I spent Monday and Tuesday at the relatively new facility, the Monticello Motor Club. I went with one of the local groups called COM: nice bunch of people and an interesting mix of cars. This is the club that I actually did my first track days with back in the late 70s early 80s.

Monticello was supposed to be the inaugural voyage of my Spec Boxster but the brand new S-oil cooler my builder put in (Kenny Conway) had a leak in it! Uggggggggh! To salvage the situation, I decided to run my 997TT and to 'be good.'

Overall I had a great time running at the facility. Others have noted that there is not much room for error at this track: the guardrails are close to the road surface and there are no gravel traps (yet?). The facility will be very nice once it is completed.

I was running with stock Bridgestone RE050s which I don't care for! Despite this I think I did a decent job driving. My low times were 2:42 and I ran a 2:43 in the time trial which got me 2nd place (SSU class). A GT-R ran an impressive 2:39 and the two Z06s were far off from my pace. The nice guy driving the GT-R is no doubt a better driver than I am and he was running R888s. We ran neck and neck for MANY laps occasionally giving each other point bys. We had a great time talking afterwards in the pits. The 7-GT3 there ran a 2:42 in his class (SSGT). Kenny Conway, my SPBOX builder, ran a 2:43 in his 964 cup. I believe the FTD was around 2:34 in some sort of formula car. I'm sure my next time there I would be able to get below 2:40 and certainly if I ran some R-compounds.

Although I was by no means driving my DD at the limit, once I got the line down I was consistently hitting the rev limiter in 5th gear on the long straight flat out through the kink (?about 155-160 I think) before braking down to about 50 for the chicane. If I was 'going for it' I would early shift into 6th to get a few more mph. I'm assuming this is where my heart rate was highest per lap.

The rest of the track has a large variety of turn types and elevation changes. There are two turns 2 and 12-14 which are fairly slow. I think the 12-14 chicane should be reconfigured. Even for an Auto-X it would be a tight turn! Turn 16 is really unsettling and I had to tap the brakes before entering. With some male enhancement I think I could go flat out into it.

First time back on track in 2010.....man it's good to be back in action!

If you have a chance to drive this course, I highly recommend it. Just be careful because there is NO room for errors resulting in off track excursions.

Tomorrow I'm going to NHMS. Wife will be driving her Mini and I'll be in my Spec Boxster for the first time! I'm PUMPED....I just hope there are no major problems since the car was totally reworked this winter.

And now for some gratuitous pics....


The track:


ROAD TRIP!!!!!



Pensive before going on the track for the first time. This is from inside of Kenny's trailer.



The Super Pumpkin next to Kenny's 964 Cup




Do not commit a RULE 4 VIOLATION !!!! This was at the pool at the hotel. Do you really need to tell people not to shit in the pool?




There was some wild weather which fortunately came right at the conclusion of the event!

 

are you wearing a romper suit?

 

It's an old flight suit that I got off EBay. It's 20% Nomex and was 20 bucks. It's also wicked comfy!!
I will be dawning my new Sparco tomorrow for the first time in the Spec Box.

 

Great post and looks like a blast! Beautiful turbo as well!!