Ya was a great weekend for our first one in the car and in WC. Now If the mazda's had the power of those turbo cars it would have been a different race lol. They left us on the back stright like we were standing still.

 

Not a big deal. I have seen various lines but did not see allot of people go on the turtles in 1 so I asked about that.

Edit: I have seen people go on the turtles an even pass people 1" off the wall on the inside but have not seen people go on the turtles without being forced to.

Maybe I will see you guys at some of the CTCC weekends. Thanks for posting the video, good luck.

 

Was a great time all weekend.

Too bad there was that oil leak, you guys lost alot of laps there, that caution might have put eric on the podium.

 

Hey Chris,

I'd enjoy fielding this question if I may.

OK--here's the big dealio when you look at a drivers data who throws down a faster lap time-------it is 99% of the time NOT the line that gives you time. Nor is it how early you can go to full power. What? Huh? How can that be? That Eric guy is full of cow patties. Well it's true.

The lap time reduction comes from not overslowing the car. The data will always, always, always reveal this. For example, it is possible to overslow the car and go to full power on corner ENTRY correct? Of course it is. If your in that situation your most likely going waaaay too slow.

On the other hand if you drive the most perfect line in the world but are putting around in 2nd gear than that doesnt work either does it?

The hot ticket is this: Only slow the car just enough to get through a corner. I guarantee if you overlayed your data with mine or Kurts you would see that even if we came down the backstraight at the exact same mph, either one of us (and our cars) would brake to a higher speed and enter, travel through and exit at higher speeds. THIS is where the lap time reduction is. The line only supports this higher speed.

WRT driving over the rumble strips on the inside of one if your car is on the edge of mechanical grip ideally anything that upsets the car upsets the grip and the car starts moving around sometimes in an undesirable fashion. The inside rumble strips in one were not upsetting enough for my car (and I suspect for Kurts as well---haven't seen the video).

A little about 8. The brake in a straight line works well for most corners on most tracks. But as we dance with the limits of grip, a driver wants to only brake as much as is needed and therefore brakes WHERE he has to so he/she can retain this higher speed. I found it advantageous to set up our car with a 50.5% cross for all the key right hand turns of Mosport. This aids grip in all rt hander turns. For setup, I am really FEELING what the car is doing in this and other corners while driving it right up to it's limits. Does the car want to step out anywhere? Off brake? Initial turn in? Mid corner? Exit? This is how you set up a car properly---you drive teh crap out of it and then assess what it's doing. Does it do this for all the rt handers or just 8? Does it understeer on entry for several corners or just this one? It is really a talent and having several very fast friends you continually use and develop this skill.

For 8 there is a slight uphill about mid track. Why do I share this? Because UPHILLS load the car/press down on the car and make it easier to respond to steering input. Where do I purposely try to steer the car? Yes, during that uphill section when the car is loaded. Try it. It is free grip that you should take advantage of. One of the things you'll want to continually do is observe other cars on the track. Watch the front lip spolier at the bottom and gauge the distance of the bottom of the spoiler to the ground. Is it increasing or decreasing on different areas of the track. What about bumps? Watch the cars suspension very closely (again, you are a spectator in this scenario). Where are the bumps. You will be SHOCKED to see and find bumps that you never thought existed. Use them to your advantage. At all the big IndyCar street course events you are given time to walk the track. Let me share something that will shed light on this: Picture a race team and the drivers, race engineers and other random people traveling around in one or two golf carts. They stop at each corner. Everyone gets out and they talk about what they see. These are anywhere from young talented teenage open wheel rookies to Danica Patrick, Dario Franchitti, Ganassi team, etc., etc. Some racers do it alone with their headphones on. Others with a large group. Tony Kanaan usually has a dozen other young drivers with him. Great guy.

So what's your answer or better yet, what's your homework? Watch more closely. Watch at a higher level than you have before. Look at the distance from the top of the tire to the bottom of the fender. What is it doing? Another thing you can do is look at car camber. What? Huh? You would be surprised what you see. You can actually see positive or negative camber on a car on a track. You can. I swear it. Look at this next time and you'll better understand what cars are TRYING to do when they zip around the track.

Hope that helped.

Cheers,

Eric

 

Eric as always thanks for your input.

I agree that the line is < feel / car control. I am however interested in the line through 8 that Kurt is taking and a few others I have seen (alms 911s). I will try it next time I am at Mosport.

If you have any videos from Mosport, post one or pm me. I did not see any on vimeo.

Good luck at MO, I am sure you will see the podium there.

 

I assume your referring to the "early entry" into turn 8. If you hang it way out wide in a race 5 guys behind you will late brake you and get under you, that will push you out to the grey area on the track where there isnt a lot of grip.

 

Hey Al,

I am talking about going for the fastest lap not protecting your position in a race which is a different discussion. As far as I see Kurt is just going for it he is not driving his mirrors.

Specifically, I am referring to 1.21-1.22 in Kurt's video. Kurt leaves about half a cars length from the entry into the first set of curbs on the entry into 8. I have seen others leave even more space. Unfortunately I don't have a data logger to see what works and what doesn't.

You cans see a similar approach at 0.56-0.57 in this video, the first 911 (white car in the front) does the same thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rMMUynHarA

 

I truly think you are over analyzing this, like Eric said you have to get out there in your car and see where its need to be to make it the fastest around the track. If you start to follow someone else you may just follow them right off the track.

 

Limited funds this season so all I can do is 'analyze' - -

Plan was to do Friday test days in formula vee (yes, I know they are brutally slow and you are full throttle 90% at Mosport but I love open wheel and can't afford ff) and then rent a seat for a few weekends from Bill Vallis' formula vee team. But it ain't happening so all I can do is watch faster guys and try to learn as much as I can with limited seat time.

 

Like Eric and Al said. Try a couple lines from the faster guys and see how it feels in your car..
I will see if i have some videos from the 20b rx7 and protege

 

Thanks. I have seen plenty of different videos and lines. Just wanted to get some feedback on Kurt lines through 8 - this turned into a much bigger deal than intended.

Cheers.

 

Kurt was checking his mirrors every two seconds, the closing rates of the GT field are insane, their running ALMS GT2 times so you have to keep 360 degrees of observation constantly.