NMS DRIVES DAYTONA!!!

NMS Cayman at DAYTONA BABY!

For the first time, the NMS team had a car on track at Daytona! Definitely one of the Bucket List tracks for drivers, let's just say it was a blast! 

Check out all the yellow for passing zones! Let's go!
Same course as the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona race, almost all the tri-oval, plus the infield section!

From the rear of the dual line Intermediate group. Lots of Corvettes, Porsches, Mustangs, etc. Look at the size of that crowd in the grandstands! No, they really just have the seats painted so that it kind of looks filled up from far away!

Last week the NMS Cayman headed south for this Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Track Night in America (TNiA) event, and got to drive for three sessions on track. Don't let the name fool you, because while most TNiA drives are indeed at night, this was more of a Track Late Morning-Early Afternoon in America, but calling it TLMEAiA is kind of too long! I suppose they do this in Florida to beat the heat, and to miss any afternoon showers. Guess what? It worked!

Driver meeting with our instructor Eric from the SCCA. 

I signed up for the Intermediate (middle of the pack, instead of Novice or Advanced) group, double checked the car for important stuff like "brakes" and "gas," and brought along extra fluids and brake pads just in case. Driving down the day prior was fun, because who doesn't love I-95? Actually the traffic was fine, although there are some real radio deserts out there, or, at least they weren't playing the classic rock I was looking for. Whaaa! 

Not all the cars were new shiny Corvettes! Here's an AMC Javelin!

Great to see a classic Datsun Z getting on track too!

Once upon a time I had a 95 Plymouth Neon (132hp,) but it wasn't the faster SRT4 Dodge Neon like this one. These were built from 2003-2005, and were more like 230hp!

After a night at a hotel right by the track, I checked in at the track right at 7am when they opened, and got the car all set up on grid. I was the first person on grid, and the driver meeting wasn't until 9:45, so maybe I should have just slept another hour or two! Nah, I wanted to get my money's worth at Daytona!

Not the NMS silver one, but another Nissan Z.

Mazda RX7 with right hand drive! Eric gave us this PRO TIP: if this guy points you by, his arm will come out of the right side of  the car!

Another Porsche, maybe another ruby red metallic!

Before driving on track, we had a welcome and a driver meeting from the SCCA folks. Like other track events, the rule was that before passing another car you had to get the point-by from the car in front. Also, for my group, you could basically pass anywhere but in the corners, so there were a lot of places for passing as you can see with all the yellow parts on the track map up above. There were multiple passing spots both on the oval and in the infield. In addition to the normal point-by indicated by sticking your left hand out of the window and pointing, they also allow you to use your turn signal to tell the following driver which side to pass you on. This was a great idea, since who wants to stick your arm out the window at say 120mph+! This worked great too. 

Another Porsche Cayman. They're everywhere!

Cayman GT4 RS in the Advanced group, like the one I drove at the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta. Just about 500 horsepower, so around 235 more than my car!

A Daytona special tip they gave us was to adjust the driver side outside mirror to point up, so that as you're driving on the very steep banking, the mirror would be better aimed to see cars approaching from the rear. It worked too!

Bucc-ee's in Daytona! This location is just one exit up the road on I-95 from the track. 

In the first driving session, it was wild driving on the huge track with even bigger banking than at Charlotte. Oh, and I was going faster than on any other track I've been on, getting into the 130s on the back and the front stretch. Unfortunately, this first session was cut a bit short due to some debris on track, along with at least two cars pulling off and stopping in the infield. Our group had a meeting with our instructor Eric afterwards, and he said that we also had multiple drivers over-shooting the chicane on the back straight, so he cut it short, and we were reminded to not miss the chicane. My best lap time for this session was 2:36, so since Brian has never driven there, I'm claiming the new NMS Daytona lap record!

I had no reference point for that time, and was just getting used to braking from such high speeds. From watching videos and driving elsewhere I wasn't getting lost out there, so that's a good starting point! The new spark plugs, ignition coils, tires, and brake pads were all operating normally, so it was a lot of fun!

Bucc-ee's, and yes, there was BBQ involved. 

Session two was faster, with less traffic, and it was really fun to start improving my driving. I spent several laps trailing a Corvette that was faster than me on the straights (more horsepower perhaps?) but I kept getting closer on the rest of the circuit. We got more laps than in the first session, thanks to no problems on track, and my time dropped down to 2:24. Hey, that's another NMS track record! 

Oh, just a McLaren in the Novice group!

During the day it was warming up into the low 90s, so I was drinking a lot of water, two big bottles of sugar free Gatorade, and using my sunscreen. That helped a lot, and despite the heat I felt good and was having fun. In between sessions it was time to walk around, check out all the cars, and chat with the other drivers. The Corvette driver I followed in session two came over and we had a good chat. He said he hit 152mph on the back straight, so he was definitely faster than me, since I was at probably "only" 135. Nothing wrong with going that fast on a track, so I do not drive like that on the road!

Before my last driving session, it's 93 degrees, and the gas, temps, and tire pressures are good to go driving! The gas is just above what Porsche labels 2/4, which the rest of us just call "half."

For session three, we again got in plenty of laps, and I was really having fun thanks to getting used to the track. I wasn't really looking at my lap times until the session was over, and just concentrated on driving the best I could, and paying attention to where I was braking. At the end of the session I checked my AIM timer and saw a 2:22.00. Yes, another NMS Daytona lap record! My top speed during the day was 139.1mph, so that's faster than I've gone elsewhere. Braking from that speed into turn 1 was a new experience also, so again I'm happy to report that the brakes and the car did great. 

TNiA schedule with three run groups all getting three sessions on track. As a bonus, the Novice class drivers had a paced laps session, just to help them learn the track before going on their own. 

If you want to get on track somewhere, the SCCA Track Night in America is a great place to start. You can read all about it and find an event near you at their website: 

TRACK NIGHT IN AMERICA LINK