GNO

I spotted a Silver Protege5 at MidAmerica Motorplex (MAM) last Saturday Night. Just wondering if it was anyone here. I didn't get to meet the owner or see it race.

It was my first time there and I had a blast. I won 5 out of my 6 races. Instead of just pulling into the staging lanes and having a track staff member pair the vehicles up, you have to pull up paired. In order to pair up, you guessed it, you have to issue or accept challenges. There is no tree and times are not issued either. A flagger drops his hands to initiate the race. Whomever, crosses the line first is the winner. Just like a real street race, but no pedistrians, cops, or cross traffic.

I rolled in with two friends, one in another GTP and the other in a WRX. Right when we got there, a Benz pulled up and challenged my buddy with the GTP. . . the rest of the night no one challenged us, so we had to issue a bunch of challenges. I tried challenging a C5 owner earlier in the night and was denied. There was another vette there, but it was a Z06. . . I didn't bother. One of the guys I beat earlier in the night challenged the C5 and won. The C5 owner wanted a rematch and ended up winning that time.

I'll probably be there on the 12th next, if anyone wants to join in on the fun. I doubt I'll bring the P5 though. Not until I can get it into the low 14s or high 13s. . . that'll be awhile.

Makaveli

Who did you beat and who did you lose to?

GNO

Keep in mind, I was in my GTP not my P5. Now that I think about it, I had 7 races, not 6.

I started the night beating my friend's WRX badly. He should've at least beat my off the line. . . didn't happen.

Next I raced my friend's GTP and beat him by 1 1/2 lengths, he had a bad launch. I have an LSD, so my launches are pretty nice. He has headers and was running race fuel with a smaller supercharger pulley. Plus he's about 80lbs (~36kg) lighter than me.

I beat a Yellow 5.0 (newer body) Mustang by about 2 lengths. He had headers, swapped gears, intake, mild head work, and wet NX 100 shot that wasn't working. It was his first time to race, so I'll chalk it up to inexperience. Scarey thought, N2O and a newbie. I BS'd with him for awhile and invited him to come along for my next trip to a real 1/4 track.

I beat a Black 4.6 Mustang Converitible by 3-4 lengths. He only had intake and exhaust.

I beat a Black GTP from the Omaha Grand Prix club by 1 length. He had similar mods as me, main difference was he had a smaller supercharger pulley and had a bigger downpipe vs. my ported supercharger and LSD.

Then I got spanked by a Yellow 5.0L Thunderbird. He had a cam, aluminum heads, roller rockers, bigger carb, headers, and exhaust. I took him off the line. After he shifted into 2nd he passed me and created a 2 length gap.

I raced my buddy's GTP again, this time margin of victory was only 1/2 a length. Close race the entire time.

I ended the night racing an El Camino. I felt bad for him. My launch was awesome, so I had a good look at him in my rear view mirror. Then he either screwed up his shift or needs some suspension work, becuase his car rocked forward and he looked like slowed down a lot before his shift. After his shift, he car rocked back again. I didn't find out what he had done, I was in a rush to leave and just wanted to get another race in before I left.

There were more imports than domestics. Only two fast ones that I saw, an Eclipse and a spraying Acura TL. Hard to tell, but I'd guess they were high-11s. At least 4 WRXs. An RSX. I didn't challenge any becuase I don't know enough about their cars. I didn't want to race anything I knew I'd blow away, but didn't want to get blown away either.

Next time I go, I'll be pushing about 14psi instead of 10. I just hope others challenge me.

GNO

Oh, I forgot to mention that after you run the straight, you have to go through the rest of the road course in order to return to the pits. Pretty cool, but there's a 45 mph speed limit. Even at only 45, It'd still be a lot of fun in the Protege.

shackmgr6073

Dude, that place is fun as hell in the Protege. When I took my Pro out there I beat a couple of Civics and then when I pulled up to race my buddy in his Neon, they made my buddy get out of line and in pulled a SpecV focus. I thought I might have a chance until we punched it and I heard his turbo. He was also spraying. I got beat by about 5 lengths. I was pissed and tried to pass him on the road course (was going over 70, sliding in one corner) They got pissed and chewed us both out for not following the speed limit.

redrims

Damn! Sounds like fun. To bad we don't have one of those here.

shackmgr6073

It's a blast. One of the guys that helps out there works for me, so I gotts connections. It would be hella fun to have a meet there sometime. On Saturday nights there are a lot of cars out there. (In the hundreds)