Me and 5 of my friends went to the seat-time HPDE this weekend and had a great time. The SE-R did awsome, it handled great with the Koni/GC/Progress setup. There were a few minor glitches but everything was easily resolved and the car made it through with no major issues.
I was running the in the advanced group but my car failed tech because of a loose nut on the hub. I didn't have the correct size at my shop (32mm) so I asked the alignment shop to tourque it down when I had it aligned. Aparently they neglected to do it. ;( Its my fault for not checking it afterwards but Luckily someone had the correct socket at the track so I was able to fix it and ran with the Solo Group. The SE-R suprised a lot of people, I passed 3 M3's with race tires, a 350Z and a 2005 Mustang Cobra. The next session I ran with the advanced group where I was supposed to run, there were alot less cars in this group so I could concentrate on my line alot more.
The third session is where the days second glitch arouse. My Alternator fell off! I have never seen this before but the threads stripped out of the alternator where you tighten it down from the side. When that bolt came off it vibrated the tensioning bolt loose and then the belt flew off. With out any support at the top the alternator fell forward and that must have wrenched the lower bolt enough so that it vibrated loose. Meanwhile I figured my belt had just came off so I continued to lap with out the alternator because at that point pulling in would not have acomplised anything. I didn't find out that it was more then the belt untill I pulled in. I opened the hood and about fell over when I saw the alternator hanging from its wires! My freind gave me a ride to the autoparts store and I was able to get new bolts with nylon lock nuts, Locktite, and a new belt. I got everything fixed and was able to run with the solo group again.
I passed the same 3 M3's, the 350Z, the cobra and an E46 M3 with Toyo's. The only car that passed me was a white Evo that was really tearing it up. I ended up with a 1:27.2 which made me happy. That is about the same time I run in my ITA Mr2 on the old surface. The MR2 is way slower power wise (about 95 whp) but it goes through the corners quite abit quicker. My co driver in the MR2 drove his 2000 M-Coupe and ran a 1:26.6 on street tires which was pretty fast if you ask me, he was suprising alot of the cars in his group.
Overall it was a fun day at the track, and it is nice beating up on more expensive cars with the sentra. If you guys haven't done a HPDE I highly recomend it. If You live in the Southeast definatly give seat-time a try, you get a ton of track time for the money and everyone is very professional and helpful
