thetalonguy
06-09-2015, 09:03 PM
I would like to share my experience over this past weekend during Viper Days at VIR.
I left Long Island on Friday morning with my Step Father at about 9:45 am. We were heading toward the VIR "Lodge" in Alton, Virginia. We had luckily obtained a open room reservation at the on track hotel named the "Lodge". Series Administrator, Lucie Y., had gone out of her way to secure me a reservation at the last moment.
We arrived at the gates at about 7:45 pm after hitting various bouts of traffic. At the gates, we were given a packet of info and our hotel key cards. The gatekeeper sent us towards the Oak Tree Tavern in which we had made dinner reservations. The Oak Tree tavern was an old, abandoned plantation house turned into a full service Restaurant/Pub. The place was very homely and they had a great IPA on tap. We had ordered the ribs for our entree and boy were they good. I wasn't expecting much from a track restaurant but this place certainly kept up with any other highly rated restaurant.
On Friday night, I ran into a couple other Viper Members as I spread blue painter's tape over my headlights and front fascia. I was worried about where I was going to put all my tools over the weekend. That's when Tom Sessions stepped in and offered me to store all my tools in his trailer over the weekend.
The track hotel named the Lodge overlooked turn 7 on the track. The rooms were beautiful and even offered a Jacuzzi.
http://youtu.be/ODmsfxtdgHY
On Saturday morning, I got up early and walked from the hotel to the North Paddocks to take a look around. There were already plenty of teams prepping their cars for the day's races. I went back to the hotel and picked up my car. I emptied my car's contents in Tom's trailer and went back to the classroom to sign up. This is where I was introduced to Lucie, Aaron and the famous JonB. We were given our credentials and packets and told to get our cars inspected.
As I was waiting on line for inspections, Skip Thomas came over to my car and asked me to pop the hood. Immediately he spotted that one of my heater hoses was beginning to back off. I was able to address as soon as the car was cooled down.
My car went through inspection and passed. Afterwards we met in the class room with Skip and went over the agenda. On Saturday morning, we were slated to work on the Skid Pad. Skip taught us about learning the point of loosing traction and how to address. Viper Tony was the first to hit the skid pad sans traction control. All 20+ plus cars took to the pad, some doing 180s and 360s. Jon B jumped in the ring after Skip and began to direct / teach the drivers as they snaked around him in circles. I have a Video below of my last run with JonB stuck in the ring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NsYkONrzr4
After Lunch, we proceeded to have a Parade Lap lead by JonB in the Gen5 pace car. This was our first experience driving on the track. It was fun as hell just to get out on the track for the first time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZFzf5vEB-4
We then proceeded to have two classroom sessions and two track sessions doing lead and follows for the remainder of the afternoon. Skip and JonB offered all their insight and we learned to stay hydrated and to remain smooth and study on the track.
Unfortunately, I don't have any Videos for this afternoon; Camera was in picture burst mode instead of Video...Doh!
On Saturday evening, we had our banquet for Skip in the on site barn. It was catered very well with fantastic pulled pork. There were several key note speakers in Skip's roast including Maurice, JonB, Tom Sessions and others. The night even ended with Skip auctioning off the shirt he was wearing that evening.
On Sunday, we started with more classroom time with Skip and went back on the track for more lead and follow. At noon we went on another parade lap which got much faster than the previous sessions.
Here is a short video from my passenger during this lap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1gTu6B5et4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O042k1UDDUc
The afternoon ended with some more classroom talk and track sessions.
Here is the last session of the day with JonB leading in the Viper Pace car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I9Ui6FSr20
The program ended with final thoughts from Skip, Jon and the NARRA team and presentation of Certificates of Completion.
Some other notes...A few cars broke down, but luckily the Archer Racing Team was able to complete repairs. Also, Tom Sessions Trailer had a car to take back with him. Everyone helped each other out over the entire weekend.
There were other awesome races going on in between. MANY Viper comp cars were present. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to converse with the various drivers during the event.
My Toyo R888s are SUPER Sticky. I think I would have flown off the track a couple of times if I had the Michelin's on. They also wear extremely fast, which is expected due to the compound.
JonB can hear the click of an ebrake from several feet away on a loud track.
All in All, it was the coolest experience. I felt safe and gained a ton of confidence in my self. I cannot wait until the next track opportunity to push myself further.
The events were run like clockwork. The NARRA team was great and treated us like professionals.
I wish there was more time to actually speak to the comp drivers. Time just flew and we were pretty busy throughout the days.
Just want to give a special thanks to Skip, JonB, Lucie, Aaron, Tom Sessions, Russ Oasis, all the NARRA drivers who lead our laps and Jim/Kathy Stout. A lot of people have no idea what they missed this time around.
I'm sure there is a ton of things I missed. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.
I left Long Island on Friday morning with my Step Father at about 9:45 am. We were heading toward the VIR "Lodge" in Alton, Virginia. We had luckily obtained a open room reservation at the on track hotel named the "Lodge". Series Administrator, Lucie Y., had gone out of her way to secure me a reservation at the last moment.
We arrived at the gates at about 7:45 pm after hitting various bouts of traffic. At the gates, we were given a packet of info and our hotel key cards. The gatekeeper sent us towards the Oak Tree Tavern in which we had made dinner reservations. The Oak Tree tavern was an old, abandoned plantation house turned into a full service Restaurant/Pub. The place was very homely and they had a great IPA on tap. We had ordered the ribs for our entree and boy were they good. I wasn't expecting much from a track restaurant but this place certainly kept up with any other highly rated restaurant.
On Friday night, I ran into a couple other Viper Members as I spread blue painter's tape over my headlights and front fascia. I was worried about where I was going to put all my tools over the weekend. That's when Tom Sessions stepped in and offered me to store all my tools in his trailer over the weekend.
The track hotel named the Lodge overlooked turn 7 on the track. The rooms were beautiful and even offered a Jacuzzi.
http://youtu.be/ODmsfxtdgHY
On Saturday morning, I got up early and walked from the hotel to the North Paddocks to take a look around. There were already plenty of teams prepping their cars for the day's races. I went back to the hotel and picked up my car. I emptied my car's contents in Tom's trailer and went back to the classroom to sign up. This is where I was introduced to Lucie, Aaron and the famous JonB. We were given our credentials and packets and told to get our cars inspected.
As I was waiting on line for inspections, Skip Thomas came over to my car and asked me to pop the hood. Immediately he spotted that one of my heater hoses was beginning to back off. I was able to address as soon as the car was cooled down.
My car went through inspection and passed. Afterwards we met in the class room with Skip and went over the agenda. On Saturday morning, we were slated to work on the Skid Pad. Skip taught us about learning the point of loosing traction and how to address. Viper Tony was the first to hit the skid pad sans traction control. All 20+ plus cars took to the pad, some doing 180s and 360s. Jon B jumped in the ring after Skip and began to direct / teach the drivers as they snaked around him in circles. I have a Video below of my last run with JonB stuck in the ring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NsYkONrzr4
After Lunch, we proceeded to have a Parade Lap lead by JonB in the Gen5 pace car. This was our first experience driving on the track. It was fun as hell just to get out on the track for the first time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZFzf5vEB-4
We then proceeded to have two classroom sessions and two track sessions doing lead and follows for the remainder of the afternoon. Skip and JonB offered all their insight and we learned to stay hydrated and to remain smooth and study on the track.
Unfortunately, I don't have any Videos for this afternoon; Camera was in picture burst mode instead of Video...Doh!
On Saturday evening, we had our banquet for Skip in the on site barn. It was catered very well with fantastic pulled pork. There were several key note speakers in Skip's roast including Maurice, JonB, Tom Sessions and others. The night even ended with Skip auctioning off the shirt he was wearing that evening.
On Sunday, we started with more classroom time with Skip and went back on the track for more lead and follow. At noon we went on another parade lap which got much faster than the previous sessions.
Here is a short video from my passenger during this lap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1gTu6B5et4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O042k1UDDUc
The afternoon ended with some more classroom talk and track sessions.
Here is the last session of the day with JonB leading in the Viper Pace car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I9Ui6FSr20
The program ended with final thoughts from Skip, Jon and the NARRA team and presentation of Certificates of Completion.
Some other notes...A few cars broke down, but luckily the Archer Racing Team was able to complete repairs. Also, Tom Sessions Trailer had a car to take back with him. Everyone helped each other out over the entire weekend.
There were other awesome races going on in between. MANY Viper comp cars were present. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to converse with the various drivers during the event.
My Toyo R888s are SUPER Sticky. I think I would have flown off the track a couple of times if I had the Michelin's on. They also wear extremely fast, which is expected due to the compound.
JonB can hear the click of an ebrake from several feet away on a loud track.
All in All, it was the coolest experience. I felt safe and gained a ton of confidence in my self. I cannot wait until the next track opportunity to push myself further.
The events were run like clockwork. The NARRA team was great and treated us like professionals.
I wish there was more time to actually speak to the comp drivers. Time just flew and we were pretty busy throughout the days.
Just want to give a special thanks to Skip, JonB, Lucie, Aaron, Tom Sessions, Russ Oasis, all the NARRA drivers who lead our laps and Jim/Kathy Stout. A lot of people have no idea what they missed this time around.
I'm sure there is a ton of things I missed. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.