Mazdeuce does One Lap of America 2017

We're entered and starting to organize, so time for a thread about my One Lap of America 2017 shenanigans.
This is my friend Brian. We rallycross together. We have fun. He has a 2009 Honda Civic Si that he loves. A couple of years ago I bribed him to go to rallycross nationals by buying him a set of new snow tires. Naturally he won. I finished mid pack because that's more my thing.
After that there was a big "what now?" and he started doing track days. He drove local tracks in Texas and finally took a road trip out to California and drove Laguna Seca. Again, "what now". I told him that he should do One Lap. It's basically a week long track day. A very natural progression.
He agreed, and here we are.
We're clearly not looking to set the world on fire. The Civic is like bringing a spoon to a gun fight. We're going to have fun, hang out, and drive some cool tracks.
My job this year is a proper co-driver. That means I'll be in charge of logistics, primarily making all of the hotel reservations and keeping things like phone numbers and routes and stuff in some form or organization.
Follow along. Ask questions. Meet up with us along the way. Word is we'll be stopping at GRM world headquarters and I'm excited about finally shaking the hands of the people that make this crazy place happen.
We're going to have fun.

In!

Woohoo! I've been waiting about two weeks for this thread to show up

You definitely saw how little organization it takes to successfully complete OneLap last year; only way to go from there is up!

pretty soon sleepyhead needs to stop hitting the snooze button to be ready for 2017.

I'll have to make sure we stop and say hi at some point! a friend and I are doing this for the first time in his e46 m3! i'll be following along to glean any info I can from this thread.

In reply to klodkrawler05:

We'll absolutely find each other that first night at the meet and greet. All sorts of fun people to talk to and meet. Sleepyhead on here has done One Lap more than I have and is another good source of information. Also don't be afraid to email Brock directly. He's friendly and helpful. He wants you to be safe and have fun.

My thread from 2015 Mazdeuce Does One Lap is my best advice for what to expect from your first year. It's all a bit chaotic initially but settles down in a hurry as the week progresses. My thread from last year Mazdeuce Does One Lap Again! Transit Edition is more of a cautionary tale about how hard it is to find a co-driver that will 100% be there when they say they will. If things go pear shaped you might have to fly in some Yahoo from Texas to 'help out' during the middle of the week. It worked amazing for me, but it made Sleepyhead's week more complicated than it needed to be.

Don't hesitate to post her and ask questions and piggyback on any of this. We'll all be there together. If you PM me I may also be able to put you in contact with some of the other guys who have run M3's in the past. They're a good group.

And here I was hoping you were running the minivan

dj06482 wrote: And here I was hoping you were running the minivan

I had been seriously considering it. I still am sort of, but not until it's had some significant mileage put on it. Can't just stop into Pep Boys and grab parts along the way.

Oooh. I migjt have to finally meet the mighty Seth in florida.

mndsm wrote: Oooh. I migjt have to finally meet the mighty Seth in florida.

At which time you will realize "mighty" is a highly inappropriate adjective.

stop in cleveland for a pitstop if you need one.

mazdeuce wrote: Sleepyhead on here has done One Lap more than I have and is another good source of information. Also don't be afraid to email Brock directly. He's friendly and helpful. He wants you to be safe and have fun. My thread from last year Mazdeuce Does One Lap Again! Transit Edition is more of a cautionary tale about how hard it is to find a co-driver that will 100% be there when they say they will. If things go pear shaped you might have to fly in some Yahoo from Texas to 'help out' during the middle of the week. It worked amazing for me, but it made Sleepyhead's week more complicated than it needed to be.

you can also think of it as an example of 'real-time contingency planning' from the frame of a 'no quit attitude'. It's also a case study in how important communication between you and your co-driver is (there's a bit of that in Mazdeuce's first thread too). Make sure you're both on the same page about what your goals are, what you financial responsibilities are, and what lengths you're willing to go to if things go 'pop', 'crunch' or 'what the berk!?'. Best to have talked about that before you're at the side of the road at 3am.

Speaking of, make sure to get some sleep on Thursday. VA to MI looks like it's going to be heinous.

I look forward to meeting you klodkrawler05! Feel free to ask any question you might have.

mazdeuce wrote:

mndsm wrote: Oooh. I migjt have to finally meet the mighty Seth in florida.

At which time you will realize "mighty" is a highly inappropriate adjective.

illustrious? "mighty mazdeuce" has better alliteration to it

You're kidding, right? Toledo to Michigan can be heinous for Grips sake

mazdeuce wrote:

mndsm wrote: Oooh. I migjt have to finally meet the mighty Seth in florida.

At which time you will realize "mighty" is a highly inappropriate adjective.

Lol. We shall see.

QuasiMofo wrote:

You're kidding, right? Toledo to Michigan can be heinous for Grips sake

should be pretty clear by midnight, right? although that's an optimistic estimate that doesn't include the challenge of skirting DC during rush hour.

it should be interesting to see what alternative routes people choose to take that night.

Calendar marked for the CMP stop. I'll try to stop in and say hi.

Can't wait to read more! Getting me psyched about my run next year.

Offer from the other thread still stands. I'll make vinyls for the forum crew that runs one-lap, to designate the proper "Dork Lap of America" status, however you all agree on saying it.

In reply to hhaase:

We do still need to do stickers, and I'm tasking you with reminding us. If we do things like usual we'll be a week out amd will have forgotten, so seriously, remind us.

In reply to sleepyhead:

We have a loooooong transit. Compound that with the fact that we'll be close to the last ones at the track (something I'll go into more when we're at the event and I go over how the day works) and getting there will be a chore. As long as we only have one person at a time sleeping in the car we should be fine.

I like stickers. I need to acquire a sticker maker.

Hey, Mazdeuce. You still need stickers.

We should have you pretty well covered from Cleveland through Toledo/SE MI and up in to Michigan based on the map.

Do you guys need any crew? I can probably get the day off work and help out at Gingerman.

mazdeuce wrote:

dj06482 wrote: And here I was hoping you were running the minivan

I had been seriously considering it. I still am sort of, but not until it's had some significant mileage put on it. Can't just stop into Pep Boys and grab parts along the way.

Isn't that why it's big and van shaped? More room for spare parts when traveling on crazy adventures!

Mazduece and Sleepyhead! thanks for the words thus far.

Mazduece, I followed both of your one lap threads with great interest both years. My friends participated for their first time in an evo in 2015 and then again in 2016 (they've been chipping their way up the podium each year) and as a long time lurker on here it was fun to get multiple perspectives each year. I'll send you a PM, any m3 specific advice we can glean will be quite helpful!

Sleepy you already touched on it a bit but any other gotcha's throughout the week? We presently have no clue how we'll tackle Dominion to Gingerman yet. We are counting on our saving grace being the countless hours of seat time we both have at Gingerman so at least we don't have the mental task of learning a new track on top of no sleep. Since Dominion has a 3rd TT instead of the usual 2, I assume that means we're getting on the road even later than normal.

Going by the posted times they'll be running both the 2nd road course trial and the oval trial at Dominion at the same time. 2nd road trial starts at 12:30, Oval starts at 1pm. And only a 4/10th oval. You won't be on it too long.