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Optima Search For The Ultimate Street Car @ NCM

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j3st3r

Brian S.
604
376
Tennessee
My first OPTIMA's Search for the Ultimate Street Car Rd#3 is in the books!

So how did we do...

Day 1:
So I was classed in the GT group, 31 competitors...and I do mean competitors.

AutoX was first up, and have to say BRAVO Mr. Brian Mason You somehow designed a course that seemed to completely level the playing field. It seemed no matter how many different things I tried my times were exactly the same....definition of idiot right?! Well after talking to others this seemed to be a common theme.

Finally put a run together and held onto my position

AutoX - 5th Place

End of day 2 was the Road Rally...figured just another cool big group cruise to check point and back....but I was wrong. I volunteered to take a passenger...Mr Jim Mamonis Jr.....AWESOME dude! We started talking and never stopped, I swear it was like we had been best friends since child hood.

Day 2:
Alright...not going to lie I was excited for day 2....we get to play on the big track

First up was the speed stop challenge....ok this was WAY more challenging than I thought it was going to be. Pretty fun event...but boy will it frustrate the hell out of you

Speed Stop Challenge - 7th Place

Now time for the track portion. I was placed in the intermediate group as I did not have a 5 point harness in the car. So...I forgot all about the first session setting the grid spot for the next session...so my plan of coming to staging late and running from the back to get some open track...totally back fired. As soon as I went out...car spins in 10, and black flag. We go green and NO bueno not a good lap, but somehow its good enough for 5th grid spot.

Each session I was bringing the lap times down...but Brian Shelley was at the top of the GT lap times...and I wanted to catch him. I saw he had put down a 2.18, and that was my focus. 3rd session out, I was on a flier, predictive of a 2.17....and then YELLOW FLAG at turn 18 a car had spun in the sink hole. So I jerked the car into the pits..there were some 4 letter words, and yes the GoPro did pick these up (Will post that video soon)

Finally 4th session clicked off the 2.18, and happily I watched Shelley's last session as he clicked off.....2.17 Have to say great job by the Brians

Track Hot Laps - 3rd Place

D&E(Design & Engineering).....D&E I knew coming in, I had no chance at any points for this, I was really torn on this as I was really proud and happy with the performance of my stock car against some of the other setups that were out there. I tried to spin it that way in my presentation, but at the end of the day...its a stock car so D&E was not good

D&E - 19th in class....and um 71st overall...I think I might have gotten beat by a car that did not even make the event LOL!

So overall ended 10th in a very competitive GT class.

I think the best part about this event, was similar to other events that I enjoy and that was the people. Got to finally meet face to face some of the "FB only" type friends, and all of them are great people. was fun to hang out, and share the passion and fun with everyone.

Next up is Road America, and then Nola

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ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
8,730
2,734
Arizona, USA
Not bad dude! Sounds like a damn good time for your first outing! Also you should have mentioned that a team of over 600 professionals designed and engineered your 350 ;)
 

j3st3r

Brian S.
604
376
Tennessee
Not bad dude! Sounds like a damn good time for your first outing! Also you should have mentioned that a team of over 600 professionals designed and engineered your 350 ;)
I did try and do that :) My speech was that, I collaborated with Ford on my GT350.....meaning I went into the dealer, negotiated a price and drove it home. I also agreed with the Design & Engineering that Ford had done so I did not feel the need to change anything!

I honestly felt pretty damn good considering my car is bone stock, and most all were not. DE and absolutely crushed my overall score and any chances of making the top. I was right there on the driving stuff though
 

ChrisM

Mostly harmless.
1,180
1,419
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
South Carolina
I love Optima. You have fun no matter what and the way it's set up, it kind of makes you feel like a big star...even if you're not. Everybody was so friendly when I went. Glad you had a good time and thanks for sharing!
 
Not bad for your first try. I'm sure some of our vendors can help with the D&E part. At least you were one of the fastest on the hot laps.
 

TMSBOSS

Spending my pension on car parts and track fees.
7,530
5,247
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Illinois
What is the purpose for the D&E competition? Does this reward the owner that sunk a bunch of money into a car and still can't perform? After all if the Design and Engineering efforts worked out well, they would win other classes.
 

ChrisM

Mostly harmless.
1,180
1,419
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
South Carolina
What is the purpose for the D&E competition? Does this reward the owner that sunk a bunch of money into a car and still can't perform? After all if the Design and Engineering efforts worked out well, they would win other classes.

It can help ordinary people like me who's cars can't keep up with the faster cars because of the pace of technology. It's actually a decent leveler to keep older cars on par with newer cars in the competition. Yeah, like most competitions, it can just turn into who's got the deepest pockets, but I felt pretty good when my car beat out stock newer cars in D&E because of my mods. Like I said before, it makes everyone feel like they're important.
 

j3st3r

Brian S.
604
376
Tennessee
It was all fun, obviously the track section was where I was most excited, the 2 cars that were ahead of me were the 900hp modded ZL1, and the 847hp full custom Chicane mustang. I was happy in my stock tree fiddy!
 

Boone

Professional Thread Killer
OUSC will tell you that D&E is to keep pure race cars off the grid. To some degree it does. Bear in mind, the OUSC Invitational is run in conjunction with SEMA. If you're not modding your car, you're not spending money with the aftermarket companies, thus you are not helping the "cause."

The driving job that Jester did to keep up with the modified cars is nothing short of amazing. The top of OUSC is riddled with $100K + cars. The same way he revels in beating more expensive modified cars, I love trying to keep up with cars nearly 15 years newer and engineered by 600 people. It makes me feel like the king of the mountain when they have to take their hands off their $60K steering wheel to point me by.

I have a lot of love for the GT350, and I appreciate what Chevrolet has done for FoMoCo. The competition with the Camaro has forced Ford to produce better and better cars. The best of these is the GT350... at least until the ZL1 1LE hunting GT500 comes out next year.
 

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