The Radical is back in action, July 7th & 8th @ Sebring
 

Anyone interested in doing some track driving, PBOC still has spots for July 7th and 8th at Sebring in the drivers ed sections, including for novices.

Chuck, burgy240, etc., looks like the Radical will be just fine; turns out my fuel pump's high speed side died on me, so it would just barely idle but opening the throttle killed it. The guys at Radical had to hook a pressure indicator on the fuel rails and then they found where it should have been 45+ psi at WOT, it was only about 10 or less. Fortunately they have pumps in the country so they're swapping those out; they said it was the first time they've seen one die but that was probably from my stupidly leaving the kill switch on overnight and killing the battery since I think the pump would have been enabled in that scenario.

How much for the weekend; driver's ed novice group? Are modified Civics welcome?
-Ken

$350 for whole weekend, $200 for each day I believe. That includes instructor if you're in a run group that requires it. The car itself is ok, you'd just want to make sure it's in shape for track driving; ensure there's a decent amount of tread left, flush your brake fluid completely if it's standard DOT3 because Sebring will heat your brakes up quite a bit and you don't want them to fade surprisingly quickly (Superblue or Motul fluids are good replacement), bleed them if you're already running high end fluid and haven't done it in a while, ensure you have 1/2 pad or more left on them and then just possibly have a mechanic check over the car if it hasn't had a once over in a while. You'll need a SNELL 2000 or better helmet but the rating can be M (motorcycle) or SA, in fact I have two spares if you need to borrow one at the track.

The problems people most often encounter is underestimating how hard you'll be braking if it's your first time there; you go to the track thinking gas and turns but you will be braking more and harder than you ever do on the street and you can wear out pads and cord tires if you don't have enough left on them. It's a blast though, it took me about 1/2 a day in the Lambo just getting comfortable with how hard I could mash on the brakes the first time I went to the track, after my instructor told me to stomp on it as hard as I could until ABS came on when we were clear, I realized just how much brakes I had and then we were able to move on to learning about the turning, etc. :)

I want to go but I've had to hold off on any July racing events.

Need to hit my sales quota for the month, then I can go. I'll know in 7 days :D

I have a trip to Boston that Sunday and need to decide if I can really handle Sebring and Boston all in one weekend. Very tempting because the car is ready to go.

Do it! :)

Well, I'm not going to have the funds for this one. Any chance of just observing? It looks like I'll have to wait for the auto-x in St. Pete to break my car in at a track/auto-x event.

PBOC definitely doesn't charge admission so you can hang out and watch the races and just the regular HPDE stuff; usually the Sebring media rooms are open and air conditioned too since it's going to be hot as hell.

I sent an email to their registrar to see what the PBOC policy is on passengers; if they're like Chin then they may have some low fee to let you ride with solo qualified drivers or instructors. At Chin events you just pay $20 and then anyone who wants to give you a ride can if they're in the solo or instructor group, and most people are happy to give rides if asked. :)

Thanks Dave, that sounds great !!

-Ken

I'll reply once i have the passenger info but before I forget, PBOC does require anyone going on track to have closed toe shoes and long pants and shirt of a natural fiber like cotton, so no sandals or LL Cool J sweat suits if you go on track. :)