Barber Motorsports Park Driving Report

NMS at Barber Motorsports Park. What a great track! Highly recommended for the facilities, elevation changes on track, and a good mix of corners. We didn't beat the IndyCar lap time of 1:06, so congrats to  Brian for taking  the NMS  honors by beating my best lap by 2 seconds with a 1:48. 

 This was my first time to drive at Barber, and also my first time to drive Brian's 350Z. Also, it was my first event since being promoted from DE2 level to the more advanced DE3. For what it's worth, my driving groups also included the highest level DE4 drivers, so let's just say that there were some quick cars out there! As I learned the track and the car, and let the faster guys go by, I had a lot of fun. With passing allowed at any point on track, even in the corners, man it was fun. Over my two days of driving sessions I dropped from a 1:59 lap Saturday morning to a 1:50 on Sunday, and enjoyed every minute! 

How was the full weekend? Strap in, let's go!  

Here's a YouTube video of Brian driving a Time Trial session:   BRIAN TIME TRIAL AT BARBER

Here's Robert in a DE3 session, (the first two laps are warming up):   ROBERT AT BARBER

First, we had to drive to Alabama, so early Friday we met with Adam in SC and filled up with gas. Brian's truck and trailer on the left, Adam's truck and trailer on the right. Kyle  met us in Alabama with his 350Z.

We went on I-20 from South Carolina through Georgia and Atlanta, into Alabama, past Talladega, and on to Barber Motorsports Park just east of Birmingham.

Brian, Kyle, and Adam check in at Barber for the weekend. 

Friday afternoon after check in, we walked over to the largest motorcycle museum and collection in the world. Well worth the visit! The track is just on the other side of the museum, and you can walk out over part of the track from here too!

After visiting the Barber Museum (see previous blog post,) we drove to the track to set up. Along the way we saw this sculpture Spider/Spyder with a Porsche. Oh, and under that roof is a large number of Porsche 911 cars that are used for driving on track as part of the Porsche Experience. Check it out on line, give them some money, and YOU can drive a 911 on track too!

Once we got the cars off the trailers and set up, we went into town for some necessities. Mainly, dinner at Rusty's BBQ. Did they have a cartoon pig (always a sign of good BBQ 99% of the time) on the building? YES! Did they have multiple types of sauce? YES! Did they have pork, chicken, brisket, and sausage? ALSO YES!

One GREAT thing about the Barber location is that it's right next to a Buc-ee's on I-20. They had the best price on diesel that we saw, and only $2 for large bags of ice.  

How much gas and ice do you need for 4 drivers with 3 cars? Here's a good start! Most of the ice was used in our Cool Shirt systems to keep us cool on track. Didja know that it gets HOT AND HUMID IN ALABAMA?

Oh they also had gas at the track. $3.99 for 93 octane premium was less than I expected, and I'm really glad I do not need $14/gallon race gas. 

Saturday morning with the Nissan 350Z THREE AMIGOS from South Carolina!
In my first session I hit a 1:59 and got used to the track and my run group of fast cars passing on straights and in the corners. For the third session, I gained more speed, and had less traffic to deal with, and felt comfortable hitting some 1:55 laps. Sunday morning I was down to a 1:50 lap, and felt like I knew what I was doing!

Adam, Brian, and Kyle were also working as instructors on track, so here's Brian heading out in his student's Miata. With plenty of Miata track experience, Brian says his student made a lot of progress. During one of my sessions, Brian had some down time and jumped in to coach me a bit too. Thanks!

Start/Finish line. Hey, Bison sculptures in the background! Just part of the fun at Barber. 
When I wasn't driving, it was a treat to watch the track from this air conditioned room on the home straight. On Saturday night there was a FREE DINNER and awards handed out in this AC room, so that was great, and a nice place to cool down and watch more rain pass by. 

I Walked around part of the paddock and spotted two MORE 350Z cars (blue on the left, silver on the right.)

Brian heads for the track for another session. The NMS #86 ran smooth all weekend, and of course we kept an eye on the fluids, pressures, temperature, ice in the cool shirt cooler, etc. 

I was very thankful for the Cool Shirt, with icy cold water being pumped around me in these black tubes. You just put the cooler in the back of the car, fill it with ice and water, plug the hoses into your shirt, and turn on the pump in the cooler with the switch Brian installed in the dash. This was our first run with this system in the car, so Brian did a great job with the install and electrical wiring. OK, I'll admit that for a Saturday afternoon session I didn't put this shirt on, and when I came in 20 minutes later I was COOKED! You can bet I had it on for the rest of the weekend!

We checked the weather, and saw rain and lightning coming our way Sunday afternoon. After one of my sessions we packed up and managed to hit the road just as the rain hit. 

The lightning delayed action on track anyway, because the workers can't be out there with visible lightning. 

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
Heading home we needed gas, and there were several other race cars getting gas (the big wing/spoiler on the right) at Buc-ee's too! Other than a construction zone slow down and detour off of I-20 in Georgia, the rest of the trip home went smoothly. Maybe we'll return to Barber when it's not so hot and humid next time!