Blackhawk Farms Raceway track day anyone?

[svono50]

If you are in the area, I will be out at a track day event at Blackhawk (South Beloit, IL...just north of Rockford) this Wednesday, September 18th. My schedule this year just didn't align to any track days down at my usual Autobahn CC, but found an event I could get to. Haven't been there since 2009...has it really been that long?!?...so looking forward to see what my car does now with the modifications between now and then. Glad they have gotten rid of the gravel areas in the pits, since it made for a 'slick' initial lap out to spin off all the dust. What is almost spooky is that my last track day there was on 9/19 and 10 years later it will be on 9/18...weird! Should be a fun day.

[svono50]

Quick report on my Wednesday track day, basically it was a great day! Shiny side stayed up, only one drop off track with 2 tires and no oil blowing out the dipstick (helps when you don't overfill). Still working on editing videos and will note when posted up on my Youtube channel, got videos for 4 of 5 sessions due to user error on the GoPro (doh!). Being a Blackhawk track run event, parking was first-come, first-served everywhere including garages, so I snagged one of the (6) available covered spots...oh is it so nice to have a covered spot to chill in between sessions!! Their events are very laid back as I found out, since I got to the track @ 6:30am (gates opened at 6am) and was the 1st car at the track(?!?) and the next car didn't show up till 7:00am. Weird to be there for 1/2hr with only a couple track workers, used to folks lining up 1/2 hour before gates open at the Autobahn track. Got through tech in like 2 minutes, since only a handful of cars were even through the gates.

Only 2 accidents for the day, both in my run group and 2 laps apart. First was an S2000 that got tail happy coming out of turn 6 and swiped a batch of tire stacks that scuffed and slightly dented the passenger side, but left it mobile. He pulled it back into the trailer and called it a day. The second was a 'bit' more severe where a new M3 came through turn 7 way too hot and punched itself at speed into the tire barrier and berm nose on and is likely totaled. Happened in the rear view mirror of the guy I was paddocked next to, he said he saw the rear end of the car over 6' in the air and the nose stuffed into the berm and somehow didn't roll it. Every body panel had some form of damage, car was undriveable and it wouldn't even winch straight into the trailer...bad, bad day for that guy. He decided to turn off all forms of traction/stability control on his only 4th track day with the car, which turned out to be a not so good decision.

I forgot how much fun this track is and will certainly get back there next summer.

06:30 and nobody but me:


Bad, bad day at the track:


It is his daily driver and he wasn't shy with the go-fast pedal on track:

[svono50]

Well, I got my session videos edited and posted up on my Youtube channel for those that may be interested:

https://www.youtube.com/user/svoturbo4
The idiot operator flubbed pushing buttons on his GoPro and didn't record his 2nd session...DOH At the very end of the Session 3 video, you can see the blue M3 that crashed coming out of Turn 7 just before pit entrance. You can also see how much damage he did to the tire barriers and berm behind the barriers.

I purchased a set of pics from the photographer at the track...for $35 it was a bargain...and here is my initial favorite pic:

[Bruce]

He did take out a bunch of the tire wall! You seem to be a lot faster in the final session but the wind noise makes it hard to tell. I like the in car shot where you can hear the engine better! So mostly 3th and 4rd gears?

[svono50]

That guy did a 'spectacular' job on the tire wall and berm, it was impressive how well an M3 can excavate!

My times were faster in the last 2 sessions, but not a whole lot faster. This was partly just getting more comfortable with spotting my braking points and figuring out a couple corners that just were not working well. With the camera outside the car, you lose the car noise and mainly hear the wind. May need to use the solid case back to knock down the wind for the outside shots. From my videos it looks like I was in the mid to low 1:30's on lap time in the last couple sessions. Yep, you got it, it was all 3rd & 4th around the course. On the two long straights I limited myself to ~100mph, but could have eeked out a few more MPH if I pushed it...but that wasn't my goal for the day, it was to have fun, relearn the course and drive home afterword...which I did accomplish. Now I have a goal to crack the 1:30 mark per lap and bring down my average session lap time down there as well.

[Laredo]

Looks like fun Ted, thanks for posting!
Curious about the passing rules. In the HPDEs around here, you have to pass on the left only, never on the right. And you have to get a "wave by" from the driver in front before you can pass.

[svono50]

Glad to share.

I am used to passing on either side, so that didn't throw me. Only 'odd' thing about Blackhawk was there were only (2) passing zones, on the two longest straights, which are back-to-back. The rules were that the lead car had to give a point by and was to stick to the racing line, while the passing car had to go around. This meant that they had to pass on the right based on the fact that the 'racing' line on both straights was to the left. There are maybe (2) additional zones that you could pass on Blackhawk, but I can understand staying to the cautious side for a track day. On a 1.95 mile track, the passing zones come up pretty quick and with a 20-minute session you see a good 8-9 hot laps.

For contrast, the Autobahn CC 3.56 mile full course has (10) passing zones, which have a mix of left/right passing sides and is ~5' wider. This is more critical since a 20-minute session there only gives you 5-6 hot laps.