[chaos311clarity]

friday the 15th: woke up and quickly got ready to make the haul from manchester to elkridge, MD... the drive wasnt too bad, although youd never know where the race comp shop is from the road haha... so, i pull up to their shop, meet dan and mike, and check out my new parts... ohlins struts, grp-n tops, whiteline fsb and some kartboy endlinks, my rear sway bar was supposed to come in that morning. so they pulled the car up on the lift and started working, meanwhile andrew took my gf and i over to the arundel mills mall where we stayed for a LONG period of time haha... there was alot of work to for those guys and it was nice to get out of the regular scene and check out the cool ass mall... so later in the day i got a call, whiteline sent them the wrong rear bar, i was like wtf, they had asked if it was cool to install it and i said whatever sure... well that turned out to be a legacy bar and just wouldnt work... so they managed to source a bar "locally" .. and mike went off to go pick it up.... it ended up taking mike roughly 3 hours to get back haha... he drove to mach v in virginia (HOLY **** thats going above and beyond) and picked up the bar, then they got finished with the install... this was a pretty big set back as far as time went, i was trying to make it to the poconos that night.. ok so after checking out the car/enjoying the new look... i headed out to a local place they recommended i get the car aligned at... NTB. Myles uses the one guy and he apparently does very well. but he wasnt there... so i ended up getting their other guy named derrick. he was moving slow and trying to get things where i wanted them (0 toe and -1.5 camber), he ran into problems adjusting the front camber ... and we decided in leu of time that it should just be left it was at like -1.4 on the drivers side and -1.8 on the passenger (not a big deal to me)... so by the time i got out of there, it was roughly 930 pm... HOLY ****, i still had at least 5 hours of driving ahead of me... i decided that it was best to drive back to my gf's house then go to my house for the night and sleep, she had decided to come with me because the guys funeral was not til monday...so we got to my house at about 1 am... late as balls, especially with a track day the next day... the ohlins were performing awesome with the rce springs and the sways... i was very pleased... its kinda hard to describe how it takes bumps, its firm but never bouncy... i love it...

saturday june 16th:
my first ever track day...and boy what a day it was... we had to wake up super early to go to the track (430 am)... we didnt get on the road til about 5... and we had quite a drive ahead of us... i was doing my best at staying awake on the boring ass PA turnpike... once we got up there we stopped and fueled up then proceeded to the track about 2 miles down the road... we pulled in to the infield and the excitement/anxiety/adrenaline started... this place was HUGE... being that ive never been this close to a track i was in awe...so we pull into the paddock (i grab a nice garage spot) and go register, i was in the novice group and we had class first, so after class we went out on track for the first time, wow what an experience that was, trying to hit lines and still be quick, i had no idea what i was doing... the instructor that jumped in my car is actually a pro race driver, JD King, hes doing very well in his series (formula 4, open wheel cars) and he was giving me some great tips to follow the lines and such and hit the turn ins... then we had a small break before the instructor rides... this is where the instructor gets into your car and drives you around the track... this was a HUGE eye opener... holy **** i was holding on for dear life... jd was incredible... on turn 3 of our course he actually was starting to get my car a bit sideways haha... tires were getting nice and warm, the car sticks like crazy... and he was hitting 120-125 on the straights and the only reason he didnt go faster is because he knew i was getting scared haha... that was one of the coolest things ive ever been a part of, someone driving my car the way it was prepared to drive... it was just so cool... and about halfway thru his laps i look down at the steering wheel... i notice his left hand looks a bit different... then i saw what it really was... HOLY ****ING MOTHER OF GOD... this guy is driving like this, with a prosthetic left arm... hes amazing... we then had to go back to the classroom and learn a bit more i was late to the class because JD and I were talking about lines and heel-toe and other crap i hadnt tried ever haha... so we went out for my second session of driving, this time a small asian guy (cant remember his name) got in the car and he was really working with me very well and showing me the lines and braking points... i was definitely improving over my first session...this session was actually for the first 3 laps, a no braking exercise, so that definitely helped me hit the lines better, but all the cars kept getting jammed up because of other not so prepared cars that couldnt do very well, anywho, i was glad i was improving. it was lunch time and i was getting very frazzled, my brain was running a mile a second after JD's drive and i was just reeling trying to get better... i decided that i might sit the next session out, and after talking with the cheif instructor, Dave Hess, we went back out, with dave driving... he was emphasizing being smooth and getting the right lines and trackouts... i think his goal was to show me that you can be fast and smooth at the same time (JD did this, but i couldnt take it in as fast as he was driving haha)... after a few laps i asked if i could take a spin... i was doing much better, hitting the proper spots... it felt great.. dave was giving me props... but i was tired ... i think that had a big part in my performance, not enough sleep. that was my last session of the day, i was tired and didnt want to push myself too much before the 2 hour drive home to SE PA... on the way home we actually stopped at the rest stop and took a nap... i was falling asleep at the wheel and didnt want to risk it...

ok so to sum it up:

if you get the chance, go to a track/hpde/pdx day... it was by far one of the best things i couldve done, it showed me how far i can push the car, and how much street driving is SO much different no matter how hard u think you drive...

the parts, i mean what can i say, i made the right choice for myself.... the ohlins/rce combo is fantastic... the drop is great, the ride is great, and it sticks very hard... the tires... wow, the RE01-R is a great tire... it stuck so well on the track and on the wet roads on the way home it basically behaved much the same... they grip. now i also discovered like most do, the stock STi seats blow... especially if you are as big as i am (6'1", 280lbs) my left leg is sore from holding myself against the door and bolster all day... so im gonna need a harness and some better/wider seats at some point... i guess ill finish this up with a mod list and thank you list...im sure there are some things/people i left out so if you see this and didnt get mentioned i apologize and just speak up and be acknowlegded haha...

mods as of 6/17/07:
- Fujita 3" bellmouth DP with built in CEL fix
- custom 3"-2.5" midpipe
- JDM STi Genome axleback
- Genuine V-limited lip
- JDM OEM ion fogs w/ switch
- autospeed bumper garnish
- NRG hood dampers
- K&N drop in filter/ removed intake silencer
- JDM auto intercooler switch
- TiC shifter bushings set, with pivot bushings/clicky kit
- TiC rear klunk killer kit
- JDM STi Genome gauges/controller (boost, oil pres, oil temp, water temp)
- AndrewSS camera mount
- Carbing FSTB with built in MC brace
- Tein RSTB
- Group-N strut top mounts all around
- Öhlins fixed perch struts
- Race Comp Engineering yellow springs
- Kartboy endlinks with spacers
- Whiteline 27mm front sway
- Whiteline 24mm rear sway
- TiC fender braces
- Goodridge Stainless brake lines
- Carbotech XP8 brake pads
- Bridgestone Potenza RE01-R (245/40/17) on the gold BBS's
- STi mudflaps
- ECUTEK tune by Andy Brahy at Verocious motorsports

not on the car currently:
- silver bbs's with blizzak lm22's(winter)
- stock sti axleback (winter)
- Syms replica wing
- the giant ball of tape i removed after the track


HUGE thanks go out to the follwing:

- Chris from Glimmer Glass Detailing ... this man has hooked me up and you should all talk to him about getting you some really nice products
- Racecomp guys- huge props on getting the rear sway and getting everything installed
- ray/will from turbo tek tuning- thanks for the quick responses
- my girlfriend mary - thank you for being with me all weekend and calming me down when i need it haha
- Will aka willthethrill - dude, thank you for telling me about this PDX and introducing me to so many cool guys
- Tristatetuners.com - what the hell would i do without you guys?
- IWSTI community - again thank you for all your advice and guidance
- everyone that was at the PDX, esepcially JD and dave - wow. huge thanx for helping me accomplish my goals for the day and keeping me focused.
- anyone i missed- thanx for whatever you did! haha

and sigh... that was a ****load of writing, pix will be up ASAP. enjoy/comment away!

[ELD4AU6]

sounds like a blast

[dxpsycho]

Very very nice. good job

[chaos311clarity]

Originally Posted by dxpsycho

Very very nice. good job

thanx guys, im really happy with the way the car is performing right now.

[amg destroyer]

Sounds like you had a blast at the track. Did you happen to get any vids?

[chaos311clarity]

didnt get too many pictures... but here they are!

[chaos311clarity]

Originally Posted by amg destroyer

Sounds like you had a blast at the track. Did you happen to get any vids?

unfortunately i dont have a video camera of my own yet, i havent found one that makes me want to spend money on it that is in my price range so i think ill wait and get an HD one

[AndrewSS]

Cool, track-days are always a blast, glad you had fun and kept it on the track!

[RaceComp Engineering]

Glad to hear everything worked out!

We just had to get you that rear swaybar....we knew for your first time at the track having everything sorted properly would be a huuuge plus. We really wish we could have gotten you out of there a lot earlier though!

And your gf is a trooper for hangin in there that long.


- Andrew

[chaos311clarity]

Originally Posted by RaceComp Engineering

Glad to hear everything worked out!

We just had to get you that rear swaybar....we knew for your first time at the track having everything sorted properly would be a huuuge plus. We really wish we could have gotten you out of there a lot earlier though!

And your gf is a trooper for hangin in there that long.


- Andrew

haha yea, shes great, entertained by simple things, like we spent quite a while in bass pro because of all the neat things haha

[DCH]

Man that sounds like fun! I can't wait until my first track session!

[chaos311clarity]

Originally Posted by DCH

Man that sounds like fun! I can't wait until my first track session!

you wont regret doing a track session man!

heres a new pic i snapped yesterday... im most likely ditching the gold wheels in favor of silver...

[purreplayya69]

^^ car looks nice as hell almost just like mine excluding the v-lim lip (i know what mine will look like with it on tho makes me wanna spend money!)... dont swap the gold rims they look so good.... when you gonna get that syms wing on you picked up dude?

[DCH]

Man if you were in SoCal...consider my silvers yours.

[ELD4AU6]

keep gold! Looks awesome dude!

My car wants to look just like yours when it grows up