Sadly, two weeks ago we had the final MM&FF track day at Englishtown's Raceway Park. It was cold! Many of the staffers braved the cold weather with cameras in hand as well as helmets, gloves, and hats. Ken Miele of the Yo, Ken! column had the mag's latest project car on track, the budget-oriented Silver Stealth Stang. We were also messing around with the Sorby brother's '06 Saleen, which has a Hellion turbo kit on board. We had a set of Nitto's super-cool 20-inch 555R drag radials, tying to find the sweet spot with those gummy tires. Keep an eye out for a Web Exclusive! story on the big tires. Our buddy Anthony Briante also brought down a BMW M6 with a Dinan stroker engine, it ran 12.40s at 118 mph. I was impressed since it was a 4,300 pound ride. It also sounded totally awesome.
And then before we knew it, the sun was going down and we had to shutdown our dragstrip fun. That was it, the drag racing season was over at Englishtown. As we loaded up the trailers and devised a dinner plan, Anthony Briante offered some solace to our cold-weather despair. He suggested NY Grand Prix in Mt. Kisco, NY. The indoor go-kart track is only minutes away from me and only a half-hour from MM&FF Command Central. If you live in the NY area, this is one place you definitely need to checkout. Briante has been running a weekly points program, where they have two groups based on experience.
The league does some neat things in order to mix up the point's race. Briante was telling us that he had just raced in a rain race. Rain? Indoors? I had to know more. He said that the idea was born out of a 6-hour Enduro that was run a few months ago. Apparently the biggest obstacle to doing such a long race were tire changes. The solution to keeping the same set of tires on the karts for the duration was to wet the track down to cool off the hides. It worked and it got race officials thinking, what about doing heats with a wet track.? They introduced the idea one race night and it got crazy. The fields of racers loved it and the water added a dynamic that changed the way things were run. Briante told us that lap times fell off, they had to find new lines through curves and then adapt as the race wore on because the course would start drying off. By the end of the race, the lap times dropped dramatically and there was a new strategy each time around the course.
He went to say that the officials also do a long lap, by combining the two tracks. Once a month, they open up a section that links to two and it is a long lap that lasts more than a minute (normal times are in the 28-32 second range for each track).
I have run the track a few times and it was a blast. This winter season will definitely be filled with NY Grand Prix racing. Unfortunately my intense travel schedule with the magazine prevents me from joining a league. I will, however, be ripping up the track nearly weekly. If you are in the area, come on down! I will be the one knocking into everyone and sitting at the bar after I get kicked off the track.