Oct 9, 2005 - NASA HPDE @ Infineon
Pictures of this Track day

I decided to post what I have typed up and will get the remainder up in the next few days. Scott, feel free to add your comments by editing this post

Scott's comments in blue.

The story begins with a little history;

I met Scott Whitestine in early 2004 while racing in the JustRacin.net Touring Series. (By the way, I'd like to take this time to say that I came out as champion at season-end, with Scott in second.)
yea yea, rub it in asshole :) I still beat you in that race though, where that pic below came from!
During the season, Scott and I had built a friendship due to our equal driving abilities and like-minded racing strategies. Over the next year, Scott and I began to run more and more online races together, usually as a team. We conquered the 2004 Bullrun 1000k by qualifying on the pole, and claming second overall after the 5.5 hours of racing was completed.

Tim and Scott racing at Monza in 2004

It was near this time that a phone conversation sparked the idea of one of us traveling to the other's local track for some REAL track day racing together. After months of talking about it, we had a date for Scott to come to California to attend a NASA HPDE event here at my local Sears Point (I still refuse to call it Infineon); October 9th, 2005

Scott arrived at my place Friday evening, October 7th, and after a quick night's sleep we got to work on the cars, preparing them for the next days activities.
I had gone to sleep late Thursday night because I couldn't sleep and drove the 13 hours to CA with about 4 1/2 hours of sleep. I was pretty beat although the first thing we did was set up the computers of course, lol
Scott had a sequence of minor set backs in this preparation stage with his plug wires coming apart, resulting in a quick trip to the local auto-store. When we returned from the store, Scott went to pop his hood and nothing happened.
Of course I am freaking out at this point and thinking the racing gods were trying to send me a message about Sunday's run.
The cable to his hood release was unattached, not from under the dash, but from under the hood itself. It took us an hour under the car and some bodywork removal to finally squeeze my skinny arm up there to get the hood released again. Not to fear, the work was back on and we were still ahead of *my* schedule for the weekend. Not long after, all the prep to the cars was completed and we had all our gear loaded up. We headed to the track on Saturday evening to setup out EZ-ups and reserve a location to fit the half-dozen people I was expecting. As we were returning from the track, Dave Finkel
A BIG Thanks again Dave for coming out and taking some cool pics! Sorry we didn't get to run a little more LAN stuff Sat night.
(a long time online racer in leagues I have participated in) phoned to inform us that he was on his way to my place as well. After an evening of beer and LAN racing we got to bed late, (of course), knowing that the morning would begin early on race day.
You're forgetting about all the fun we had making our number boards. I had bought some white magnetic material and black vinyl so we'd have some pretty snazzy numbers on the cars. It's hard to see in the pics but after a last minute decision, we added the word MacWhite to show our team name on the cars. F'ing cool if you ask me. Oh. You didn't ask?

Sunday, October 9th, 2005 - Also known as Race-Day!

5:00am - The three of us wake and prepare to roll out to the track.
Actually it was more of Tim dragging my ass out of bed at 'o dark hundred in the frickin morning.
It isn't easy getting up only a few hours after just going to bed, but after a little coffee, the world wasn't looking so hostile and the thoughts of motoring around Sears Point with a fellow online-racer were all good. It was at this time that I began thinking about the consequences of making a mistake on the track and snuffing my 280z into a tire barrier. I had a bad feeling but then again, living my entire life in fear of a wreck wasn't going to be an option so off to the track we went.

6:00am - Arrived at the track and finished our setup. It was dark and cold, but with the adrenaline already pumping our "camp" quickly became a bustle of activity to get the cars numbered, all the paperwork completed. Still on schedule (by the way, did I mention that I'm a scheduling nut?), we arrived at the Tech station 10 minutes early

7:00am - Tech station opens and the cars must be certified safe before allowed on the track. We had prepared for this and took care of anything and everything the day prior. The tech inspection only lasted a few minutes each and we had our sticker and back to camp just 100 yards down the paddock.

7:30am - Driver's Meeting for all HPDE participants. I've never much cared for this because it takes so long, but still everyone needs to know the rules and the track before going out. I sometimes forget that others may not know Sears Point, and it may be their first time ever on a race track or even in a car (scary).
Duh. Like me? After all running on the computer isn't quite the same as actually being there.

8:30am - Finally back at the camp we hooked up with Steve of Raceimages.net who offered to come out and take some photos while we were on the track.
You forgot that at this time I actually got to take a ride in my instructor's car. He has a flat black Miata with flames and a red top... Yea, it was... um... yea. check out morgansgarage.com to see it. Anyway, it was cool and I picked up quite a bit of information in that few couple of laps that we ran; he really knows the track well.
We still had 2 hours before our group was going to run, so introductions and war-stories kept us occupied. I must say, 2 hours at a work-place seems like an eternity, but 2 hours at the race track talking with your buddies goes very quickly.

The four of us (Me, Scott, Steve, and Dave) discussed the plan for session-1; Start at the far back of the group and just start slow. Scott had never been to Sears Point before and needed to learn the nuances of the track and the first session is always slow as others that have never raced before are no where near a good speed anyway. So, start in the rear, hang out and just run some clean and safe laps not a bad idea at all huh?

Session-1 – THE PLAN; Start in the far back of the field and run some slow "introductory" laps at a mellow pace so Scott can take some mental notes of the track and what the instructor would be telling him. Dave Finkel was riding with me while Scott had an instructor.
THE REALITY; The first lap was under a full-course yellow. This is as much a test to the new participants as it is an opportunity to see the track before going at it full speed. Some of the guys passed on the track (a big No-No under yellow flag of course) but Scott and I did what we are use to, holding position until we see the proper flag. As they dropped the green, the "plan" was instantly tossed right out the window as I took off and passed a few slower cars (3-wide I might add) on the front straight. Scott hung back and watched me climb the hill and off into some laps at speed right out of the gate.
Mainly because after you went blasting by those cars 3 wide, I thought it'd be smarter to hang back as it was my first laps on the track and it was a little too early to be going balls out like an idiot... heh.
I just couldn’t help myself… it had been a year since I got to run one of these events. Still, it was a frustrating session, as the first session always is, with people way off the line and super-slow because of it. Sometimes I forget that though *I* may know what I am doing (basically), others do not and are learning from scratch. Still, I got a few clean laps in and realized I left Scott back there to play with the "noobs". So I rolled through the pits and allowed him to catch up to run some laps together as planned. Again, that all went right out the door once we got up to speed and Dave and I just motored off leaving Scott to run his own pace (probably a good idea anyway).
Which it was. It was about like what you'd expect. I took it easy and was learing the line and also what the Civic was capable of as far as braking and turning.
At one point, I was so busy thinking of Scott
I was so wrapped up in what I was doing that I didn't even really notice that you had left me behind.
that I lost concentration and blew my brake marker into turn-7 (double apex hairpin) and ended up having to go way wide to keep the car under control. Thank god they paved that area way back, or I’d have been in the dirt. I recall yelling out to Dave, "Oh! Too late!" as I got on the binders and hoped my sim-racing experience would help… it did.

A bonus to this session was to confirm that the work I did on the car over the past weeks had paid off. The under-steer that comes native on the Z’s was gone. In fact, it had a slight over-steer at corner entry, and did perfect at apex and exit. Not a bad combo really, I just had to quickly adapt to the rear of my car dancing around a little. Also, the brake ducting cured all of my over-heating issues. The brakes were rock solid at every corner. No matter how hard I used them, they were there again for the next big braking zone.

After the session, Scott and I went to the Driver’s Lounge for our "download session" where they issue warnings and praise and we all get to discuss the track, line, cars, etc. Ralph Alexander, Lead HPDE instructor for Northern California, was the man leading us for the day. Ralph took me for a ride in his race-prepped RX7 a few years back and scared the man-hood out of me… It was nice to be able to talk with him again, from the safety of the lounge :-)

Scott, Dave, Steve, myself, my son, and my nephew all sat in our "camp" and discussed the run. It was the first time my son has seen me and my car on the track and he was very excited. It was nice to be able to share that with him as he has looked forward to it for some time. My nephew was up next for a ride on the track… he was ready though I could see the fear in his eyes (just wanted to add some drama to this write-up).

Session-2 – It is now 1pm, and none of us have eaten anything more then a quick breakfast of McDonald’s and powdered donuts (ah… a breakfast for the gods). No time to eat though as Scott and I were scheduled back on the track. Scott picked up his instructor while I strapped my nephew in the passenger seat. Again, the plan was to start in the back and just run slow and enjoy it. But again, the plan was thrown out once we got on the track. As age would have it, I don’t recall much of this run. Maybe that is a good thing… meaning I was concentrating too hard to remember.
The only thing I remember was I finally had figured out most of the track and was working on the nuances of the corners here and there. Overall though it was a sucessful session for me (compared to the first one at this point anyway).

Scott and I did plan a photo opportunity on the first lap, with us going through turn-2 very closely to get us both in the same close-up shot. I have yet to see this pic, hopefully it worked out well enough.
Steve said afterwards that we apparently didn't get close enough for it to work.
The one major item I do remember is following Scott around the track, and as we shot out of turn-7 heading for the Esses my car pounced, but I made a mistake. It was a simple mistake and one that many of us that are still learning do; "run the line of the guy ahead of us, not our own".
I did that too following an older camaro and got my hand slapped by Morgan for it. After that he kept stressing the rest of the day to run my own line and I'd be faster and more consisten for it. He was right of course, as we found out later in session 4.
I was following Scott running his line. His car handles the Esses much better then mine and as we entered the Esses I quickly realized that I was carrying much more speed then I had before. "Too FAST!" I yell to my nephew, all while going opposite lock to keep the car from rotating around. As the front tires caught back up with the rears, I anticipated the pendulum effect and we opposite-opposite-lock to keep my car straight. It all happened in the matter of 1 second; the rears sliding, the catch, the re-catch, and now having to deal with the consequences of being well offline and still at 80mph approaching the second turn of the Esses. I had only once choice, to get on the binders, and gather the car back up. I was fully prepared to mow some dirt (no grass at Sears Point), but it all worked out though I had to slow significantly.

Other then that bit of excitement, the session went well. Everyone else on the track picked up their pace and we rarely got caught behind a slower car. Scott and his instructor talked some smack afterwards asking, "Where did you go? Couldn’t keep up?". They didn’t know at the time that I had nearly snuffed me car into the tire-wall that sits only a few feet off track in the Esses… with my Nephew in the car (his mom would have killed me, LOL).
Lol, I like it better when I tell the story and say that he just couldn't keep up.

Session 3 - Now in the afternoon and, even though Scott wouldnt admit it, we were beginning to feel the day taking it's toll on us.
Seriously, like I said at the track, I wasn't really beat at this point. It was only after the day was over that the fatigue just piled on.
We were able to gobble down a few bites to each while going over session-2 together, but still, the 2 hours between each session goes very quickly.
Hah, maybe that's why you were tired. Remember, I didn't actually eat any of those powdered donuts? Maybe they were weighing you down?
On top of the small time window, Scott and I had planned on arriving into pre-staging very early to be first in line for the run. This required us to have the cars ready and at pre-stage at least 30 minutes prior to our session, further cutting the 2-hour window.

We were, in fact, 2nd and 3rd in line (another guy was more dedicated then us) but there was no issue as the car in front would be faster anyway. Being in the front allowed us to get straight up to speed and have at least a few clean laps before coming up on the slower cars. Again, I dont recall a great deal from Session-3 other then the fact that I didnt have to roll through the pits to avoid slower traffic. Usually, by this time of the day, everyone has picked up thier pace enough that my 30-year old Z is being passed more then doing the passing. Scott and I had a good time running near each other the entire time, allowing each other to pass back and forth to view our different lines.... ah, which reminds me...

Scott would drive his car to such a tight apex in turn-5 that he would end up putting a half-tire into the dirt. He did this numerous times while I was behind him, and each time it scared me that he would lose it. Scott's a great driver and never even had a wiggle, but the stones he kicked up and over my windshield still concerned me :)
Heh. Really I wasn't intending to keep dropping the tire, but being a front wheel drive, I had to attack the corner slightly earlier to let the car push out on exit, and so I just misjudged the corner a few times... so what? It was only a little dust you baby :P

All in all, Session-3 was a great session, but afterwards I was exausted. My fingers and arms were taking a beating from the lack of power steering and the additional speed the car was doing over my previous times at Sears Point.
Maybe you were tired because I was putting all the pressure on you. Heh.. oh wait. That was session four.

Session 4 - Tired from 60 minutes of great track time
Again, REALLY I wasn't tired at this point. I was just so pumped up to race
... Scott, myself, and his instructor sat in pre-stage (front of the line again) and discussed the plan for our final run of the day. It is now 5:40pm with the sun setting in our eyes as we climb the hill into turn-2. We are all tired, and the ambient temperature has dropped significantly. If there is a time when you are at risk of wrecking, session-4 is THAT time with all those variables, but the main one is the driver's concentration and energy level. The size of our group was cut in half as attrition took it's toll. Car failures and driver fatigue thinned us out to roughly 15 cars going on the course (awesome!) so we knew traffic would be minimal.
Don't forget that turn 1 was insane with the damn sun right in the eyes and I'm glad that Morgan had stressed all day to remember the line so I could just flow through the corner just like I had been doing all day.

Again, we had decided to run slow and conservative.
Lol, that really was the plan too
This was the run to just enjoy the drive, be smooth, hit all our marks, and go home with a great experience under our belts (and no damage to car or body). I can still hear it fresh in my mind, "ok, this time lets REALLY just keep it mellow and just have some fun. No 100% driving" and I think *I* was the one that said that.
No, I said it too
All 3 of us agreed and we entered the track with that in mind.

It didnt take long, and you can guess what happened, we were both up to speed and nose-to-tail on the track. At first I was "taking it easy" but soon realized that Scott was seriously driving his Honda. Now, I couldnt just LET him pass... not Scott... so I began to step it up too. Next thing we both know, we are both well past the % that we had been driving in the past sessions. We were duking it out for the lead in an online race with nothing to lose.

I continued to lead Scott and was easily holding him behind with the extra torque that my Z has over his Honda. We learned quickly that the Honda was much faster in the high-speed long corners (turn-5, turn-6, turn-10) but I had the legs on the straights. We were not too far off in other areas of the course, though he still had the slight advantage over me in the Esses (as proven earlier in the day). Scott took advantage of me weaknesses, and by his instructor's advice, backed off my rear bumper to get a run on me through turn-10. It worked perfectly, and by the exit of turn-10, Scott had his nose up to the inside of my rear tire. That was the point where caution prevails over the adrenaline and I backed off, tucked in behind him for the hairpin of turn-11.

It was actually a little more than that. This part that you kind of skip over actually lasted about a lap and a half before the pass. And let me be clear here. Up until this exact point, I was just driving hard but still running with the "this is a driving school" metality. Going through turn 3 Morgan said to me, "I want you to try something". I honestly had no idea what he had in mind. He said, "Back off here..." (going into turn 4). At the apex when I had given Tim about 8 to 10 carlengths, he said, "alright, now GO HARD!". Naturally I stomped on the gas and immediately started closing on Tim, until going down into the carousel we exited the corner and I was right on his ass! Now we're in the straight of T7 and the Z pulled away with the torque advantage and Morgan says to me "See? We can get him in the corners, we're faster". I did this again going through 7 and 8 and caught Tim again. I didn't get a good run all the way through 10 and so had to stay behind him. This time though, I was prepared when Morgan told me that could take him. I tried the same thing through turn 3 and 4 by backing off, but just couldn't quite make the pass going onto the straight. This time though turn 7 and 8 I had a super run through the esses and by the time we got down through 9 I had Morgan yelling in my ear "GO GO GO!!!" Still with a head of steam going into 10 I got close enough to Tim that Morgan yells "PASS HIM! GOGOGO!". So I pull the car right and Tim gives me the pass and backs off.

Scott leads, and I can hear his bragging now.
After the pass it was actually Morgan doing the bragging. Lol, he was banging me on the arm and saying "HAHA! We did it!!"
I couldnt allow some rice-ricket 4-banger punk beat my kick-ass Z! So the beat was on baby! (yes I decided all that *in* turn-11). I launched out of turn-11, slowly edging back onto Scott's rear bumper. By the S/F line I was in position to pull inside to re-take the "lead" (lead of a 2-person race that is) and set him back in his place. Again, caution prevailed, as the turn-1 wall is not a good thing to be looking at (as the novices that we are). But, the plan was set; Either exiting the Carousel or Turn-11, I will use the torque to blast past Scott... and it had to be done before the end of the session.
By this time Morgan is already saying, "I wonder what his excuse will be this time that he let us beat him? Haha"

The next few laps, we fought just as hard as if we were on our computers. Never did either of us cross the line of over-doing the cars or ourselves. It seems, I am much more focused (Scott too) when we are "competing" to an extent. I drove smoother and a LOT faster then before and the car was loving the weather change. I followed Scott around for a while just waiting for the chance to pounce (though it had to be done in one of the 3 passing zones, one of which he was faster then me). I tried a few times exiting the Carousel, but his additional speed *in* the corner (over me) kept me behind him. The run from 10-11 was the same, he just had more corner speed over me in 10. Though I could make it back up in the straight after the turn, there wasnt enough time to make a pass. So, it was the main straight where it had to happen...

A few laps of testing the theory; Going through 11 on a different line to maximize my exit speed... Watching Scott's weaknesses... and finally ready to pull it off. Oh, the glorious victory that I was going to enjoy over Scott. I would never let him live it down... I was going to pass his ass and never look back... Mwuahaaaahhhaaaaaaaaaaaa a aaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Exit turn-11.... power down.... I got a good run... Im going to do it.... Im on his tail... poke the nose to the inside.... I still have room before Turn-1 begins...
I knew this was my weakness too and couldn't believe how fast he'd gain on me coming out of the hairpin. I saw Tim pull out to the left, right on my ass and just knew he was going to make the pass when...
what?! The checkered flag?! Yes, the session ended *just* as I pulled to his inside to make the pass. No, I did not complete the pass. I backed it off... wisely... it *is* only a HPDE event, NOT a race. Caution has to prevail over everything else.
Ha. Just like we were talking about just before this session

As we completed our cool-down lap, I passed Scott and gave him a finger... the thumb.
Hmm, that's not how I remember it. As a matter of fact as you went by in the straight just out of turn 6, both Morgan and I turned over and waved but you just kept looking straight ahead. Morgan thought that you were just too embarassed to be beat by a four banger lol!
Which was returned by a thumb from both Scott and his Instructor. We pulled off the course, and didnt even bother to return to out camp. We immediatley stopped the cars and jumped out, yes all 3 of us, and started jumping up and down like a couple 12-year old girls at a slumber party.
Ok, now that part is right :D
The grin that was plastered on my face stuck out of my visor, and Scott's was the same. The three of us stood there, hands in motion as we explained every second of each lap. Morgan (the instructor) says; "I would have never allowed you two to do this, but neither of you were making any errors or doing anything wrong. You were both driving so professionally, that I saw no problems with your speeds" (not exact, but you get the point).

Simply fantastic to hear that from Morgan, and to be able to hit a track with a long-time sim-racing friend. And then, to top it all off, we really got to drive, hard, "against" each other and we did it without hurting anything. In fact, I firmly believe that my drive in the last session was the best I have ever driven my car. It was smooth, fast, hit every braking, turn-in, apex, track-out, line, etc. I dont recall a single point in which I though "doh, missed that".

I was stoked! Im still stoked!
Christ, you should see the big grin on my own face just re-living the experience now 10 days later and adding my own comments.

Once we got back to our camp, Dave Finkel had the entire place tore down and ready to pack up (HUGE thanks Dave, you were a big help that day).
I'll second that Dave!! It was awesome to have a fellow racer out there even if it was just a spectator role for a couple of sim geeks trying to show off on a real track.
The sky was getting dark and the adrenaline was calming down and Scott finally admits to being tired.
Ok, this time I actually was tired. Now that the day was done I let the fatigue set in.
We left the track and went straight to Denny's were to finally got to eat a proper (would Denny's be considered "proper"?) meal.
Yea, remember I wolfed down that breakfast? lol
We returned to the house, unpacked Dave's truck, got his PC loaded back up and sent him off home.
I'm still sorry Dave that we didn't get more time to LAN on the PC's
Scott and I had originally planned to get some gaming done on the PCs, but that never happened.
Heh. Aint that the truth.
Scott was asleep by 9pm...
Yea, I couldn't keep my eyes open at all
I quiclkly followed and crashed early as well. 5am to 9pm... one meal, 80 minutes at speed... one of the best days of my life.

Man it certainly was wasn't it? Many thanks to you Tim for opening your door to me and allowing me to leave my shit lying everywhere, and kick you out of your room so I could crash without having to pay a hotel bill. The only thing that could top this experience would be to do it all over again!

Special note to Morgan: Thanks for your enthusiasm and taking the time out to be an instructor. It was great to have a fellow racer there to share in Tim and I's, um... racing experience.