| Author | Message | ||
     Sshbsn |
I'm taking my nephew up to see them and camp at the track for the weekend. Just wondering if there's anybody else going up. You know, I rode the Firebolt up to the '05 12-hour race, before motorcycles were allowed in again. I paid a special fee to be waved through the gates, and spent the day as the ONLY spectator w/helmet, gloves, etc. Everywhere I went that day, people (women!!) thought I was a driver...ah, the good ol' days. Now, bikes are permitted in as I understand it: no such fooling around anymore. | ||
| Etennuly |
I went there a couple of times for that event in '95 and '96. I was with a contingent of Corvettes as part of the Porche/ Corvette show. Those Historic race cars are so awesome and important. I was able to talk to many of the owners and drivers about them. The formula guys said the hardest thing was getting and building parts and the NASCSAR guys said the hardest thing to get was the original stickers. The sounds from some of those cars from the sixties was amazing. I was impressed as to how hard they ran those cars that had no ability to be insured, and values into the millions. I also got to do some spirited track touring with about a hundred other Corvette owners. I even spun it out on the hairpin corner as I was trying to get it sideways in the corner only to find out that if your '94 Goodyear Eagles brake loose they go completely loose! Ahhhh that was fun. Have a good time and take lots of pictures! | ||
| Djkaplan |
As fate would have it, some good friends of mine just moved to Sebring and invited me to come down. Is the event on November 30th? | ||
| Sshbsn |
Yep, it's Nov. 30-Dec. 2. I took my son last year and we did touring laps in the S2000. Until then I had no idea how bumpy the track really was. It's really a great time if you're a gearhead, as most Buell owners seem to be! | ||
| Etennuly |
How did you like that great big wide open back straight? That sucker sure does funnel down into a tight one under that pit bridge! That was the day I found out that stock Corvette brakes, although good for street use, are worthless on a road course. I was doing 105 mph coming into that corner braking as hard as I could and cleaning my shorts all the way down the pit straight! You are right about the bumps and all of the cracks between the concrete sections. I got in car video of every lap I ran except the one when I looped it. You can really hear the tires slapping those grooves. | ||
| Sshbsn |
Oh the straight was great. We were supposed to keep our speeds reasonable and stay behind a pace car, but the pace car never went out! One reason I got the S2000 is that they are--right out of the box--amazing track cars. But I was passed up by a Porsche Turbo on that Ulmann Straight like I was painted on the fence! My son was 9 last year when we went, and I let him take some photos while we lapped:  I don't see any information on touring laps this year, I wonder if they've done away with them? | ||
| Etennuly |
My oldest son was twenty when we went. The video he did looks a lot like your picture, got a lot of dash in it! Great time though, one of those "tell your grandchildren about the time" moments. Our rules were simple; 1.stay behind the pace car. 2.Do not pass. They didn't say don't run slow so that you get a really long gap to close back up. So we ended up spread out and hauling butt for a while. I think we did five laps. The following year we did the drag strip deal on the front straight. I finished third of about thirty. It wasn't as much fun as the road course though. Our show event was in the round down town. We ended up with pictures of both of the Vette's that I had, a '94 and a '79, in a magazine. My son had SO much fun driving the '79 from the big old hotel in Sebring to the drag strip. He still grins about running in a line of Corvette's at over a hundred ten mph for about six miles. |
