audi Club members at the track to merit our own group photo at the start/finish line. It also seemed like the good ol’ days because I almost haven’t been to the track since the good ol’ days! I haven’t been to any track in three years. I haven’t been to TWS in four years and even then I was in the wrong car, going the wrong direction. The last time I was at TWS in the Coupe Quattro, driving the right direction (anti-clockwise, if you must know), was five and a half years ago! Almost everyone else in our group was just as rusty. Ken Thieme was driving a new car, Ryan hadn’t driven his TT on the track in years, Eric hadn’t been to TWS in four years, Shawn had never been to this track, and Sarah had never been to any track!

The group was actually supposed to be even bigger, but in our usual way, we registered late and not everybody made it in, so Bill Fluhr and Dave Matheu stayed in Florida, instead of gambling on being able to move off of the waiting list. As it was, Ken was on the waiting list, but was able to start driving by Saturday afternoon, thanks in part to a Ferrari driver and sadly, somebody else.

Pictured left to right: Jimmy, Ken Fluhr, James Bufkin, Ken Thieme, Andrew Bianchi, Eric Fluhr, Ryan English, Sarah Nadalin, Shawn Olsen, Tony Nadalin, Pete Haas, Butch Bianchi

Friday

For once, there wasn’t a mad rush to prep or repair my car on the night we should be driving to an event. I’m getting too old for that kind of pressure on a travel day. This time, I made sure the car was ready to go a whole week before the event. Eric and I worked really hard to get everything done and then took multiple test drives, just to make sure. Still, even though I was more prepared than ever, the eleventh hour came with some frustrations and challenges. A tight time schedule and very limited space in the Miata prevented me from packing as thoroughly as I would have liked.

Adding to my crankiness was the fact that I had ordered a camera from Chase Cam and had paid extra to have it delivered in time for this event. When I opened the box on Thursday night, I discovered that the package did not contain the proper cable to use the camera! I wrote a Jimmy’s Gettin’ Angry-style email, but I knew that nothing could be done. To their credit, Chase Cam called me on my cell at the track on Saturday and offered to overnight the cable to my hotel. However, I didn’t take them up on their offer, because I hadn’t brought any of the other parts of the in-car camera rig with me. D’oh. I have everything I need now, so my next event report will come with in-car footage.

On Friday afternoon, I was able to join James, Shawn, Ryan and Kang for the more relaxed daytime caravan out of town, rather than the frantically race the clock to get to the track before they close the gate at 10 o’clock caravan (Eric and Ken). The trip to College Station may have been at a relaxed pace, but it was anything but relaxing for me. First of all, I was crammed into an uncomfortable racing seat for the duration of the trip. Second, my car is very, very loud inside. The sound of the mostly open exhaust, which exits just behind the passenger door, resonates and drones inside the bare metal cockpit. It’s like sitting inside a megaphone pointed at a hive of angry bees. Finally, while I am thankful for the beautiful weather all weekend, it was an unseasonably warm 84’º F, which made it almost unbearably hot in the car, where I have no HVAC whatsoever. It was made even more hot in the car because the firewall isn’t completely sealed, so blazing hot air comes from the engine, through the firewall, and somehow blows directly into my crotch. Not only was it very uncomfortable, but I am now almost certainly sterile. Also, I was drinking liters and liters of water from water bottles to stay cool and hydrated, so naturally I needed to relieve myself only five minutes into the trip. Certainly, we’ll stop somewhere, I thought. Kang brought his girlfriend, certainly she will need to stop. No such luck. My hardcore friends went the whole distance with no stops, so I arrived in College Station deaf, sterile, and in desperate need of a chiropractor and a dose of Trimpex.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. We grabbed dinner at Carino’s, Ryan and I went to the track, talked to S.W. & Friends (modified C6 Z06, Turbo Miata, brand new GT3), and waited for Andrew, Butch, and the Fluhr boys, who drove through the gate at exactly 10 pm. We spent some time unpacking and doing minor prep work, before finally calling it a night.

Saturday

Saturday morning was damp and foggy, but by mid-morning it was burning off and the rest of the weekend was perfect. I checked-in and got my driver’s packet. I had been told that I would be in the Blue group, but they moved me back up to the Yellow group with an instructor for my 2nd and 4th sessions. I have been a solo driver in Yellow for awhile, so I thought an instructor wasn’t really necessary, but it turned-out to be great.

In the first session, I was easily the slowest in the Yellow group. I let everybody pass. The running gag was that a couple of us just left our arms out the window giving passing signals so much that we needed a mannequin arm permanently attached to the car, so we wouldn’t get tired.

I was slow partially because I hadn’t been to the track in so long, partially out of choice, and partially because the car didn’t feel quite right. Even though Ken had just aligned the car, it was sometimes pulling to the left, it was sometimes unstable during braking, and it was bump steering like crazy. Even though the brakes themselves were working great, I didn’t have the confidence to really get into them, so I just went around the track and connected the cones without pushing it too much. I had decided that this weekend was about the car and not about me. We had identified several potential weak points of the car and we needed a good event to shakedown any problems.

Speaking of problems, some poor guy in the Blue group spun his Ferrari on the first lap of his first session and backed it into the infield wall. It’s always sad to see such a beautiful car messed-up like that, but at least nobody was hurt, and Ken was one step closer to being able to drive.

I got an instructor for my second session. Dennis was great. He didn’t say too much at first, so I guess he was just checking me out, but I told him that I was pretty rusty and he should chime-in about anything he wanted. After that, he gave me about half-a-dozen pointers that immediately made me faster. It was great fun. He was having fun, too, and admitted that he had really just wanted a ride in the car, because he thought it was cool. There were a couple of times he said something about “with quattro you can…”, so it was nice having an instructor who understood AWD lines and such.

The rest of the day went fine. That evening, we had dinner at Outback as is our custom and I had the Jackeroo Chops (even though they aren’t called that anymore), as is my custom. Eric drank a couple of beers(!) and we talked about dry sump systems.

Sunday

By the first session on Sunday, I was getting fast enough to start passing people in the Yellow group. All of the little handling problems I had been complaining about before (except for the bump steer), seemed to disappear when I drove the car really hard. I was getting more confidence in my braking, which was good, because my higher speeds required it. But I was still leaving a lot on the table. I locked my brakes a couple of times and recovered quickly without any drama, but I didn’t push quite as hard after that.

Still, I was finding my rhythm, trying to incorporate the suggestions that Dennis had made to me, and was even trying to drastically change my line into Turn 1, based on a chalk talk from the day before. The car was performing well and I was really having fun. Eric and I always tried to drive with each other. Here we are doing a coordinated high-speed drive-by at the finish line, which made for one of the best photos of the weekend.

Towards the end of the session, I came blasting out of Turn 2 and came up fast upon a BMW Z4. The driver gave me a passing signal and checked his speed. I didn’t want to pass there, so I waved off the signal and lifted all the way out of the throttle. I heard a loud pop and my car lost all of its power. I was pretty sure that I had popped-off an intercooler hose. I limped the car around the next two turns and then pulled-off on the inside of Turn 4, where the car immediately died. I signaled the corner worker that I was alright and waited for the end of the session. Since my friends didn’t see what had happened, they assumed that I had gone off the track, so I had to suffer the indignity of having them all honk at me as they drove past. After the session, I managed to get the car started and I limped it around the track and into the paddock.

Eric opened my hood and immediately found the problem. I had blown apart my bypass valve! I couldn’t believe it. For more information, see the TAP Bypass Valve Morbidity and Mortality Discussion at AudiWorld here. Luckily, Ryan English had a spare Forge valve, so we swapped that in and everything was as good as new. Interestingly, Ryan suspected he was having boost problems because of a torn diaphragm in his primary Forge valve. I thought the point of having aftermarket bypass valves was to improve the dependability of our cars.???

I think it was during my next session that Tony Nadalin timed me with his iPhone (Is there anything that phone can’t do?). Without knowing that I was being timed and while still driving conservatively, I set my personal best time. My fastest laps were yet to come, but I didn’t bother to ask anybody to time me again, since again, the weekend was about the car and not about me. Next time.

I think it was also during this session that I chased Kang around in his Miata. Unfortunately, his tires were starting to go away and he went four-wheels-off in Turn 6, recovered and got back on the track, but then spun off completely coming out of Turn 11.

Eric and I traded cars for the next session and that was major league fun. To be honest, I didn’t think I would like driving his car. After driving my car at speed for a day and a half, I thought I would find the UrQuattro too soft and too slow. Besides, I don’t usually like driving cars belonging to other people, even my friends. I’m just too careful with their cars. Well, I was wrong on both counts. I jumped in Eric’s car, drove it like I stole it, and loved every minute of it. No, it wasn’t as fast as my car, but it was still fast and it hooked-up in the corners as well as my car (same wheels and tires). I chased Eric for awhile and then he let me pass and he chased me for awhile. Eric said that my car was effortless to drive quickly. He said that without even trying, he got the car to 130 mph at the end of the front straight.

The last session was the best of all. Eric, Ryan, and I went out and played tag. It was a riot. Even though there was a permanent yellow flag between Turn 4 and Turn 5, because a Corvette had blown its engine, caught fire, and dumped oil on the track, I was driving as fast or faster than I had all weekend. Our train ran up on an RX-8 who was driving well and was fast, but not fast enough. His biggest problem was that he wasn’t giving out passing signals. Eric eventually got around him. Later, Eric said, “I felt like I was throwing that guy to a pack of wolves.” That’s about right. A couple of straights without seeing a passing signal had me seeing red instead. At the carousel, I late braked and jammed my nose up on the inside, so that I was driving right towards his passenger side door. He got the message after that and I finally got a passing signal.

The last person we ran up on was the same black Z4 that I had seen earlier in the day. I followed him for a couple of laps, but even though I was sure that I was faster, he was making such good drives out of the corners, that I couldn’t really get a good, safe run to pass, especially if he didn’t lift. So, I waved-off another passing signal from him and we just diced. Ryan and Eric were right behind me. It was a great way to end the event.

Ryan, Eric, and me coming in from playing during the last session.

Random Notes

• Proudest Moment: Letting a GT3 pass me at the exit onto the front straight and then tucking-in behind him for a drag race to Turn 1. He only barely pulled on me. Ryan saw the whole thing. I’ll be back with all 28 psi of boost, pal.

• Best Save: Eric Fluhr got bent out of shape about fourteen different ways trying to late brake into Turn 1. I was right behind him for the show as he slid this way and that. His car was flip-flopping back and forth like a fish out of water. I was already on the phone with my bookie placing a bet for which side of the track he was going to fly off of when…he pulled it together and saved it! Not only that, instead of sheepishly taking it easy for a half of a lap, he continued flat-out around Turn 2 as if nothing had happened! Respect, yo.
  
• “Man Down!” Award: Me. Most of us had mechanical problems (Eric lost his power steering, Shawn blew his intercooler crossover pipe, Ken had suspension problems, and Ryan and I had bypass valve failures), but mine was the only one that put me off on the side of the track (if only temporarily).
• “Busted” Award: Too many to choose a winner. Pete Haas doing 78 in a 55, Andrew Bianchi braking on the banking, and Anthony Nadalin washing his daughters car at the track. You were all busted. Now let’s not let that happen again. Note: evidence photos kept small out of respect for the busted. I just wanted you to know that I have them.

• “Worst Lean Angle” Award: After careful photographic analysis (and with many valid candidates), Shawn Olsen’s UrS6 looked the most like a fully laden fishing trawler, listing badly to port in the angry ocean swells.

Note: All references to James Bufkin have been removed upon request. (11.19.07)

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