Poving Ground practice invite.

[Test Driver]

Hello all,

When I originally posted this last year, it might have been too early for most of you to consider. Now that cars are hitting the ground, maybe some of you might want to take advantage of this.

I'm trying to see if there would be interest from teams in attending an open track day at my work. We have a very large vehicle testing facility with several different type handling courses including wet handling courses. One of these is a flat 500'x900' asphalt surface (newly resurfaced) that we normally use with an autocross type course setup. It is actively wetted with ~.050" water from a supply that can run continuously. This would be particularly advantageous to teams that never/rarely get to practice in the wet.

This is not a competition by any means. We would not organize events or provide direction (beyond supervision to ensure safety) of what to do with your time here. You could use this for any number of things like sorting; suspension geometry, tire pressures, traction/launch control, driver visibility/safety issues, etc. Or, you could simply use this opportunity to get HOURS wet driving practice. Right now, we are open to suggestions.

At this point, the prospect is for a single day (still open on dates) and only on the above mentioned wet pad. If things go right though, this could possibly lead to multiple days and perhaps use of our wet/dry road course.

The only disadvantage is location. Our zip is 79735. The nearest town is Fort Stockton TX about 12 miles east of us. Not much to it but accommodations are plentiful and we can arrange for corporate rates.

Post any questions on this thread or if you'd prefer, contact me directly.

Ramon Mendoza
BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE North American Tire, LLC
Ride and Handling Group
Texas Proving Ground
432-336-4834

[Test Driver]

Hello all,

When I originally posted this last year, it might have been too early for most of you to consider. Now that cars are hitting the ground, maybe some of you might want to take advantage of this.

I'm trying to see if there would be interest from teams in attending an open track day at my work. We have a very large vehicle testing facility with several different type handling courses including wet handling courses. One of these is a flat 500'x900' asphalt surface (newly resurfaced) that we normally use with an autocross type course setup. It is actively wetted with ~.050" water from a supply that can run continuously. This would be particularly advantageous to teams that never/rarely get to practice in the wet.

This is not a competition by any means. We would not organize events or provide direction (beyond supervision to ensure safety) of what to do with your time here. You could use this for any number of things like sorting; suspension geometry, tire pressures, traction/launch control, driver visibility/safety issues, etc. Or, you could simply use this opportunity to get HOURS wet driving practice. Right now, we are open to suggestions.

At this point, the prospect is for a single day (still open on dates) and only on the above mentioned wet pad. If things go right though, this could possibly lead to multiple days and perhaps use of our wet/dry road course.

The only disadvantage is location. Our zip is 79735. The nearest town is Fort Stockton TX about 12 miles east of us. Not much to it but accommodations are plentiful and we can arrange for corporate rates.

Post any questions on this thread or if you'd prefer, contact me directly.

Ramon Mendoza
BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE North American Tire, LLC
Ride and Handling Group
Texas Proving Ground
432-336-4834

[Test Driver]

Update time.

There's been some private responses to our offer which are encouraging. Here is some more information.

The date is now set on Saturday the 24th of April. There will be an introductory tour for those who wish to arrive on Friday afternoon which we recommend. We will allow some running on the new surface while dry as requested by the attendees (super sticky skid pad?) then switch to wet. There is no limit to the time on course as long as it's one car at a time which you will have to work out. You can run your DAQ systems and map the course that is set up, but you will have to design your own. There are approximately 300 cones available for this task.

We have a corporate rate of $35 (single occupancy, will check on multiple) with the local Best Western. The motel is not very fancy but it's close and there is a passable breakfast included. With town being about 10 miles away, we do some barbequeing here at times so we have a couple of grills including a wood grill available (lots of mesquite everywhere as well) for you.

If there is a flood of positive responses, we might have to put a cap on the total body count so if you want to attend but have not contacted me yet, let me know as soon as possible.

Cheers.

[Test Driver]

Bump and reminder.

A little less than four weeks to go.

[Test Driver]

Hello all,

Our practice day is just over two weeks away and I thought to post this about accommodations. There is a local open road race (Big Bend Open Road Race, http://www.bborr.com) for the same weekend as our event and hotel rooms are more in demand during this weekend. If you're still thinking of coming, be sure to secure something as soon as possible. Here is a link to local inns; http://www.ci.fort-stockton.tx.us/arealodging.html

The hotel that we get our corporate discount with (BW Swiss Clock Inn) is now booked for the weekend around the 24th. However, there is always the possibility of cancellations. There are also some relatively close (for West Texans that is) towns to stay in like Alpine (about 50 miles south and where most of us evaluators live http://www.alpinetexas.com/html/lodging.html), Pecos (45 miles NW) and Monahans (48 miles NE).

The weather is nice now so if camping is an option, there are also some sites close by.

Cheers.

[Hsoj]

Ramon,

Josh here from UNM. Although strongly considered, there's really no feasible way we can make it over there on that weekend, or really before competition. On the 26th is our Design Review with the completed car and we will be spending the remainder of this month working towards that (testing, driving, paint/powdercoat, etc). Thank-you lots for the invitation, though. It would be fun to try to swing out there this summer, perhaps. Any chance in setting something up then?

[Test Driver]

Hello all,

I got word today from the last school that had expressed interest in coming, that they would not attend. Overall, only 6 schools showed interest with only 3 saying they would plan on making the trip. It seems the timing became an issue. Most people regretted not being able to come but said that it was just too difficult for them to finish the car in time to make the trip. It also was mentioned that it was difficult to budget some two to three days for our event right around FSAE crunch time.

Although we regret not being able to pull this event off, we understand what it's like with about a month to go till competition time. If we decide to try again sometime in the future, I'll post something on this site.

Good luck to everyone.