Finally had a track day!

[willyjp]

Well, my 2010 v8 passed its 8 mo. birthday and had its 5k check up, so I signed up for my local Audi dealer's (free!) customer track (1/2) day @ PIR.

Not my first track exposure to the R8, since I did the A.D.Exp. @ Infineon while I was waiting in the queue, but the first time for my own car and for being free to lap without a lead car. No timing and no passing allowed(insurance restrictions I think) but the event was lightly enough attended that it was pretty much free solo lapping with an occasional other car to try to gain on/keep up with. The way they grouped the cars, we almost never had a slow car holding us back.

I have to say it was a blast! Most fun I've had with my clothes on for awhile! What an amazingly solid, reassuring, FAST car the R8 is! After several hours of dry track, it got very, very wet very quickly and the Porsche guys, especially the GT3s got very, very cautious. Clearly the limits dropped for the R8 too, but there was never any question of where they were and we (my son and I shared the car) continued to lap at 85-90% of what we'd been doing in the dry.

PIR is a pretty techincal track with only 1 real straight (st./fin. & pits) and that ends in a serous chicane! Until I got in the groove with my shift points, I was hitting the rev limiter in 4th before upshifting briefly prior to shutdown for the chicane, so I guess I was on the far side of 135 briefly (was NOT taking the time to speedo gaze at that point!).

Steve Forest (SBFV10) was there spectating and I think took some pictures. And Kevin Berg (kberg I think) ran the afternoon session, which took place in a downpour for just about the whole time I believe, so maybe one or both will comment, but I thought it was a super experience in an amazing car! If you haven't tracked your car, and even if you have little interest in it as a regular thing, you should definitely do it once just to experience what you really can't on the road: sustained, worry-free really high speed driving!

[OEMplus.com]

Congrats on the lap time Willy! I have done lapping at PIR and also their skid school and I really like that facility.

Also, could not agree more about the recommendation for everyone to give it a try regardless of your overall intent. Knowing how your car will behave at 90%+ can come in handy during emergency situations in real life!

[SBFV10]

Willy...nice seeing you and your son there. Kevin (Bergs) also.....how was it all wet Kev????

No pics Willy. Maybe another time.

Met a few other R8 owners there too....so as President of the OR chapter Willy.....lets get on the ball and plan something for late July or August. I'm headed out to an airshow in Pendleton the weekend of Aug.14th. Maybe if we get a group together, we can spend a few days in Eastern OR around then???

Steve

[willyjp]

Willy...nice seeing you and your son there. Kevin (Bergs) also.....how was it all wet Kev????

No pics Willy. Maybe another time.

Met a few other R8 owners there too....so as President of the OR chapter Willy.....lets get on the ball and plan something for late July or August. I'm headed out to an airshow in Pendleton the weekend of Aug.14th. Maybe if we get a group together, we can spend a few days in Eastern OR around then???

Steve

Well, I'm planning to try to go to Monterey/Pebble Beach/Laguna Seca in August, but things are piling up on my summer already. Maybe we ought to try to get a group of R8s together for that tour AudiClubNW does.....TTTour or something to that effect. I'll have to check their calender. Will you be in touch by email while you're Alp-ing with our British cousins? Have a GREAT time at that....you'd have to work at NOT I think!!!

[SBFV10]

I'll try to check my E-mail on my iPhone when I hit a WiFi spot. Hopefully all the hotels will have them!

Otherwise, I'll be "AWAY", not thinking of home for a change!!!

Steve

[R84ME]

Well, I'm planning to try to go to Monterey/Pebble Beach/Laguna Seca in August

That's great, Willy. We should have a much better showing of R8s on the Peninsula this year. Looking forward to it!

[SBFV10]

Maybe next year for me! It sounds fun.

Steve

[SBFV10]

Willy....I have bad news! I will have to postpone my drive down to SD until the summer! A family emergency has arisen and I need to cancel my plans for my trip down south.

I am quite bummed....but I will try to do it later in the summer.

Maybe you can E-mail me info on your trip down south in August and I might be able to join you for that!

Steve

[Jimk]

What dealer arranged the event? I live in spokane and the local dealer does not offer anything like this. I would be very interested in future events at PIR.

[desperado]

There is a National Audi Club event, the Frank Beddor Nationals at QuattroFest, at PIR on November 4-7, 2010. www.audiclubnw.org/2010Quattrofest.html

Although our plans are not set in concrete yet, I am planning on attending. This would be a perfect opportunity to get a big group of Washington, Oregon, and NorCal R8s together. The Thursday tour in particular is on roads I've always wanted to drive and should be an outstanding day of driving. This is shaping up to be a fun event regardless of your interest in track days.