LSWannabe

Hey guys, I thought we could use a thread to post in whenever we we're planning on hitting the track or if we wanted to see about getting together to cruise.

If QC area members check in and subscribe to the thread then we can bump it in the spring and get together at Cordova or something.

I plan on trying to get some members together at least once or twice. What I want to do is have us meet up for some food and maybe cruise a little afterwards to kill some time (and some ricers and stangs) and then hit Cordova when they have Midnight Mayhem. Does anyone remember this from last year? I heard the radio ads but I didnt get to go. I think they did a couple times to *perhaps* try to avoid having kids race on the streets. I just thought it would be great for some cool air runs. And if any punks try to run their mouths we'd be at the track so they can put up or shut up!

I need a damn helmet!

TransAm52804

That all sounds pretty good to me. Some of my buddies and I like to cruise a lot during the warmer nights. The cars consist of an LS1 Z28, few LT1's (T/A, Formula or two, Z28 or two, etc) and some Mustangs sometimes (yeah I know, but they're buddies of ours, and muscle is better than rice). But the cruising before going to Cordova for a Midnight Mayhem sounds awesome.

absolut_speed

iTrader: (1)

Sterling checking in.

I've been to most of the midnight mayhems. Nothing fancy. The track isn't really prepped, just whatever's left over from Friday's racing.

There aren't many fast cars there. They started splitting up domestics and imports for their fastest street car trophies or whatever they do because the fastest imports were trapping at 101ish.

Usually there are a handful of V8's on nitrous that are the fastest cars trapping in the 120's. That's it.

I use trap numbers because they don't display times at midnight mayhem, in order to protect whatever dignity the import guys think they have. You do get a regular timeslip with your time however.

The crowd is fairly young as you'd expect. The cars are 90% p.o.s. Freaks show up with Escorts with the hood removed, orange and green neon scattered about, uglified vinyl graphics, monster tachs in Civics, you name it. It's like the dirtball version of F&F.

But I go because I need the practice, and if you stay the whole night, you can get a lot of runs in as the crowd thins later on.

LSWannabe

Isnt that the 11th commandment or something?

Absolut speed, from what you said about midnight mayhem, it sounds HILARIOUS. Test n tune / midnight mayhem, I'll try to make it out whenever I can.

TransAm52804

Midnight Mayhem really is a fun event. Nothing there is ever all that modified, but it's fun. It's split up into 3 sections: muscle, ricers (there is usually never any classy/normal imports/sport compacts there, just ricers), and "normies" who bring their boring cars for the hell of it. But again, it really is fun.

One thing that really bites about Midnight Mayhem though, besides the shitty track prep, is the "heads up racing". Instead of the Christmas tree counting down, it's just stage, wait a random amount of seconds, and go. Midnight Mayhem's aren't the best for getting great reaction times or 60's because you usually jump and spin, but it's still a blast.

And like Absolut speed said: I'm pretty sure they don't post up the times on the time boards because of all the ricers there and how sad it is to view so many 16-18 second ET's while they go off and brag about it. But it's great for entertainment and comedy.

absolut_speed

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, the "heads-up" sucks. If you really want to torture yourself, you can opt for a flag start too.

As for the normies, it is amazing what shows up in that respect too. I've seen minivans, a dually, a contractor's truck with ladder rack, etc.

In a way it is amusing, but after the first 5 minutes, amusing becomes disturbing and 5 minutes after that it becomes annoying. It leaves me thinking about why on earth kids are dumb enough to drop hundreds each on aluminum wings, graphics, composite hoods, neons etc when they could have just spent a little extra up front and bought a Fbody that would run circles around them.

I think they need to do a bit more policing though. Some jerk was doing neutral drops with a rental car in the middle of the staging lanes last year. How stupid is that? It wasn't one time thing either. He did it repeatedly. Same guy was revving it and bouncing it off the limiter continuously. He could have f'd up and it the car in front of him, blown the motor and caused an oily mess in the lanes or whatever else.

TransAm52804

I remember that jerkoff too. Wasn't he in a Focus or something? If it's the same guy you're talking about, then that same guy entered the burnout contest but couldn't even get teh wheels to spin. That car was probably royally messed up, mechanically, after that night.

And I don't understand why the ricers with all the wings, decals, subs, etc, even bother going to the dragstrip. Their cars are slower with all those items than when they were stock, because of all the added weight. Plus if the wings even ARE functional, then the downforce created by the wings would only slow the car down once it starts goin' past 50-ish m.p.h., because downforce is drag, and drag hinders acceleration.

Annoying? The ricers and idiots are, yeah. But it's still fun.

LSWannabe

So with heads up racing, you pull up to the line and then wait for the light to instantly go green with no warning? I guess that will test your "reaction" time. I'll have to laugh at some of those ricer clowns. I see em everywhere I go. Just be careful they might have NAWZZ!

How much did you guys pay for your helmet?

absolut_speed

iTrader: (1)

I think it was a Focus (or a contour maybe) and yeah, he was the one in the burnout contest.

And you've got the heads up part right.

If you're wondering about a helmet for Cordova, they ask me if I have one, but they've never made me wear one there at Midnight Mayhems.

Have you guys ever considered autocrossing? The local SCCA group holds about 10 a year. I've been running with them for two full years and would encourage you to try it out. www.sccagrr.com

Harley-Davidson88

iTrader: (71)

I'm not in the Quad Cities, but I have been up to Cordova. Hopefully I will be up there quite a bit this year. I just went to one of the last test & tunes they had on a Saturday afternoon last year.

I thought the track prep was pretty good, considering I was on nearly bald Kumhos and I had no issues with wheelspin.

I can't wait to get up there this year. Hopefully I will have a few "goodies" to try out.

Cstick

I will be moving to the Quad Cities in a month. I would enjoy going to the track with a bunch of people. Where I went to college we had a track 10 miles away from us and it was so convenient(MO-KAN)!

LSWannabe

I'm sure I'll need a helmet for test and tune days. Hopefully I can get one for a decent price. I barely glanced at the summit catalog and the cheapest ones were about 200 bucks!

The only tires I'll be running are Joke-o-hama ES100's. So I'll do what I can to avoid spinning. I call them skinnyhama's, they've got a decent tread pattern though.

TransAm52804

I got a hell of a deal on my helmet. I went with my g/f to her Junior year prom last May (of '04), and the after party was held at the school (lame). Anyways, towards the end, they raffled off a bunch of prizes, and two of the prizes were badass motorcycle/full-face racing helmets. Two guys that me and my friend with a Formula knew, won them. So after the raffling, we asked them what they were gonna do with them (they weren't into cars) and they said probably just take it to a pawn shop. So we offered them $50 and they said sure! I love my helmet. It's orange and yellow with chains on it (truelly badass). I'll post a pic of it here soon.

Anyways, yeah it'd be badass if we all got together at Cordova during the test and tunes and Midnight Mayhems to create a little mayhem of our own.

Also, absolut speed, I'm probably gonna join the Great River Region SCCA this year. Even though I really prefer big, open, fast road courses, I'm gonna give auto-xing a shot. My mom ran into one of the GRRSCCA head ladies at the Kohl's in Bettendorf, and they got to talking which lead to them talking about me and auto-xing. So I'll be getting more info as Spring draws closer and will then join. Lookin' forward to it!

Edit* Here's a tiny pic (only one I could find) of my exact helmet. It's a GREX GO6 99:

The orange and yellow are much deeper than what's shown in the pic. But yeah, for freakin' $50, I got a hell of a deal, and it's comfortable with mouth and head vents (both can be opened and closed).

kev93z

hey lswannabe i met you at advanced autoparts a couple weeks ago on 23rd ave. i know some fbody guys in moline that would prob like to get together. ill have to get a new car first since i totaled mine last thursday on the 74 bridge. it sucks but i consider myself lucky to have walked away with minor injuries. im wishin i did like you and parked it for the winter.
but on the brighter side i can get the color i always wanted now, SOM. im already lookin at a few cars and will be back in a fbody within 8 wks. prob have to put the 402 plans on hold till summer though after i transfer all the suspension and driveline to the new car AGAIN.

KEV

LSWannabe

Like I said in my PM man that sucks. I hope you come across a nice find!

I roll my shitty winter car without shame, but it really sucks. The damn thing is an 88 toyota corolla w/ a 2 bbl carb, A3, no overdrive. It needs to be tuned. I picked it up cheap (obviously) and it's reliable/heater works good. But gawd that car is a joke.

You looking for another WS6? It sucks about having to hold out on the 402 but at least for now I'll remain visible in your rear view. Instead of becoming a distant spec!

Transam52804, that helmet is tight! (for $50!!!!)

TransAm52804

Yeah, I love it. It's comfortable too. Plus, I searched around and I woulda ended up spending between $150-$200 for it had I bought it from a shop instead of offering the kid $50!

absolut_speed

iTrader: (1)

I put the Firehawk away for the winter too.

But then I drive the Formula through the crap, which is always an adventure.

LSWannabe

That's a nice pic.It's cool how you've got those two birds both in red. Are they the same year? That's a TA hawk isnt it?

TransAm52804

God I LOVE your Firehawk, and guys believe me, it's hotter in person (I know, hehe). Do you recall how much it cost to get your lower bumper painted black like the CETA? Because I've been planning for about 4 months now to have my bumper painted like that in the spring time.

absolut_speed

iTrader: (1)

The T/A Firehawk is an 02, the Formula is an 01.

There was an incident with the garage door catching the rear bumper, which is why it's painted. Oh well, it gave the car some uniqueness, especially amongst Firehawks. I had some other little stuff done at the same time, but I imagine the bumper portion was around $200.

The Formula I just got last month. It was a leased car that got voluntarily repo'd in Denver, CO, hence the Colorado temp tag in the photo. Since the Firehawk seems to be doing a decent job of holding its value, and since I take it to things like the Firehawk Rally, I just felt bad about racing it all the time, whether it was at Road America or autocross or whatever. I didn't feel bad about flogging it, I felt nervous about doing something to it that I'd regret involving a tire wall or something! That, and it was hard to keep it neat with all the brake dust and cone scuffs it was picking up on the paint. So I started looking for a Formula to autocross in a stock class. This one popped up for the right price (and only had 13,000 miles), so now it's my daily driver and autocross car. The Firehawk will get cruising, show, and maybe drag race duties.