I'm Officially "Old" - Bought a Cadillac...

[Razzamatazz]

You must have had some fun on the track!
What was your best time? 2:??

 

[PUCKER]

You must have had some fun on the track!
What was your best time? 2:??

Oh yes, too much fun!! I wasn't keeping official time, I was doing my best using the "lap time" feature on the steering wheel / dash where you use your thumb to hit Start/Stop for each lap...I was in the 2:30's - which I think is a really good time for a bone stock street car as-is from the factory on street tires - they were SCREAMING for mercy!! Four wheel slipping / drift in the carousel every lap! Finally got a good cold temp for them. I was following my buddy Andi and he was running a Garmin Catalyst and he got a best of 2:33 flat...he has HOONING it around the corners though LOL!!

 

[Razzamatazz]

That's some good time for stock, the problem is...you'll be asking yourself, so how much better with some track tires?
Then the mods start...LOL!

Really it's not so much the car, it's the driver and you must be a very good one out there!
Congrats on a good stock time!

 

[PUCKER]

Thank you. No plans to mod, the best mod, my favorite mod, is the "driver mod." I'm pretty decent, was pro for a few years in Trans Am and NASCAR for a smidge. A bunch of SCCA Club Racing as well. Not really a fan of tracking street cars. All of my race cars have been tube frame, full on race cars (ASA/GTA/Super Late Model, Trans Am TA2, NASCAR, etc)

This was a fun one, in the rain at COTA:


And another fun one, REALLY in the rain, at COTA:

 

[Razzamatazz]

Dayum good stuff!

"Here we go!...C'mon pedals on the right, pedals on the right" LOL!
Yeah you were spanking a bunch of cars out there in the rain!

I definitely do not have that kind of driving skill, wish I did. But I stopped modding the nut behind the wheel years ago, never did any racing like you did with a full on race car, just some SCCA track day stuff and with Edge Addicts.
Tires, brakes and suspension parts was eating up my wallet faster than I could drive! LOL!!

Thank you for the videos!

 

[Razzamatazz]

Just watched your race at Sebring 1/2022, I must say you're a competitive driver for sure.
Your best lap was 7 in traffic, yet when you cleared traffic in 12 your time didn't get better...I'm thinking because there were no carrots in front of you to chase! LOL!
It was like, where is everyone, did they all pit already!

Awesome driving, good video, but the beginning seems there was a track issue (crash?) since everyone was going slow. I had to fast forward after the 3rd lap.

I like how your gear selection was in N yet you were moving at 150mph..LOL!

Oh, I did smash the Like button!

 

[PUCKER]

Dayum good stuff!

"Here we go!...C'mon pedals on the right, pedals on the right" LOL!
Yeah you were spanking a bunch of cars out there in the rain!

I definitely do not have that kind of driving skill, wish I did. But I stopped modding the nut behind the wheel years ago, never did any racing like you did with a full on race car, just some SCCA track day stuff and with Edge Addicts.
Tires, brakes and suspension parts was eating up my wallet faster than I could drive! LOL!!

Thank you for the videos!

The rain scares a lot of folks, my first rain race was HORRIBLE but I still ended up P3 - it was at Hallett, our "rain tires" were Hoosier dirt track tires...but we didn't have all the right things in place for the car (we as in ME!)...we learned, made some changes...every time it rained I'd be soooooo pumped! I knew it was going to be a podium kind of day! LOL!!

I had ZERO idea or clue that I'd EVER go road racing let alone become a pro and eventually do NASCAR...used to race motocross in high school / college, did some mountain biking then off-roading / rock crawling in a Jeep and that was it. I started doing track days in a Corvette about 10 years ago, first a Grand Sport (one day) then a Z06 (13 days / weekends straight in a row) and I got the competitive itch and the speeds - well, I knew that I wanted full on safety...bought my first tube frame race car and that was it! Got my comp license and went "off to the races!" It was "only" 420 HP at the rear yet we'd hit 180 mph at Dayton on the 24 hour Roval layout....MOVING!!

Yeah...tires...those are literally disposable!! LOL!

 

[PUCKER]

Just watched your race at Sebring 1/2022, I must say you're a competitive driver for sure.
Your best lap was 7 in traffic, yet when you cleared traffic in 12 your time didn't get better...I'm thinking because there were no carrots in front of you to chase! LOL!
It was like, where is everyone, did they all pit already!

Awesome driving, good video, but the beginning seems there was a track issue (crash?) since everyone was going slow. I had to fast forward after the 3rd lap.

I like how your gear selection was in N yet you were moving at 150mph..LOL!

Oh, I did smash the Like button!

Thank you! Having the right team / coaching makes for *vast* improvements!

Yeah, that was the pace / formation lap. Sebring is a looooong track at pace speed! I didn't get the best start, previous year I went right up the middle, it was CRAZY - my coach did NOT expect that...nor did my competitors - then the race got red flagged due to a car on fire - we eventually black flagged, re-racked / re-stacked and started over. This race - I had a TON of fun chasing the Porsches!! Those cars have MUCH better / bigger brakes and better handling than a TA2 car but we make up for it with some power / torque. Some great / close racing!

Go to the 16:00 mark and notice the Corvette on the right...he turned right into me going into Turn 1...he put a hole in the side of my car...but it ripped the tire off his rim and his day was DONE! He came up after the race bitching up a storm "you hit me!!" um....let's take a look at the video....he had a change of heart really quick LOL!!

Yeah - the AIM (Another Italian Mistake) data shows weird things sometimes...for some things it really is meant to be integrated into a car that has sensors for everything, like the gearbox, but TA2 cars run old-school 4-speed Andrews dog box (as in NASCAR, they used to run them in Cup but have since gone to a 5-speed sequential / transaxle setup, so now used just in XFINITY and Truck Series). Clutch is only used for starting / stopping. You hear the glorious downshift blips I'm giving it under braking - left foot brake, right foot GAS!! No nannies, no ABS, no traction control.....some build pix, Mike Cope Chassis TA2, built by TRB Autosports (coincidentally, wearing their shirt today!):