Back from Grattan Road track event July 26th 2008 (videos included)

EDIT: back from event. The best laps around the track were laps "Joe 6" through "Joe 13" and "Aaron 20" through "Aaron 25"

Click here for videos. http://www.adfabdesign.com/RaceEvents/Grattan_7-26-08/Grattan-7-26-08-videos.html

Pictures from the same event. I just updated my site with 62 pictures from my recent 7/26/08 Grattan event. http://www.adfabdesign.com/RaceEvents/Grattan_7-26-08/Grattan_7-26-08.html


Last year I was able to take YSSMAN (Brad) for a ride on the track in my 69 Camaro and it was a lot of fun. Here is that thread from last year. https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=94525&highlight=GRATTAN I never ended up posting the videos but I do still have video from that event.
Just a heads up that on July 26th 2008 anyone can attend this event. If you just come to the event as a spectator you get in for free. You can even ride with anyone at the event for free. You just need a helmet.
If you want to drive onto the track you can bring anything besides a truck.


The event will be broken up into 4 classes. Each class depends on driver skill, driver experience, and car performance.

If you are interrested please let me know. This is a very advanced track with 12 turns. Several of them are blind and turn 3 has a massive negative camber turn that goes down then right back up the hill.

Grattan Raceway Run Groups July 26th 2007

03 WRX 1
02 Z28 1
65 Mustang 1
97 911 Turbo 1
Mercury Cougar ITS 1
Juno 1
Lotus Exige 1
Porsche GT3 1
01 Trans Am 1
06 Elise 1
04 STI 1


69 Camaro 2
06 Evo 2
VW R32 2
944 Turbo 2
S2000 2
02 WRX 2
Juno 2
99 Boxster 2
00 MRS 2
98 Corvette 2
70 Buick GS 2
92 Miata 2
05 SRT-4 ACR 2
90 Miata Turbo 2


94 Miata 3
01 Audi TT 3
01 Miata 3
05 WRX 3
87 BMW 325 3
06 Evo 3
STI 3
92 Miata 3
07 Corvette 3
95 Civic 3
97 Corvette 3
05 Saab 92X 3
RX-8 3
04 Mustang 3
04 GTO 3
89 Mustang 3


04 350Z 4
99 Z3 4
99 Corvette 4
05 Mustang 4
00 Corvette 4
89 Trans Am Turbo 4
02 Corvette 4
95 240sx 4
Mustang 4
07 STI 4
99 Boxster 4
07 Mustang 4
06 Mustang 4
06 Mustang 4
07 STI 4
Porsche Boxster 4
Audi R8 4

Aww, son! I'll have to confer with a few of my buddies. We were planning on making a Dragon trip that week, then ending the trip in Nashville at the Import Alliance meet on the 26th. That all would easily be a $600-$700 trip for each of us driving.

So...

week off work + dragon + IA + lots of money lost

vs.

real track practice + lots less money.

You might think it's an obvious choice, but it'll be tough for us.

Hmmm... Its in my backyard and I do have a "sports car" now, but I don't know if I can risk my daily driver...

Still, a GTP meetup would be quite a lot of fun here. Joey would have to bring the Mini as well.

That would be fun if I was in Michigan and had a car there that I could beat around a track. Oh well. Have fun guys!

It would definitely be fun if I lived closer, but alas I do not. I hope those of you that do good have an enjoyable time! 👍

I don't know if I would drive the MINI around the track (to be honest, I'm not very good at track driving) but I might ride over and have a watch.

VashTheStampede

It would definitely be fun if I lived closer, but alas I do not. I hope those of you that do good have an enjoyable time! 👍

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Same here, and I don't think I'm ready to take the Si out that far north yet.

Joey D

I don't know if I would drive the MINI around the track (to be honest, I'm not very good at track driving) but I might ride over and have a watch.

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It really isn't a "difficult" track by any shot of the imagination, but yes, I'm in the same boat with the Celica. I've been around at least 10 times by car, well over 200+ times by bike. Its a lovely, lovely track. You just have to watch out for the ends of the straightaway.

Joey D

I don't know if I would drive the MINI around the track (to be honest, I'm not very good at track driving) but I might ride over and have a watch.

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Its actually more advanced than Brad makes it out be. I just think I made it look easy the time he rode with me. lol
Turn 3 is brutal difficult to master in a vehicle. It drops down a negative camber hill then goes straight back up the hill. Grattan is actually one of the most difficult road tracks in Michigan especially with the elevation changes. There are a couple places where your car will come off the ground if going fast enough. The jump hump before turn 5 will get you some air for sure.
This time I will be leaving my camcorder inside the car for every lap. Last year I pulled it out when I took Brad for a ride to have Heather record from the outside. She was only able to get a couple seconds of us driving by. Wish I would have left it inside because I was pushing the car pretty hard and it was a great battle with the 500+ hp 65 Mustang. Plus our battle to catch up with the C6 Corvette was fun too. I would have caught up for sure if I wasn't blocked by the S2000.

That bastard in the S2000, I think, didn't seem to know how to drive right... Or didn't like the idea of being beat-up by an old-school Camaro.

Here is a video someone posted on the forzacentral.com site of a Mustang out at Grattan. Its a pretty good video and that mustang sounds sick! http://www.trackdawgz.com/Videos/GrattanLap.WMV And believe me in car view looks much slower on video.
That video also reminds me that I need to raise my mirror so the camcorder will see past it.

Sounds like a ton of fun, too bad I'm soo far away. I would love to take my car to a road course. Already been to the strip and that was I blast, I can only imagine how much it would be to get on a road course.

How much track time is normal throughout the day?

I'm going to try and get some maintenance done on my car before the event. I'd really like to go, and I've got few friends who'd rather drive a real track than spend $600 in week at the Dragon and Gatlinburg. Tennessee doesn't deserve our many anyway because of their insane law enforcement down there. I just have to remember that I'd be pushing just as hard and driving longer there than at the track. A track always sounds more "dangerous".

Seems like every group got to run at least two or three times, at least 20-30 minutes each? I think?

Keef

How much track time is normal throughout the day?

I'm going to try and get some maintenance done on my car before the event. I'd really like to go, and I've got few friends who'd rather drive a real track than spend $600 in week at the Dragon and Gatlinburg. Tennessee doesn't deserve our many anyway because of their insane law enforcement down there. I just have to remember that I'd be pushing just as hard and driving longer there than at the track. A track always sounds more "dangerous".

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There are 4 groups total and each group runs for 15-20 minutes at a time. If you add up the total amount of time its well over 2 hours of actual track time for each person. Usually each group goes out onto the track at least 8-9 times.
As for sounding dangerous its actually extremely safe. A lot safer than racing on the streets. The worst that usually happens is someone will spin off the course. The entire track is wide open so if you do go off the track you just go into grass. Just watch that Mustang video I posted above in post #11. Thats the exact track you will be going on.

Bump.

I finally sent an email to the track staff asking for all sorts of information, like start time, and equipment to bring, and all sorts of stuff. I'd hate to show up without everything I need...

Keef

Bump.

I finally sent an email to the track staff asking for all sorts of information, like start time, and equipment to bring, and all sorts of stuff. I'd hate to show up without everything I need...

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If you have any other questions feel free to ask me. Also if you are seriously considering attending this event let me know because you will have to register with our group to make sure they reserve a spot for you. They take checks or paypal. We only allow 60 cars and when those are full they wont allow anyone else in.

How much does registration cost? I didn't realize there were a certain number of places. I'll have to ask my friend tonight when I have all the information. Too bad they didn't mail me back yet.

Keef

How much does registration cost? I didn't realize there were a certain number of places. I'll have to ask my friend tonight when I have all the information. Too bad they didn't mail me back yet.

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Its $150.00 per car for the entire day as many times as you want to go out. Plus anyone can drive your car and you can take anyone you want for a ride as long as they are over 18 years old. If you dont want to drive your car onto the track then the entire event is free and you can still ride with other people for free.
I already paid through paypal.
EDIT: Must be 18 years old. I thought it was 16.

That's not a bad price at all in relation to some of the vacations I've taken to races and for driving. I'd like to convince my friend Aaron to bring his Spec V because he's one of very few people around here that are actually interested in hard driving rather than hard parking.

What sort of equipment is required? Do helmets have to be DOT or Snell approved? Most importantly, when does it start?

Keef

That's not a bad price at all in relation to some of the vacations I've taken to races and for driving. I'd like to convince my friend Aaron to bring his Spec V because he's one of very few people around here that are actually interested in hard driving rather than hard parking.

What sort of equipment is required? Do helmets have to be DOT or Snell approved? Most importantly, when does it start?

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The helmet needs to be snell approved 2000 or newer. Most quad and dirt bike helmets will work. They have never been strict about the helmets at all.
If you have a passenger they will also need a helmet. If you have a convertible you will need a roll bar. You must wear pants and closed toe shoes. Basically dont wear sandals or flip flops. There are no restrictions at all for the vehicle and only personal inspections.

You are allowed to come the night before and hang out with other people and stay the night if you want. Basically a camp party the night before the event.

Track Time.
7:00AM Gates open
8:30AM Mandatory drivers’ meeting
9:00AM Group A hits the track
9:00AM Instruction session for all people in C and D group plus anyone interested
9:20AM Groups C and D will do a lead-follow session with instructors (about 5 laps at lower speeds)
9:40AM Group B on track
10:00AM Group C on track
10:20AM Group D
10:40AM Group A (after this, we will rotate through the groups A,B,C,D)
The groups will continue to rotate throughout the day. These times are not exact and depend on any cautions, weather delay, etc.
12:00PM Lunch
1:00PM Back on track
5:00PM Track Closed

Still about 20 spots available. Less than 2 weeks left before the event.

5 days left.

I added the total run group to the first post.

I had the best racing event of my life on saturday. It was the hardest I ever pushed the Camaro and it ran absolutely incredible and the weather was perfect. If you have a few minutes I would like for you to check out some of the videos I posted. I put 31 videos on my site from the Grattan 726/08 event. All are from inside my Camaro.
The best laps around the track were laps "Joe 6" through "Joe 13" and "Aaron 20" through "Aaron 25". http://www.adfabdesign.com/RaceEvents/Grattan_7-26-08/Grattan-7-26-08-videos.html
I will be adding pictures later. Any feedback on the videos would be appreciated. I even removed my original mirror and relocated a new mirror just so the you could see out of the car easier. 👍

Ugh! I was so sad when I remembered that I missed it on Saturday!

It looks like you had a lot of fun though, that's all that matters. I'd love to take the Celica out to something like that eventually, but with Mieko as the daily driver, its probably not the best idea.

Yeah I was surprised that you didnt show up. It was an incredible day especially for my Camaro. I ran somewhere around 42-43 laps total on saturday. The camcorder was also in the perfect location and the videos turned out great.

Looks like it was fun. Grattan apears pretty twisty in parts

CAMAROBOY69

The camcorder was also in the perfect location and the videos turned out great.

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What do you mount your camera on? it shakes around quite a lot and made me feel queasy just watching it!

TheCracker

Looks like it was fun. Grattan apears pretty twisty in parts



What do you mount your camera on? it shakes around quite a lot and made me feel queasy just watching it!

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Thanks for checking out some of the videos. If your queasy watching it, imagine how we felt driving on the track. lol I have it mounted on a tri-pod with 3 tie downs. I usually only have about 5 minutes to set it up before I go onto the track. Sorry its a little shaky but this year was the best camera angle out of all the other years.
The best laps were the Joe and the Aaron laps. Also by then I had the camcorder secured a little better. The map layout is in the first post. Its 12 turns with some major elevation changes. I even got over a foot of air several times. I could hit right around 130mph in 5th gear on the straight away on my fastest laps.

CAMAROBOY69

Thanks for checking out some of the videos. If your queasy watching it, imagine how we felt driving on the track. lol I have it mounted on a tri-pod with 3 tie downs. I usually only have about 5 minutes to set it up before I go onto the track. Sorry its a little shaky but this year was the best camera angle out of all the other years.

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The last time i was out at Cadwell Park i had a cam mounted to the rear side window, it attaches via three little suckers. It's really quick to set-up and keeps any camera really still. If you plan on doing more trackdays it would be a useful investment. 👍

The camera and mount we use now that you can see in my avatar is better still, but unless you have something solid like a roll-cage to clamp it too, a sucker style mount is your best bet IMO.