Track's Logbook
10-24-2011, 01:29 PM
#1
BAMFr
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: NC
Posts: 1,787
Track's Logbook
Edit: Slight modification to this thread, I will also cover building up the car!! So expect a bit of back tracking as I get my old pictures organized in some fashion.
The idea here is to tell you guys about my track events, cover highlights, and touch a bit on the techniques that my instructor covers over the given week. This is open to discussion, but lets keep our junk in our pants! I consider myself a newbie to the track, but I love to learn and more so love to share my experience with others! With that said, I will try to stick to a regular format:
Club:
Track:
Dates:
Car/Mods:
general intro stuff. like how my I had to drill out my battery tie-down the night before, or perhaps how a cat ate a guy's dinner/breakfast because he left it in his car.
Day 1:
Joe's blabbering, with video links and highlights of what happened this day.
Day 2:
Joe's blabbering, with video links and highlights of what happened this day.
conclusions and any lasting impressions, perhaps what I would like to work on the next time I come to this track.
The idea here is to tell you guys about my track events, cover highlights, and touch a bit on the techniques that my instructor covers over the given week. This is open to discussion, but lets keep our junk in our pants! I consider myself a newbie to the track, but I love to learn and more so love to share my experience with others! With that said, I will try to stick to a regular format:
Club:
Track:
Dates:
Car/Mods:
general intro stuff. like how my I had to drill out my battery tie-down the night before, or perhaps how a cat ate a guy's dinner/breakfast because he left it in his car.
Day 1:
Joe's blabbering, with video links and highlights of what happened this day.
Day 2:
Joe's blabbering, with video links and highlights of what happened this day.
conclusions and any lasting impressions, perhaps what I would like to work on the next time I come to this track.
Last edited by Track; 11-01-2011 at 05:50 PM.
10-24-2011, 01:29 PM
#2
BAMFr
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: NC
Posts: 1,787
Club:THSCC
Track:Carolina Motorsports Park
Dates: Oct. 15-16
Car/Mods: No AC/PS, MSM Cam, Cat-back exhaust, and wheel well intake
Brakes: XP8s front and rear, RBF600, and Centric rotors. Nothing special, just a basic track brake setup.
Tires: 205/50R15 Direzza Star specs.
This is my second time at CMP. Its a great track to learn on, very little elevation changes, slower top speed, and a good mix of fast and slow corners. Also, I have been told its a great track to practice trail braking. I had an exciting time friday night as I packed too much in my trunk and it wouldn't open. Turns out something got lodged behind the mechanism and wouldn't let the latch move back far enough.
Day 1:
Great day overall, my instructor was a spec e30 racer. After the first two sessions he determined that my line was good enough that we could focus on improving my feel for the car, trail braking, and getting faster entrance speeds. The largest thing we focused on is pushing the envelope in small steps, then when you go too far, what to do. If the car was tracking out and seemed like it would go off, take steering out, and don't try to jerk it back. One big thing I learned is that you can take a thumb of steering out and add in more throttle. Naturally, as you push the envelope the rear will start to break loose. During my 3rd session, while playing with a red miata, I did some street braking into turn 8, got in too hot, and had a 3 tank slapper, then drove off the track. Good stuff, the miata driver was pretty quick and the only one who was able to keep up with me all weekend.
Day 2:
More of the same as Day 1. I was solo'd for the day, but decided to bring my instructor back for my last session as its not every time you get such a great instructor. I feel that I could have 10 weekends with the guy and still learn more from him. anyways, I did great on my first solo, worked some on my entry to turn 3, turn 8, and turn 11. Turn 8 has two apexes that you can try, there is the classic apex, and one that is very late. I am more comfortable with the classic as I tend to trail brake a good bit in that corner and I am not confident I won't get out on the marbles if I turn in late. I had my first ever spin during my 3rd session. I was going about 100mph at the kink and turned in a bit to early (which is exactly what my instructor warned me about), which forced me to take too much of the hump and sent the car flying. You can see it in my Sun.S3 video. Originally I thought I input too much steering, but in my anxiousness I just turned in early. Session 4 went great, just did some clean up on my line and pushed my braking zone in turn 8 and turn 14 forward about ~25 feet. I am getting REALLY squirrel on turn 11 under braking and its mostly due to hard braking at 100mph on stock springs and shocks, which is causing the car to pitch forward so much that my rear tires are losing traction.
Had a great weekend, learned A LOT about the car. My instructor was particularly helpful in explaining how to balance the car in all situations and the great part is that we tried it all out. He also did some attention testing with me, which I love because I pay attention to the corner workers and surroundings very well. My videos will be posted late tomorrow.
Track:Carolina Motorsports Park
Dates: Oct. 15-16
Car/Mods: No AC/PS, MSM Cam, Cat-back exhaust, and wheel well intake
Brakes: XP8s front and rear, RBF600, and Centric rotors. Nothing special, just a basic track brake setup.
Tires: 205/50R15 Direzza Star specs.
This is my second time at CMP. Its a great track to learn on, very little elevation changes, slower top speed, and a good mix of fast and slow corners. Also, I have been told its a great track to practice trail braking. I had an exciting time friday night as I packed too much in my trunk and it wouldn't open. Turns out something got lodged behind the mechanism and wouldn't let the latch move back far enough.
Day 1:
Great day overall, my instructor was a spec e30 racer. After the first two sessions he determined that my line was good enough that we could focus on improving my feel for the car, trail braking, and getting faster entrance speeds. The largest thing we focused on is pushing the envelope in small steps, then when you go too far, what to do. If the car was tracking out and seemed like it would go off, take steering out, and don't try to jerk it back. One big thing I learned is that you can take a thumb of steering out and add in more throttle. Naturally, as you push the envelope the rear will start to break loose. During my 3rd session, while playing with a red miata, I did some street braking into turn 8, got in too hot, and had a 3 tank slapper, then drove off the track. Good stuff, the miata driver was pretty quick and the only one who was able to keep up with me all weekend.
Day 2:
More of the same as Day 1. I was solo'd for the day, but decided to bring my instructor back for my last session as its not every time you get such a great instructor. I feel that I could have 10 weekends with the guy and still learn more from him. anyways, I did great on my first solo, worked some on my entry to turn 3, turn 8, and turn 11. Turn 8 has two apexes that you can try, there is the classic apex, and one that is very late. I am more comfortable with the classic as I tend to trail brake a good bit in that corner and I am not confident I won't get out on the marbles if I turn in late. I had my first ever spin during my 3rd session. I was going about 100mph at the kink and turned in a bit to early (which is exactly what my instructor warned me about), which forced me to take too much of the hump and sent the car flying. You can see it in my Sun.S3 video. Originally I thought I input too much steering, but in my anxiousness I just turned in early. Session 4 went great, just did some clean up on my line and pushed my braking zone in turn 8 and turn 14 forward about ~25 feet. I am getting REALLY squirrel on turn 11 under braking and its mostly due to hard braking at 100mph on stock springs and shocks, which is causing the car to pitch forward so much that my rear tires are losing traction.
Had a great weekend, learned A LOT about the car. My instructor was particularly helpful in explaining how to balance the car in all situations and the great part is that we tried it all out. He also did some attention testing with me, which I love because I pay attention to the corner workers and surroundings very well. My videos will be posted late tomorrow.
Last edited by Track; 10-25-2011 at 09:41 AM.
10-25-2011, 09:28 AM
#3
BAMFr
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: NC
Posts: 1,787
Club:NASA - SE
Track:Carolina Motorsports Park
Dates: Oct. 22-23
Mods: No AC/PS, MSM Cam, Cat-back exhaust, and wheel well intake.
Brakes: XP8s front and rear, RBF600, and Centric rotors.
Tires: 205/50R15 Direzza Star specs.
I met Lars (Shuiend) at this event. Thankfully, nothing too crazy happened before the event. First time its been uneventful, but I am not complaining! I came into this event with plans to work my way back up to ~100mph speeds through the kink. I was a little hestitant to try it again after my spin, so I focused on becoming more consistent and keep my anxiousness under control (at the kink). I planned to push my braking zones forward some this weekend, but I didn't get to that for a couple of reasons...I will cover them later.
Day 1:
My instructor this time was a miata driver, tall guy, who did TTE and was the 1st/2nd place finisher most of the time and had previously won TTE. He has been racing the same miata since 2000 and says he absolutely loves it. Anyways, we did our first two sessions which were pretty much a traffic jam. I asked him very nicely if he is fine with me working on my trail braking while we drive this and he said thats fine, as my line was good and my smoothness was great. We worked our way up to speed and in session 3 I asked him if he thought I was ready for HPDE 2, which might be good also to help with the traffic jam that is HPDE 1. He said do well in our last session, I will do a ride along with you in the morning in HPDE 2 (watch my traffic management, keeping track of corner workers, etc) and then he will turn me loose. He cleaned up my sloppy line around turn 3, and focus on getting my kink confidence up to par. He also told me that my suspension sucks, my shocks are pretty much gone, and that my car is extremely unstable on my high speed braking because I am unweighting my rear end.
Videos:
Day 2:
Did the morning ride and was still pretty quick in HPDE 2. He turned me loose for session 2, where I was able to get my hands on a RaceChrono. Its a GPS based data acquisition for the track which is being promoted by Marty Howard from THSCC which I run with frequently. I used it for my second session and after getting my butterflies out over my first timed laps (including losing the rear end a couple of times), I turned in a 2:01.1 during my 4th lap. Noticeably I passed a couple of miatas and a very pretty red mustang who was a bit stingy on the point-by (not the only one it seems). I also got stuck behind an AI fox-body mustang who was a real dick, but then again it sucks to be passed by an inferior car. 3rd session was my last one with the RaceChrono and I made it count, turning in mt 2:01.0 lap with a loose rear end on turn 14. No major incidences, but I cleaned up my kink entrance and exit. I am entering the kink at about 96-97mph and exiting well into 98-99mph. thats only 1mph shy of what I was doing the weekend before, and I still a good quarter width of the car of track out to use.
Overall great weekend. It was great to meet Shuiend (who you can see in my last video of the weekend, Sun.S4), and we also met a bunch of miata guys close by.
Note, I am the only non-turbo miata in the picture! My next time at CMP, the car will be completely different. I will have my suspension worked out, probably another 100lbs shaved off, xp10 fronts and possibly new tires. So its hard to set goals for the next time at CMP, but I certainly plan to push my braking forward more and increase my cornering speeds considerably (particularly around turn 3, the carousel, turn 8, the kink, and turn 12-13).
Videos:
Track:Carolina Motorsports Park
Dates: Oct. 22-23
Mods: No AC/PS, MSM Cam, Cat-back exhaust, and wheel well intake.
Brakes: XP8s front and rear, RBF600, and Centric rotors.
Tires: 205/50R15 Direzza Star specs.
I met Lars (Shuiend) at this event. Thankfully, nothing too crazy happened before the event. First time its been uneventful, but I am not complaining! I came into this event with plans to work my way back up to ~100mph speeds through the kink. I was a little hestitant to try it again after my spin, so I focused on becoming more consistent and keep my anxiousness under control (at the kink). I planned to push my braking zones forward some this weekend, but I didn't get to that for a couple of reasons...I will cover them later.
Day 1:
My instructor this time was a miata driver, tall guy, who did TTE and was the 1st/2nd place finisher most of the time and had previously won TTE. He has been racing the same miata since 2000 and says he absolutely loves it. Anyways, we did our first two sessions which were pretty much a traffic jam. I asked him very nicely if he is fine with me working on my trail braking while we drive this and he said thats fine, as my line was good and my smoothness was great. We worked our way up to speed and in session 3 I asked him if he thought I was ready for HPDE 2, which might be good also to help with the traffic jam that is HPDE 1. He said do well in our last session, I will do a ride along with you in the morning in HPDE 2 (watch my traffic management, keeping track of corner workers, etc) and then he will turn me loose. He cleaned up my sloppy line around turn 3, and focus on getting my kink confidence up to par. He also told me that my suspension sucks, my shocks are pretty much gone, and that my car is extremely unstable on my high speed braking because I am unweighting my rear end.
Videos:
Did the morning ride and was still pretty quick in HPDE 2. He turned me loose for session 2, where I was able to get my hands on a RaceChrono. Its a GPS based data acquisition for the track which is being promoted by Marty Howard from THSCC which I run with frequently. I used it for my second session and after getting my butterflies out over my first timed laps (including losing the rear end a couple of times), I turned in a 2:01.1 during my 4th lap. Noticeably I passed a couple of miatas and a very pretty red mustang who was a bit stingy on the point-by (not the only one it seems). I also got stuck behind an AI fox-body mustang who was a real dick, but then again it sucks to be passed by an inferior car. 3rd session was my last one with the RaceChrono and I made it count, turning in mt 2:01.0 lap with a loose rear end on turn 14. No major incidences, but I cleaned up my kink entrance and exit. I am entering the kink at about 96-97mph and exiting well into 98-99mph. thats only 1mph shy of what I was doing the weekend before, and I still a good quarter width of the car of track out to use.
Overall great weekend. It was great to meet Shuiend (who you can see in my last video of the weekend, Sun.S4), and we also met a bunch of miata guys close by.
Note, I am the only non-turbo miata in the picture! My next time at CMP, the car will be completely different. I will have my suspension worked out, probably another 100lbs shaved off, xp10 fronts and possibly new tires. So its hard to set goals for the next time at CMP, but I certainly plan to push my braking forward more and increase my cornering speeds considerably (particularly around turn 3, the carousel, turn 8, the kink, and turn 12-13).
Videos:
Last edited by Track; 11-13-2011 at 10:08 PM.
10-27-2011, 01:04 PM
#4
BAMFr
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: NC
Posts: 1,787
This mustang hates letting miatas by!
I am working on getting these videos w/ direct links and torrents (thanks FRT_Fun/Alex!). In the mean time, I will make a compilation video that will probably be about 20-25 minutes of interesting occurances during my weekend. I will probably combine both CMP weekends.
-I have one off and one spin
-I have an m3 on video spinning out after passing me.
-I have quiet a few cool passes.
11-10-2011, 09:15 PM
#7
BAMFr
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: NC
Posts: 1,787
Ok, so some work got done on the car. A bit dirty since I drove it in the rain tonight, but I likely still!
So, update on the videos. We got the torrent stuff worked out, so expect links to the torrents soon. I will do a few torrent write-ups soon to go along with that. Lastly, I will continue to upload my videos to youtube. I am not too satisfied with Vimeo's restrictions on weekly uploads nor was the quality that good.
So, update on the videos. We got the torrent stuff worked out, so expect links to the torrents soon. I will do a few torrent write-ups soon to go along with that. Lastly, I will continue to upload my videos to youtube. I am not too satisfied with Vimeo's restrictions on weekly uploads nor was the quality that good.
Last edited by Track; 11-10-2011 at 09:20 PM.
11-11-2011, 01:57 PM
#8
BAMFr
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: NC
Posts: 1,787
Torrents are up. Here they are, I have also added them to the respective post for the track event.
As an added bonus, I am almost uploading the videos at my first VIR event.
I will work on the individual session download write-up and perhaps a quick bit of info on how to work with Torrents.
As an added bonus, I am almost uploading the videos at my first VIR event.
I will work on the individual session download write-up and perhaps a quick bit of info on how to work with Torrents.
11-11-2011, 02:36 PM
#9
zoomzoom
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Arizona
Posts: 924
Just as a quick side note for the torrents.
I suggest uTorrent for downloading these torrents. You can go here:
http://www.utorrent.com/help/guides/beginners-guide
It's pretty easy to follow, but all you really need to do is download and install uTorrent (Great torrent client, with a very good rep). Click the files above, and have uTorrent open them. From there the file will download to a folder on your computer.
I suggest uTorrent for downloading these torrents. You can go here:
http://www.utorrent.com/help/guides/beginners-guide
It's pretty easy to follow, but all you really need to do is download and install uTorrent (Great torrent client, with a very good rep). Click the files above, and have uTorrent open them. From there the file will download to a folder on your computer.