rotoober

iTrader: (3)

What is your run times? I may swing buy Saturday after putting on a metal roof.

phoenix7

It's almost time. Any last minute preparations?

tigermack

iTrader: (5)

Get enough sleep.

phoenix7

+1.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

we'll be there, everyone else is there both days, i'm gonna be late, as usual =)

if tommy's bringing the car its a black midnight performance integra

Beast From The East

I wasn't able to catch up with this thread since last Thursday with all the prep work around getting the car ready. It was an odessey, let me tell you - Ground Control rebuilt my two front shocks in 1.5 hours at 2:30 pm on Friday to get me ready. I got hit by an instructor's car in the PADDOCK 20 minutes before my first run. The car ran pig rich and was spitting and bucking as we tuned on the track (I have full logging and wide band onboard).

But.....I HAD A GREAT <insert explicative> TIME! My best run was a 2:23 when I was chasing my instructor in his car, with lots of traffic to contend with and passing only allowed on the straights...I guess that's pretty good considering this was my first time on any road track, on 3 year old front tires, without my damn shock instructions and no pyrometer to monitor tires. I'll update with more info later on, including a pic that shows I was about one hands breadth away from getting ejected from NASA for 5 years. I definitely got over my head, very bad considering the other newbies out there were not prepared for someone driving at such a speed differential. The car is an absolute rocket.

I'm hooked - can't wait to get back out there. I did get signed off for group 2, but I definitely need to slow down and concentrate on getting the line better, esp. out of turn 11 and into 12 and 12a., and through 14/15 to the straightaway. I'm driving around the esses instead of through them, but did get the trick to carry 4th gear through turn 8 and got real comfortable on turn 5 and 9 (the blind uphill dropoffs). My master cylinder also began to go out (it has 125k on it), so I was not able to do as much deep braking as I would have liked...ended up using engine braking and lots of throttle induced steering to compensate. There was so much slow traffic I spent a lot of time cruising in third gear, and found it's very very hard to drive the line at slow speeds. I also was amazed at how easy it was to go into a zone and completely lose all focus on the corner workers and flags.....I now understand how it was that guy lost it in the GT500...thank god the instructor helped get me focused on them.

I did see the Midnight Performance Integra but didn't get to the thread to realize that was where you were. No one came up to chat from the Forum so I guess I missed everyone.

Pics and stories to come.......

Gadd

HOD seat time...

28 March THill

15 April Laguna Seca

http://www.hookedondriving.com/home.cfm

Still want a ride in your car.


Paul

Silkworm

2:23 is a great time for your first time! Yes, it is absolutely easy to get get tunnel vision and focus only on the line and forget everything around you! Good you saw that!

Sorry I couldn't make the weekend, my daily driver's been acting up and I used what prep time I had to wrench on it instead of the 7.. I'll be there at Sears in April.

Want Pics!!!

PaulC

Beast From The East

I bought the CD that the Head On photo group there does. I put it to a pdf slide show with Red Barchetta background music, but it's a whopping 133MB and I've no where to host it. The individual photos are very good quality resolution, about 5mb each. What's the best place to host stuff like this nowadays?

Beast From The East

Nothing fancy.....

http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/g...view=slideshow

Gadd

Whoo Hoo.

Nice Shots............................................. ......

Beast From The East

Notice the parade of cars to the right side? I was chasing my instructor's car and we did a deep pass of over 7 cars, and at the end of the straight they were bunched together too closely and going very very slow (due to it being HPDE 1 and 2) for me to nose in going at the speed I was going, which was waaaay too fast. The parade was turning in on the line and I'm too inside going 90 mph. If I take the line they turn in to me, and if I early apex I t-bone someone.

I tried to eat the elephant in one bite and damn near choked. It was a bad pass and I should have not followed my instructor on it. I should have just taken the last three cars and then took the rest in the straight leading to turn 14. The line of cars to the right almost stopped on the track because they were startled by my instructor's car zipping in front of them. If it had been group 3 we'd have been better off, because the other drivers would have been moving faster and it would have been easier for me to merge into the parade.

The girl in the #13 car was pretty gracious about the whole thing - she complimented me on my driving, but also noted that if she had not heard my tires squeling and moved over to give me an alley, I'd have hit her, no doubt.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

Whoa. I'm glad that kind of thing doesn't happen in the HPDE's I've attended. One wave, one pass. No passing without a point-by.

Dave

wrankin

+100% agreed. Open passing with (no offense) a novice group on the track is a big invitation for major driver injury, especially since most people out there are probably running stock restraints and no bar or cage.

It also strikes me as very odd that your instructor did a "chase me" instead of being in the car with you. Not real safe, IMHO.

I'm glad you have fun. Realize other HPDE's are run a little tighter than this one.

-bill

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Yep. If that happened in the Novice groups around here, that would have ended that driver's session.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

yeah you looked like you did ok, and 2.23's arent bad for a first time out, actually thats even fast for group 1-2, usually theres plenty of traffic

yeah, i would have come by, but we just dont get out much

justint5387

iTrader: (1)

You going to Infineon on 4/12? I will be there.

Beast From The East

I will unfortunately not be able to attend Infineon, as much as I would like to. Things recently took a turn for the weird at work and my employment is surrounded in uncertainty. I need to get fiscally conservative until things sort themselves out.

My father in AZ says that the HPDE 1 events down there are point-by only, while up here they are only recommended. In retrospect that would be the better way to go to keep hotshots like me from screwing up.

My second day instructor did a different method, where he stayed in the car with me for three sessions and on the last session we set up a plan for him to follow me for three laps in his Mini, then he'd take the lead for the final laps to allow me to follow him to correct any mistakes he had observed while following me. After three laps I pointed him by, but he only took one lap then pointed me by to take over for the rest of the session - I really had driven a good line and maintained proper track presence. He said I'm probably ready for group 3 but recommended I do another group 2 to settle in, and that is my plan. I just need to have Mazdacomp allow me to start purchasing parts again (I sent them the results and pics from this session), so I can get a new master cylinder. I also believe I will eliminate my power steering, as the steering is just too 'numb' and twitchy over 100mph on the straights. That will also remove about 30 lbs from the front :-) This winter the car's going to get gutted, I think, with cage, seat, and proper harness for competition. It all depends on work. If my job disappears then all fun must be put aside to get cash flowing again.

I am proud of 2:23, considering I was only allowed passing on the front straight, betwen turn 6 and 8, 9 to 10, and the back straight. If I could have taken some of the cars leading up to turn 9 (I've got plenty of juice to pass on the uphill, and was carrying 4th gear through turn 8), inside on 4 up to 5 and on turn 2 I that could have been a good 10 seconds faster. Put on some R compounds and get my shocks dialed in....man o man, the fun to be had!

wrankin

Point by's are also good for making sure all the drivers are in a good frame of mind while they're out there, especially when you have a mix of high and low horsepower cars. If you are in, say, an FD and some guy in a Mini is constantly on your butt in every turn, then you need to let him by because he is the faster car. Give him a point by on one the straights, you lift (because he's never gonna get past you otherwise) and then follow them and see what they're doing that's making them faster.

As you get more experienced, your track awareness will get better and explicit points are less needed (although it's still a good idea to give them). This is not a race, it's practice, and good communication with the other drivers is one thing you should try to practice.

As far as the PS goes, I would definitely first check all your bushings, rod ends, and definitely your alignment before considering going to a manual rack. The PS on the FD is pretty good. Feeling vague or floaty at high speed is probably an issue with alignment rather than the rack itself. At least that's my experience when I had pretty much the same issue on the back straight at VIR. Turns out that a big of toe had crept in and the rear thrust angle was a hair off. A good alignment fixed everything right up.

Good luck,

-bill

Gadd

I've driven in many NASA events, and it is a very well run organization, but there program is oriented toward racing and they make no bones about it. Passing zones are liberal, point "bye's" are not mandatory and if you have a high horse power car that's being chased down by a Miata in the twistys your are under no obligation to lift for them on the straights . But, they do make this very clear to the drivers and are very strict about when you're moved up to a faster group. My only objection is they do tend to mix 1 and 2 drivers and the 1s don't have the situational awareness necessary to handle the traffic.

Paul

wrankin

If they are going to orient it towards racing, and treat it like racing, then they should darn well require minimal racing safety equipment (cage, harnesses, fire ext, ect.).

It's all gonna be fun and games until a driver gets killed because they are in a stock car with stock restraints and get punted off the course by someone who tried to force a pass. Then that's it. Game over. Guy goes out for a fun weekend at the track and comes home in a bag.

-bill

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

I agree with you Bill. While I've never been to a NASA HPDE to speak with certainty, that's a very liberal policy for new drivers in street cars.

I'm glad I know about this, so if I attend a NASA HPDE in my area I can ask about that policy. While it's nice to get more chances to pass, I do not want someone else going deep and forcing me off the track.

Dave

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

i hear you on the job thing....

but the fun part, laptimes! imo you've got enough stuff on the car, that you should be able to work 10-15 seconds off your laptimes.

driver comfort should be #1, if you're not happy in the car, you wont be fast. i agree you should do at least another weekend in group 1-2, spend it making sure you're happy with the car.

you actually have all the hardware to go fast, i dont see a need to do more than play with tire pressure/alignment/shock settings...

Beast From The East

Bill - in the second day I had no problem pointing lower horsepower cars by - in fact, I caught up on the front straight to that girl I almost "met" in turn 10 on the second day and was happy to follow her because she was driving the line perfectly all the way through turn 5 (she then pointed me by). I was amazed at how not driving the line raised my tire pressure by almost 4 lbs front and rear when driving at slower speeds. I pointed many cars by on the second day trying to follow drivers who looked like they were going throught the corners better than me. I didn't really lift as much as just didn't go for it out of the turns, and they went by no problem. There was a guy in a silver Evo who was probably a better driver than me or at least knew the track better than I did, and I stayed ahead of him all of day 1 but let him by on day 2 and I followed him for a while.

As far as the PS goes, my tie rods are new, my bushings have all been replaced by Mazdacomp bushings (every bushing, including the pillowballs), I have the Widefoot front swaybar mounts, Delrin for the diff bushings and the diff reinforcement brace. I'd just had it aligned to the West Penn settings but we started to increase the camber a bit to take care of the front end push and also took out the 1/16th toe in to neutral. In the end, I think it's the old front tires that are a big part of the issue - I have new T1-S's on the back, but the fronts are much older and even are getting some dry checking on the edges. That's probably the biggest culprit to my current front end push. A fresh set of RA1s might change my mind, but at 120mph on the front straight the steering just feels light. One thing I had not considered but probably should was pointed out by you and Howard in another thread, and that is aero.....some front canards and a GTC wing on the back might also help. Ah, the joys of building a race car. I've got some time to marinate on the decision since my work situation continues to lack clarity.

The biggest thing I didn't realize was just how brutally fast this car is compared to what else is being used by the rest of group 1 and 2. There were two Porsche 911 turbos that could hang with me (actually, one of them passed me on the straight on the first day, the only car to do so - pretty good driver, he carried great speed through 14/15), but something on his car broke in the third session and he was done for the weekend. The other one was a very novice driver who was not yet able to get the car going. Getting this car in a situation where all it's potential can be used is just.....liberating, really.

Was also surprised at how well the car handled heat - never got about 95C. I've read how difficult it can be for folks with the stock front bumper, but I didn't have any issues. That's the benefit of the single turbo, I guess. I also wasn't really pushing it full out all the time, and it was still cool. I can just imaging what T-hill is like on a nice August day around 3pm, with ambient track temps around 125F......I'm sure under those conditions in a Group 4 race group I'll begin to experience those same issues.

SHPNOUT

iTrader: (3)

Digging up from the dead..... not sure how I got here.... but here I am..... those were THE days.....Car is now for sale https://www.ebay.com/itm/166199544813