JRSC and road racing....(Super Duper LONG!)

[gsrev]

Are a definate MUST!!!! I did my first road racing event this past weekend at Texas World Speedway in College Station. Course was 2.9 miles of the most exciting driving you can ever imagine. I could only say that doing this event makes autox and dragracing as fun as a trip to the dentist And I absolutely love doing both!

This event was considered a "high speed driving educational course" I had a certified instructor by my side. I was placed in the "blue" group since I have autox expierence... Green- novice (first time on anykind of a track) Blue- some track expierence other than TWS. Yellow- Has some expierence at TWS (instructor rides first day and solo's you second day) White- very experienced 10+ events on road race course and last "RED" group- they are the instructors Which btw most all drove porches (highly modified!)

Each sesion was 20 min long w/ a break of about 1 hour inbetween each "peddle to the radiator" run. CivicR, many.. many.. many props out to you for the camera mount which I made for my camcorder the day before (I like to procrastanate! I finished at 3am and needed to be there at 7am. Drive is about 2 hours )

John Eagle Honda (authrized Jackson racing dealership) hosted the event. They had there SC'd si out there, 2 other civics and my self were SC'd. Roll call had 23 NSX, 18 s2000's, 10 integras, 12 supras, about 30 porsches, 6 BMW's, 9 300z's, 2 se-r, 1 vw turbo beetle , and a crap load of civic si's, hatchbacks, and coupes... total about
150 cars attended. Cost was 125.00 for 2 days. Best money I ever spent!

Now for the info YOU ALL want to hear. Track was 101 degrees at noon w/ aprox 90% humidity. I was seriously concerned about the heat and the SC'r. I decided to run 104 octane and keep my timing set at 10. I was runing a ram air set up for for my intake to keep them as low as absolutely posible. I had my recently (2 months old) EBC pads w/ a bout 1/2 life remaining on my crossdrilled rotors. AGX were set at 3 front and 4 rear. I was rolling on yolkahama a520. (really wish I would of had the BFG R1's )

My first sesion of the day I got the jitters. Something about coming off a banked wall at speeds not normally reached to brake hard and turn left set off butterflies throughout my body. I felt somewhat safe considering I had a highly experierced driver by my side and some massive stopping power .. according to ebc 40% more right???? Well my first session of the day I took kind easy as I got accostumed to the track and learned the lines and listened to my instructor constructivly critize my errors and teach me the right way of doing things. I slowely but surely got the confidence to jet through the corners and onto the banked straight which was one of 2 places which allowed for controled passing. (The slower car has to signal which side he wants you to pass on) That was sooooo sooo damn fun. By the end of the day I was hitting speeds of 130+ on the straight. A couple of NSX's fell victims to my fury as did 2 porches and 3 s2000's. But I got my ass handed to my by a few supras (especially the one that was putting out 600 hp to the wheels) but I would proudly catch up on the twisties and wave I also admitedly got spanked by my friends type r (JUN everything you can imagine) that is one hella nice car but he has spent over 9K to make it go hella fast.
My low point of the first day was my last session where my car ran out of gas!! I started that 20 min session w/ 1/4 tank and i had to pit in early w/ 5 min remaining. My instructor was not pleased to say the least I felt like a total ass. I didnt run out completely just that I felt my car sputter on one of the turns and didnt want to take a chance on blowing my engine as I was afraid was going to happen if i kept it up. Shit gas was expensive though 4.50 gallon for 104 octane. So that day was over and the next day I decided to use Mr. Rogers method 1/2 104 and 1/2 93... i was not going to run out of gas this time how embarrasing. The first session of the next day was quite interesting.. I got way over confedent and coming off the wall at 130 mph I slowed down just enough for corner 1 but carried way.. and i mean way too much speed for corner 2 and got nervous let off the gas and as I was listening to my instuctor yell at me to get back on the throttle.. it was too late .. my car became a fancy lawn mower for TWS.. I plowed right thru the grass. I was black flagged and had to go to the pits to check for damage. Fortunetly my car was fine.. no damage at all. Got back on the track and finished up the session feeling stupid for not listening, but I learned my lesson. After finishing up that session, I was driving back to the garage to let my car cool and noticed my brakes started to grind?? I was like WTF?? These pads arent but 2 months old. I did realize that after each session mine and everyone elses rotors would be literaly smoking. Fortunetly I was preparred I had my mechanix gloves (heat resistant) and tools ready to work on my car incase of mishaps. I took apart my brakes and what do I see?? My POS EBC pads were completely worn to the indicator on my right side and my left side came apart. I caught it just intime so that there was very minimal scarring to my rotor. But I was absolutlely pissed that the pads didnt last me more than 6K miles and more than that was hell... they kicked up more dust than driving thru a dirt road. I admittedly have to say yes they did warn about having an extra set when road racing .. so people.. take that to heart.. they mean it I found out the hard way. I was prepared w/ xtra plugs, wheels, tools, fluids.. but brakes?? I ended up missing my session #2 while I went to hunt some pads down on a sunday. Fortunely napa had some race pads "ceramix" for my car in stock. I gladly pade the $65 and got a lifetime warranty on them.

I told my instructor about my situation and section #3 was not fun considering I had to do 3 cool down laps to allow my brakes to cool cuz I got a crap load of brake fade since they were not bedded in yet. But my last section #4 was by far the funnest.. my brakes felt fine and by then I had the coarse down by memory.

To make a longer story a bit shorter.. my instructor said I was ready to go solo next time I go to TWS I was pleasantly surprised w/ my cars capabilities and the fact that my car's motor is still in one piece after runing thru scorching temps at WOT seeing 7K rpms most of that 20 min. The temps never went up past normal. The only complaint I have is that under WOT .. my baby sure does drink alot. I filled up 4 times while i was there for 2 days !! This is certainly an event that given the chance I would recommend everyone do. For the price you cant beat it and it only makes you a better driver. My chic will be participating in the next event w/ me

PS... I was not the only one that went off roading. I porche did the same thing, however.. to give you an idea as to how hot it was that day... He started a grass fire on the side of the track. It was a kodak moment cuz it looked like back to the future where the fire was burning along the tire tracks on the grass

PSS ********** Trash those EBC Pads!! *****

Sorry I took so much bandwidth..just needed to share my story! And Tom.. thanxs a million for letting me use your helmet!

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1998 Super Sonic Blue Gs-r
Minor bolt ons include:
Jrsc 6psi.. blah.. blah .. blah..
best 1320: 13.86 @101.82 on street tires

[Holden]

Awesome!

I might do one of these events at Lime Rock or Watkin's Glen next year. I'm a little concerned at my lack of a rollbar though.

What percentage of cars at that event had rollbars? Did you? Did anyone suggest getting one?

Thanks,

Greg

[vactor]

which EBC pads were you running?? a LOT of people have been having bad experieences with their EBC pads, but none of them say which ones (Green, Yellow, Red)???

[gsrev]

Holden, no I do not have a roll bar, not many people did, except for the instructors of course! After doing this course sure does make you want to think about one though. Most turns were done at about 65-90mph.

I forgot to mention that I rode w/ my intructor in his porsche! Wooo Hooo that was bad ass! It has a rollcage and 5 point harness (which he had to show me how to use)It was a 911 w/ a 3.5L air cooled engine and that thing rocked! Really not sure what else was in there. Only thing I noticed was that his speedo said 150 on the straight and on the twisties I saw my life flash before my eyes quite a few times, lol

The EBC pads were the vomit "green stuff" Arggh.. i can slap myself they were an absolute nitemare from the begining. Ordered them thru redline, never came in after 3 months. Then I had to hassle my cc company about getting my money back since redline was tripin. Then I ordered directly from ebc, paid 60.00 for pads that didnt last 2 months. Hell the stock oem arent that bad and last 10x longer. Can you tell I am disappointed??

[Glenn]

Wicked gsrev...I've always wanted to do more road racing, but it just eats up your brakes and tires...maybe I'll save up for a spare set of used tires.

Hmmmm..I was planning to get a set of EBC greens to replace my KVRs..but I guess I'll keep buying KVRs.

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Glacier White 94 del Sol VTEC
Team Sol member#0014

T3/T04e, DRAG2 manifold, Spearco FMIC, HKS Sequential BOV, Endyn modified Bosch fuel pump, Vortech FMU, B&M Commandflo FPR, K&N filter, Akimoto S.S. cat-back exhaust 2.25", Autometer Ultralite 0-100 fuel pressure gauge, Autometer Ultralite 30-0-20 boost gauge, Autometer A/F ratio, AEM cam gears (blue), MSD 6AL+BTM, Blaster2, ACT X-treme clutch w. full face disk, ITR flywheel

[honda9k]

I have been using Porterfeild pads with the AEM big rotor kit. Love the pads more then the AEM setup. Over all this works well for me on my JRSC Civic.

[vactor]

if you guys haven' noticed, the EBC Green pads are NOT to be used on a track! they are for daily driving and autoX. NOT for the track. the yellow and Reds ARE for the track. people complain, but they end up using the wrong pad. look at their site and on the box, it tells you what operating temps they are for. before slamming them, i suggest trying the correct ones for the application. and as much as i LOVE my KVR pads, they are also NOT track pads. i mean, what gives????

[pest]

OH YEA!!

When I went to Talladega Gran Prix Raceway... we had so much fun. We had a lot more beginners than you seem to have had. We had a lot of off roading going on and spinouts... including myself!

It rained the 2nd day though... so that contributed.

I cant wait to try another road course... they were so much fun and I learned how to drive my car under the extreme. It is worth every penny I paid and then some. If you get a chance to go to an event like this and pass it up... then you are foolish!!

[lundgren]

Yup, the yellows and reds are for the track, not the greens.

[gsrev]

Okay, that is a fair enough question.
So what you are saying is that oem pads are better suited for track temps. I dont think so! I know that the red and yellow ones are out there. Its not like I road race every weekend, this was a one time event. If I road raced every month I would of bought the other pads, however I just assumed that the green would hold up while being conscious that they would not brake as good as the other ebc pads. I expected brake fade, etc.. (Thats what I get for assuming) As for autox I only did one event. Rest of there life was spent commuting back and forth to work. Like them if you want! Be in denial, I am just telling you as I saw it. Paid 60.00 for pads that left my wheels looking gun metal everyday (dust free??), lasted less than 2 months, can't resist as high temps as oem pads and other aftermarket, and 40% increase in braking?? (Bologny !!!) They ain't that good.

All I am simply saying is .. this mod will be scratched up as "waste of money and time"