That is the Cliffs notes of my convention experience. I had a great
time overall even with the unfortunate events that took place. It was
great seeing the old friends and making new ones. Although it was a
little on the disorganized side this year I still chalk it up as a
success.
I started out the drive in Pittsburgh at about 7am on Wednesday. I
met up with Jason in Columbus around 10:00 and we headed down to
Eric's place in Nashville. We hung out for a bit and then went out
for a nice Mexican dinner. After that we pretty much just went to bed
at about 10. We got up at 3:30 am and were out of the house by 4.
After a little trouble getting Rick's SE-R on the trailer pulled by
his brand new Pathfinder (still in pristine condition at that time...)
we started heading south. We made it to College Station by about 7pm
or so. I went and bought some beer and we attended the drivers
meeting and hung out with some fellow se-r pilots in the parking lot.
Friday we woke up to a bunch of cars leaving for the track. We got
ready quickly and headed out ourselves. It was sunny, about 65
degrees, and very windy at tws. I took my first session pretty easy
to learn the track and I pulled in once my oil started getting pretty
hot and my brakes needed to be bled bad. Before my next session I
bled the brakes with the help of George Peters. We was my passenger
for the next session and we had a lot of fun. The car was running
pretty darn well and I was starting to get used to the Azenis tires.
We took a lunch break after that and I had a cheeseburger from the
concessions stand which was actually pretty tasty. There was a
drivers meeting called before the 3rd session due to some bonedead
moves pulled by a certain black b15 which will be discussed
elsewhere. I drove from the pits to the false grid just fine. When I
came out of the meeting and got ready to head out I couldn't get it
into gear. Big John's friend Danny (turbo miata) popped the hood and
tried adjusting the clutch linkage. It was tighter than I ever have
it set but I was able to get it into gear and shift like normal. I
was out running hard for about 15 minutes and then when I went to
downshift it wouldn't go into gear again. I just rev matched and got
it into 4th to put around until I got back to the pit entrance. This
time I wasn't able to get the clutch disengage no matter how we
adjusted it. It was then that I realized I needed a tow. Eric called
around and found a b15 disc at a dealer about 20 minutes away from the
hotel in Austin. That was very lucky since when the parts guy at
Courtesy searched for the disc there were only like 4 in Texas at the
time.
Eric Waterman and I asked Rick LeBleau if he would mind towing my car
back on his trailer and have someone drive his specv to austin. He
said it was no problem and proceeded out on his last track session.
By this time people were starting to pack up their stuff. I didn't
want to cause us to be the last one there so I packed up my car too.
The titan that was blocking Rick's trailer moved and I decided to
move the car down to the trailer. Big John was right there so I asked
him for a push. He pushed me back and then we decided to line the
car up so it was ready. One of the Texas guys next to us had longer
ramps so we borrowed them since my car is pretty low. In about 2
minutes there were like 10 people helping us line up the car. The
next thing I know someone said jump in and steer so I did. With 10
people pushing it was no problem getting the NX right up the ramps.
The next thing I know I see the front of the trailer rise up and hear
a loud bang and people yelling. I was sort of in shock and all I
remember is Big John telling me whatever I do don't get off the
brakes. I wasn't really sure what happened I just knew it couldn't be
good. Right around this time Rick came in from his session and came
over to see what the croud was for. I knew something bad had happened
and I was scared to do anything other than hold the brakes and sit
there with my head in my hand.
It turns out Rick had released the ball clasp and jacked the trailer
up a few inches to take the load off his brand new Pathfinder. Nobody
even thought to look since everything happened so fast. When the car
got enough weight onto the trailer the front end popped up and because
there were a bunch of people pushing there was enough momentum to ram
the front of the trailer and it completely caved in the tailgate of
the brand new truck. The ramps fell off leaving my car precariously
purched half on the ground and half on the trailer with nothing
underneath and the trailer not secure. The guys stabilized the
trailer and we were able to get the shorter ramps under my car so I
could back down. There was some damage to my airdamn but other than
that my car didn't come out too bad. The truck was another story
though. The tailgate was so pushed in that the glass hatch wouldn't
shut until they yanked on one of the trim pieces hard enough to bend
it back off the latch. You could tell Rick was pretty mad but he
never lost his cool which went a long way towards defusing a
potentially dangerous situation. We got the trailer properly hitched
to the mangled truck and then put my car on without incident the
second time. Needless to say that at this point I was in no shape to
do anything else but sit and recover so I rode shotgun while Eric
drove the specv and Stephanie drove his ve b14.
We missed the turn for highway 21 going back to the hotel and turned
an hour drive into 3 hours. We arrived at the steakhouse and there
was no more room at the tables where everyone else were seated so we
got out own table inside. After a good meal and a beer I went back to
the room and had 2 more beers and crashed for the night. I literally
felt like I had all the life sucked out of me after the events that
occured earlier in the day. I am dissapointed I missed the fun Friday
night but I had no choice.
On Saturday I woke up and went down for a big breakfast since I knew I
was going to need some energy. Eric drove me to the dealer about 10
miles down I35 and we picked up the new disc. ***Insert sidebar*** (I found out today (friday 4/08) that the only reason they even had the b15 disc in stock is that our own Monty McCoy here on the forum orders his parts from them and asked that they stock the disc! Its amazing what a small world it really is.) Eric and I got back to the hotel and we set up our makeshift wrenching area and got started. There
were a lot of people helping and I am grateful to all of you. I can't
even remember who all was there so I won't name a list names for fear
of snubbing someone but you know who you all are and thanks again
Once we had the tranny off the problem was very obvious. There was a
spring lodged behind 4 of the pressure plate fingers that prevented
the disc from disengaging. While removing the tranny Danny noticed
that two of the rear mount bolts and corresponding holes in the tranny
were messed up. I wanted to blame "ghetto" Lee Koloszyc since he
helped me install the clutch back in 2000 but it was probably me that
did it when I did the ve swap last year lol. I decided that I wanted
to fix them with a tap and die so Torry was nice enough to drive me to
Sears while we were on a lunch break. Eric is good with the tap and
die so he fixed them up and the bolts when right in when we were
buttoning everything up. We finished up and then went to the happy
hour for drinks.
After that I went up to take a shower and we went out to dinner to the
Mexican place which was very good. We took the Shaguar and that thing
has some major torque. Ray was drag racing himself in the parking lot
lol. I proceeded to get liquored up and then we headed down to 6th
street. I had a bunch more drinks and had a great time at Coyote Ugly
with John and Danny. At 2am its impossible to get a cab. I reccomend
walking down to 7th ave and stand on the street holding a $20 bill.
People named Hector and Ricardo will pick you up in an early 80s Delta
88 with a big velvet seat. It feels like a slightly bouncy living
room couch going down the road. We got back to the hotel and hung out
in a variety of rooms which I don't really remember except for smoking
a dose of glaucoma medicine with some of the socal guys.
Sunday I woke up and switched Erics b14 wheels with my Volks that I
let him borrow for the last track session so he could try out the
Azenis. Then I went to the car wash to clean the nx up for the
picnic. I was the last one to leave and I had a tough time finding
the park. To top it off my clutch started draging once everything
heated up so I had to turn the car off every time I stopped which was
interesting to the other people on the road. By this time my rear
brakes were pretty worn out so they started to make the squeek that
they make when the wear indicators contact the rotors. I was
dissapointed to see that the catering people were packing the food up
and it was only 2:30 pm. I quickly grabbed some grub and an iced t
and sat down. I ate and then walked around to look at the cars and
fill out my ballot. I was surprised to see that "longest drive" was
not done by distance but by vote. I was hoping I may have earned that
one this year but we will never know since nobody actually found out
where people drove from and looked at a map.
We went back to the hotel and had some happy hour drinks before going back to the good mexican place for some dinner. Eric got the keys from Ray to the Shaguar so off we went. Rick asked if we would be interested in going to a strip bar and it sounded fun so he and Don and myself ended up going. It was a lot of fun and there were some hot chicks there. There was this girl named "kat" who was something else. They had some gambling tables and these little private booth things to get more private with the girls. They reminded me of the cars at the haunted house ride at disneyland lol. We stayed there until 2am and then took a cab back to the hotel.
We woke up early on monday and hit the road by about 9:30. It was a long but uneventful drive to nashville where Don and myself continued on to Kentucky. I drove all the way to nashville and got there about 1:30 am. Don the poor bastard had another hour and a half to go. I spent the night at my friend sean's house. He is the firsrt se-r person I ever met. We met on the se-r mailing list back in like '98. We went to the same college (go pitt!) and actually lived right around the corner from each other. He sold his se-r to his dad about 4 years ago but missed it ever since. He picked up a det s13 hatch a few months ago and its a cool car. I had fun driving it and it really throws you back into the seat. It has an s15 turbo and high boost is set at 16psi. I left Louisville at about 2pm and other then a scare with a state trooper in a dot truck radaring me at 10 over in a construction zone it was pretty uneventful. I stopped by Huntington, WV to hang out with Greg Perry for a bit and then I gassed up (at 2.60 a gallon!!!) and headed north. I79 through West Virginia is one of the most fun interstates ever. it is all curves and up/down winding hills for like 100 miles. A Caddy cts-v (the v8 one whatever its called) went by me at 90 and I punched it and we proceeded to duel it out for the next like 60 miles, it was a blast. I got home at about 11pm on Tuesday and got up for work at 6am Wednesday.
I had a lot of fun over those 7 days and it was great seeing everyone. I am looking forward to a shorter drive next year though lol! Thanks again to everyone that helped me out when I needed it most. I really appreciate it. Its another example of why we have the greatest group of car guys/friends anywhere
I'll see y'all next year!
