First Time at NJMP Thunderbolt: 148,800 miles
I have a friend in New Jersey who started asking me about HPDEs and things a few months ago. We're internet friends (Bimmerfest E36 forum, hooray) and I told him to pick a NASA Northeast weekend and I'd come up to run NJMP with him. So, we settled on this past weekend and ran with NE at the Thunderbolt track, which is the longer and less technical of the two. Tyler brought his boyfriend Mike with him, and I brought someone new I've been seeing as well. They both did Hyperdrives on Saturday and Sunday. Tyler was in DE 1 and I elected to go out in DE 3, in order to focus on learning the car more and working on some track basics.
The track
Thunderbolt is kind of like Summit Point Main for length (2.x miles) and had a couple of spots that were far quicker than I imagined. I picked up on a lot of things pretty quickly and then spent the weekend honing the spots where I was slow.
![[Image: uCDyqZK.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/uCDyqZK.jpg)
We did not run the chicanes at T2 and T4 and were allowed to pass everywhere but "the octopus" which they considered T8 to T11. Elevation changes are fun - there's a spot at T3 where you crest a little hill and can't see the other side but
stay in it goddammit or the car gets a bit floaty. You end up cresting the hill at 100 mph with your foot in the carpet... fun stuff.
Oh, and I may have carried a bit too much speed through T3 on Sunday morning before the hill... tracked left to the curbing and uh, ran out of curbing. Dropped 1.5 tires off (left side), kept the pedal down and got back on track with no issue. But that was my "reel it in" moment where I realized I had to drive the thing home.
I had a hard time getting T10 figured out all weekend. The instructor in the classroom said he considered it kind of a throwaway turn, so I didn't feel that bad about it. But, once you're out of 10, you can put the hammer down and be flat from T11a all the way to the end of the front straight. It's a great feeling when you nail it.
The cars
My M3 did great. Needs rear balljoints/bushings and the octopus made that very apparent. Tires did well (year-old Star Specs) and managed most of a 25-minute session without getting too greasy. Used under a quart of oil over ~200 track miles which I think is fine. Still blows a chunk of smoke at startup and idles poorly on cold start, but runs like a top after that. I should change the oil and brake fluid before Hyperfest.
Tyler's got a 250k-mile 325is (E36) and it also did great. We rotated his tires front-to-back on Sunday morning as the fronts were starting to chunk a little. He had a blast, learned a lot and was advanced to HPDE 2 after Saturday's sessions, then solo'd after the second Sunday session.
Mike brought his 160k-mile E90 325i for the Hyperdrive... made it about 7 good laps and it started to overheat so he pulled in. Popped the hood and there was coolant everywhere. It looked (to me) like it overflowed out of the bleed screw. He's on the stock water pump, though, so we were hoping it wasn't that. I guess we'll find out, but it was OK after it cooled back down and he drove it home that evening.
Our little paddock spot:
![[Image: TZ0i9iR.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/TZ0i9iR.jpg)
The Northeast vs. Mid-Atlantic comparison
It's inevitable that you'll compare NE to MA when you spend ~8 years working and driving for one group, only to go spend a weekend with new folks and learn they do things differently.
First off, Hyperdrives with MA are a huge deal and we sell out much of the time. There were only five students on Saturday, and just Ben driving on Sunday. I was amazed. And, they do it as a lead-follow with no corner workers and no passing allowed. Fortunately, Ben was out as the first car both days (he drove the M3) so he got some good speed and was able to learn a few things. But if you're not the lead car, it seems like glorified lunch laps.
Ben in the M3, pre-Hyperdrive:
![[Image: HmSbdYz.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/HmSbdYz.jpg)
We had a mandatory "download" session after each DE 3 track session. Just a quick "how did things go" meeting. Helpful, nice, expected. What surprised me was the amount of discussion we had - even on Sunday - about how to properly pass people. I didn't think that was "a thing" once you were at the DE 3/4 level but perhaps I'm wrong, as I haven't been in that group for a while now.
No Corvette pain trains in NE, instead they're Porsche Pain Trains. We had 4 GT3's out with us alongside a Cayman and 911.
I've always thought DE 3 was the hardest group to drive in, because you get a lot of wet-behind-the-ears guys who are just out of DE 2, and then you get folks who have been there forever. This was no exception and the gap in skill was huuuuge. To everyone's credit, though, we did all work together to manage traffic and all turn some hot laps. Nobody hit anything and only had a few offs in our group all weekend, none of which were major.
We have a dedicated announcer, they do not. Consequently, their announcements are far more casual and easy to ignore/miss.
DE groups earn a black flag every time someone has to be towed in. No hot pulls. That was disappointing as it made one session about 6.5 minutes long as two racecars from the prior group had to be pulled in.
No pace car except for the races (and they use a Titan and Powerstroke Excursion...) so you just go out when Pit Out says so, and uh, green flag I guess. It was very unnerving.
A lot of these sound like minor gripes, because they are. I really did have a fun, fun time up there this weekend and I hope to make it back up to check out Lightning sometime this year. Everyone was very friendly (just with more guido accents) and it was pretty nice to drive and not work for once. Video to come tomorrow once I find my GoPro in my bag.
Paddock shot from the top of the tower - gorgeous weather:
![[Image: FJJNjPB.png]](http://i.imgur.com/FJJNjPB.png)
![[Image: bGzTBLZ.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/bGzTBLZ.jpg)
![[Image: l3CNWWH.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/l3CNWWH.jpg)
![[Image: QgB2xnx.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/QgB2xnx.jpg)
hock:
