lap of road america

[grue]

had a great time! this car is amazing! stock brakes/fluid, 200 miles on the pirelli's. brakes quickly did get softer, but stayed there and no issues. i did not fully brake and a few times rode them to the point of smelling them (yuck!) but once i got my head around me, i didn't ride them anymore. also took it not higher than 125, then would lift and coast before getting on them. new fluid, proper pads and duct cooling and i should be able to stand on them!

my proudest thing is two times i was under 3 minutes. first when there was no traffic: 2:58. then two laps later 2:59, AND i had lifted as soon as i saw the checkered flag when i crested the hill (to begin my cool-down). so that could easily have been a 2:56 lap maybe a even a 2:55.

honestly though, lap times aren't too important, but after someone clocking me at like 3:37 a couple years ago i started to worry if i should even be out there.

oh, and my instructor cleared me for going solo from now on with this group! best instructors in the business i think - plug for midwest domestics/midwest f body(formerly).

[ame]

Sponsored

 

[Norm Peterson]

What would happen if you got over to the left a little earlier as you approach the 'Hawk' sign (~2:35 and 5:35)? Sort of carry the left-hand bend just a little further instead of straightening out right away to the inside of the approaching right (sorry, I'm not familiar with RA corner numbering). I'm thinking that you'd open up the righthander onto the main straight a bit (a few less degrees of corner "angle" away from straight).


Norm

 

[grue]

hi norm, thanks. this is a tricky set for me. the turn after the hawk sign is #14, the final before the front strait. important one to get right! and the ones leading up to it haha.

i'm nearly where the instructors i've ridden with want me to be (though they might not be so optimistic!!!). when i start my turn to the left around 2:30, i think i'm turning too early, not waiting until the end of the rumble strips (and putting my tires on it!), then cranking (my word choice) left toward the apex hard on the throttle, almost as hard as i can be (at least for my car and the previous '13 gt i had).

instructions from there are to track out onto the service road, then a bee-line to just about where i started my turn to the right in #14. this keeps me away from the hawk sign on the left.

i will say that as i've followed this line through there, i've noticeably, gained ground on the cars in front of me. then hard on the brakes, crank it to the right for #14 apex and on the throttle hard to track way out to the rumbles again.

it may be taught to me this way because the instructors have all been mustang drivers (and race in NASA) so "high HP rear-drive" cars. from what i've gleaned, i think the type of car you track with has a lot to do with line, not just braking points or on-the-gas points. it might also be due to the fact i'm not experienced yet.

in fact a lot of the turns they've talked me through have all be entering/turning a the end of the rumbles, then hard on the gas and powering through.

but i know what you're saying, it seems like you'd carry more speed and have a wider faster arc to follow. there's other parts of the track where they have me follow the straight line, and in traffic i've noticed i'm usually the only one following that line! after turn one for example is to put the bottom of the diamond on the briggs & stratton sign right over the middle of my car. they are big proponents of letting the track move beneath you.

there's a couple of pdf's on another forum turn-by-turn for road america and i think that's what the guys have been teaching me - or they are the guys who wrote it! if you google: road america turn by turn the wisconsin bmw group has two pdf results that come up.

anyway, i've been really fortunate to have outstanding and heavily qualified instructors!

 

[Norm Peterson]

There will be differences between a 'qualifying line' where it's all about the lap time and the line you'd use in a race where you need to be defending your position against comparable drivers in comparably quick cars. I suspect that a pure HPDE for its own sake would be more like qualifying, and HPDE as a step in the progression toward eventual W2W would be more like the latter. In a race if you run wider under the Hawk sign you risk getting beat into 14 on the inside, have to slow to suit the speed of the car inside you, and not be on the line you intended anyway.

I'll have to pull up those .pdf's and look a little earlier in your videos.


Edit - I see two distinct steering inputs going into 13, so the first one is probably too early as well as being too little. It's probably fallout from moderately enthusiastic street driving where you're intentionally not using every inch of pavement (and I haven't completely stopped doing the same thing on track either).


Norm

 

[Brent Dalton]

Congrats on getting a sub 3 lap time! More importantly, glad you got to spend some time on one of the best road courses in America in a great car.

 

[grue]

thanks! i know it's not that great of a time espeically in a car like this, but it's all about personal improvement so, i guess lap times are somewhat important! but overall, i'm just all agrin no matter how slow or fast i am. it's one of the few places i think i feel peace when walking under the trees trackside. haha it's a spiritual thing

i've been going there since the mid 80's when i got my driver's license. i "crewed" for a local person who raced with scca and still does - the oldest one! by "crewed" i mean, get water. move things from one place to another. hahaha. i took my crx si on track for touring. i was 5th in line behind vette's and porsches and at that time we did NOT follow much of a speed limit. i remember 110mph

i was MORE than intimidated the first time i did a track day with a car that had high speed potential. i wish i had done it sooner. it's fantastic!

Sponsored