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This year was pretty uneventful; not very many people showed up, the weather stank, the hotel was crumby, the food bad and the track was junk... And if you believe any of that, I got a nice bridge just to the north of San Fran I can sell you cheap! I say it every year, but if you missed this one, you missed a classic. Everything about it went well and the people made it all worth while. I had the dubious honor of having the first car there, even though Bob, Don and the crew from the North East will claim they were there first. Ha! Beat ya! To everything there is a story. I had my car shipped out way early as I was going to be speaking at a graphics conference that ran through the 5th and didn't have the time to do the drive. I got a last minute slot on an exposed car carrier bringing Cadillacs from Minneapolis to northern California (Go Arnold!). $1075 for the one way trip, as I drove home. The crew at the hotel was very kind and landed the car for me, put the car cover on it and kept it up front so as not to let it come to any harm. Good people. Getting out there was half the fun, and my buddy Craig who lives in San Jose picked me up at the SF airport and brought me up to the Embassy Suites on the 7th. What a great place, complete with waterfall, free drinks at night and free breakfast. Deluxe! Checking in I overheard a lady ask the clerk, "Are there any ferries in San Francisco?" To which I replied, "Do you have any idea of what you just said? This IS after all San Francisco!" She blushed and said, "I meant the boat!" Everyone laughed. After washing the heavily dirtied NSX, I installed the front air dam (which no way would have made it onto the trailer) and headed off on the long scenic drive. We did a great set of twisty roads, saw some beautiful vistas and had a snack along the waterfront. Nice. For the first time in over a dozen trips to SF I saw the bay bridge! (its always been fogged in...) and it was wonderful. Back at the hotel, Larry B. did a tech inspection on my car for me as I didn't get that done before I left. Thanks again buddy! About that time everyone started showing up, and the lot filled with NSXs...about 125 at last count. To my surprise there weren't a zillion red cars. All colors were well represented, along with one Imola Orange 2002. The next morning the whole lot of us headed for Sacramento and RPM Carting. It's so cool to see bunches of NSXs on the road together. It was a long drive, but the directions were good and it was easy to find. Carting was great, and my bud John Mandell and I had a blast. Maria Hicks kicked everyone's behinds and nearly made the track record. Nice job girl! Snacks were good, and the fun was nonstop. We stayed right to the end and got in a run on both tracks. RPM let us get up on the roof and take pics of all the cars in the lot, and they turned out great. We all headed over to Comptech and went through their shop, talked with the guys and saw some neat parts. The Acura Spice car was on hand and looking mint. I talked with a couple of the mechanics about superchargers, suspension, oil cooling, and all the other things I could think of. It was one of the highlights of the trip. Another was leaving Comptech for dinner at the Napa Valley Grill. Hwy 80 West was clogged to the gills with rush hour, construction and just your fat CA traffic plug. Someone dialed the phone, pulled some strings, and the CHP boys showed up with the intention of shutting down the highway so we could get to dinner on time! I was right up at the front, and watched as the 4 lanes of traffic backed up for miles so we could sail down the left lane at speed. The guys at the back said they were "well over" the speed limit with the cops waiving them on ever faster! That doesn't happen every day. I bet those poor locals were hating us big time. Well it sucks to be them I guess! Dinner was choice, and the NVG was a wonderful place. We walked the parking lot chatting and having fun. Bright and early the next morning I went on the track walk at Infineon. I got there at about 29 after 7, at 7:30 they left at a clip so we could be done by 8:30. I had no idea about the layout and elevation changes on this track until I got out and walked it! Jim Grinstead gave us the line and told us of the dangers. Good info for later! It was quite the near-run experience but well worth it. There were a few cars running around on Friday including a pair of 360 Modena GTs, a 53 Vette, a 63 Split Window Vette and a Vette Trans-Am car. Fun to watch! We had a forced Induction classroom session and talked for a bit about the options. It was picture and concourse day, so off I went to clean the car and talk with all the vendors. Mark from Dali and I chatted for a bit, and I talked to the Factor X guys about their turbo setup. They were doing "rides" around the grounds and that car really seemed to be working! Later, the Comptech boys rolled out the Spice car and did some blasts across the parking lot as well. We were all warned to "stop it" after that. We did the group picture late that afternoon and it was fun to see us all lined up. Chris Wilson, aka "Mr. Microphone" took control like Al Hague and got us in line. We all left for the hotel at the same time so out 100+ cars hit the freeway together. What a blast! A lady saw all of us, followed us to the hotel and talked to us for a bit. NSXs draw crowds I tell you. We even drew a local cop who cruised the lot slow and didn't have a good sense of humor. That night we all got a letter from the hotel management to stop "racing" and high revving on the road by the hotel. It seems that some locals called the boys and told them that we were a little out of hand. Oh well! Driving the track was just a hoot. Ed Shih and I went out and he really helped me learn it in a hurry. I wasn't pushing the limits by any stretch, but was at 7-8/10ths all day. I got OK'd for solo driving in B group for Sunday and had a great time. Many people left early so the run groups were pretty slim by Sunday afternoon, which is fine by me! I rode around with Mark Johnson in the red Cup Car and he showed me how much fun you can have driving a light, NA motor car - with metal brakes. Greg Hardy drove it and said it was an adventure. I'll bet! After the event, I drove to Sac and San Jose to visit friends for a few days, then off to Boulder CO to rock climb, but that's another story... Lud, Akira3d and Donymo snapped a few good pics from the track, they can be seen here. |
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