Kevin
10-06-2012, 12:23 PM
Those of us who have been around the zr-1 for some time will know the name Bill Cooper, those of us who are students of c4 history will know not only Bill's name but also Stu Hayner. I was fortunate enough to meet both of these corvette racing legends.
A bit of back story on how this happened. A friend of mine owns an LFA and lexus had rented Laguna Seca for some purpose, the rumor is that they were going to show off the prototype LFA's that have been pounding around the Ring but then decided to stuff them in storage. Either way they still had the track time so they decided to invite the owners out to Laguna and gave them the option of shipping their car out or using one of the corporate LFA's to go around in. My friend shipped her LFA out and she asked me to go along. What am I gona say, no?
We flew out wednesday for a cocktail party/dinner that lexus paid for where I met Scott Pruett, we chatted a bit about the track we'd be driving tomorrow and what a nice gentleman he is. Thursday was track day, my friend was so excited to see her baby that we got to the track before most of the lexus reps, however Scott beat us there and I think Stu did also.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x438/lt5zr180/leguna/P1013764.jpg
The morning consisted of my taking pictures, breakfast, "drivers meeting" and sight in laps for the owners. After that they put the owners in IS-F's and sent them around with pro drivers and instructors, I was told to hop in by one of the lexus reps and jumped in a car with a pro driver and an owner of an LFA, I was in the back. As the driver was taking us around, showing us the line, braking points, where to turn in for the corkscrew, ect, the driver was asked if he was an instructor at the track and he responded that no, he was in fact a racing driver and that he started in corvette challenge, I asked his name....I was ridding with Stu Hayner! my response was something along the lines of "HOLY **** YOU'RE STU HAYNER?!" I proceeded to tell him that I had a zr-1, knew Jim, watched him in corvette challenge ect. He then told me that Bill Cooper was there too. We pulled into the pits, and he motioned bill cooper over and introduced me, we exchanged pleasantries and continued with the day.
After lunch I made sure to find Bill and introduce myself properly and tell him how I knew Jim and we talked zr-1 racing for a while before my asking for a lap around the track with and he said sure, grab a helmet and lets go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6wSJHew574&feature=plcp
I was able to do about 10 laps of the track with a lexus rep in an IS-F and I ended the day going around the track with Stu in a yellow LFA. It was fantastic
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x438/lt5zr180/leguna/DSC_0236.jpg
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x438/lt5zr180/leguna/DSC_0004.jpg
thanks for reading
A bit of back story on how this happened. A friend of mine owns an LFA and lexus had rented Laguna Seca for some purpose, the rumor is that they were going to show off the prototype LFA's that have been pounding around the Ring but then decided to stuff them in storage. Either way they still had the track time so they decided to invite the owners out to Laguna and gave them the option of shipping their car out or using one of the corporate LFA's to go around in. My friend shipped her LFA out and she asked me to go along. What am I gona say, no?
We flew out wednesday for a cocktail party/dinner that lexus paid for where I met Scott Pruett, we chatted a bit about the track we'd be driving tomorrow and what a nice gentleman he is. Thursday was track day, my friend was so excited to see her baby that we got to the track before most of the lexus reps, however Scott beat us there and I think Stu did also.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x438/lt5zr180/leguna/P1013764.jpg
The morning consisted of my taking pictures, breakfast, "drivers meeting" and sight in laps for the owners. After that they put the owners in IS-F's and sent them around with pro drivers and instructors, I was told to hop in by one of the lexus reps and jumped in a car with a pro driver and an owner of an LFA, I was in the back. As the driver was taking us around, showing us the line, braking points, where to turn in for the corkscrew, ect, the driver was asked if he was an instructor at the track and he responded that no, he was in fact a racing driver and that he started in corvette challenge, I asked his name....I was ridding with Stu Hayner! my response was something along the lines of "HOLY **** YOU'RE STU HAYNER?!" I proceeded to tell him that I had a zr-1, knew Jim, watched him in corvette challenge ect. He then told me that Bill Cooper was there too. We pulled into the pits, and he motioned bill cooper over and introduced me, we exchanged pleasantries and continued with the day.
After lunch I made sure to find Bill and introduce myself properly and tell him how I knew Jim and we talked zr-1 racing for a while before my asking for a lap around the track with and he said sure, grab a helmet and lets go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6wSJHew574&feature=plcp
I was able to do about 10 laps of the track with a lexus rep in an IS-F and I ended the day going around the track with Stu in a yellow LFA. It was fantastic
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x438/lt5zr180/leguna/DSC_0236.jpg
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x438/lt5zr180/leguna/DSC_0004.jpg
thanks for reading