tjandriesen

This what I use: http://www.sampsonracing.com/sampson_racing_new/home_f.htm I'd suggest at least upgrading to semi-custom ear buds. 4watts gets me coverage all around Road America which is a 4 mile course (so probably 1.5 away from pit row at the furthest).

Hi guys! As you know the rules for bringing a GTR to the states are pretty nasty assuming you want it to be registered and road legal. If you want to race it the rules are it has to be a legit race car with a race history (which I suspect can be confirmed by a CAMS log book). Then it can race in historic/vintage. Anyone know of any real race cars that fit that profile for sale?

mmmmm wonder how long it would take me to tow to Wakefield.....

The memory goes a bit as you get a bit older. Who has the car now?

My car actually has different camber markings and set up sheet for different tracks. Right now its set pretty neutral. Front 2.9 camber / 4.0 castor / 1/8 toe out Rear 3.0 camber / 0 toe I'm running Toyo RA-1s shaved to 5/32nds at 34 lbs. cold which warms up to 40 lbs. hot

Peter's course is very good and I strongly recommend it but its more of a perfromance driving course except the race at the end. It was funny at our first session when someone asked what the rules were about passing and the answer was "that how you win races unless you're on the pole". Open passing all the times anywhere on the course. The other interesting thing was they hammered on passing as close as possible. If you're 6 inches away, and you bump its no big thing. 4 feet away if you make contact there is enough momentum to do serious damage. They also taught you how to alter the line after a pass into the corner to keep the other driver out of position while still giving him adequate racing room and how to repass if someone leaves the line to pass you. Here's links to photos from the school. http://picasaweb.google.com/tjandriesen/2009NJMPRaceSchool# Here's vido footage from another guys at the school for the Race

I though some of my Aussie friends might enjoy this article I wrote for the local SCCA newsletter about my race school experience. Hope you're all doing well. ======== Newbie Chronicles By Tim Andriesen Let’s blame it on a video game – Gran Tourismo 2 to be exact. That fateful day when I bought the game for my son’s PS2 things were set in motion that fate would make play out. As soon as I could buy and “drive” a Nissan Skyline GTR I was hooked on the King of the tuner car world. “Godzilla” is more than a car – it’s an icon in the car world. Wow, it would really be cool to have one of those in real life – too bad they never came to the US. Fast forward, job assignment Sydney Australia. Guess what I saw parked near Manley Beach – yup! A R34 Skyline GTR. Grey market import. They even have a big Skyline Club here. Now I really can buy one. It’s a bit dirty, but in great condition. More importantly it’s 100% stock. And now, it’s mine. A 1996 White R33 Nissan Skyline GTR. Capable stock of turning sub 8 minute laps at the ‘Ring, and in fact the first production car to do so. Sure its fun driving it on the street but what is it really capable of? My good friends are Circuit Club going to help me find out at the next track day. Eastern Creek. Wow this is a real track. The grandstands are huge and the wide straightaway seems very long. This is the domain of V8 Supercar racing - Australia’s version of NASCAR but where they turn both directions. I have my helmet on, the car is cleaned out and the fire extinguisher is bolted in. Ease it out down pit road. Wait for the all clear from the pit worker. What? Oh, the number goes on “that” driver side door. Yea I know, wheel on the other side here. Out of the pit and into turn one. OK this is cool. A bit faster this lap. Ahh rear end is coming around. What do I do? Oh yea both feet in! That’s didn’t hurt but I rather not do that again. Maybe an instructor next session would be a good idea. The times get better as the day goes on. Ah Mate! How good was today!!! Back to the states and the Skyline can’t go with me. So many great track days and so many good memories. This is really going to hurt selling her. What happens when I get back – I need to get back on the track? Those Evos sure do seem quick and they do have AWD. Here’s an “Apex’ silver one for sale. Buschur Racing parts everywhere under the hood and stock suspension. 340AWHP and a kickin sound system to boot! I can get Robispec to do the suspension and she’ll be track ready. Wow, It’s quicker but not as stable as the GTR. Maybe I need to develop better driving skills before we head out to the track. I remember I had a boss when I was a kid that did this Autocross thing in his Corvette. Englishtown. Wow, these guys run a great program. Sure the surface is a bit rough but the instructors are great, everyone is more than friendly and the event runs like clockwork. I’ve made some great car friends in Matt and Kristen, Jeff and a host of others and my son Chris gets to spend the summer racing with me. I still have lots of room for improvement though and this definitely helps. This is great fun and I want to keep doing it but I still have the track bug. What I’d really like is a real race car. So Marilyn doesn’t like (actually hates is the word) the Evo and won’t drive it so maybe we can work something out. Yes honey, I can work on a Miata, parts are cheap and for the price of the Evo I can get a car, a trailer and something to pull it. Yes? Cool. I have 2 Miatas now – one for Autocross and one Spec Miata for the track. That’s how fate got me into a massive Ford F350 borrowed from Driving Impressions owner Bob Zecca pulling my Spec Miata to my first SCCA Race Driver’s School at NJMP. I’m ready thanks to the good advice of the community on the Spec Miata web site and some great SCCA friends including RE Darrel Anthony and Bob Zecca. Bill Etherington even came to my house to tech the car. The car I purchased was in solid shape but still needed a few things. Updated harnesses were the biggest thing and of course, one can’t show up without the appropriate stickers covering the car. You would think someone would sell the “Spec Miata Sticker Package” but that was not to be. The car came with 3 sets of tires which were old but in good shape though “dated”. I was assured that RA-1’s are near bulletproof and not to worry. The car had been “nutted and bolted” by Bobs’ mechanic Rick so I expect it would generally hold up well. I had all the tools I could every imagine needing along with my brand new driver suit. I was as ready as possible. As I was pulling out, Rick suggested I check the one thing I hadn’t though of – the trailer. Sure enough half the lights didn’t work. After an hour of repairs I was off guided by my trusty Garmin. One and half hours into the trip, as I was pulling my car through the middle of the Princeton Campus, I was no longer a Garmin fan. It did eventually get me there. As I pull into the entrance road, I see long line of rigs ranging from pickup trucks pulling cars like mine to huge semis and RV’s. I even notice an Ambulance in line. Eventually I get to registration and hand over my novice permit. Off to the paddocks. There a lot of cars there when I arrive and I’m looking for a friendly face, or at least one I recognize. I finally bump into Matt Rook, who helped me weld the window net on my cars a few weeks earlier. “Where are you parked Matt?” “Back a few rows – go park by me” “What does you rig look like?” “An ambulance” So that’s why it was in line. I park, unload the car and get ready for the first classroom session. Everything you read about the school tells you to do one thing – read the GCR (General Competition Rules). Mine was well highlighted by the time I arrived so I was ready. We spend about 2 hours taking about what would happen over the next two days and especially about flags. It was time for the flag test. I’m totally prepared except I forgot a pen. The couple I had been chatting with before class started, Susan and Mike Nickel let me borrow one. Nice people. They are both going to drive Spec Racer Fords (I had no clue what those are) which arrive at one of the mega rigs. I pass the test without effort and we call it a night. I also find out Matt will be the head closed wheel instructor. I head back to the paddock where I catch up with Matt for a beer. The ambulance is one cool idea. Momentarily the idea crosses my mind but the mental picture of an ambulance sitting in my driveway squashes it quickly. Matt tells me my instructor tomorrow will be Tosh Desai. I’d met Tosh at the NNJ holiday party and know he’s a good Spec Miata driver. It’s time for bed. Now all racers have a budget. Some have bigger budgets than others. Within our budgets we have to make tradeoffs. When you’re getting a new car up and running and new at racing, you always need a few spare parts and the tools the experienced racers bought years ago. I’ve personally gotten to know the people at Sears in the tool department. So where do you cut costs? In my case, lodging. Bob’s truck has a spacious crew cab with plenty of room to sleep. I bring my nice, warm sleeping bag and pillow. As I tuck in for the night, the temperature drops. Note to self – don’t believe the rating on sleeping bags. In my -15 degree below bag I’m praying for global warming as I’m sure I’ll never make it until the morning. Eventually the sun comes up and its time to have fun. I change into my driver’s suit in the back of the truck and climb out into the cold morning. I look at my car and see – frost? Now I have every tool I could imagine using except for an ice scraper. Luckily as the sun comes out my car slowly defrosts. First up we meet our instructor. Tosh was working with me and one other driver. One instructor to two students is better than any high priced private school provides. How good is this? We hop in Tosh’s truck for instructor ride arounds on the track to start learning “the line”. For the next day much of the feedback from instructor was about driving “the line”. Tosh proved by driving a very large pickup the line would easily be drivable in a small Miata at speed. He point out breaking points, turn in points, apexes and track out points. After a dozen laps I had a good feel for what I was supposed to do. It was time to head back to the Paddock to strap in and get on the track. Beyond “read the GCR”, the next most common advice was “bring a support crew”. I had struggled to find friends who at least knew something about Miatas and I could get to come down to NJMP for two days to support me. To my rescue, thanks to the Spec Miata forums, came Rob Myles, AKA “Wreckerboy”. I didn’t know Rob at all but as I posted up what I was doing he first gave me tons of advice and later, when he saw I didn’t have a crew, volunteered to help me out on Saturday. Rob has been racing Miatas for a while and had tons of great advice. Moreover, he made sure I could keep my mind on driving and the classroom debriefs rather than tire pressures and gas levels. As Rob and many others pointed out, the Spec Miata (and road race) world is one big dysfunctional family where we all help each other out. Thanks Rob – I owe you. Gearing up for the first session took some time. I’m 6ft, 215 and a Miata with a cage in it is a small space. Getting used to the Hans device took time but one thing I want to make sure of is that I had great safety equipment. Once in the car it was off to the false grid for the first session. It’s a bit intimidating sitting there in your car. You wonder how well you will do. Will I spin? Will I be the slowest car? Will I crash? Those thoughts quickly go out the window as you pull onto the track and into turn 1. I started off slow trying to find the line that Tosh found so effortlessly in his truck. I’d catch an apex here and there and got around reasonably well. My goal at first was simple – don’t spin. At the end of the first session I had accomplished that simple goal as I pulled into the paddock and drove back to the truck. Out of my gear and off to the classroom for the first debrief. The group looked different from the night before as we sat around in driving suits waiting for the instructors. When everyone was there, Matt went though the key subject for the session. Then he went around the room, asking the instructors, corner by corner to provide feedback. The feedback was positive but critical. “Car number 43 (that’s me), you missed the apex on turn one by 3 feet every time and could carry much more speed. Good start but tighten it up”. Corner by corner we were all told who was doing what well and who needed to improve. I was amazed how the instructors could provide such granular feedback on each car with 20 of us flying around the track. After the group debrief we went outside to visit with our individual instructors. “So how did it feel?” was Tosh’s question? Clearly the one on one sessions initially were about getting you comfortable rather than pounding on specific points. After a couple of minute we were running back to the cars as the group ahead of us was going out onto the track. Saturday morning became a blur of track session, group debrief, individual debrief and back to the car. Each session there was focus on one particular aspect before the group debrief and the feedback about our driving got sharper. It’s clear this is a program run by real racers for new racers. These guys wanted to make sure we would be safe on the track – both to ourselves and to the other racers. One of the key question I was told was “would I race with this guy?” 3rd session on the out lap I spun after turn 5. Both feet in. Stop the car. I wonder what would be said to me in the debrief? “43, why did you spin?” “Well my tires were cold and” “Stop- don’t say anything else”. “Remember on you out lap your tires are cold and have no grip.” “43 – when you spun coming over 5 we were nervous as there were cars behind you and it’s a blind corner. You got on the brakes and locked it down. They passed on both sides and you watched the corner workers for a signal to go again. Great job! Remember everyone, when you spin, two feet in” Nice to get an “attaboy” for screwing up right. Lunch and then 3 more sessions. As time went on and everyone got more comfortable there was more and more passing. In our group were three BMWs that were clearly faster than the Miatas. That sometimes happens in real races so get used to it. By the end of the afternoon I was getting tired. The instructors were telling us they wanted to see more racing and started critiquing passes and pointing out races between small groups of cars that were taking place on the track. We all picked up the pace a bit. Before dinner, I realized I had a problem. My support in the form of Wreckerboy was headed home and I had no one for the next day. There are several firms that rent cars and provide support and I thought I had lined one up for Sunday. We had crossed wires and they thought I meant at Summit Point the next weekend. One paddock over was a big rig from Windsor Customs. I had swapped PM’s with Chris Windsor about tires the week before so I walk over to see if he was there. He was and I now had support for the next day along with another source of good advice. Dinner was a welcome relief. After the last session we prepped the car for the next day and walked over for a bite. Not as many drivers were there as I expected but I was keen to talk to some of the workers. We were reminded every session how important these people were to the organization and how, if you were nice, you could learn a lot from them. We were also reminded to wave to the flaggers on your cool down lap. I talked to a few and yes, learn several good tidbits. More than that, they were just good fun people to talk with. We all need to remember that these volunteers are club members just as much as the drivers and without them we wouldn’t have events. Off to bed. I did get sidetracked into the ambulance with Matt to watch “Tropic Thunder” and have another beer. Many of the lessons I learned were about how to enjoy yourself at the track as much as how to race. Despite the cold, I slept really well that night. Sunday I was up at the crack of dawn. I’d thought a lot the night before about how to get faster. Tosh had given me lots of advice about where to brake and where not to brake. It seemed clear to me that to be faster what I really needed was a bit more faith. After another instructor ride around,I decided I just needed to follow his advice. Tap the brake into the light bulb and by half way though be 100% on the gas. After the out lap to warm up the tires, that’s what I did. Amazingly, the car stuck. Amazingly, when I did everything he suggested my lap times seemed much faster (they don’t tell you what your actual times are). After the session he confirmed my times were coming down. More confidence inspiring was that I went from passee to passor. The BMWs were still flying by but no more Miatas were. Now this is the good end of the food chain!. We had two more morning session and then a warning of sorts. “What’s a red flag mean?” Pull over to the side as soon as safely possible. 89% of the time you’ll also get a black flag shortly after. I took this as a not too subtle hint. We were also told the last session would be starts and a 5 lap race. Once out on the track this all went out the window and I was really feeling good about my driving. Yes, I was still missing some apexes but by a smaller margin. Yes, I could still go deeper into turn 1 before braking but not as much as before. Even turn 3, which had been the toughest turn on the course for me was coming along. Out of the light bulb, admiring my line and POW – RED FLAG. Hard on the brakes. Maybe too hard? Maybe I should have check my mirror? After a couple minutes the black came out and into the pits we went. Debrief. “#43, did you look in the mirror before you slammed on your brakes?” “ahhh, maybe not so well….” OK guys, its’ time to race” Tosh looked very happy to have gotten me to this point with no major mishaps. A spin or two. One run off in turn 5 where I was heard say unprintable things as I missed the braking zone. But intact never the less...”Now we get to have fun watching you race”. The drill was that we were going to do 3 rolling SCCA starts. On the first two we race around to turn 5 and reform. On the last one we were to keep racing for 5 laps. I was on the outside in about row 10. As the pace car pulled away we saw the green and were off. How this pack of car was going to get through turn 1 I had no idea. Amazingly we all made it (I think) and we were racing! By the time we got to 5 and I had been passed by a few and past one back. Reset. Start 2 was a bit easier and we all made it around. Pick up the pace car and now we race for real. On the green everyone was hammer down as everyone knew what to do. By lap 2 the field was spreading out and everyone seemed to have someone to race, even if you weren’t the leader. I was fighting with another Miata back and forth and made a pass on the last lap. I even held off one of the BMW’s for a bit until his horsepower advantage on the straight was too much. Coming out of the light bulb and seeing the checkered flag waving was one of the coolest things in the world. I made it. After a cool down lap where I was especially happy to wave to all the corner workers, it was into the pits and “impound”. Everyone was giving me and the other drivers the thumbs up. We all climbed out of the cars and start reliving each lap and pass. .I could see very quickly what a cool group of people I was joining. An hour of so later when Tosh handed me my certificate and novice permit, I knew I was hooked, There nothing like a SCCA race driver’s school. I’ve been to autocross schools and track based driving schools in other places. There’s a vibe here you can’t describe and the level of learning is incredible. The fate that brought me to this place that started with putting that GT2 disc in the PS2 has put me on a very good path. One more school and then 2 races and I have my regional license. Thanks to those who have helped me down the paths and be assured, I’ll be in your mirrors. Tim went on the next weekend to finish the school at Summit Point in the rain and is looking forward to racing this year in NARRC events to get his regional license.

I run these as my races tires when I autocross. Currently running 235/40/17 but am moving up to 285/30/18. The bigger tires are $315USD here. They are street legal here in the states as they have a "tread" (that would be those two grooves) and are DOT approved but I don't know anyone that would run them on the street except to and from the track. I absolutely would not use them in the rain. They have a wear factor of 30 so they are/get very sticky and get a hot day and work them a bit and they will get a bit greasy as well. On hot days when we are running hard (remember I'm taking 45 second autcross runs here) we'll have to spray water on them between runs to keep them cool enough. Very good for purpose but I don' think street is it.

Unfortunately the GTR isn't legal in SCCA racing as they were never sold over here.

I've been running autocrosses here in the states which are similar to Motorkhana but a bit wider open. The fast cars here spends a lot of time focused on tire pressures and alignments. As mentioned before, pump up pressures and check between runs. You can tune in or out over/understeer by adjusting relative tire pressures. Tire temps are important and we actually hose them down between rounds if they get too hot. If you are serious you might consider optimizing camber setting which will improve your performance, but keep in mind they might not be optimal for track or street usage. For example top Evos are running -3.1 in front and -1.2 in back and 1/8 toe out in the rear which helps with rotation but is a bit twitchy on the track. Someone might ask SydneyKid as to what he would recommend for a Skyline. And yes, I wish I still has my GTR.......

So you sold that German thing and bot an EVO????

Did Chubbs actually get around without using the handbrake?

Congrats to the new owner! I miss that car often...

Hey guys, I was the prefious owner of this car and I can tell you that as of Januray this car was in pristine condition. If you are looking for a very solid R33 GTR this would be a good place to start.

Hummmm so shipping the Evo across the Pacific would cost me....damm - not gonna work. Have fun guys and be safe. Wish I could join you.