Back in January, My oldest son Greg asked me to come out from Connecticut to California to drive a track day with him. I quickly accepted. On Friday, March 30th we co-drove his 2012 Boss 302 at the Laguna Seca circuit near Monterey.
I flew out of JFK on Thursday morning, arriving San Francisco early afternoon. He picked me up with the car all track prepped and ready to go. Warm sunshine and lots of greenery were a treat to see after the snow and fog of CT.
A short drive southwest of the airport toward Monterey put us on Skyline Drive, which is a scenic drive which winds its way along the top ridge of the Santa Cruz mountain range. Greg had selected this route to allow me to drive the Boss for the first time and get an overall sense of the car before hitting the circuit early the next morning. The road is loaded with lots of tight, cambered corners and lots of elevation changes, and simply a riot to drive. The smell of the eucalyptus growing on that ridge was very pleasant and wafted through the car as we motored along. I know of no road quite like it back east for its engagement of both the driver and passenger.
We stopped for dinner at a brewpub in Santa Cruz, walked around the town a bit and caught up with each other's goings on. Later, after rush hour traffic had let up, a short drive on straight, less adventurous roads got us to Monterey for the night.
The Laguna Seca circuit is located 15 minutes from Monterey, and positioned in a large bowl perched upon the top of a huge hill. It is a fairly technical track with lots of highly cambered corners and elevation changes that mimic the corners we drove on Skyline drive to a degree. The camber adds a lot of grip, and I'm sure the lateral load was approaching 1.2 G's in several of the turns. It is a really engaging, fun circuit.
We ran in two run groups which allowed us about 20 minutes between each of our sessions , which made the turnover of the car easier than if they were back to back. I rode with Greg on his first outing to have him show me the circuit, flag stations an various favored lines through the corners. He has driven Laguna Seca 5 or 6 times before, but this was the first time out with the Boss on this circuit for him as well.
The car ran like stink, and we had zero issues with brakes, tires, handling and overall balance. He had the car dialed in really well, having made a tire and brake pad change since his last outing with the Boss at Sonoma. Aside from messing with tire pressures, all we had to do was figure out how to drive smarter, quicker and drop our lap times. My inner car nerd was dialed up to 11. Fabulous stuff.
Greg's girlfriend MacKenzie joined us Friday afternoon and took a later session riding with Greg.
Greg and I "played well with others" while out on the circuit - it is a drivers event and not a race- and were then invited to drive the last bonus sessions of the day. We each got a total of just about 2 hrs of track time each.
The three of us had dinner in Monterey Friday night. Before dinner we wandered about downtown Monterey,and several shops had some nice watches on display in the windows... but I took a pass on stopping in to check them out. We had a really fine dinner at the Flying Fish, and enjoyed the generous pours of wine that they served. Saturday, we had breakfast at a cool local restaurant which appears to double as a car club/ biker joint hangout in Monterey. Following that, A drive back to SFO, taking Route 17 for a portion made that ride entertaining. I caught my late morning flight, and was back home in CT late Saturday night.
Attached is a photo of Greg and I taken Saturday morning at the dunes near Monterey.
I also found a second photo taken in July of 2000 when Greg had just turned 18 and attending his first track day with me at Watkins Glen. Greg was driving the M635 CSi, and my old racing buddy Doug Winner ( how appropriate) and I co-drove the '65 Mustang on what was its first outing since restoration.
The watches worn for this? I had my dad's 145.022 69 ST "Speedy" on my wrist, and Greg was sporting his "rough duty" Seiko 7002 SuperMod diver.
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