Supper Soggy Shenandoah day

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Went to Shenandoah on October 1st for a 2-day event with TrackDaze. This is supposed to be one of the best times of the year to go, but not in 2011 when it was *cold* and *rainy*.

Had some fun the first day and froze my butt off, after which I decided I had as much fun as I could take and stayed home the next day (also cold and soggy).

There was some serious machinery there, 2 GT3's (at least one was an RS), an F430, Viper Coupe, you name it - none of these wanted to play for long and didn't do very well on that day. My car has a muffler, a drop-in filter, RS19 pads and DYI brake cooling ducts without backing plate and I normally run in the high-Intermediate group.

A modified Evo X was very fast in my group in these conditions, a caged 944 was a little quicker until he span it in front of me, otherwise I ran with the usual suspects. The big surprise was a red pick-up truck, I think some sort of Chevy if not mistaken, (yes, that's right), running suspension and who knows what else but above all an exceptional driver and who was just the slightest bit faster than me. My hat is off to that guy, I don't care what modifications he had in that truck, he was fast and confident.

In the video all you will see basically is me tiptoeing around the track trying not to spin and passing that Viper Coupe. Please excuse the production, it's my first attempt with a Contour camera and I had mucked around the volume setting.

I was much more confident in the rain on Summit Main, as there is a lot more runoff space than at Shenandoah. I continued to like the PS2 in the rain, but I could tell they were at their lower operating range on that day.

[von_zoom]

Nice video. The track was really wet and the PS2s seem to be doing a reasonably good job. Thanks for sharing.
vz

[paradocs98]

Looks like you really had to tiptoe in those poor conditions. Love the "Karussel" feature of the track--who knew?--looks like fun!

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Originally Posted by paradocs98

Looks like you really had to tiptoe in those poor conditions. Love the "Karussel" feature of the track--who knew?--looks like fun!

Shenandoah is a ball of fun, one of the most technical tracks in the US. It has lots of elevation changes, 18 corners out of which some mimic various other famous ones (Karussel, Corkscrew etc.) and not a lot of run-off area since the track folds in and over itself.

Think a giant 3-d autocross and you'll get the idea.
http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Turn_...andoah_circuit

It isn't very good for racing (too narrow), but I think it is brilliant for learning and honing skills. Also easier on the brakes than Summit Main.

Amazing in the dry, quite a workout, but in the rain it's something else... Check it out next summer if you get a chance...

[dcgolfdr]

I was there for the second day and I froze my ass off!! We did get lucky with only one session that was wet but it was tough day to be sitting around outside .

[dnvrdrvr]

Great video - very cool looking track! Made me start ruminating on why it is I live in Colorado where tracktime is at the mercy of the weather in the winter.

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Originally Posted by dcgolfdr

I was there for the second day and I froze my ass off!! We did get lucky with only one session that was wet but it was tough day to be sitting around outside .

Yeah, very atypical for beginning of October. I think I'll try to squeeze more track days in June/July in 2012.

Originally Posted by dnvrdrvr

Great video - very cool looking track! Made me start ruminating on why it is I live in Colorado where tracktime is at the mercy of the weather in the winter.

It's a cool track allright, but we too are subject to the vagaries of weather around this area. You're probably safe only in the warm states (CA, FL, AZ etc.).