OP
OP
PaddyPrix
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2019
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- 13
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- 669
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- Location
- San Diego
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- www.youtube.com
- First Name
- Patrick
- Vehicle(s)
- 07 335is, 08 LR2, 13 Tahoe, 18 Mustang GT x2
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- 2
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- #91
So, took another pass at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, after I was struck with bad luck and taking things somewhat carefully as I was shaking things down. I took the Friday off of work, and shared the track with 4-5 other people, plenty of time to start playing with the CW13 format in this car, working on the turn-in, turn-out, early and late apex, and getting some repetition in without traffic. Also, not trying to brag, but gosh darn, I'm totally in love with the sounds this f'n thing makes on a cold start.
I'd love to mention the times, but I honestly don't know them, some combination of poor GPS and cell coverage, combined with putting the phone in my pocket, which would often move Track Addict over to segment mode instead of track mode, which would then not have lap times at all :(
Gentle reminder that you should always double check your stuff, and use something like a chalk pen to line things up, that way you can quickly pop your head under, look to see everything lined up, and continue on your way. Those astute will notice there is something decently important that I didn't chalk up, and if you'll notice, uh, it somewhat backfired, or disconnected on me. I'd guess if you're a Bronco Bro and crawling over rocks, you might disconnect it, but you're doing what, 5-10mph? Not the same when you're going slightly faster.
But yeah, not having a front swaybar on the track is very highly discouraged. Got to know Tom and the crew at 7's Only, took it over and spent some time with it up in the air, checking specs, tolerances, caster, camber, and toe, and all of them were alright and within spec, so good to have another set of eyes on it, better self-assurance that it's not going to explode randomly.
Saturday came around, and it was a hot one, even 8am in the morning. While most major racing circuits are running up North, we generally take a summer break, for those of you not familiar with Southern California, at places like Auto Club and Buttonwillow, it's 105, and 120+ at the deserts containing Chuckwalla and Willow Springs. In fact, if you leave Willow Springs and head north, your next city is named Mojave, perhaps you've heard of it
From the others I was talking to, they were complaining early, saying they were 3-5 seconds slower than they usually were, which taking the times that I was running and taking 3-5 seconds off of that, put me in a nice acceptable area, and if further discounting 1-2 seconds because I was running nearly bald Nitto NT01's and not something sticky like a competition Slick or Hoosier, it'd be real impressive. Perhaps not their best day, but when was the last time you got a point-by from a McLaren 720s. I was setting up for the inside-pass and ready to intercept the racing line in Sunset anyhow, but, always appreciative of not having that worry about their situational awareness and track attention, also another reason why I'm running straight pipes.
As the day heated up, so did the track, and my grip started to fade, as evidenced by not one, but TWO offs, in the same session, in the same turn. Looking back at my video, I wonder if somebody left something, because as a Mustang driver, I'm comfortable with letting the end rotate out, but this didn't feel the same. Despite these conditions, I was probably running 8-9/10ths by the end of the day, just trying to get whatever was left out of the tires, and test its consistency, and more importantly how to handle my car when the tires start to go. Despite crossing the tires up, Sunday was pretty much running bald, with the little dots on the tires hard to see everywhere, and so with this being 5 full track days, we say goodbye to the NT-01 tire, which to its name and reputation, ran rather consistent from its first to its last session. All 5 track days were at Buttonwillow, 4 of the 5 on CW13 configuration, and on laps without traffic, the delta between those times were only about 1 second. A-duh, I've still got some room for improvement, most of it is related to the small tires and 3.55's now acting as 3.73's, and my not wanting to shift and/or go past 7500 in a few places which are Type 3 sections. From the videos I've watched of other NASA ST2 racers, assuming that my digital speedo and GPS are accurate, and that their gps/speedo is accurate, I'm right about where I should be, give or take a few mph.
Had fun running in the Red group with some other GT350R's with this lowly GT, but we were dispatching pretty much anything that came our way, so anybody who tells you that Mustangs can't track is misinformed, certainly somebody who hasn't been in a high enough group to get their ass whupped by one.
Auto Club Speedway is coming up in a few weekends from now, which I hope goes through. Not only is it my home track, but it's a power track favoring cars such as this, and has 3 straightaways per lap. I thought I had a pretty fast time on my newly departed 2019 GT, and hoping to further improve on that. Fingers crossed, trying to not jinx it.
I'd love to mention the times, but I honestly don't know them, some combination of poor GPS and cell coverage, combined with putting the phone in my pocket, which would often move Track Addict over to segment mode instead of track mode, which would then not have lap times at all :(
Gentle reminder that you should always double check your stuff, and use something like a chalk pen to line things up, that way you can quickly pop your head under, look to see everything lined up, and continue on your way. Those astute will notice there is something decently important that I didn't chalk up, and if you'll notice, uh, it somewhat backfired, or disconnected on me. I'd guess if you're a Bronco Bro and crawling over rocks, you might disconnect it, but you're doing what, 5-10mph? Not the same when you're going slightly faster.
But yeah, not having a front swaybar on the track is very highly discouraged. Got to know Tom and the crew at 7's Only, took it over and spent some time with it up in the air, checking specs, tolerances, caster, camber, and toe, and all of them were alright and within spec, so good to have another set of eyes on it, better self-assurance that it's not going to explode randomly.
Saturday came around, and it was a hot one, even 8am in the morning. While most major racing circuits are running up North, we generally take a summer break, for those of you not familiar with Southern California, at places like Auto Club and Buttonwillow, it's 105, and 120+ at the deserts containing Chuckwalla and Willow Springs. In fact, if you leave Willow Springs and head north, your next city is named Mojave, perhaps you've heard of it
From the others I was talking to, they were complaining early, saying they were 3-5 seconds slower than they usually were, which taking the times that I was running and taking 3-5 seconds off of that, put me in a nice acceptable area, and if further discounting 1-2 seconds because I was running nearly bald Nitto NT01's and not something sticky like a competition Slick or Hoosier, it'd be real impressive. Perhaps not their best day, but when was the last time you got a point-by from a McLaren 720s. I was setting up for the inside-pass and ready to intercept the racing line in Sunset anyhow, but, always appreciative of not having that worry about their situational awareness and track attention, also another reason why I'm running straight pipes.
As the day heated up, so did the track, and my grip started to fade, as evidenced by not one, but TWO offs, in the same session, in the same turn. Looking back at my video, I wonder if somebody left something, because as a Mustang driver, I'm comfortable with letting the end rotate out, but this didn't feel the same. Despite these conditions, I was probably running 8-9/10ths by the end of the day, just trying to get whatever was left out of the tires, and test its consistency, and more importantly how to handle my car when the tires start to go. Despite crossing the tires up, Sunday was pretty much running bald, with the little dots on the tires hard to see everywhere, and so with this being 5 full track days, we say goodbye to the NT-01 tire, which to its name and reputation, ran rather consistent from its first to its last session. All 5 track days were at Buttonwillow, 4 of the 5 on CW13 configuration, and on laps without traffic, the delta between those times were only about 1 second. A-duh, I've still got some room for improvement, most of it is related to the small tires and 3.55's now acting as 3.73's, and my not wanting to shift and/or go past 7500 in a few places which are Type 3 sections. From the videos I've watched of other NASA ST2 racers, assuming that my digital speedo and GPS are accurate, and that their gps/speedo is accurate, I'm right about where I should be, give or take a few mph.
Had fun running in the Red group with some other GT350R's with this lowly GT, but we were dispatching pretty much anything that came our way, so anybody who tells you that Mustangs can't track is misinformed, certainly somebody who hasn't been in a high enough group to get their ass whupped by one.
Auto Club Speedway is coming up in a few weekends from now, which I hope goes through. Not only is it my home track, but it's a power track favoring cars such as this, and has 3 straightaways per lap. I thought I had a pretty fast time on my newly departed 2019 GT, and hoping to further improve on that. Fingers crossed, trying to not jinx it.
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