An Incredible Day!

[GT350H]

The local Ferrari dealership held a private High Speed Driving School today at Portland International Raceway and I was invited to bring the GT. There were approximately 30 fabulous cars, most of which were Ferraris'. Everyone had to have an instructor with them and I was lucky enough to have Gary Bockman with me for 5 driving sessions. Gary holds the Silver State Classic public highway land speed record, set on May 21, 2000 and is still unbeaten to this day. What a great opportunity to learn from one of the best drivers around.
The GT was phenomenal. In my run group of 10 cars, we lapped every car at least once and sometimes twice during the 15 minute run session. Certainly the Heffner pulley and a custom tune has added some additional perkiness to the car. Between sessions, the drivers I passed came up to me and said how incredible the GT sounded as it flew by them thanks to the Accufab exhaust and countless other people told me it was the best sounding car at the whole event. I ran my new Hoosier Racing tires for the first time and they were great. I also just had the suspension adjusted to improve the cornering and installed a six point harness. I don't have to tell any of you what a great car the GT is, but today's experience just bumped it up another notch for me. Many thanks to the Forum sponsors who supplied the enhancments to the GT as well as the Forum members for providing much needed and greatly appreciated information.

 

[tmcphail]

Sounds like a great time was had good stuff !!

The local Ferrari dealership held a private High Speed Driving School today at Portland International Raceway and I was invited to bring the GT. There were approximately 30 fabulous cars, most of which were Ferraris'. Everyone had to have an instructor with them and I was lucky enough to have Gary Bockman with me for 5 driving sessions. Gary holds the Silver State Classic public highway land speed record, set on May 21, 2000 and is still unbeaten to this day. What a great opportunity to learn from one of the best drivers around.
The GT was phenomenal. In my run group of 10 cars, we lapped every car at least once and sometimes twice during the 15 minute run session. Certainly the Heffner pulley and a custom tune has added some additional perkiness to the car. Between sessions, the drivers I passed came up to me and said how incredible the GT sounded as it flew by them thanks to the Accufab exhaust and countless other people told me it was the best sounding car at the whole event. I ran my new Hoosier Racing tires for the first time and they were great. I also just had the suspension adjusted to improve the cornering and installed a six point harness. I don't have to tell any of you what a great car the GT is, but today's experience just bumped it up another notch for me. Many thanks to the Forum sponsors who supplied the enhancments to the GT as well as the Forum members for providing much needed and greatly appreciated information.

 

[soroush]

any pics? you know we like that around here. :biggrin sounds like it was fun day.

 

[PL510*Jeff]

GT350H - Way to Go!

The new tires and suspension settings made a big difference.

Wish I could have been there.

 

[Shelby#18]

That sounds fantastic! Your post interested me enough to look up the track. It looks like a great place to stretch the cars legs. What speeds did you get her up to?

 

[GT350H]

You want pictures, I'll give you pictures. Go to this photographers website, www.onsightproductions.net, and then, under "car events" click on Ferrari Track Day 6/16/08. You will find more pictures than you want to look at.
In response to speeds attained, I hit around 140 on the front and back straights. A good driver could probably hit 150 to 155 in the GT.The back straight at Portland International isn't really straight, as it is actually somewhat curved like a banana. The front straight ends with the "Festival Curves", a 90 degree right turn followed immediately by a 135 degree turn to the left and then back again to the right, which makes for some interesting driving. When the Indy cars run at PIR, they can only go through the turn at 35-40 MPH.
One other comment I will make is about having the smaller pulley installed and engine temperatures. My experience is if you constantly shift above 6000 RPM's, you will have overheating problems. When I shift in the 5000-5500 range I have no overheating issues. During the morning sessions, the air temperature was a perfect 60-70 degrees and the car never went over 190. In the afternoon, the temperature got up to 76 and the engine temp never exceeded 205. The interesting thing is the car goes just as fast shifting sooner and you avoid the overheating problems. By the way, Tungsten cars are really, really fast! Right, Jeff?

 

[GT350H]

Ferrari Owner Track Day Blog

The following was posted on a Ferrari owners blog:


FERRARI TRACK DAY

My brain is mush. Somewhere, at some point today I processed too much information and am now done. I feel tipsy and giddy a result of too much gas fumes, sun, brake and clutch fumes, and Ferraris. I can still smell that overheated brake smell in my hair. What a day.

Today was Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo’s track day. Absolutely, positively a blast. The Ron Tonkin Track Day followed the same format as a ProDrive day but with better food and fancier cars. I am not going to try to list the cars that where there. There was a sufficient density of Ferraris to cause an unbalance in the universe which will result in storms and a small but noticeable increase in the price of a barrel of oil. Seeing and hearing an F50 or a 430 Scuderia go by on a race track is a thrilling experience.

I felt more comfortable this time on. Not intimidated even when surrounded by 360s, 430s and a Ford GT. Well, maybe the Ford was a bit intimidating. Anyway I decided to work on being smooth and paying attention to Tony’s advice. I went faster this time. I passed other cars. I passed other Ferraris. I did not pass the Ford. The Ford passed me. Quickly. During our first session he passed me toward the end and I tried to keep up. Bad idea. Braked too late, got the car looser than I liked thought the chicane. Again, a lesson learned cheaply. During my first two sessions I went quickly. I will venture to say at times I went fast. For brief moments I explored the limits of grip with the car but only for brief moments. It was like being on a flat roof and walking slowly to the edge then slowly away. For my last three I focused on slowing down and working on technique. When and how to brake. Still don’t have that anywhere near right but I was doing better. Shifting into second in the chicane, and balancing the car on the right line coming into turn four. If you get the car set and turned properly you barely have to adjust the wheel thorough a series of turns.

I will say it again. If you like to drive get to the track and take a class.

Signed, a very happy Ferrari owner!

 

[PL510*Jeff]

GT350H - nice of you to let the F cars on the track with you.

Go Speed Racer Go!

Was the other GT young Mr. Hanna?

Cloud Nine. the high will waer off by Las Vegas.