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Old 06-04-2016, 09:59 PM   #10
IROCZman15
10 Second Club / Meet Coordinator
 
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Roxbury, NJ
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ok, sorry that it has taken me so long to write all of this down and post it up here.. I have just been busy... but:



I'll do a short version for those who just want the quick run down, and down below I'll do a longer detailed recap


Short version: I competed in the USCA (Ultimate Street Car Association) event last weekend at NJMP (New Jersey Motorsports Park). It is an event that has been going on nationwide for years now and this is the first time it has come anywhere even close to NJ. There are 10 events in 2016 and the winners from each event get to compete against the winners of the other events in the Finals which is in Las Vegas in the fall. All 10 (plus the finals) will be televised with a 1 hour showing of each event on MAVtv late summertime. There is also usually a ton of internet coverage too, as this event brings out some of the best pro-touring, g-machine, street beast cars in the nation. I signed up as a novice since I have never done road-course racing or autocross. The car was put in the GTV class out of the 4 classes. I drove the car to the event in Millville (3 hrs south) with all the gear I assumed I would need loaded inside the car. I did not have a trailer so I packed my tent, jack, jack stands, tons of hand tools, sleeping bag, clothes, food, etc all in the car. When I got there I was blown away that I was even able to be involved with cars of this caliber. Saturday we ran the autocross course all day and also had the design and engineering judging panel. It rained HARD from noon on... despite that we had to do a "canonball run" type road rally where we had to leave the racetrack property and drive to a destination we only found out about minutes earlier. We were told to drive all the way to Wildwood NJ beach and had to get a photo in front of the WILDWOOD sign and be back in a specific time; despite POURING rain, with most of the cars in the group on race tires with slammed out performance suspension setups. I think almost everyone made it, some didn't and got a DNQ. Sunday morning after the driver's meeting we ran some practice laps on the actual racecourse (the Lightning track). A pro driver track instructor came along with me and taught me a billion things in those three laps which totally helped me out. Ran a bunch of laps in 3 out of the 5 hot-lap race sessions for my specific Novice class. Had a pesky electrical gremlin preventing me from laying down my best lap times, but had a freakin blast. In between these hot lap sessions we had another event to compete in: the speed-stop. basically launch, navigate a coned off course and come to a complete stop in the stop-box, for time. I did well and could have gone harder at it too, but just the same as Saturday... rain come down and kinda hindered me running the car balls out. I called it quits, packed up all my gear, my soaking wet tent and tools in the back of the camaro. They had the awards ceremony and definitely some super pro drivers with badass cars won their class awards. Then I drove the 3 hours home, a smile on my face 10 miles wide... despite half the trip being in traffic an the rain. Parked the car, kissed the wife, had a snack, and unloaded all the (wet) gear from the car. BY FAR.. THIS WAS THE GREATEST CAR EVENT/EXPREIENCE I HAVE EVER BEEN A PART OF.. possibly even my greatest life experience of all time.

((The L-O-N-G version will be below all of these links)))
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Last edited by IROCZman15; 06-04-2016 at 10:01 PM.
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