claudermilk
Senior Member
My fourth track day and new lessons learned.
This time out, the new parts are the Watson 4-point bar and 6-point harnesses. That was a worthwhile outlay. No more leaning out of the seat or bracing myself in the car. I actually had to remind myself to not brace my knee against the console a few times. I definitely feel much less fatigued and sore after the event compared to last time.
I had a few things I was trying to improve.
1) Use the tires. I was pushing it harder & hearing the tires. I also spent probably too much time hanging the tail out. While that was fun & a *little* bit is probably good, I expect I had it sliding too much. I'll blame needing additional driver mod & a hot, greasy track.
2) Braking. I worked on that a bit, but again not enough. I pushed it far enough in a couple of turns to worry about running out of room. I think I still need to work on using the brakes harder. The current fluid is probably all used up and well-cooked, so a flush is in order before the next event.
3) Lines. Particularly into turn 9. This was one of my main items I was thinking about and I was actively changing my line. I tried to straighten out the entry into 9 instead of just tracing the curving outer edge of the track. It seemed to help and I felt I was getting through the turn (at least hitting the apex) better overall. More work here needed.
4) Use the track. I also spent time thinking about trying to get up to/on the curbs to use more of the track. For the most part, I think I accomplished that, I just need to be more consistent. I grabbed a bunch too much on lap on turn 8, getting into an almost-off into turn 9. That was a pucker moment with almost going 2 off and little runoff. I was able to get back on pavement & gather the rear end up, and make a very late, slow apex.
There's more to work on, but that was enough to think about for the day.
Entertainment/frustrations included following the McLaren out in session 1, then getting stuck behind him as he tried to learn how to drive it. Very slow, early braking, very weird lines. I finally just pitted to get away from him and the train of GT-Rs stuck behind him. Later I ran up behind a Pantera that was surprisingly slow; at least the driver was aware enough to point me by quickly. Then the Cadillac CTS-V wagon. That was kind of a fun back & forth. The car is at least as quick as the S197, but the weight out back didn't help it and probably it needed some more driver mod. He wagged his tail a wile lot trying to keep up or stay ahead of me. I heard later that he spun it after I got clear of him. The day ended with a really good few laps with a Cayman; we chatted after the session & both had fun. He was fairly new, but definitely not a noob and was pushing to keep up with me.
The next mods to the car stemming from this outing will be brake cooling (already started gathering parts), and engine cooling. I was definitely getting a little concerned my pedal was going to get long soon, so backed off a bit. I also bailed on the last session early as the car got heat-soaked and I was watching the temp needle head to the right down the big straights; even a slower lap to cool didn't help much--the cooling would catch up, but put it under stress again & it would lose ground. Time to put the car away before I hurt it.
I'll post videos once I've processed them. For now, here's some stills from CaliPhotography.
Waiting to go out & play with the Caddy.
Grabbing lots of curb
Not the fast way around, but it sure is fun! The photographer actually caught me shifting hand positions in the second shot there.
This time out, the new parts are the Watson 4-point bar and 6-point harnesses. That was a worthwhile outlay. No more leaning out of the seat or bracing myself in the car. I actually had to remind myself to not brace my knee against the console a few times. I definitely feel much less fatigued and sore after the event compared to last time.
I had a few things I was trying to improve.
1) Use the tires. I was pushing it harder & hearing the tires. I also spent probably too much time hanging the tail out. While that was fun & a *little* bit is probably good, I expect I had it sliding too much. I'll blame needing additional driver mod & a hot, greasy track.
2) Braking. I worked on that a bit, but again not enough. I pushed it far enough in a couple of turns to worry about running out of room. I think I still need to work on using the brakes harder. The current fluid is probably all used up and well-cooked, so a flush is in order before the next event.
3) Lines. Particularly into turn 9. This was one of my main items I was thinking about and I was actively changing my line. I tried to straighten out the entry into 9 instead of just tracing the curving outer edge of the track. It seemed to help and I felt I was getting through the turn (at least hitting the apex) better overall. More work here needed.
4) Use the track. I also spent time thinking about trying to get up to/on the curbs to use more of the track. For the most part, I think I accomplished that, I just need to be more consistent. I grabbed a bunch too much on lap on turn 8, getting into an almost-off into turn 9. That was a pucker moment with almost going 2 off and little runoff. I was able to get back on pavement & gather the rear end up, and make a very late, slow apex.
There's more to work on, but that was enough to think about for the day.
Entertainment/frustrations included following the McLaren out in session 1, then getting stuck behind him as he tried to learn how to drive it. Very slow, early braking, very weird lines. I finally just pitted to get away from him and the train of GT-Rs stuck behind him. Later I ran up behind a Pantera that was surprisingly slow; at least the driver was aware enough to point me by quickly. Then the Cadillac CTS-V wagon. That was kind of a fun back & forth. The car is at least as quick as the S197, but the weight out back didn't help it and probably it needed some more driver mod. He wagged his tail a wile lot trying to keep up or stay ahead of me. I heard later that he spun it after I got clear of him. The day ended with a really good few laps with a Cayman; we chatted after the session & both had fun. He was fairly new, but definitely not a noob and was pushing to keep up with me.
The next mods to the car stemming from this outing will be brake cooling (already started gathering parts), and engine cooling. I was definitely getting a little concerned my pedal was going to get long soon, so backed off a bit. I also bailed on the last session early as the car got heat-soaked and I was watching the temp needle head to the right down the big straights; even a slower lap to cool didn't help much--the cooling would catch up, but put it under stress again & it would lose ground. Time to put the car away before I hurt it.
I'll post videos once I've processed them. For now, here's some stills from CaliPhotography.
Waiting to go out & play with the Caddy.
Grabbing lots of curb
Not the fast way around, but it sure is fun! The photographer actually caught me shifting hand positions in the second shot there.
