Cruising with the NSX crowd

S

Steve Fehr

Member # 017
GCC Member
Location (City)
Chesterfield
First Name
Steve
Last Name
Fehr
Mark and I cruised with a bunch of NSXs, Vipers, BMWs, Porsches and Ferraris Saturday morning. I can't speak for Mark but I had a great time. It was different from our cruises. Fewer turns, but higher speeds. Much higher speeds at some points. :D

Here a some pictures.

http://postimage.org/gallery/1mbpk2i8/da46615f/?code=da46615f

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1618637#post1618637

Going in to the cruise I knew I needed new tires. In fact I had them sitting in my garage just waiting to be mounted. This morning I was driving Pam's car. The attached picture shows what I saw when I pulled into the garage.

I guess it was my lucky day.

Steve
 
Pressure?

Steve
Looking at the tire - are your pressures correct? seems like a lot of wear in the center as compared to the edges

You were about 1/2 a lap from a real exciting, E ticket ride

Paul
 
PaulProe said:
Steve
Looking at the tire - are your pressures correct? seems like a lot of wear in the center as compared to the edges
Paul
Click to expand...

Paul:

I'd been running pressures of 22f / 24r up until about a month ago. The tread wear was pretty consistent. When I was ordering new tires, I read where these tires (Yokaham A048s) are supposed to run best at higher pressures. The sticker on the door frame says 26f / 29r) so I bumped the pressure up. Based on the wear pattern these pressures are too high.

When the new ones are mounted I'm going to try 23f / 25r and see how they wear.

Steve
 
Steve, it's taken me a day or so to process the events of Saturday.

1) Neat group. Considerably younger. I felt like an old guy.
2) The cruise was short and sweet.
3) Mostly straight roads. Hwy. 21/30/etc.
4) The pace was exciting (140MPH) but in retospect - stupid.

The first 20 minutes I was thinking - WOW this is kind of fun. Then at some point, I realized how dangerous this is on public roads in a pack of cars, all traveling above 100 MPH. Then, a Viper passed me like I was standing still. At the break, he said he had his ACR Viper redlined!

We both asked a number of the guys if they ever do any track events, and most said no - something about paint chips. To them - that cruise represents why they bought the car. Street racing, extended roll-on highway racing, etc. It's not for me. I guess I'm sounding like a prude. Although it was fun and a pure adrenaline rush - I won't be doing it again.

FYI, I held my own and kept up (to a point), but I'm more comfortable on the track, and in track set-up. You did very well also Steve, and are very lucky.
 
STL Mark said:
....Although it was fun and a pure adrenaline rush - I won't be doing it again.
Click to expand...

Mark:

I completely understand.

I don't know if you saw it in the email, but the kid that did the donut in the church parking lot is persona non grata because of that. He won't be invited back. On one hand I understand. On the other, that was less dangerous than the high speeds we attained.

While we were standing around the Great Pacific Coffee Company I commented to Joe that the cruise was unlike the ones I participate in with GCC and the Lotus club. He said he also does ones out in Wildwood on the curvy roads.

Even though the majority didn't track their cars, I spoke to a couple guys that were driving in the Chump Car event coming up at Heartland Park.

Pam told me (and we know she has my number) that I'm more in tune with the street racing crowd than most guys my age. She's right. I haven't grown out of the 16 year old kid that blasts from stop light to stop light.

Thanks for coming along. Will I run again with them? Probably. But not if my tires aren't brand new. :D

Steve
 
Oh, I'm plenty young at heart and mind, but I have this new little guy on my shoulder. Showed up about 8 years ago. His name is RES, short apparently for responsibility. He tells me to look out for my fellow man, to make sure he's ok too before proceeding with my dumb idea. He tells me that over 80mph on the street is dumb and irresponsible. Life is full of safe fun he says...it just costs money.

Without going triple digits or even over 60mph I have had too many close calls of people pulling out not paying attention, deer running out in front of me and dust covered roads causing me to lose traction to chance it anymore. Mr RES says the track is the place for that :D Wish we could rent an airstrip like top gear and do those crazy things. The drivers here are not the worst I've seen, but right there in the top 3 anyway.
 
I am with you Tim. I have had my car to 100 mph twice and then jumped on the brakes. Doing that around other cars is fairly dangerous and will get you manslaughter charges if things go bad. I would also lose my career and entire way of life if I were to be stopped at those speeds. It is just not worth it.
 
It was real fun. It was real stupid. I didn't have to do it. Nobody made me do it. I just got caught up in the excitement. We've all goosed our cars over the speed limit, and maybe done a little stop light racing. So we're not prudes, but this cruse was a bit more than that. These guys bought their cars to do this and just this. So be it. I did it. I don't have to do it again.
 
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