TrackAddict

OnRails - I enjoyed watching your video (almost as much as riding with you). It felt like you were going faster than 1.56s though so I am a bit surprised. A couple of things to focus on next time at RA...
1. Turn 7 - you are shifting into 4th at the bridge. This is an indicator that you are not getting as good an exit out of 7 as you can and you may be carrying too many RPMs before shifting. Some easy things to try are...

• Get your braking done for turn 7 earlier and get on the gas sooner as well (one allows the other).
• Shifting at 8500 seems to yield the best acceleration.
• Turn in for 7 just before the end of the curbing on the left

2. 10a/b complex - you are feathering the gas exiting 10b instead of being able to go flat. Some things to try are...

• Finish braking for 10a about 10 feet sooner and get the car settled by getting back on the gas (not full throttle, just maintenance to settle it).
• Treat 10a as a throw away corner so you can execute 10b perfectly. Square it off a little more then turn in decisively for 10b. You can use about 1 foot of the inside curbing but I would do my best from using any of the outside curbing on track out as you really want that margin of error room.

3. Braking technique - what we talked about in squeezing on and off the brakes (albeit quickly, not limo style) to keep car as settled as possible thus allowing you to carry more speed through corners and get on power sooner.

There are other corners/sequences of corners to work on as well but I would only work on one thing at a time. This list should be plenty for your next visit to Road Atlanta. Your over all speed can go up but that is not something you should work on first. Allow that come with time and experience at the track. Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Don't go straight to pushing as hard as possible. Seconds will drop from your lap times as if by miracle. I have driven Road Atlanta 5 times this year and I would estimate I have driven 1000 miles there this year alone. I have been around it in the instructor seat for probably 900 miles too. Thats a lot of seat time... So, my times are no huge accomplishment.

OnRails

By feedback you mean they're screaming for their lives? That was a big change from CMP where you hear nothing because the track is so slick there.

Thanks! I think it was a 90's Mustang 5.0. Don't know if it had any extras like a supercharger but it did seem a lot faster than your everyday Mustang.


The adjuster cables for the Tokico D-Specs. The cables are braided steel and they run up from the top of the shock tower in the trunk. In doing so they pass through the metal parts of the body and rattle in there. I've tried several things including sliding a piece of soft tubing over them to get rid of the rattle. The tubing works for awhile and then it slides back up and out and it starts rattling again. I tried foam but I coudln't get it in the right places because of the small holes. I'm gonna have to figure something out.



TA - thanks for the feedback! It's hard to imagine I'm leaving 10+ seconds out there somewhere. My next thing to work on is smoother braking and weight transfer entering a corner. Although I've got the hard braking part down, I'm now learning that it is necessary to remove some of that load from the front tires before starting my turn in. It's just a split second thing but I can really tell a difference when I do it right.

SilverEIGHT

OnRails, put your video up next to another video like TA's and watch them together from the same point of the track and see where the time difference comes. You can start and stop them as needed. start them for example at the start/finish line and see how you compare through turn 3. Then start both at turn 3 and see how you compare through the Esses and up turn 5 etc.

OnRails

Now that is a great idea! Why didn't I think of that? Thanks!

SilverEIGHT

Ya tried it yet? What did ya learn?

Stop&TurnFreak

TA, watched some of your vids, and I have some suggestions, but for the most PART WOW...ring me tomorrow.

STF

TrackAddict

The most recent is the BMWCCA one. Toss out any others as I don't drive like that any more.

Stop&TurnFreak

That is the one I watched, come on, I can read a date....I haven't been out of the seat that long .

TA, the critique is about driving in a crowd, not the driving ...

OnRails

You really want to know? I’m no instructor so I may be just talking out of my *** but I think it is important to practice self analysis. And how do you know if your analysis right unless you put it out there for evaluation? So here ya go:

One thing I learned is that the BMWCCA puts out nice orange cones that help you know where to be. Or maybe it Panoz that does that?

I learned that TA is faster through 10a - b than I am. He settles the car and turns in a tad later. His path from the apex of a and b is a straight line. You can get away with this because you get that natural slowing of the car coming out of 10b which allows you to enter a little hotter than you would if it was flat. Don't think in terms of turning for 10a. Think in terms of cutting across 10a to get to 10b.

He also carries a more speed through 12 and I'd say apexed a little later than I did. I think my problem here is that it is an awkward place on the track to be shifting and I always find myself in between 3rd and 4th coming down the hill here. I tried under the bridge, before the bridge and after the bridge and finally settled on after the bridge but it never felt comfortable.

Coming into 1 I think I am on the brakes too much. I could carry more speed through there. Again I am braking like it is a flat turn and not taking advantage of uphill section right after it. I also think I have a tendency to turn in a little early here which I tried to correct for and went to far the other way by extending my braking to the later turn-in but starting braking in the same place.

I need to concentrate on being far enough track left entering the esses so they become more of a straight shot. Seems like there was always traffic through that area for me so I was often having to hold back a little so I wasn’t all up on the bumper of the guy in front of me.

I need to unwind the steering more quickly coming out of 5 and use that outside “rumble” strip more.

I had a lot of trouble getting the car settled down for turn in to 7. I think whatever I was doing in turn 6 was causing this. It’s like I wasn’t done with 6 before I needed to start working on 7.

L8APEX

in my little time at RA, I found that shifting to 3rd for turn 6 helped that. It meant you had less to do in between 6 and 7. I think I saw in your video that you stayed in 4th for turn 6.

my two cents.

SilverEIGHT

PICS of our gang! If you want a higher res version, just let me know the file number.

L8APEX

OnRails, what springs are you running, your car really gets low to the ground under load.

OnRails

I'm running the Tein S-Tech springs. the reason I chose them is because they were the stiffest of the "street springs" available according to this list (besides the Mazdaspeed):

As you can see, the drop is supposedly only 1.4 in the front and .7 in the rear. I was trying to reduce body roll as much as possible without going to a stiffer sway bar. The tires I have on there are a little lower profile than the stock setup as well but the diameter is only about 1% less so that doesn't account for a lot. I was also using a pretty aggressive camber setting at -2.5 F/R .

Looking at some of those pics I think I need to add some pressure to my tires next time around. Looks like they were about to come off of the rim coming out of 10b.

TrackAddict

Nice pics. Thanks.

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

be careful with a stiff suspension and the runble strips out of 5. spinning will be easy to do. the 8 is not going to make up a lot of ground agaisnt a compatable car inbetween 5/6. Where the ground will be gained is the braking into 6. There is where you will have the advantage. So have the car as controlled as possible and brake as late as possible into 6. Dont try to gain ground inbetween 6/7 either--keep it in 4th and set up for that most important turn 7. Get your speed good down the straight and then make up a LOT of ground going into turn 10A and turn 1. You will also make up ground going through turn 12(if you want to)
Many other things you speak off but that is just a few
olddragger

SilverEIGHT

I think self analysis is very important. Its good to dissect what you are doing on the track so you know what to work on next time. I always ask TA to analize my analysis and he does a good job os setting me straight!

SilverEIGHT

Let me know if you want a larger version of any of them. They are really much better that what you are seeing it those small images.

OnRails

Good advice. Thanks for the feedback!

TrackAddict

I got to have the trophy pics. Those are my first ever.

SilverEIGHT

OK... I'll email them to you.

TorqueAholic

That car was your's truly's HPDE 2 student... Nonetheless to say it was a ball riding in it.

Here's what it was:

Originally a 4 cyl Base Mustang completely built by Austin ( my student) with:

- Fully built (All forged internals) 351 Windsor bored and stroked to a whoping 407 cubic inches.. If I remember correctly it put down 465RWHP and about as much in torque. He said that he used to have it with a Pro Charger but 700 RWHP was a bit much

- Full Maximum Motorsports suspension with K-member, torque-arm, coilovers, Bilstein Sports Shocks Custom Valved for Maximum Motorsports, Etc.

- "Lightened" interior

- Hoosier R's

- Roll Protection, racing harnesses

He built the whole thing including the welding. It was nicely put together and will be monster fast once it's all "dialed-in". Brand New ZO6's could not get away from us down the back straight...

Any how, nice driving, this was an entertaining video to watch.

Sorry about the late post and absence before. I have been extremely busy with work travel, working on the car, vacation, family, and other stuff.


It was fun haging with y'all as usual.

TA, You da man! Hopefully we can run nose to tail with BMWCCA (I have not received my confirmation yet) and I can capture some of the TA RA magic.. Glad you could come over and share a few rounds of Cognac.

LEGO, it's always fun to see you on/ off the track. THX again for your courtesy move into 1. I need to bum a ride in the RX7 one of these days

L8Apex I know it was a Beeotch being @ Pit out in the 100+ heat but you were the best! I LOVED the 3 - 2 - 1 GO move you did before releasing us, that gave me time to glance at the side mirror for a quick triple check on traffic coming-up and perfect timing to nail it and blast on up turn 1. Your timing was spot on every time

On Rails, getting better and faster every time

Danno, glad to see you're figuring the Miata out

Marrietta 8 it was great to finally see you at the track even if I did not have much time to talk with you

Silver, the pics were awesome and it's always great to hang out and talk smack..

Rob, always fun to hang out, watch out for more TTC runnin's with the gold Mustang..

OD, Enjoyed your company on and off track. I love the new stuff you've done to the car, I hope you got all your grounding kit / belt woes straightened out

My students did well, I promoted my 1 student to 2 and he just emailed me telling me that he went back to RA this weekend with the PCA and was told by his instructor that his line / skills were so that felt good.

My 2 student did well but needs more seat / dial-in time before turning him loose in 3

Anyways, I had a ball as usual. After having to chase down yet another set of pads (My normal race pads guys sent to wrong set ) the car ran well as long as it ran..

By the way those pads were EBC Reds, they are really supposed to be street pads capable of the occasional track day and I found that they were the best street pads I have driven on track so far. Yes that includes y'all's revered Hawks HP Plus. The EBC did not score the rotors at all and were surprisingly resistent to fade. (And 85.00 bucks a set from Summit)

I did run TT, my first day was a scratch as I blistered my old tires. Those were way past their prime anyways.. So on Sunday armed with fresh new Hankooks R's and pretty good street pads I was starting to get into the groove (Mid 1:48's) when my clutch gave out and I had to limp back to the pits... So anyways, I still enjoyed myself, my Sunday times were a solid 3+ seconds faster than Saturday's times and I was within 2 or so seconds of first place in TTC which I definitely think I can get..

I was shooting for mid to high 1:40's for this weekend and that's pretty much what I got. I am OK with the result given the fact that I got about 4 sessions altogether.

As for the Clutch..

It got me home and it's a good excuse to get in there and do:

New Spec Aluminum Lightweight flywheel : 13 lbs instead of 28
New Spec Lightweight pressure plate : about 3 lbs ligher than OEM
New Spec Stage II Kevlar Clutch : about 2 lbs lighter than OEM
New Ford Racing Alunimun Driveshaft : 14 lbs instead of 21 lbs on the steel OEM shaft and balanced too
New Lakewood Driveshaft Safety Loop
New Lower temp thermostat

All told I will be saving about 27 Lbs of rotational mass which should noticeably enhance throttle response, help rwhp, and not affect my TT points

I also ordered 2 new sets of racing brake pads (One set EBC Yellow and One
Set Carbotech XP10) and 2 new sets of front rotors (The ones on my car had 1/4 inch cracks all the way through when I got home ... )

So now my treasure trove of tools / parts track box has a brand new spare set of rotors and racing pads.. Hopefully I am finally getting the brake thing figured-out & I won't be wasting time trolling the paddock for pads should the need arise (Again!)

Stop&TurnFreak

You will love the difference those parts make. I did those same things on my 99GT right before selling it, and hte difference on-track was huge. It felt like a new car under WOT.

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

get parts list man! You will really like the carbotec's. Have you got brake ducts yet? I hear on the stangs that really helps. dust plates are off --right?
olddragger