I'm sorry you had a crappy day at the track. That does sound a lot like the E36 M3 I've seen in the lower run groups (<8 days track experience). It is really frustrating when it happens.
I finally have enough days to move up to the point by anywhere group (9+ track days).. I'm hoping that I'll finally be one of the slower cars on track and have to worry about letting people by instead of constantly getting held up.
In reply to docwyte :
Definitely an organizer issue. Lately they have been very light on cornerworkers, and I think that's part of the problem. I think they realize there's been problems since they're changing rules to alleviate traffic. I do think they need to be a little more forceful with "it's an HPDE, folks, not a race" in the driver's meetings.
90's is 'spring' weather here... at least in Phoenix. Mid-day temps will be 110* or more mid-summer. There's a reason we live in the mountains!
In reply to CAinCA :
Oh, we still had a good day. 
I've never had serious issues running in the advanced group before, most folks there are experienced enough to be safe, but the aggression levels have noticeably increased over the last year. This is the first time I've ever been held up by slow drivers in fast cars in the advanced group.
Video... I have had issues with both my GoPro, and the GoPro clone I got from Amazon. Both were a PITA to start up and be sure they were recording at the start of a session, and both were having battery issues, even with 'new' and freshly charged batteries. I pulled out a Mobius Mini action cam I had used for some R/C aircraft stuff back in the day, and configured it to start recording with external power 'on'. I wired switched power with the switch accessible from the driver's seat. It worked great. I may try a wider angle next time out...
Here's a clean lap from my first session...
Perfect camera placement, that's great video and only 1 camera to deal with.
That video stressed me out
In reply to cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah...
That seemed like an opening lapping day as far as driver behavior. That's why I tend to avoid the open lapping days at HPR up here...
So frustrating, you'd think a bunch of adults could follow the simplest of instructions but we all know how that goes.
Cayman driver is probably in slightly over his head and the first guy that came up on him had zero patience and blew his doors off before getting a point by, now Cayman driver thinks that's just how it is and no more point by's happen which hurts the drivers playing by the rules the most.
Supra guy is the worst for someone in a low power car, too much ego, too much car, not enough talent. You'll catch him easily but he's not going to let you just go by, clearly your car is slower than his. Eventually after hounding his bumper for a few laps you get the point by, he sacrifices one straight and you go by, well all of a sudden he's confirmed in his beliefs and he is easily keeping up! Well, no E36 M3, all of a sudden crappy driver has someone to follow through the corners and can easily keep up on the straights and that low power car is holding him up! GAH! (Now that I've written this out I wonder if I should practice some alternative lines with early apexes and see if I can get a driver like this to drive off the track if they pull this on me lol).
Then there's big fast Porsche (Corvette, Camaro, Mustang, BMW, doesn't really matter) guy, his car is so capable and he IS SO FAST! Except he couldn't get to an apex if his life depended on it and is only actually good at one thing, putting his foot to the floor and going straight and letting the computers do everything else for him. Don't get in their way when they are doing that one thing!
Our local track has a bit of a reputation as they run all of their lapping days as open lapping (not open passing). Things have been bad at times with every sort of track day sin but they have started to improve. Because it is open lapping though you pay your $100 and you have 4 hours to do as many laps as you want, if you end up on track around a jackass you don't feel like you are wasting one of your limited sessions by taking a trip through pit lane or parking the car for a few minutes while things calm down. They've also been adding afternoon sessions mid week that are great with lower participation for the same price, basically a private lapping afternoon for 8-10 drivers for $100.
The build looks great and glad you guys had a semi-successful shakedown day without damage.
Why was the fuel leaking? Torn filler hose?
also, with your cage, did you follow any specific cage-building rules? I usually see a sill bar being required - against the sill between the front legs and the main hoop.
often the diagonal (from the upper left corner of the main to the lower right) has to be within a certain distance of the corners. Might be worth looking into seeing if you need to modify it to meet any rules for bodies you want to race with.
But it looks great and is great for safety!
In reply to docwyte :
In my wife's group, the rules were "passing is OK anywhere, but only with a point-by". It ended up being 'just pass whenever you want'. I included the S2K because he was passing under yellow on the out lap, so it was fun to watch him spin on the first green lap...
In my group, it is open passing, but we usually don't have a courtesy problem. If it's not a TT session, I'll sacrifice a good lap time to make it easy for someone faster to get by safely. The guy in the GT4 was either completely oblivious, or just being a shiny happy person. Not sure what was up with Supra guy, but he also seemed to be over his head.
The other issue was that only 3 of 7 corner stations were manned, and one of them had his truck parked between the corner station and the crash barrier, blocking 50% of his view of the track.
I think a lot of the behavior on track was not being observed, and not being called out the way it should by the corner workers.
We've had a huge influx of new drivers over the last couple of years. Not all of them become regulars, but it is making the groups more crowded, and I think some are not getting the 'corrective' mentoring that they need. I guess a few of them are percolating up to the more advanced groups.
In reply to adam525i :
Weird... your post and jfryjry's didn't appear until long after I posted my response to docwyte.
Using the hot pit to clear traffic is a great strategy, and I'll often do that to get away from traffic or a problem driver on other tracks, but on this track the pit exit joins the track at a really bad angle and it's very hard to see with a HNRS to rejoin safely. Also, the blend area is really short. Kind of ruins it as an option at this particular track.
In reply to jfryjfry (FS) :
Thanks!
I had to remove the filler hose to install the rear stays for the cage, and I think the hose was just old and dried out and wasn't sealing properly when reinstalled. It is almost 30... I've got a new one on the way, so when I install it I'll check to ensure there isn't something else going on.
As far as the cage design, I looked at the rules for the organizations I'm most likely to run with (and several others) and it meets those specs. I did see a sill bar being required for SCCA Rally, but that was the only ruleset that required one of those I looked at. A sill bar doesn't really work in a Miata anyway... it would require a bend. The main hoop diagonal meets the specs for NASA.
In reply to Rodan :
Depending on how long your sessions are a trip through the pits can really eat up time too. It's nice when the marshal there is paying attention though and can put you back out into an empty spot in traffic, I've had them do the exact opposite though which is extra frustrating lol
In reply to Rodan :
You're a better man than me. I would have absolutely lost it. Track driving with nannies is pu$$y driving.
Edit: And thanks for the well documented build thread!
Well, I did kind of lose it... I don't think I've ever flipped someone the bird on track before the GT4 guy... LOL
Oooohhh... found one of my unicorns 3hrs away, at a non-crackpipe price. Now, if I can just get the seller to respond...
Got a reply from the track day organizer today... 
We appreciate the feedback on these issues- we were aware of the S2000 and the Black Supra. We spoke to the S2000 right after he was black flagged for passing under yellow, so hopefully that calmed him down.
The other two drivers we talked to at the end of the day, after a couple people experienced the same issues.
Still no response from the Failbook seller on my unicorn... I did some internet sleuthing, and am ~95% sure I know where the car is (at least where the pictures in the ad were taken). I'm tempted to make the 3 hr drive and knock on the door... Not knowing whether the seller has a clean title in hand is holding me back at this point. It's a nearly 50 year old car that appears not to have been running for decades, so a missing title is a real possibility.
Still have a couple things to try to make contact outside of Failbook...
Failbook seller responded!!
It's actually his dad's car, for whom I got a phone number and we had a nice conversation. Keeping my fingers crossed, but if things stay on track I'll be going to look at it on Saturday. It's had a non-native engine swap I'm not all that excited about, but that's not a deal breaker since I wouldn't be keeping the stock powertrain anyway.
I'm tired...
14 hour shift yesterday, off at 0700 this morning. Slept 3 hours, then made the 7 hour round trip excursion to buy the car. It's a 2.5 hour drive, so much time was spent waiting around for the seller to get his E36 M3 together. But it's done.
My second car was a 1974 Ford Capri. It's why I love Euro Fords. In 1987, mine was stolen and violated. I had put a lot of effort into it, and being a poor college student, didn't have much money at the time. After I got it back, it was never the same and I sold it. Unfortunately, I have exactly zero pics of it before it got stolen. Here's pic from after the recovery, and after I put the stock wheels back on and got it running again:
After graduating college, moving to another state and getting started in my career, I always wanted another one, among other cars (240Z, 510, aircooled 911 etc). Most of them have become absurdly expensive. Capris were pretty cheap by comparison, but very rare. I passed on one about 8 years ago that looked like it had been used for demolition derby. I've been watching a nice one that appeared locally a few years ago, but I've never seen it move, and I've never bothered to knock on the door. And then this one popped up on FB market place, also a '74.
So, almost 35 years later, I finally have another Capri.
It's got some warts, but the bones are good. More later, when I'm a little less wiped out.
I unloaded the car at home this morning.
I decided this car deserves its own thread, so you can find it here: Mk1 Capri thread
It will be slow going, as I don't really expect to get rolling on it until I retire in a couple of years. Still have lots going on with the Miatas and that will be a priority. I will have some things going on with the Capri, mostly in the interests of preservation, to avoid any further deterioration.
Huh, Chevrolet bow tie on the grill. I'll be following the link to find out more.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
Previous owner put in a Vortec V6 and 700R4... both will be coming out, the bowtie is already gone.
You'll need to log in to post.
