Trackday at Mazda Raceway :Laguna Seca

New years eve I signed up to do a trackday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, which was hosted by NCRC (Northern California Racing Club). This was my first trackday I have ever done and I was excited and scared all at the same time; sure I have autocross, gone gokarting, drive spirited along many twisty mountain roads, and played GT5 (Grand Turismo 5) on my Playstation 3 religiously. But nothing really gives you that feeling of stepping foot on a famous race track where professional race car drivers have raced on and have crashed on.

I had the luxury of checking out the track prior to my trackday by attending the Global Tuner Grand Prix and what I have learned was that the "Cork Screw" is a 3 story drop. Playing GT5 you don't really notice its a 3 story drop, even looking at videos on youtube or even pictures really don't depict the awesomeness of this steep decent. Looking at this track in it's face seeing Porsche GT3 Cup cars with professional race car drivers crash in to the wall of the "Cork Screw" only made me more nervous.

On the map above the "Cork Screw" is turn 8. So Laguna is not a novice track, but once you know the lines and the markers to help you over comesome of the blind turns you're good to go.

This first video below is w/ my instructor. This video was captured on my 4th session. I highly recommend getting an instructor if it is your first time doing a track day or driving Laguna Seca for the first time.


This second video is w/o the instructor.



I must thank Mike at DSS (Diamond Star Speicalist) www.diamondstarspecialties.com for tuning my car. His tune was very smooth, no rough spots and improved the horsepower delivery on the car. If you need your car tuned he's the guy to ask, they take their time in making sure everything is running correctly and can tune according to the type of power delivery you want.

I must also thank Flowmaster for their new Hushpower DBX, this muffler was great it keeps the car pretty quiet, yet flows quiet well. If you have a droning problem in your car or if you have strict sound regulations then this muffler is for you. At Laguna Seca they have a sound restriction of 92dbs and this Hushpower muffler made it worry free of any black flags.

And last ATP turbo, who was kind enough to let me try out their O2 housing down pipe. This is a nice piece and is upgradable to use an external waste gate.

Some pics taken at Laguna Seca.