You spin me right round, baby right round...

[decibel45]

(no, I'm not talking about Erica, thought it's still fitting ;) )

Last month I followed Nugget and equiraptor's example and did a Driver's Edge event at Texas World Speedway. Had a blast, and made serious improvements to my driving. Good enough that my instructor didn't even join me for the last 3 sessions on Sunday, and I was recommended to move

Comments

[ghewgill]

I recall reading a long time ago how somebody managed to fit four race wheels into the car. Obviously one of the rears goes in the trunk. I think the rest of them were something like: (a) move the passenger seat all the way forward, (b) put a front wheel behind the seat, (c) move the seat back, (d) put the other rear halfway into the passenger footwell, (e) put the other front in the passenger seat.

Ha, I found the link and remembered correctly: http://www.nsxprime.com/wiki/Four_Wheels_In_NSX

[decibel45]

Sheesh, that's a bit nuts. I guess I'll keep than in mind if I manage to fall into a set of free OEM rims.

[calledisrael]

what?? i want to hear about this woman... :-)

[decibel45]

Yeah, I should probably write an entry about Erica... But I'd rather spend time with her than on the computer writing about her ;)

[kevinblanchard]

But she'll dig it. Blogging about a girl is the equivilant of shouting from the rooftops in love about her ;-)

ps-You, nugget and I need to get together for dinner or something sometime soon.

[decibel45]

Agreed, and agreed. :)

[equiraptor]

Do you really need different wheels for an upgraded brake system? Are the rotors already slotted/drilled? Can you not get a different pad material that would take more heat?

I'm sitting in the damp with misting, working the gate at the autocross. Yay for getting my work assignment out if the way.

[decibel45]

Yeah, there are still upgrades I can do to the existing system. Pads is the most obvious one. I also want to get the car on the rack and see if there's any way I can get some air ducting in there.

I'm not keen on doing rotors though... I really need to get off the rinky-dink 15/16" rims onto something I can actually buy real tires for. And once I'm at 17" rims there's a lot more I can do with the brakes that makes a lot more sense than continuing to dink with the tiny stuff that's 1st-gen OEM (I actually compared my calipers to a Miata this weekend... mine aren't much bigger).

[equiraptor]

What's your current wheel size, including width? Different size wheels will change handling and acceleration characteristics of the car, and I'd rather try to find you some good rubber than see you switch wheel size for that. Then again, you can get R6 in your OEM tire size, so maybe upgraded wheels for the street, for better street rubber, and R6 on the OEM for the track. Assuming you don't need larger rotors to keep things cool.

[decibel45]

205/50-15 and 225/50-16.

I'm kinda thinking that I am going to want better brakes. Even with better pads, the calipers I have are just tiny; not to mention single-piston. I'm actually a bit more worried about getting good street tires than race tires; I don't care (to a degree) how well race tires wear. But I want at least 10k miles out of street tires, *and* good performance, *and* good behavior in the rain. It's really hard to find that in my tire sizes; and it's also hard to keep it. Every time I go look at what's available for my car, it becomes harder and harder to find something.

Then again, sticking with the same rims will be a lot cheaper...

[txdave]

You do know that when you're at TWS you're about 10 miles from me don't you? Bring Nuclear Tacos. Or at least give me a ring and let's go drink a beer.

[decibel45]

I'd need your number, but to be honest I can't make any promises. Track days are *very* tiring; this weekend I was asleep by like 8:30 Saturday.