[Chopper Dropper]

Originally Posted by Mark Hubley

If my memory is any good, that means at least four drivers experienced failures of these tires over the weekend: Gary B., Gary M., Sam, and Dan. I purchased a set of tires with the same rears (295/30-18, manufactured 4316) in July from Tire Rack. Mine made it through the weekend, and at this time there are no visible signs of pending doom. I sent messages to both Tire Rack and Toyo yesterday and haven't yet gotten responses. If I learn anything new I will post an update.

Gary and Mark,Please forward all this info to safety@pca.org and BSR.
Dirk

[Dandelion]

Wait - doesn't Otto want to buy these??????

ed

[N0tt0N]

Just one of them

[Le Cochon Volant]

Originally Posted by GaryGanoo

R888r update. Some drivers in heavy 996-997's developed a tumor on the inside left rear after several days on track. Unfortunately, I was one of those drivers that also experienced this defect. I spoke to Paul at Radial on Monday, who as always was pleasant and professional, after he contacted Toyo on PCA's behalf. Paul asked me to bring my tires to his shop so he can send them to Toyo for free replacement. They believe this particular batch may have been contaminated and will replace them. Toyo is the most trusted tire manufacturer of performance products and I trust Paul and told him I will gladly use Toyo tires again. Please express your gratitude to Radial and let Paul know how much we can trust him.

I wonder if they will replace all tires from that batch or only ones that have had a failure. Probably not a good idea to drive them until they fail, huh?

[deutschkar]

Thank you to all the organizers and volunteers. This weekend was a lot of fun. My car ran great and I successfully drove the tires off the car which ended my Sunday a bit earlier than planned but still fun. I had a couple passengers in my car for ride alongs and I had a lot of fun with my student who did great. Thank you again Potomac!!

[N0tt0N]

Thanks to all the volunteers for making this weekend happen. Once again they handled fog and flash floods and still made everything work out. While I'd like the weather to go the F away it really showed the resilience and capability of the PCA Potomac DE and Social Organizations.

I'm very glad my teenage daughter wasn't there at the BBQ or I'd be dealing with much sighing and crying over the FOREVER CRUSH on the boys in the band - probably the best entertainment at a PCA event so far (no offense Ed). It was bad enough watching Mia and Pat come up with reasons why they had to go up to the mic and stand between them and maybe run their fingers through their hair and wow that was awkward

PinkieLift, I was saying, "More Gas! Ummmm." Thanks for sharing your weekend with me. I enjoyed our time together. No Poo - Go You! Good job on the skid pad work. I could really tell the difference as the weekend progressed. Keep it up! Sixes! Sevenses! More Gas!

BroLaw had a great weekend with Zack. Had his predicted 4-3-2-Won! (Four Off in Turn 3 at the Second DE Wins the West Virginia Lottery!) and got to do the ritualistic "picking out of gravel stuck between the rim and the tire" and enjoy his West Virginia Lottery winnings (HoodPin's congratulations to me after my 4-3-2-Won!). No further incidence besides leaving "some kind of dead animal" on the inside of 9. Finally got rid of that right cat stuck in the muffler. Power picked up after that. He enjoyed his first autocross though he did comment, in the lament of women everywhere, "I thought it would last longer."

Tina and I weren't so lucky as the Hardtop #401 was misfiring and down on power significantly. I could barely coax 24s and it had no grunt out of the corners (especially T4 where you want some weight transfer). Thanks to Mihnea cannibalizing his wife's Boxster (don't tell her) for coils and sparkplugs we at least recovered a bit but we still have some diagnostics to do. I'll be tracing down the MAF and O2 sensors to see what's going on before VIR. We also ran into an odd brake light issue Friday morning that turned out to be a fuse not where its supposed to be (thanks, Bike Pump). Need new tires.

Tina did take out #29 twice and enjoyed it. I also took it out once. Thanks, Mihnea!

Tina did not so much enjoy a session in the Blechster v1. Apparently when women break up its forever.

I drove the Ionizer E46 race car for a few sessions as well. Really fun car that shouldn't be as fast as it is on street tires. Like driving a panel van. The shifter was laughable. Sounds like a boss with everything echoing around back there and the amount of information from the tires makes it really easy to drive. I think an E46 might be the best learning car. Apparently lifting wheels is a thing so I went ahead and did that. Thanks Alex!

Red/Black was a bit of a bust. More like amusement park karting. Fun if you like that sort of thing but frankly it was overcrowded and the mix of cars/skills was not exactly conducive to, well, safety, if you ask me. I saw a lot of near misses and unintentional blocking that had cars stacking up from speed to near halts in the carrousel. Its one thing to work on SA but I don't think that's the place to do so to be frank and certainly not on street tires if the car isn't up to pace. I ran the last session with BikePump in the right seat and we had one lap after leaving the pits late and then just a bog fest doing 31s and 32s - felt like a bad day in Blue to both of us. Looking back I probably should have skipped my first weekend or so of combined sessions and didn't so here's a post hoc apology.

Modian, I was admiring your quiet hands in your video for July and enjoyed your video for this event as well except for the parts where you were halted by other cars on track. Congratulations on your promotion to Black (I didn't think they were even doing check out rides this weekend given it was already full). Very nice pace (with street tires no less given the hilarious squeels!). I'm happy to be driving with you. You may wish you stayed in White though...

Tom Chan is the Man. Boy is he quick. That puppy looked planted. I'll miss you when you move to Red not that I saw you much on track lately

since it has been more like Top Gun...

since it has been more like Top Gun...

[BillC]

Had a lot of fun this weekend. And, my son survived his first DE in probably the crappiest car there, and managed to have fun too. Had a really good student, too. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it on Sunday (family obligations), but that gave me a chance to ride along with Will -- by the end of his last session, he was actually catching that black 997 in the corners.

I think even the puppy had fun -- lotsa of new people to lick!

Gave a bunch of ride-alongs, although I had to cut one session short to avoid car sickness.

Finally remembered to hook up the phone to record two sessions on Sunday, the last Red and the first combined Red/Black. I agree with N0tt0N's assessment of that Red/Black session -- it was like being in a Lemons race, only with nicer cars. I'm a little surprised some of those drivers actually made it to Black -- my passenger got to hear some "choice" comments about the (apparently unintended) brake checks going into 10.

However, the last Red session did result in a new personal best. Here's the video of the lap, chasing down Vranko:

Vimeo

Vimeo

Thank you to all the volunteers who set this up and ran a great event. Even the dinner was great, despite the monsoon. I'll place my vote now to have Railside cater next year's dinner too.

[Chakka]

Great time! Fortunate, given the daytime forecast predicted to end up with excellent track time weather. Nice to catch up with(Sam & Antonio), that I ran with in years past. The ///M3 is a fun car in basically stock trim and with a push of a couple buttons, comfortable to drive home. Second time for it at the track, learning a lot about it, set new PB by .01. It's a win in my book! Thanks for another great event as only Potomac does!
Anyone have video from black group Friday or Saturday afternoon?

[vranko]

Originally Posted by BillC

However, the last Red session did result in a new personal best. Here's the video of the lap, chasing down Vranko:

Very nice Bill. Nice drive and love the sound of your car!

[Modian]

Originally Posted by N0tt0N

Modian, I was admiring your quiet hands in your video for July and enjoyed your video for this event as well except for the parts where you were halted by other cars on track. Congratulations on your promotion to Black (I didn't think they were even doing check out rides this weekend given it was already full). Very nice pace (with street tires no less given the hilarious squeels!). I'm happy to be driving with you. You may wish you stayed in White though...

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it. And yes, I was running Hankook RS4s. I really like them, though I'll probably try the RE71Rs again after these. Or I may try an r comp if I start towing to the track more.