A month ago I went to my final trackday
for the year. With all the time my R32 is taking up it hasn't
been easy to find time for other stuff but I had to squeeze in one
last track event before the end of the season. I also didn't have a
chance to post about it until now but I thought I'd share some of the
pictures from the event despite the tardiness.
For this particular trackday I took my
daily driver, a 2013 Scion FR-S. This car is actually the one I take
to road course events most of the time which may sound weird when you
know I'm a hardcore Nissan fan. Well, there are good reasons for
that. First, the Scion is MUCH cheaper to take to a track event than
my R35. A set of tires on the R35 alone would cover my expenses for
several trackdays in the FR-S, never mind the pricey maintenance and
the higher gas consumption. Second, one downside to the R35 being
such a capable car is that you don't learn as much about driving as with something like the FR-S. Compared to the GT-R the FR-S may as well be
towing a boat anchor for all its speed and the manual transmission,
rear-wheel drive, and simple driver aids seem Atari-like in comparison
to the R35's Playstation technofest - but that just means the driver has to
compensate and it forces you to hone your skills instead of allowing
the car to do so much for you. Most importantly, because it's a Scion
instead of a Nissan I don't give as much of a shit about it so yeah,
not being from my favorite brand has its advantages.
Besides, I blame Nissan for not
building the IDx concept or else I'd be driving that instead. I know
the business case is probably not easy to justify but it's hard to excuse
that when they greenlit that Murano CrossCabriolet abomination. Dear
Nissan, you need a cheap, fun sporty car like I need to eat, breath,
sleep, and occasionally fart. As awesome as the R35 is, most people
can't afford it. The 370Z is nice but even it is too pricey especially
with all the competition it has now. I and many gearheads want a
successor to the Sentra SE-Rs, 510s, and 240SXs of old – in short,
more fun per dollar than an old cardboard box and a child's
imagination. Make it happen. Pretty please.
Okay, rant over. Let's see some
pictures.
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| We'll start with a GT-R even if I didn't bring mine. This is Wes' R35 time trial machine. No big power mods but brakes,wheels, and tires are improved for road course use. |
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| Wes is a great guy - super nice, good driver, handsome, and has a model for a wife - who also likes to drive fast. Yeah, life ain't fair lol. | |
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| I had something far more humble than my GT-R this time. It's on the slow side but hey, it's gotten me all the way to HPDE 4 so I can't complain. |
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| Club racing events always bring out an eclectic selection of cars like this 240SX... |
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| ...that had some interesting decor... |
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| ...capped off by this sticker. |
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| And then there was this fascinating Bimmer that looked straight out of ChumpCar. |
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| Definitely original lol. |
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| Alongside the grassroots race cars... |
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| ...you'll see big professional setups like this. Totes jelly. |
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| It's just a Honda Fit but it's uber cool all because racecar. Wouldn't mind a Nismo Note version of this myself. |
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| This trackday was unusual in that we ran the reverse configuration of this track. That's not something I've heard done before. |
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| These two didn't go on track but were noteworthy nonetheless. You certainly don't see a Suzuki B-King everyday. |
By the way, if you notice some issues with the latest posts it's because there seems to be a glitch with Blogger's preview function lately. Hopefully that gets sorted soon because it's putting a major cramp in my posting.
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