ITR Expo 13 and Disney World

Well, I/we have been super busy lately with being at Gingerman over Labor Day weekend, then ITR Expo at Mid Ohio, followed by Disney later that week. So, let me see if I can click this old man memory into gear.

I got home from Gingerman super late on Labor Day. I drove the hatch into work on Tuesday to prep for Expo. I knocked everything out except dismounting two old RA1s and mounting some streetable, but old RT615s. I was tired, so I drove home on the crappy Toyos and didn't check pressures before I headed home. Due to the laziness, the steering was HEAVY. haha. I used another night to pack the car, bleed the brakes, and mount the fifth point to the seat frame.

We had Bailynn's 4th birthday party on the Saturday night prior to Expo. So, we missed out on the Indy Expo party, but it gave me the night to pack my clothes. Travis showed up at 8am to load the car. We have the car and truck loaded by 830. Then, it was time for Cracker Barrel!!

Off to Ohio we went. The cruise was pretty smooth, except hardly anyone got the Facebook "Like" thumb. Too many old people on the road that don't partake in social media. haha. We met Jason and Shelbi at the track, but the paddock was still pretty full. We decided to go grab food. I forget the name of the place that we ate, but it was pretty good. It is the Bar and Grille next to the putt putt place. We also learned how much Jason loves apple sauce. I remember when I was 6!!

One of the "coolest" parts about this trip was that Travis(picture left) was the first one to introduce to me the site Honda-Tech. As you know, the rest is history. And, on the picture's right is Rob. He is the first person that I thought "I want to be that guy". He had a picture on a local forum in like '04 where his tach and speedo were buried, as well as his boost gauge! Travis went to Expo 4 and drove in 5, so I had been trying to get him to come back. This was Rob's first Expo and he was my intermediate student. Yes, that Like thumb is real!

Jason and Shelbi were shooting engagement photos(congrats, you two) with Kevin out on track. I decided to follow along to get a bit of a course walk in. Jason wanted to use helmets in the pictures, so Shelbi used mine. While they weren't using them, I acted in typical fashion.

Monday came around and it was time to get on track and also instruct. This was my first time on Hoosiers, so the first session was to "feel them out". The first time over Madness, holy D1. "I thought these things had TONS of grip??!" The first session was "eh", I expected more out of them. After the session, straight into Rob's car. Then, after his session, straight into Zach(my beginner student)'s car. Woof! One session off while Advanced is out and then back out for me. The second session was a lot better. It helped that Erik went by, so I had to chase right when I came out because I planned on "taking it easy". That is what I was expecting out of the Hoosiers, but my main problem was massive vibration going into China Beach. Due to being in the car for 6 out of the first 8 sessions, I skipped my third session. I don't remember much about the fourth session, but I am at Mid Ohio and I love that place. haha.

After the track festivities wrapped up, it was straight back to the hotel to ride the "Bangquet Bus" to Mansfield Reformatory. We did a tour before the banquet and holy smokes, that place was amazing. As sketchy as I expected it to be, it wasn't. Devon and I even stood behind the "haunted chair" and got our picture taken. Where is it at Matty D??! The food was good, as normal, but that tour, WOW! As Steve said, that tour might have made Expo this year. Thanks, Joe!!

Sunday started off well, the first session was great. I knew that it was going to get hotter as the day went on. So, for the second session, I wanted to lay a flyer down. I had been talking with Spencer and Erik about a few things to work on. The first session, I found some of that "speed". Well, earlier in the day, I put a #RyanConley sticker on my car. And, as I am going over the car before the second session, I have a leaking valve cover in the right rear!! Great, well, I can't bail on my students due to my car's malfunction or my malfunction in sticker choice. So, I missed two sessions before I could get to NAPA to get a core and tool. The fourth session was good, but it was hot, so I knocked out a few good laps. The tires were falling off due to pushing them, I was hot, so I was going to come in. I started my cool down lap and as I get into T1, here comes Adam Jabaay out of the pits. What The CRAP! Are you serious! I waited for that bum in grid before the session started and he was taking forever in the paddock. Oh well, I kept it in 4th gear and got going again. I ran another lap and a half, but I was already shut off mentally. I was over driving, not double clutching like I should(sorry, had to), so I threw the point by out. Adam waves it off, I show the pit signal, and he shows me the ol' #1 signal. hahaha!!

That was it for me for the weekend. Events like Expo have all this build up, then they are over in a split second. It stinks, but it is part off it. There is never enough time in the weekend to spend with your friends. The conversations are never long enough. You feel like you are always cutting that other person short, but I guess that is why we keep coming back, for the friendships!

I didn't talk much about instructing because I figured I would give them their own paragraph. What can I say about Rob? Well, here, he is FAST. I guess he had a drift car back in the day or something ricey. haha. Anyways, he has car control, etc. He just "gets it done"! Zach, wow, first timer, no autocross, nothing. Totally green and starting out at Mid Ohio, plus he drove up from Florida! With first timers, you never know what to expect. You can kind of read the person to see how it will go. Zach was a hard read, but he picked it up quick like it was a Black Friday special. It was a pure joy to instruct him. He went from not really knowing what to do, making silly everyday driving on the street errors, to frickin' ripping apart the whole beginner group. He went home stoked, but I think I was way more stoked than he was!!

The drive home sucked! It seemed the "weekend" went by way to quick. The five hour drive home seemed like ten. Travis seemed fine, yet I whined like a four year old, ask me how I know! haha. I can't wait for next year. If you don't attend Expo, even just to watch, you are missing out, BIG TIME!

Also, after reading all the crap about Honda/4 cylinders vs. Corvette/8 cylinders on Facebook this week. I figured that I would share this picture as well. Too me, this is what it is about. Abbymael is a car enthusiast and a Type R owner. We had never met prior to Expo. I was going through his pictures and I found this. It is awesome to see a peer enjoy the work that you have put forth. Maybe it is because they get the "struggle" or maybe they understand the "love" behind it. Regardless, they get it. It isn't about who drives what or who passes who. It is about having fun and making bonds with people, people who live 15 hours away. Those people you may only see once or twice a year, but I bet that bond never breaks. That is what it is about. Thanks again, Abby!

I worked Wednesday, Thursday, and a half day on Friday. Then, we were off at 2pm headed towards Florida. My goal was to make it past Atlanta on the first day, which we did. We got up at 6am and ate breakfast. We had a few weird things go out there, but nothing was worse than this weird lady down there at breakfast. I won't get into the gross details, but she finally left with 4 cups stacked(both 3 looked to be empty) with 3 bowls on top of that, one with cereal in it, I believe, and a plate stacked on top of that with butter packets, etc covering the whole plate. She also hovered over the juice machine and left her cups next to the machine when she was done.

Brandy's sister's family drove straight through and said that they had to sit in this traffic jam for a couple hours. She sent pictures of this semi that had been over turned. Well, we were 4 hours out from that point, so I figured that we were ok. Guess what, wrong! We sat in traffic for about an hour. Once we got through that, it was smooth sailing.

Once we got to the Disney resort, we ate, then unloaded. Later, we headed to Downtown Disney to eat at T-Rex. That place was packed, but I guess that it was setting the tone for the rest of the week! Sunday, we didn't have park tickets, so I wanted to go to Daytona to check out the speedway and get Bai to the beach. Of course, to Brandy, this was a terrible idea. She threw a fit until we got to the beach. I think she is finally understanding that I am normally always right! haha. 

From Monday to Thursday, we had park hoppers. So, I really could go on and on about every place, etc. But, I'll try to hit a few points from every park.

Magic Kingdom: There isn't really much to say, but this is "where the magic happens". It is awesome, you could spend days there and never get tired of it!

Epcot: Not really a lot for the kids, but going around the Worlds is AWESOME!

Animal Kingdom: Really cool. We have an annual zoo pass, but this was the Indy Zoo on steriods! We got to talk to some of the workers that were from Africa, super awesome. 

Hollywood Studios: We made a quick trip through there. Really neat to get the behind the scenes look at things. We also got to see a lot of characters without much wait.

Food: We ate at several places, but Ohana, Liberty Tree Tavern, and Rainforest Cafe stood out. I also like Casey's Corner in Magic Kingdom for a quick serve meal.

Characters: Bai LOVED meeting characters. Her interaction with them was amazing!

The parades were awesome, we also watched a show at Hollywood Studios called Fantasmic, but to me, at Epcot the fireworks show called IllumiNations was amazing!! 

I could keep going on and on about Disney, but it would take FOREVER. Anyways, that Friday, we were going to Mickey's Not So Haunted Halloween at Magic Kingdom. So, Brandy's brother in law and I went karting. There were an indoor and outdoor facilities within a half an hour of where we were staying. We used our mid-day Friday to go do just that, kart. The outdoor track was awesome and it helped that we had like 14 people on track. The indoor track had electric karts, wow, those things were hard to get used to. I wish that I could have stayed at the outdoor, Orlando Kart Center all day, but back to Disney. 

https://vimeo.com/75118310

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween was awesome, but crazy how long the lines were for candy. We basically used it as a night to do ride after ride! We rode a lot of rides, we did get Bai some candy, and they told my jokes on the Laugh Floor! It was a long, hot day, so Bailynn passed out early. We stayed to watch the Halloween parade, then we booked it out of there.

Like I said before, I could go on and on about Disney. I would like to, but it is best to go experience it yourself. I would tell you about the trip home, but who cares, just know that I am planning my Disney vacation for next year!!

Quick notes from Expo..

Busy, busy. So, here are a few quick highlights from ITR Expo 13.

-Shot around with Lyda and crew, in the DARK! No fingers were broken, but plenty of air balls.

-Jason Morse LOVES apple sauce.

-Everyone talks to Travis about his beard.

-The horse mask and Like Thumb did their job. Many laughs were had.

-If you missed the tour before the banquet, ouch. That place was amazing.

-Ryan Conley stickers case malfunctions.

-Spencer is so tall, his mohawk diverts airplanes.

-The party bus got a total of not many semis to honk at us. But, the ones that did reminded us that we are still immature. Haha.

-Steve LaClair gave up his gift card to Lyda, winning.

-It was hot.

-If you didn't attend this year's Expo, your loss, it was outstanding!

At this point, I'll be posting a full run down from Disney. Until then, Cheers!

Labor Day weekend at Gingerman Raceway.

Auto Interests and Wangfest.

I haven’t done many events this year, so I thought about running Sunday with Auto Interests and Monday with Wangfest. I got permission from the boss, Brandy, even though I was kind of against dropping the dough on it. I did because I knew that it would be good for me mentally; track withdraws are tough. The car was ready early, and then it was just waiting.

Sunday morning rolled around and I just had to pack small stuff into the car before I left. I think that I was on the road by 8am. It was a pretty cool morning which was nice, so that I wasn’t sweating the whole way up. I always stop at one of two places on the way up and this time it was McDonald’s for some biscuits. I don’t eat that place often, so it always scares me. What goes in must come out, but sometimes timing is of the utmost importance. It worked out well and the rest of the drive was smooth sailing.

I probably showed up to Gingerman around noon and really wasn’t in the mood to unpack the car. But, I unpacked the car and got the wheels swapped out. It was a great day up in South Haven, maybe a bit hot in the sun, but way better than the 95 degree days in Indy. Auto Interests always runs reverse on Sunday which is awesome. I think I have ran reverse once before, maybe twice. I don’t remember, but I do know that I had a blast running reverse.

The first session was to go out and get my “bearings” again on that layout. The first few laps were a bit funny. I knew where I was going, but was a bit choppy in doing so. The next session, I went out to pick some speed up and continue “figuring” everything out. I was happy with the session and I had just went through T11 (using forward direction numbers) well, so I was going to come in next time around. Well, I came out of T10 and there was Fred and Jordan. Heck, might as well play. I got around Fred and wanted Jordan, but I would close the gap, and then lose it on the straights. I had to “save” the tires for the rest of the “weekend”. The third session, I went out to work on carrying speed through the corners. I know that sounds NASCAR-ish, but it helped with the current state of the tires. I began to trust them more and honestly, the car felt great in reverse. The fourth session, I turned the GoPro on and so did Jason. Haha. So, when he turned it on, it went to picture mode and now I have a picture of him and I turning it on and off. The fourth session was great, I kept working on the mid-corner, as well as picking up speed overall. I wanted to get in another session, but they called it a day before I got back out. Oh well, it is always good to finish the day off with a good session.

I hardly ever eat fast food when I am at home. But, there always seems to be a Wendy’s around the track. There is one thing about Wendy’s, it is amazing. So, it seems every time that I go to the track; I end up at Wendy’s. Kyle, Austin, and I went for a nice, little man date. We sat at a small table trying to hide from the sun. The air conditioning felt awesome, but being around track buddies makes it even better. We joked around for awhile, including the ever so popular “Finger Blaster” line from the Northern Kentucky guys. We also asked Dil and his girlfriend to come, but she “didn’t like Wendy’s”. Well, we are done eating and there goes Dil and Jessica through the Drive-Thru. He looked really good in his floppy hat while driving a Miata! We went back to the track, hung out, got bit by mosquitoes, and watched John Went jump his old EF sedan. I closed out the night by snoring in Kyle’s tent.

On Monday, I was just doing the HPDE portion of Wangfest to burn the tires off. As happy with the car that I was on Sunday, it was the exact opposite starting Monday. I go out, first session around 9:30am, and go about sixty percent. I go into T11 and brake a full marker early. The car is a complete handful; it is all over the place. My first thought was “Oh, here we go again.” And, my second thought was, since Kyle was right behind me, “I bet he is loving this!” I even set the pressures “high” expecting this, so that they would get “up to pressure” earlier. After the session, Kyle comes up and says “Man, we were going into eleven and I was wondering when you were going to hit the brakes!” My reply was, “Who cares about that, did you see what my car was doing?” He says yes, and then kind of does a lateral Miley Cyrus maneuver. I decided to try the Sunday technique and “roll speed” through the corners. I can’t say that it worked due to the braking zones being too “goofy”. If it did anything, it helped my sense of speed and direction. With the rear end “wiggling” like it was, you had to wait, in some cases, before even turning in. The next session, they sent me out right in front of a 240SX and a K swapped hatch. I stayed slow to not get in their way. I planned it right and let them go out of T6. Once I let them go, I figured I would have some fun and let the 1.6 liters of fury go after that K power. Haha. I had fun, the car was still a complete handful, but I felt like there were some times were I wasn’t releasing the brakes smooth enough. So, for the final session, I decided to go out and work on brake release. That session went really well and I called it a day. The day was super nice out, partly cloudy, low 70s I would guess. I managed to start cording one of the tires, so a task complete. I felt like I came out with a little bit more understanding of the car which is always great.

Now, it is a short turn around and then it is time for ITR Expo at Mid Ohio. I get to see all the usual track buddies. Plus, my good friend and one who introduced me to Honda-Tech, Travis George, will be trailering the Brapmobile out. Also, one of the first Honda people that I looked up to, Robbie Seal, will be attending his first Expo. I’m pretty pumped about it and hopefully I don’t get locked up at the banquet given it’s location. Until next time, keep Brappin’!!

Video: https://vimeo.com/73723015