Trackday pics and vids

[EMWHYR0HEN]

I attended an open track event at the Streets of Wilow Springs last weekend (12-12-10)that was hosted by Speedtrialusa. I did my first event with them years ago and this will probably will be my last. I was hesitant to join the event but the weather forecast for that day was excellent with a high of 70 degrees with no wind. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to test out some new tools and do some tuning before the season was over. Thanks, Dave (Thehelix112) for coming out and taking tire temps and data for me!

 

Got there bright and early to get a prime spot for taking tire temps

 

I just got done extending the front spoiler by 2 inches. Fiberglass, Fun stuff...

 

All that hard work only to go off and ruin it first session...

 

Pics from the photogs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Videos:

 

Edited December 17, 2010 by EMWHYR0HEN

[cygnusx1]

Very nice pics!  Waiting for the vids!

[260DET]

Sharp!

[jt1]

Nothing like a good day at the track. Car looks nice, and looks like you were doing a good job driving.

 

Too bad about the air dam. Curb, or an off?

 

jt

[JMortensen]

If you still want a deep air dam and don't want to be fixing it all the time, you might try copying a Flex-Dam like I used to have. It's a regular height FG dam with a rubber skirt on the bottom. I found the rubber was flapping at about 80 mph so I went to plastic lawn edging from Home Depot, worked like a charm.

 

I do like the air dam though. First thing I thought when I saw the pictures was "where did he get that air dam?"

 

Here's a pic from the grid of an autocross. I don't know that I have a better one to show, but I'm sure you get the idea:

[EMWHYR0HEN]

I got some oversteer on that quick little chicane after the straight. I counterstreered and had an off. Removed my rearbar and never had an issue after that. I also broke a sensor,harness, scraped the oil pan and exhaust. Going off sucks!

[Supra510]

Car looks great. Nice to see it out on track.

[mark]

Great looking car. Looks like you had a blast. When you said this was your last event, did you mean with this group or for the season or for good?

[johnc]

Do you want any driving suggestions?

[PR280z]

Luv the spoiler! Nice Vid! By the way where can i find that door mirror,ZWEET!

[EMWHYR0HEN]

Great looking car. Looks like you had a blast. When you said this was your last event, did you mean with this group or for the season or for good?

 

Thanks Mark. Last trackday for good? Never! Probably my last event with the host though. They really make you feel like a suspect and they are the cops who got picked on in high school.

 

 

Do you want any driving suggestions?

 

Of course. That's probably the main reason why I wanted to take footage. I'm always game for some criticism.

 

Luv the spoiler! Nice Vid! By the way where can i find that door mirror,ZWEET!

 

I got the mirror on ebay. It's just a cheap CF universal mirror. I really don't know the name is sorry.

[johnc]

No criticism, just advice. Don't coast through the kink on the back straight at Streets. Get the braking done and drive through on the gas. In general get your braking done and then be back on the gas earlier then you're doing. You should be using the throttle to drive the car through the corners. Squeeze the throttle and give it a 3 count (say 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi out loud) and your should be foot to the floor at the last Mississippi, but NOT before. So its:

 

1. Brake hard and with determination.

2. Slowly trail off the brake as you turn in.

3. Pickup the gas and start your 3 count.

4. Apex the corner between the first Mississippi and when you say "Two".

5. Keep squeezing on the gas and exit the corner.

 

If the car steps out at turn in under braking, you broke too late or you held on to the brake pedal too long. Squeeze off the brake pedal.

If the car pushes on corner entry at turn in, you've carrier too much speed or popped off the brake pedal. Brake more and squeeze off the brake pedal.

If you can't pick up the gas before the apex then you've either apex'd too early or carrier too much speed into the corner, turn in later or brake more.

If the back of the car gently steps out as you pass the apex, stop squeezing on the throttle but don't lift, counter steer.

If the back of the car suddenly steps out as you pass the apex you've picked up the throttle too hard, squeeze.

If the car pushes out to the corner exit you've carrier too much speed, brake more.

If you have to pinch off the corner exit, you've apex'd too early, Turn in a 1/2 second later.

If you have room on corner exit you broke too much. Brake less.

If you just about drop two wheels off on corner exit (it scares you) then you've done the corner correctly.

[johnc]

Oh, and don't be afraid of going off the track. Its going to happen if you're trying to improve. Front spoilers are consumable items on a track car - get used to it and get used to lots of dirt in the interior from time-to-time.

[johnc]

BTW... since you have an in-car video camera you should be describing the car's behavior and what you're feeling out load while driving the track. That helps a bunch when you review the video and helps you remember what went on.

[EMWHYR0HEN]

Thanks for all the advise. That little chicane is probably the part where i'm most inconsistent. It's really hard to see the other side and it comes up quickly. I've tried just lightly braking before the kink and that's how I had an off. After I removed the rear bar but, I was too chicken to brake there again. Have you found it faster to brake hard then accelerate through, or just plow straight through and lightly let up on the gas?

 

 

Oh, and don't be afraid of going off the track. Its going to happen if you're trying to improve.

 

That's my understanding on the issue. Speedtrailusa seems to have a problem with people going off. Hell, they even black flagged me for dropping a wheel off in the dirt and when I had the car completely off I immediately got bitched at on the spot without giving myself time to think about what had happened. I can understand if one is being reckless But, I think I kept things within my limit. Speedventures is the way to go..

[JMortensen]

Of course. That's probably the main reason why I wanted to take footage. I'm always game for some criticism.

OK, I'll jump on John's bandwagon with the coasting, but I think you're doing it pretty much everywhere. There are very few places where you should be coasting or feathering the throttle. SOW has more of those places than most tracks, because it is such a tight track and has a lot of left/right transitions, but seems like you're still coasting a lot. It looked like you were using the gas as if you had really skinny tires on the car, not really giving it gas until the car was straight, then easing it on, and almost like you didn't want to give it gas in transitions at all. It was REALLY hard (for me anyway) to keep my foot in it until I had to switch to heavy braking, with no in between. If you're not already looking for braking markers on the side of the track start doing that, and then pick a safe one and start moving it closer and closer to the corner until you're getting the most out of it. Driving that way has a much higher pucker factor. I was still working on it when I tore my car down. Looks to me like you could go into turn 1 and 2 a lot harder.

Edited December 19, 2010 by JMortensen

[johnc]

Speedtrailusa seems to have a problem with people going off. Hell, they even black flagged me for dropping a wheel off in the dirt and when I had the car completely off I immediately got bitched at on the spot without giving myself time to think about what had happened. I can understand if one is being reckless But, I think I kept things within my limit. Speedventures is the way to go..

 

They have to do that for safety and insurance reasons. Don't take it personally. Once you run with them for a while (or with any other group) and they get to know you they will back off. Until then they consider every newbie a complete screw up. When I instructed for Aaron at Speedventures we were pretty hard on the newbies because our thinking was that if an inexperienced (new to the group) driver is already putting wheels off then its just a couple laps before they wreck.

 

Also, I noticed the hood pins on the front of your hood are back on the core support. If its a fiberglass or CF hood you should put hood pins up near the headlight buckets. Just make an angle bracket that bolts to one of the 6mm bolts that go into the headlight bucket. Over time any composite hood will fatigue and fail if its not supported father forward, especially at speeds over 120mph.