I just got off the phone with Motorsport Ranch just outside of Dallas and have secured the track for June 3. (this is not the same track we went to last year. it's only a few minutes outside Dallas instead of 3 hours like last year).

www.motorsportranch.com

The price will be $95 per driver and will consist of 2 groups, running approx four 15-20 min sessions, depending on number of drivers entered and track schedules.
There will be two classroom sessions, and two lead-follow sessions on the track to teach you the line and educate you on high performance driving.

For payment, you will need to pay me the $95 up front, as we need to have at least 15-20 people paid up to secure the event. once we're within a month of the event, there will be NO REFUNDS. If someone else wants to take your place, that's fine with me- but once I pay to rent the track, I can't get the money back... so you don't get it back if you don't show. Please make the check out to Matt Blehm and DO NOT send Registered or Certified Mail! The post office here is stupid and it takes two hours of my time to go to the PO and pick up a certified letter. I simply don't have time for it.

Send checks to:
Matt Blehm
4319 Duesenberg Ct.
Pearland, TX 77584

Be sure to stick a note in there what the money is for. If not, you may wind up with a T-shirt and some BlehmCo stickers!


4-24-06 Edit..
Everyone who is planning on driving at the event, please download and fill out these forms as well:
Event Sign Up Sheet
Tech Form
for those of you that have already sent money, please simply fill out the sign up sheet in MS Word and email it back to me. (matt@mattblehm.com)


members who've paid so far:
1. Matt93SE
2. Ryan Vrenick
3. Kimson Nguyen
4. Tim Schatz
5. Sarah Wallace
6. Loren Rapoport
7. Colin Cappe
8. Kimson Nguyen for Nicola Cappelletti
9. Joe Antas
10. Ira Foster
11. Ky Ma
12. Randy Evans
13. Sam Bryan
14. Chung Ying
15. Terence
16. Tony (tentative)

 

I am most likely in.....going to suck with my car though.

 

Thats great news

When is the latest we can send the payment in?

Also if we cannot find 15~20 people to race will this still occur or will it be canceled? ( yeah I know, I am a eternal pessimist)

 

If I don't have 15-20 spots PAID by one month before the event, then the track event will be cancelled and anyone that paid up to that point will get their money back.. Otherwise, I owe the track about $5000 out of my own pocket since they closed the track to other clubs to make room for us.

 

Alright provided my car is back together and running you can count on me to be there. On that note does this track have cars available to rent like TWS does? I would like to know, just in case I have to take a plane to Dallas for Maxus.

Also we should start a list of people who are going to this event, cause it sounds like these guys are not as forgiving as Jack was at TWS.

Edit: Maybe make a sticky in the Auto-X and Road Course forum for this track day?

 

Are there going to be any drag strips open that are nearby, or do they have events going on like last year?

Either way, I'll probably be in for the road course.

 

I am in. Although I have a lot to do to get my car ready.

 

I'm planning on doing this again....gotta work on my brakes first, though.

 

Tom, you know my website addy.. everything you need for your brake problems are there.

Jack was a bit more forgiving at that particular event, but only because he had 20 people already on his "call on a moment's notice and they'll be there list". otherwise the event wouldn't have happened. he lost a LOT of money that day.

this track does have Miatas for rent, IIRC. you can go to their website and contact them about it. would be your best bet instead of getting 3rd party info from me on that stuff. they can inform you of fees and insurance rates and everything else.

 

I heard in the other topic about lapping at Texas Motor Speedway...if we did that what would the cost be and what would it include?

 

Would anyone object if we asked other Nissan car clubs in on this event?

Seeing as im trying to get the rear beam thing done for the 4th gens and local Sentras, might as well ask them if they want in.

 

The issue with that is entrant space to the track day. They're looking for 15-20 cars, and based on all the people that tell me they WANT to go, we'll have that with just Maximas. But if only 4 people actually pay (like last year), then we will definitely need to get some more people from other clubs.

the lapping stuff at TMS is part of the Z Club annual convention and isn't part of Maxus. If you want info on it, search for the 2006 Z Car Convention.

 

The $95 is a good price. I'm surprised there isn't more interest.

 

It should pick up when the event gets closer....

 

Wish I was in/around Texas

 

Guys drove from MA and NY last year! you can do it this year!

 

Mind having a s2000 join you guys haha kidding. I can't wait until I do my track meet. You guys should definitely jump on this. It's so much fun -- I gathered this from reading threads from track meets. You're already traveling far to attend, another $100 is worth it for the experience and memories alone!

And honestly, it's a good price.

 

Heh, Im surprised.

Definatly wouldn't be a short trip. I have a friend driving to FL as we speak, and he does it all the time.. TX seems only a bit farther judging from the google map.

 

If I still had my black car I'd definately be doing the road course, but I am almost positive my turbo car would not be up to the task.

 

It's only a 28 hour drive from Massachusetts, it's not that hard to do. Energy drinks FTW

 

Only 28 hours? Im actually really thinkin about this.

 

Just get in with a caravan from the area.. it'll make the drive MUCH shorter having someone else to run with. Just don't be the stupid guy in the group that tries to race everyone else!

 

Thanks for the tip

More 3rd gens around here would definatly require till June to find.. I guess I'll have to go with the 4th genners

Edit: If I choose to go that is, not sure yet

 

According to mapquest it's about 26 hours as well but with the max crew 20 hours ha ha. Its a long drive BUT well worth it. Matt hope all the planning is going well.

 

It's moving along...
I had a few vendors contact me a couple months ago about coming to the event.. I'm not sure how many you contacted personally before that, but might want to give them a heads-up with a bit more of what's going on.

I'm going to be driving up to Dallas this weekend to meet with Trophy, and hopefully we'll have most of it ironed out after Saturday, so the vendors can plan to ship any stuff they want in and other fun issues like that.

 

Count me in -- sounds like a great deal to me.

Would you rather payment now or when it gets closer?

 

i think i want to do this...when do you need the money by? I definitely have to get new brakes first, though...haha

 

I need the money ASAP so that I can reserve the track date and make sure there's enough people. I realize it's hard to send the money out for a "tentative event", but without having money in hand, I can't reserve the track-- and I'm not about to pay the money up front out of my pocket again!!

 

There was a Maxus before this?

 

What are the ways available to get you the $95 track fee, Matt?

If there's more than 1 way, what is your preferred method of payment?

 

i'm up for this, but not sure if my car is. never been to the track, so i'm not sure what it takes. what do you guys do before going to the track? i'll only have about a month before the event to work on the car, so we'll see.

 

I would prefer money order, but will accept personal check as well. I'll also accept Paypal if you add 3% to cover Paypal's fees so I don't end up losing money on it...

Please make payment out to me and note in the memo section that payment is for the Maxus 06 track event and I will hold the money in my account and write the track one single check. If the event is cancelled due to lack of interest (i.e. people not paying on time), then I will refund everyone's payments.

Send payments to:
Matt Blehm
4319 Duesenberg Ct.
Pearland, TX 77584

Paypal: matt@mattblehm.com

 

Basically, as long as your car is in good running condition and has good brakes and tires, you will be fine.

you will also need a helmet. motorcycle or racing helmet with newer than 1995 certification is fine. (it will have a stamp inside that says M95 or SA95.. or 00 or 05, depending on the age of the helmet and certifications.) There will usually be helmets there for rental for like $10 or something, but I highly suggest you source your own. I'd never want to use one of their lice buckets!!! :

I highly suggest changing your oil before the event if you've got more than 1000 miles on it, as well as add an extra 1/2 to 1qt to help combat the oil splashing around in the crankcase.

Also make sure you've flushed your brake fluid recently--within the last 6 months. brake pads should be high quality (OEM or better), preferably a high performance pad like hawk HPS, HP+, Axxis Metalmaster, Porterfield, etc.. You need to have at least 1/2 of the pad material remaining. I suggest bringing an extra set of brake pads "just in case". even the $17 autozone cheapies if you have to- just to get you home in the case you happen to wear out your pads at the track.
no cracked brake rotors. don't want one exploding on the track at 100mph!!

Make sure suspension and steering is in good condition. stock suspension is fine as long as your struts aren't blown- just make sure ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings, etc are all in good condition.

no dripping fluids!!!! a light seeping around your crank seal is not a problem.. leaving a 3" puddle of oil every time you park the car IS a problem.

That's the basic jist of it. here's a tech form for The Driver's Edge, which is a pretty standard form used by many car clubs.
http://www.thedriversedge.net/tmssif.pdf
I will send out a tech form of some sort to those that pay for the event, but very likely it will be a cut-and-paste of one similar to this one, but with MSR's name on it. MSR may have their own form they want me to send out- I'll worry about that part later.

Basically look through that list and fix anything you see on it that's not 100%. again, you don't have to have a race car or tons of mods-- a good condition stock car will do fine out there and you will be amazed at what it will do on a real track!

 

Then what would you rate our 3rd gens in terms of body rigidy compared to real sports cars. I'd guess your one of the few around here that actually took these bad boys through some spirited corners.

 

body rigidity? eh. they're a wet noodle compared to a real sports car. But also remember that this thing could out handle AND out accelerate a Mustang GT when they came out.

As for what a 3rd can do on the track, you'll be quite surprised. I've passed everything from Volkswagens to Vipers out there. Fiats and Ferraris too.
It's more about the driver than the car.. just go out and have fun. I guarantee you'll enjoy it!

 

I was hoping otherwise.. Thanks anyway.

Now what would you say.. A car like this probably wouldn't be the brightest decision in terms of competing in a race, would it? A race similar to or such as lets say "The Touring car championship?" I was just watching it the other weekened where they have your everyday mid-size sedans competing with different drivetrains and stuff with the 3series kicken' butt. You probably checked it out.. Anyway, I was thinken of how a 3rd gen would do.. I wonder if anyone ever competed with a 3rd gen in any type of racing like this

 

They did in the past, but nobody does anymore. I've seen a few 5th gens in competition as well (Courtesy Nissan and Mossy Nissan both sponsored cars to run SCCA showroom stock class I believe.. they have some pics on their websites I think.)

the car now just isn't competitive. you can go faster with cheaper and have tires last a lot longer. the 3 gen is pretty heavy (I've seen them gutted to class minimums of 2500lb though), so a regular streetable 3gen with full interior is very hard on tires. when I was running slicks I would wear out a set of fronts in a day of lapping, whereas a Spec Miata running the same tire would last a half season of racing on one set.
BUT, I could at least keep up with them while I was chewing through tires like that.

 

Oh yeah? They've competed in the past? How'd they do?

And the reason for the front tire abuse is because of the 60% weight in the front right? If you could somehow lighten that with lets say a VQ and no battery, would that still be a problem?

 

moving the battery to the back and swapping in a VQ will significantly lighten the front end, but it will also seriously mess with the handling.. I'm not sure whether it would be better or worse, but also realize what it would do to acceleration in lower gears.. less weight on the front tires means the tires will just spin even worse than they already do in 1st gear.

that's my personal theory, but I have no proof on that at all. I'd think the benefits would be very close to the drawbacks. car is faster at high speeds from less weight, and during initial cornering due to better weight distro, but you would see severe drops in corner exit speed as the front end would just spin the tires and push.. but I dunno. one of the many reasons I'm not going to mess with putting a VQ in my car and I'm just building up my VE instead.

 

Other than some new pads, my car is ready to run. Matt, I'll try to have my payment mailed out before the week is up. How many slots have we filled as of now? I'd like to run my S2k as well, but I guess I'll hold off on that.