[04/16/2004] Friday (t-2 days to OTC)
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Got up early today (err.. 9:15, early for me) to prepare for the trip to the start of the 
race (Las Vegas!).  We put most of the stuff we needed together the night before.  

The car (we are constantly changing it, so here is a checkpoint for it's configuration
when it was ready to race):

* 2004 USDM Subaru Impreza WRX STi

Car was dyno-tuned to provide 315whp, and 335wtq.  The following modifications were made:

* Engine

GT Spec B Headers (JetHot Coated) w/ up-pipe
Vishnu Tuning Downpipe / Exhaust
APS 650 Front-Mount Intercooler (man, that was a lot of bumper hacking)
APS Intake
ChipTorque Xede Piggyback Computer (w/ iSpeed Tuning custom 96octane program)

* Braking

Cobb Tuning Stainless-Steel Lines
Motul 600RBF Fluid
Carbotech Engineering Panther XP+ Pads

* Suspension

Tein RA Coilovers (8kg springs front/6kg springs rear) <-- I HATE TEIN
Whiteline Strut-tower Braces front+rear
Perrin Rear Swaybar
Perrin Rear Endlinks
Whiteline Rear Adjustable Control-Arms
Whiteline Anti-Lift Kit
Rota SDR 17x7.5" Wheels
Falken Azenis Sport Tires (225x45R17)

* Other

Blaine Fabrication custom hoodscoop delete
Speedware Harness Bar + I/O Port Racing camera mount


Stuff We brought:

. Spare set of wheels/tires (Rota + Azenis Sports)
. Tools (a lot)
. Floor jack (Craftsman aluminum.. super light)
. 4 jackstands
. Fluids (Motul 600, Mobil 1)
. Helmets (Bell G2 SA2000), neck braces, driving gloves (Justin brought shoes too, I rocked it
  in my Converse)
. Fire extinguisher (something from Costco, probably should get a good one sometime)
. Some Yaesu HTs for communications
. Camcorder (Sony TRV-19) + a huge battery and about 20 Mini-DV tapes, mounted on
. I/O Port Racing roll-bar camera mount, mounted on our Speedware harness bar
. Digital cameras (Canon Rebel, Canon G2)
. this laptop (I hate Dell)
. bunch of clothes and stuff, including some decent stuff to wear, since we were going
  to Vegas with the wives before the race.  Oh, and our new custom STi Files shirts
  too (available at http://www.cafepress.com/stifiles).
. Sunscreen!
. A few gallons of distilled water (in case of cooling problems with the car..)

Ok, we brought a bunch of other stuff too, some of which I'm forgetting.  But it doesn't
matter, your going to forget the important stuff anyway.  So Justin came over around 11am,
we loaded all of the stuff into the car (with little organization), and we were off.  

We caravaned for a couple hours headed south of I5 with a friend (who was on his way to 
San Diego the same day).  Trip wasn't too bad, but there was a bunch of traffic, so total
trip time from San Jose to Vegas was somewhere around 9 hours.  Met the wives there, and
we all went out to eat at Smith and Wollensky.  Pretty tasty.


[04/17/2004] Saturday (t-1 days to OTC)
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We had all day in Vegas, and nothing race related until the 5PM meet and greet OTC event.
Walked around the strip for a while, weather was nice.  Hopefully would stay that way for
the track event tomorrow.  At 4:30 or so we cruise over to the race track in the Subaru;
The meet is at the Shelby Museum.  Naturally, we have no clue how to find it.  As we are
driving past the track, the check engine light comes on.  That's super -- but probably
from another misfire, as we are running 91 octane CA fuel, and the program we are running
in the Xede is tuned for 95-96 octane.  We choose to ignore it for now, assuming it
probably won't cause us too many problems once we toss some good gas in.

We drive around for a few minutes, and spot an Imola Yellow Audi S4 with a bunch of 
stickers.  Figuring he's headed to the same place, we follow them around the block a 
couple of times.  This car turns out to be another T3 entry, the Babcocks(SP).  We stop 
and chat with them for a minute, and then see the Pulp Truck go by (Doug Hayashi, 
NSXfiles.com).  We follow him over to the Shelby museum, and are pretty much the only 
OTC folks there so far.  

We talk to Doug briefly about the race, and Doug offers to loan us some 100 octane race
gas since we had none, and the race fuel truck isn't open early (Thanks again!).
We talk to a few other folks, grab our shirts and stickers, and split for the hotel (after
photoing a few of the OTC cars that have shown up in the lot since we got there).

We have tickets for 'O' with the wives @ 7:30, so we take off for the hotel.  The show
was ok, kind of odd, but whatever.  We eat at Delmonicos afterwards, which was absolutely
great.

Once back to the hotel, we go back to finish up the car in the parking garage.  I set
the shocks to 12 clicks, front and rear (we drove to Vegas on setting 1, to make it
a little less brutal).  We hadn't really tested the car on these settings, so it was kind
of new to us.  While I was doing this, Justin installed the OTC number plate/numbers
on the car.  Looks nice!  It's 1:30am by now, time for bed.

[04/18/2004] Sunday (Las Vegas Motor Speedway)
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Get up at 6AM, shower, head to track.  It's only about 15 minutes from the hotel, so not
too bad.  Unload all the crap from our car into our spot in the paddock, and head to tech
inspection.  We borrow some 100 octane from Doug, and pour most of it in the car, some of
it on the car.  Check tire pressures, check oil, check brake fluid.  Car is ready to run.
We decide that I'll run the first two sessions, and then since it's Justin's car, he can
beat the snot out of it himself if we want our times to look a little better (since mostly
I just don't want to destroy it).

We go to the drivers meeting.  Rules for the event are pretty simple;  It's pretty much
open passing, just do it carefully and don't smack into anyone else.  We get our AMB
transponder for timing, and zip-tie it to the front of the car.  We also have our own
Hot-Lap timer installed, and it looks like someone else has already stuck a Hot-Lap
transmitter out on the track, so timekeeping it taken care of.

We are in OTC group 2, so we have a bit of time to get ready.  I go over to grid at the
hot pits a few minutes before group 1 is over.  Put my helmet/gloves/etc on, turn on the
camcorder, and the starter waves me out.

I start out taking it pretty easy, since I have no idea what this track looks like.  It's
a new track configuration for LVMS, so I couldn't find any decent track map, and I had
never ridden with anyone else out on the track.  Actually, for reference, I had never
driven on _any_ other track besides Thunderhill.  I poke along until another driver
shows up, and I point them by (still on the first lap).  I start following their line, and
speed up a bit.  Holy crap!@  This track is pretty technical, and has a lot of tight turns
and some decreasing radius situations.  The car feels pretty nice, except the brakes are
a tad soft, and I've overheated the tires enough that they aren't sticking too great. 
Still, it made for some great drift situations.

I pull in after my 25 minute session, feeling like I'd improved a little bit since I first
hopped on the track, but was mostly just pretty sloppy.  My best time was a 2:15 at this 
point.  I went out the next session and managed to get my time down to a 2:13, which was
marginally better, but I felt like this session was quite a bit cleaner too.

Justin went out for the next two sessions, and managed to bust out a 2:12.  Well, at
least we weren't last!

We packed the car back up and took off back to the hotel.  We ate dinner, said goodbye
to the wives, and headed towards our next hotel.  The drive to Rosamond, CA was about 4
hours I think, and was fairly boring.  Did see a pretty nasty accident though, and managed
to get stuck in traffic.


[04/19/2004] Monday (Willow Springs)
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Wake up, throw stuff back in the car.  We aren't real early risers,
so most of the racecars have cleared out of the parking lot.  We notice that Shiv's
red Evo 8 is still sitting on the trailer in the parking.  It died yesterday in Vegas
(apparently due to a failed crank angle sensor), so this probably isn't a good sign for
them today.

We cruise down the road to the track (about 10 minutes away, a little bit further into
the middle of nowhere).  Stop at the office and get wristbands.. this place is pretty large
compared to our usual hangout (Thunderhill).  A huge sign indicates that this is "The
Fastest Track in the West".  Looking at the road course from the paddock, it's pretty
obvious that their moto is true.  A long straightaway out front and in the back, and a
lot of elevation change.

We set up in the paddock next to the green UrS4 and unload our copious amounts of crap.
We decide to only run two sessions today, as Thunderhill (our next stop) is a 6ish hour
drive, and we want to get there with reasonable time to eat and sleep.  I'll drive first
today, and Justin will go second.

We hit the drivers meeting, it's pretty short.  Only important data is the suggestion that
we probably should try not to go off on this track, as there are some bad spots for it.
Ok, like I ever do that.

We head back to the paddock and I warm up for the first run.  I decide to try to find
someone to follow around for the first couple laps that has been here before.  I drive
over to grid, and one of the Lofgrens (in the Mini Cooper S) tells me I'm welcome to follow
them around the track.  Pull out on to the track and take it pretty easy for a lap.  This
track is _definitely_ fast, and has some pretty scary turns.  The last turn (11?) onto the
front straight is great fun.. as long as you don't apex too early and head towards the pit
wall.  Or apex too late, and head towards the pit wall.  The STi managed about ~130 on the
front straight before braking into turn 1.. the funny part about the front straight is the
slight dip in the middle of it.. nothing big, the car just feels a little light for a
second.  Anyway, I continue around the track still behind the Mini.  I'm a little braver
now that I have some idea how to get around the track, so I start picking up speed some,
as does the Mini.  The car is still sticking pretty well.. until Turn 5, where I enter
going too fast on what must be the exact opposite of the right line.. and go plowing off
into the dirt at 50mph.  Oops.  No damage done though, so I hop back on the track and take
off.  My laps get a little faster, and my line starts to look a bit better.  I decide
to pull back into the pits a tad early as I was a little concerned about my off-track and
want to check the car over.  Check out the lap times, my best was a ~1:45.  Car turned out
to be fine, minus a small scratch.

Justin goes out the next session.. he manages a similar time (~1:46), which we decide is
good enough for us today, and we pack up for Thunderhill.  

The brakes felt a little squishy, so we bled them with some fresh Motul 600RBF.  Also,
we swapped the spare set of tires (another set of Falken Azenis Sports) onto the car.  They
were brand new, so we decided to put a few hundred miles on them during the trip to the Hill
to get them broken in for racing tomorrow.  On the bright side.. the first set of wheels
and tires we balanced horribly, and vibrated badly at highway/racetrack speeds.  The new
set was great, and didn't vibrate at all, making for a _much_ more pleasant drive.  The
wheels we took off still had quite a bit of meat on them, so we probably could have run
the entire event on one set of Azenis'..

Drive to Thunderhill was uneventful.  and boring.  We stayed at the Amerihost hotel
(much nicer than the Golden Pheasant next door).  We had dinner down the street at Denny's
with Brian Provost and Jonathon Gleason (OTC organizers) and yapped about the race.  Nice
guys.

Pretty beat after standing in the sun all day and driving 6 hours.  Went back to the hotel 
and went to bed.


[04/20/2004] Tuesday (Thunderhill)
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Got to the track at 7:30ish and unpacked the car.  Willows had some rain the night before,
so the track was still a little damp.. and more importantly, the run-off around the track
was still very wet/muddy.  That means if you go off, best case you are stuck in the mud.
Worst case, you are stuck in the mud upside down.

Justin wanted to go out first today, as he already has experience here, so he wanted to
turn some fast laps in the morning.  We had higher hopes at this track, as we've both been
here a number of times now, and weren't horrible.

The remote timing laptop was setup on the first floor of the building, so I went in to
check out the laptimes while Justin drove around.  Our previous best times here were a 2:19
for Justin in our racecar (the weekend before), and a 2:25 for me (in my stockish WRB STi
on Azenis).  On his second or third lap, Justin had already turned a 2:18, so we were doing
better today.  He turned a best time of 2:16.. not bad!  Then the course gets a red flag.
Uh oh.  I see Justin go turn 5, so I know it's not him.  I hear rumblings that there was an
off-track over at turn 8, so I start walking towards the bridge to check things out. 
They let the remaining drivers off of the track slowly, so I meet Justin on the way over.
We walk over the bridge to find that one of the Evos had gone off in 8, flipped end over
end, then rolled on its side a couple of times in the grass.  If you hadn't known it was
an Evo already, you might not have immediately guessed from looking at it.  Fortunately,
the driver and passanger were unhurt and were removed from the car.

The track was re-opened for the next sessions, but that didn't make me too eager to go out
today.  I did anyway, and managed to turn a somewhat cautious 2:21 (still a best for me!).
On the bright side, car was still feeling good today, and the fresh tires were working
fairly well.

In the last session of the day, we convinced Erik Messley to drive our car around the
track for a few laps to see what it could do.  That guy is _fast_.  He was driving
Doug Hayashi's NSX around the track today, and was turning something in the neighborhood
of 1:55, and was convinced he could turn a 1:54.  Turned on the in-car video and off he
went.  He did 3 laps and gave us some great feedback on car setup.  Checking his lap times,
his very first lap was a 2:09, and his next two were 2:07s.  Wow.

Packed up the car and left for Sears point.  It's not too long of a drive from Thunderhill
(2 hours or so), so we didn't have to rush too much.  Stopped at the Round Table pizza in
Willows, and had dinner with the Lofgren brothers.  The three of them brough a Porsche 944
and a Mini Cooper S.   Nice guys.


[04/21/2004] Wednesday (Sears Point/Infineon Raceway)
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Wow, two track days to go.  Wake up to pack the car.. it's raining!  We've heard a lot
about the amount of concrete at Sears Point, and driving around this track in the wet
didn't seem to appealing (especially for the first time on the track!).

Arrive at the track, still raining.  Decide to unpack car after the drivers meeting.
Still raining!  Decide to skip the first session, in the interests of not destroying the
car before finishing the OTC.  We see the Audis go out.. and even the Mustang.  So we
decide to run in the second session.  After all, the car is AWD!  Mike and Norm Babcock
are kind enough to let us drop our belongings in their enclosed trailer while we go out 
on the track, so that we don't have to dry off everything that we own before we leave.
We unload, and it's time for our session (the second T3 session of the day now).

Justin is driving, and I ride along.  Sears Point is a really nice track, but there really
_are_ a lot of walls here.  We take our time out in the rain.. the car is sliding all over
the place, but it's still quite a bit of fun (from the passanger seat anyway).  Trevor
Frank in the green UrS4 is turning the fastest times at the track right now (2:14ish) 
in the rain.  We're not sure if he's very skilled at racing in the rain or just crazy,
but regardless, he's turning faster times than _everyone_.  We manage a 2:3x in the rain,
and return in one piece.  The Babcock S4 takes a bit of a spin into the tires, and
the bumper suffers heavily.  Car and driver were just fine though.

Rain lets up a bit, so we go out in the third session.  I ride along again, and we turn
much better times this time.  Our best time of the day was a 2:05.7, and we call it quits
for the day.

Robi's Evo 8 had an engine failure.. we hear that Robi plans to swap the engine overnight,
and drive the car to Buttonwillow to finish.  We are certain that there is no way they
will be able to complete that much work in such a short amount of time . . .

We start packing up as the participants in the Wednesday Night Drags start showing up.
So fast looking cars show up on trailers, with slicks roughly as wide as our car.
And a few Honda Accords with cut springs and Altezzas.  Interesting sights!

Buttonwillow is a bit of a trip down south (~4 hours), so we don't waste too much time
getting on the road.  Man, there are CHP everywhere.  So far over the 1800 miles or so
we've driven, the Valentine 1 (the best!) has found somewhere around 15 live hits.

Get to Buttonwillow, check in, and ask the girl at the desk where to eat.  She tells us
about a BBQ place behind the Texaco (Willow Ranch).  We cruise over to get some food.
As it turns out.. they have sweet tea there (this only means something to those from the
Southeast).  Good place.

We decide that since the car is still understeering pretty badly, we should probably try
adjusting the suspension some.  I get out the flashlight and slide under the car.  I set
the rear sway bar to it's full stiff setting, and adjusted the dampers to 5 clicks in the
front, and 10 in the rear.  Funny thing.. we had just set them to 8/12 in Vegas, and
when I checked them now, they looked like they were set to 16 at three of the corners.
They are also leaking a not-insignificant amount of oil.  Probably not good.  Oh well,
worry about that when we get home.


[04/22/2004] Thursday (Buttonwillow)
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Last track, and it's a nice day out.  Not entirely sure how to get to the track, so
we stop at the Mini Mart.  We needed some food and beverages anyway.  The nice
cashier there gave us directions.. She checked out our racecar, and thought it was a
Mustang.  Maybe it needs more stickers.  Anyway, off to the track..

Cruise into the track, unpack the car.  We've had excellent luck so far finding 100
octane gas, and Buttonwillow didn't let us down.  We went and filled up with the first
of what would be $100 worth of 76 Cool Blue 100 Octane for the day, and got ready for
our first run.

I went out first today, and Justin rode along with me.  Hmmph, pretty slow!  We
were running the counterclockwise race #13 configuration.  This track has a lot of turns.
but fortunately also a lot of runoff, which inspires a little more confidence, even for
those that have never been here before.  I turned a best time of like 2:21 in my
first session.

Justin went out in the next T3 session, and managed a best of 2:13.  He had a pretty good
off-track coming onto the front straight, but recovered like a pro.  Looks good on
video too.  Temperature got up to roughly 4000F in the middle of the desert, but I decided
to go out and try to put down some good laps now that I had the track fairly well memorized.
I managed to turn a 2:16, decided that would be good enough, and decided to cool off for
the rest of the day.

Last session of the day.. Robi rolls in with his repaired Evo 8!  You have to admire the
effort.  They manage to get the car prepared and on the track, with about 15 minutes
of time total.  Their driver goes out and puts down a pretty fast time (2:06?), but the
car starts smoking after a few laps.. doesn't matter, they take the win for T3.  Vesko
is second in his stock-ish Evo 8 (stock other than some pretty wide tires).  The Lofgrens
take third in their race-prepped Porsche 944.

We hang around for beer and awards ceremony.  There was a driver write-in award for
driver that most embodied the spirit of the event which went to John Dearing, driving the
Dodge Viper.  

Conclusions
----------------------------------------------
This was roughly the coolest thing I've ever done.  It was exhausting, and I often got the
feeling that I was driving with people that were completely out of my league as far as
experience went.  Everyone I met was great though, and everyone was helpful.  As far as
track experience goes, you'll find no shortage of track time, or someone to follow a good
line from.  Being prepared as a driver is essential.. so definitely get some track events
under your belt before trying it (probably more than I've attended would be a good start).
Having a prepared car is right up there.  We spent a lot of time putting the car together
in months before the OTC, and finished about 24 hours before we left for the event.  All
in all, the Subaru turned out to be quick and reliable.  That said, we've found about 100
things that we'll change before we compete next year.  Our shocks were less than ideal,
and acted fairly odd.  Wider rubber would have been advantageous.. We probably had some
room for improvement with the brake pads as well, as there seem to be some proven
alternatives out that may have been a better choice.  Oh, and if you tune your car for
100 octane, be sure to calculate your fuel costs based on what you normally pay at the
pump, and then multiply by 3.  But divide your gas milage by 10.

All in all, this event kicked ass.  We'll definitely do it again.