It was a down and up day last week (10/9/08) at LRP with SCDA. The day started off rough with a problem with the car. On the 3rd lap of my first session, the throttle got stuck wide open at the approach to the downhill. Fortunately, I've gotten accustomed to going through this turn quite quickly so I didn't get too alarmed. I simply depressed the brakes hard and dove for pit lane. From there I hit the kill switch and coasted into the paddock.

This wasn't the first time I experienced a wide open throttle event. I had troubles the previous two events too.

8/26/08 I visited New Jersey Motorsports Park (Lightning circuit) with SCDA. The 1st session went well save a scary off my buddy had in his E36 M3 right in front of me. He tracked out too wide, got 2 wheels off, then tried to get back on track too abruptly. He slid accross track and stopped a couple feet from the Armco. I used the 1st session to find my way around track. 2nd session, the turbo let go in the RX-7 5 laps in. 3rd and 4th sessions, I drove my buddies M3. That car was seriously quick compared to my RX-7. It has boat loads of power and torque and turns "right now". The track... You can go much, much quicker than you think you can into Turn 1. It is uphill on entry, crest at apex, then falls a bit on exit. It is a very fun turn. There is another mid-course (turn 5?) that is very similar. The last turn (light bulb?) has a good amount of banking that allows you to enter and carry a lot of speed all the way through. The track reminds me of Lime Rock. It doesn't look like it will race well, but is very fun to drive. It feels like a roller coaster.

9/29/08 I visited Pocono with CART. I got a new turbo, but it is difficult to test without being able to drive the car on the street. The air fuel mixture wasn't right and the car stumbled. I also had 2 WOT moments. I didn't drive the RX-7 too much that day. It just wasn't drivable when the engine coughed on throttle. My buddy was very gracious to let me drive his M3 again for part of the day. Again, I was very grateful and thoroughly enjoyed the drive. I won't be driving the car again though because he had a big accident that day. He hit the concrete barrier in NASCAR turn 1 at high speed. The car is totaled, but he is fine. It was a partially prepped track car. It was mostly gutted and had a half cage and racing seat with 5 point harness. While we are on the subject of crashing cars at the track, this year, 3 guys I frequent the track with crashed their cars. 1 is the white 3rd gen RX-7 in the video below. He crashed this car at Lime Rock last Monday due to a mechanical failure. Another buddy crashed (hit Armco) his 2007 GT3 at Lime Rock due to an oil spill. In all cases the drivers were OK due to the fact they had proper safety gear (seat, Hans, helmet, half or full cage, harness, etc...).

Back to Lime Rock 10-9-08... The second session was consumed by car repairs. I adjusted the throttle cable (added slack). This did the trick because the car worked well the 3rd session. I dipped into the 1:02's in the 3rd session.

The 4th session went very well with most laps in the 1:02's or low 1:03's. My best of the day was on flying lap 5 in the 4th session with a 1:02.5. I just couldn't keep up with the 3rd gen RX-7 turbo. He had too much power on me. The car feels capable of 1:01's. Right now, I'm just barely breathing on the brake pedal on the downhill. To get to 1:01, I can't touch it at all and I need to trail brake deeper into Big Bend and track out a bit more mid-corner. I don't think there is much to be had at the uphill and west bend. Here's some video of the last session.
www.vimeo.com/1926827

My next event is 10/24/08 and 10/25/08 with EMRA at New Jersey Motorsports Park (Thunderbolt). I will be doing the rookie school on the 24th and when I pass, I'll get a competition license. The 25th will be my first wheel to wheel sprint race and 1hr enduro. Wish me luck guys. This is the real deal now.