Another Memorial Day weekend brings with it another TrackGuys Sebring Sensation at the historic Sebring International Raceway in Central Florida. While Editor Turner sips a beverage on the beach, all the cool kids are at Sebring for some open-track fun.
Truth be told, TrackGuys' owner/lead instructor Jeff Lacina says they continually try to get a different date, but the only other one available is in August, and there's no way you want to be open-tracking in Central Florida in August. It's hot in May, but it's sweltering in August. We'll take Memorial Day weekend over August any day.
TrackGuys arranges open-track events at several venues across the nation to make it possible for anyone to have an enjoyable day at the track, and learn something along the way.
"TrackGuys is serious about fun...but we are also serious about education," says the Track Guys website. The goal is to provide fun yet educational performance driving events, and each year the Sebring Sensation is exactly that.
Horse Sense: TrackGuys offers a number of events across the country. Hit up the interwebs at www.trackguys.com for the specifics.
Virginia Foster made her fourth...
Virginia Foster made her fourth trip to TrackGuys’ Sebring Sensation in her ’01 Cobra. Her ride features modest brake and performance upgrades, making for an ideal entry-level track car that does double-duty as Virginia’s street car. Her Cobra wears Steeda Autosport springs, Hawk brake pads, Kenny Brown Performance subframe connectors, a K&N filter, exhaust upgrades, and ’03 Cobra replica wheels (18x9-inch front, 18x10½-inch rear). Virginia started out in Group 1, but moved up to Group 2 this year. If she continues to attend, we’re sure she’ll be in Group 3 soon enough.
The most popular spot of the...
The most popular spot of the weekend was under Steeda Autosports’ easy-ups in front of the fan. As usual in late May in Central Florida, there was a 100-percent chance of hot. In between working on one of our project cars and servicing a couple of Steeda vehicles, Steeda’s Steve Chichisola and Matt Bouyea took a break and soaked up the hot breeze from the company fan. The order of the weekend was to stay hydrated and in the shade as much as possible.
The vehicle Steve and Matt...
The vehicle Steve and Matt were sweating over was Sharad Raldaris’ ’06 GT. To test budget improvements, the car was treated to Steeda springs and a performance alignment prior to the Sebring Sensation. Then between each session the car was upgraded with the next component to see how the car responded. It started out the weekend with the stock wheels and tires with the Steeda springs and performance alignment. By the time the weekend was up, it wore Steeda front and rear sway bars, lower control arms, and Nitto NT05 treads encompassing GT500 wheels from American Muscle. We learned a lot and we’ll share it with you in an upcoming issue.
One of the cars trying to...
One of the cars trying to wake the neighborhood was the New Edge V-6 car of Brent Nelson. The equivalent of a way-back machine, Brent’s New Edge wears ’03 Cobra body panels and wheels, but under the hood is a ’94 Cobra drivetrain. Brent put the car together just to have fun and wet his open-track feet. The event was Brent’s first foray into open track action, but every time we saw him he had a smile on his face, which is the idea of a TrackGuys event.
This future open-tracker was...
This future open-tracker was doing exactly what the rest of us wanted to do—take a nap. The headset obviously came in handy for the little guy to keep the sound of screamin’ V-8s from keeping him awake.
VMP Tuning was on hand to...
VMP Tuning was on hand to offer dyno time for those in attendance. VMP’s Justin Starkey had his own Shelby GT500 at the event, and wife Rebecca’s ’11 GT, which was a tad out of place since it’s mostly a drag car, running 9s like it’s on cruise control.
Each morning before the day’s...
Each morning before the day’s activities, TrackGuys holds a drivers meeting to go over different hand signals for all drivers, point out any changes in the course, and cover general rules of the event. Every driver from all four run groups must attend these meetings to catch up on any changes that take place from day to day, and to make participants aware of any changes to the day’s activities.
Ah, yes, looks like someone...
Ah, yes, looks like someone rented an open-track vehicle for the weekend. We’ve been there, done that, and have faded brakes to show for it. For such an event, it truly doesn’t matter what kind of vehicle you bring, you’re going to have fun…that’s guaranteed. We even saw a Mercury sedan making laps.
Don French came to Sebring...
Don French came to Sebring to have fun with his Shelby GT500, which benefits from JBA and Steeda Autosports exhaust improvements, along with a Steeda blower pulley and air intake additions. Thanks to the mild performance upgrades, Don’s Shelby rings in at 545 hp and 580 lb-ft of torque. Horsepower is great, but at Sebring, brakes reign supreme. Of course, Don’s Shelby comes with Brembos up front from the factory, but he’s improved braking performance with Hawk brake pads and stainless steel lines, as well. To improve the Shelby’s overall handling, he outfitted the car with Nitto NT05s on the stock wheels. 5.0