MassTuning at Palmer, MA on 8/16/26

[11Budlite]

I'll be at Palmer on Sunday 8/16 driving my Caterham. Our friend Tom will be there with his Van Dieman sports racer which is finally sorted and really quick. I can take passengers in the Caterham in case anyone wants to get a taste of the track. You just have to sign a waiver and have a helmet.  Palmer is a really fun track with 14 corners and a lot of elevation change. Hope to see some other Sevens there!

[11Budlite]

Had a really fun time at Palmer this past weekend. Camped out Saturday night and was up bright and early with our little group of drivers to get ready for Sunday's event. There are five in our little group, including my son Matt who drives a turbo Exocet, our friend Tom who drives a Van Dieman GSXR 1000 Sports Racer, and daughter Lauren and S-I-L Andy who share a Honda K-powered Subaru BRZ. It was a nice surprise when @BlakeJ texted me and said he was going to do the Sunday event as well. 

 

My daughter had a hard crash in their original BRZ at Club Motorsports in June when her enthusiasm and NFS exceeded her skill and experience level. That was a very hard lesson for her, especially since they had just spent 6 months building it and had only done a couple track days since finishing it. But she responded in exactly the way I wanted her to. She couldn't wait to get back on track asap, and to start all over again focusing on the basics. But first we had to swap all the remaining good parts from the crashed car, plus a bunch of new parts, onto an even better condition BRZ with a blown motor. They had to spend almost all their free time as well as some help from the rest of us to get it done in time for yesterdays event. Thankfully it turned out even better than their first car, and they both had very successful and fun days.  

 

Blake got there Sunday morning and we had saved a spot for him and his trailer so he could hang out with us. This was Blake's first time at Palmer so I agreed to have him follow me in the first couple sessions to show him what I consider a decent line. It's always fun to be out on track with other Seven's and yesterday was no different. Had a lot of fun and I think for the whole day we only had to give one car a point-by. Since I knew Blake was quicker than me, on the 3rd session we agreed that I would point him by and then I would see how close I could stay with him. So much fun following another Seven and he even helped me refine my line going thru turns 11 & 12. Too bad no other Seven's showed up!

 

My son Matt is very quick in his Exocet and is always competitive with much faster cars even though the aero drag is even worse than a Caterham. He has the suspension dialed in well and is running 9psi on a FM turbo kit. If you're looking for a relatively cheap track car with all the aftermarket, engine options, and used part availability of a Miata, all at a considerable weight advantage to a stock Miata, an Exocet could be a nice option. I think his weighs around #1640 even with the beefed up cage.

 

Then there is Tom with his Van Dieman Sports Racer. Tom, Matt, and I picked it up in Green Bay last fall after seeing it advertised on ApexSpeed. It was originally a Pinto-powered Formula Continental but has gone thru two major revisions. More details here: https://www.apexspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?99945-Van-Diemen-P2-SOLD   It was basically a bunch of good parts assembled together on a modified VD chassis but required a thorough prep job before it could go on track. He's had to fix, adjust, modify, fabricate, and setup many different things but it's been a fun project for him. He was in the 56-57.xx range at LRP when he still didn't have the clutch working properly. But on the last two track days he seems to have everything working reliably, and has done a 1:11.xx at Thompson and a 1:38.xx at Palmer yesterday. Still room for improvement as he works to get it dialed in. I'm not sure how you could go faster for cheaper. It has around 185hp, weighs #850-860 on our scales, and he shifts the 6-speed at 12,500 rpm. Gets about the same gas mileage as my 1.6L Sigma-powered Caterham and sounds wild too! 

 

Anyway, here are some photos from yesterday at Palmer although the Exocet photo is from Club in June:

 

Edited August 17 by 11Budlite