[Argonaut]

Vacation at the Track:

Just got back from vacation at the Jersey Shore. Spent 5 days at NJMP on both the Thunderbolt and Lightning courses. Some observations:

- First time on Thunderbolt. Its a 2.25 mile track. Fairly easy track with only a couple technical turns. Only one hard brake zone at the end of the main straight. Overall its pretty high speed. Its in great shape, smooth as glass. 3 days in the dry, one in the rain.
- 1 day on Lightning, in the rain. A shorter track and perhaps a little more technical. There are two blind right handers over the crest of a hill where its really easy to get the car light and drift to the outside. One 911 driver found that out and put his beautiful car into a tire wall, sad to see.
- I drove with the Porsche club. On the rain day at Lightning lots of guys bailed, so they combined the intermediate and advanced groups. Liberal passing rules - anywhere with a point by. There were several Porsche Cup cars there on Hoosier rains with full areo packages. They were unbelievable fast in the wet, lapped me two times per half hour session.
- I have little experience in the rain and don't enjoy it much but I have to say it is an excellent teaching experience. You have to be very smooth and precise. The rear end will come around so easily that it really teaches you throttle modulation. Cars were going off left and right but fortunately I kept it on the track (I was pretty cautious).
- At about 120 on the Thunderbolt front straight my powersteering hose blew off, dumping oil all over the hot headers. Big ball of smoke, everyone thought I blew the engine. That was an interesting experience. One new clamp and a quart of oil and I was back in the next session.
- I ran Nitto NT01s on the front and Nitto 555RII on the rear. Worked pretty well, the front stuck like glue and the rear was exceedingly easy to steer with the throttle.
- Chinese rotors S**K big time. Pieces of junk.