First Time at the track, Summit Point.

[oldVOR]

I raced at most of the tracks up and down the east coast from my early twenties into my mid thirties with Summit Point being my "home" track since it's just an hour away. Personal best at Summit Main was 1:20's and VIR North 1:33's but I can't equate racing on two wheels to four since I've never been around these tracks sitting inside a vehicle. Marriage and children gave me course change and time off from racing and now in my late forties I'm looking to have some fun by hitting either autox or open track days. This writeup is just the ticket, since it seems to be written by a fellow over-the-hill type (sorry stepqhen) and gives me a little push to mod the left over '14 GT Track Pack I picked up earlier this year and prep it for either autox or open track action. There's a plethora of part vendors out there and getting started looks to be the hard part since there are so many choices.

Thanks for the write up!

 

[stepqhen]

I raced at most of the tracks up and down the east coast from my early twenties into my mid thirties with Summit Point being my "home" track since it's just an hour away. Personal best at Summit Main was 1:20's and VIR North 1:33's but I can't equate racing on two wheels to four since I've never been around these tracks sitting inside a vehicle. Marriage and children gave me course change and time off from racing and now in my late forties I'm looking to have some fun by hitting either autox or open track days. This writeup is just the ticket, since it seems to be written by a fellow over-the-hill type (sorry stepqhen) and gives me a little push to mod the left over '14 GT Track Pack I picked up earlier this year and prep it for either autox or open track action. There's a plethora of part vendors out there and getting started looks to be the hard part since there are so many choices.

Thanks for the write up!

OVER THE HILL??? I am barely a man-child!

I love the new pads. They allow me to brake very hard without much effort, and they gave me a little boost of confidence going into the corners knowing that I could count on them. They do squeak for slow stops, like traffic, in neighborhoods, anytime there are people around. Unfortunately I had technical issues. The mount I was using for my tablet cracked earlier in the week (I am pretty sure that it was not quite the right one for my tablet), and my quick fix replacement adjustable decided to fling a Galaxy 3 at my feet in the middle of the slalom for S&Gs.

I had a pretty crappy weekend and ended up in 3rd, My first run, I was watching my table dance around in it's holder, so I can't really tell you anything about it, other that it was a 59.36 DNF.

My second run was red-flagged early on because I caught the newbie in the S4 A7 (which looked hella fast off of the line) so I got a re-run. On the re-run I got it a little better, started to get a little heat into the Hoosiers (it was a chilly 61 degrees all day) and started feeling out the course. and put in a 56.76+1 as I plowed over the last cone in a short 4 cone slalom.

Run Three was my best, I picked up a rider near the start line, a young man from the area. I knew at the start it was a mistake, he started whooping and carrying on like he was on a roller-coaster, and I had to um...ask? him to knock it off. I ended up with a not too bad 55.54 and I know I left a lot on the course on that one.

Run four was slower, I overcooked a few corners, and pushed way out because I got a little throttle happy on the last corner.


I am on a tight budget this year, so I am having to prioritize a little more than I wanted. I was thinking about new springs. The Ultralights were fine early on, but they just feel too squishy now that I am driving more aggressively. I have a love of brake dive, and it feels like I am having to wrestle 3800lbs back and forth a little much in transitions. I was thinking the H&R Race springs might be the way to go, I am sure they will border on suck for daily driving duty, but the drive to work is a short one. I am still running Tokico D-Specs with no funds to move to even a decent entry level coil-over so I need something the stock form-factor springs.

I have another event this weekend, so we will see how it goes.

 

[Norm Peterson]

and it feels like I am having to wrestle 3800lbs back and forth a little much in transitions.

Are you starting your steering enough before the cone that you're trying to steer around to clearly notice that you're starting your steering before you get to it?

My hunch is that you're running just a little late with your steering and want to use more spring stiffness to settle the chassis a little faster, when you could perhaps benefit from slower and earlier hands at least for now.


On the "over the hill" side topic - aside from it being hilarious as seen from here, as long as I can at least match my personal best lap times (and avoid embarrassing myself at any new track) I still won't consider myself "over the hill". My AARP eligibility will be old enough to vote in the next presidential election if they'd let it . . .


Norm

 

[DocB]

As far as deer go, there were lots at Summit Point.
I have heard that they "thinned" them out quite a bit this past Fall.
Hope so, because there's not much you can do when one jumps out in front of you.

We had an Enduro Race there two years ago and one of our members totaled his Mustang hitting a deer. I wanted to go out after the race and bring it back to put on the charcoal grill we had going, but no one was interested. Cityslickers.

 

[stepqhen]

I am usually painfully aware when I am behind in the slalom, I can't always fix it right then, but I am aware. The Ultralights were better than stock and served me pretty well, but I think they are more of a sporty street spring.

I emailed with Strano a little yesterday and I decided to go ahead with the H&R race springs. Hopefully I will get them in time to have them on for this Sunday's event, if not, the next event is a few weeks out still. When I get time I will post a lessons learned from my tablet fiasco. With video badness.

 

[stepqhen]

So two days before the first AutoX of the season I cracked the mount I was using for my tablet for SoloStorm. I thought I rigged up a reasonable temporary solution to get me through the first event. It was a little too temporary.

This was the mount I use to use, I made the bracket so it slid in above and below the center vents, and used thumb screws to secure it down tight. I covered the ends in heavy vinyl tape to protect the dash. I ended up snapping off the upper piece of the hard plastic mount, so I set it up to use an adjustable mount I had laying around.

Before anyone says anything I was WAY behind in every corner, mostly because I was seeing the tablet slide, just a little at first then more, and then... well it's all there in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lA3ZicwKeM&feature=player_detailpage

 

[SlowJim]

You could get one of these Android head units. It would replace your stock stereo and is basically an android tablet with outputs for all your speakers. Still has an FM radio and everything. Lots of people use them with bluetooth OBD2 readers to display Torque data.

Amazon.com : XTRONS® Double 2 Din 6.2 Inch HD Multi-touch Screen Mirroring Android 4.4.4 Car Head Unit Dual Core Auto Stereo CD DVD Player with OBD2 GPS NAV Navigation Bluetooth Built-in Wifi : Car Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fpQmtIfvL.@@AMEPARAM@@51fpQmtIfvL

I don't believe that one has a CD player but many of them do.

 

[csamsh]

Why is that tablet even there during your run?

 

[claudermilk]

Why is that tablet even there during your run?

Because:

...I was using for my tablet for SoloStorm.

I have a phone mounted in basically the same place running Trackmaster or Racechrono. I was looking into a Ram Mount when I thought about using a tablet (before I went from dumbphone to smartphone); I was looking at the seat rail mount setup for that.

 

[stepqhen]

Because:


I have a phone mounted in basically the same place running Trackmaster or Racechrono. I was looking into a Ram Mount when I thought about using a tablet (before I went from dumbphone to smartphone); I was looking at the seat rail mount setup for that.

What he said.
SoloStorm uses the internal accelerometer of the phone/tablet so it needs to be mounted securely. The hard mount I had was very secure, my hack job quick fix was poorly thought out. Most of the suction cup mounts leave a lot of bounce in the arm and use a ball joint/screw to mount in place which are apparently less than reliable.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Even for the hard mount, a separate tether arrangement of some sort would still be a good idea. Philly Region was requiring this for any sort of in-car camera at least 10 years ago.


Norm

 

[stepqhen]

Even for the hard mount, a separate tether arrangement of some sort would still be a good idea. Philly Region was requiring this for any sort of in-car camera at least 10 years ago.


Norm

I don't disagree,
I am not going to be using that tablet any longer, and am currently trying to figure out the most effective way to tether my phone.

I have no problems admitting that I am a glaring example of what not to do in this case. Like I said early on, I hope that others can learn from my mistakes.

 

[stepqhen]

I went ahead and ordered the H&R race springs. They are just a hair shorter than the Steeda Ultralights in the front and about ¼ in shorter in the rear. The definitely felt stiffer while installing them, as I had a little trouble more sliding them into the rears than I did when I installed the Steedas. I did had a bit of trouble with the upper sway bar end link on the front drivers side. While I was removing the nut it started to bind just as the nylon locker was clearing the threads. It got so wedged in place that the backing nut ended up rounding off. I had to remove the lower nut pull the strut out with the end link and cut the endlink off. I ordered the Umi adjustable endlinks to replace the now mutilated stockers.

They are really solid pieces, and I do like that the bolts are shorter since I had to clearance the stockers when I went to the 315 hoosiers.
After driving around a little on the new springs I did notice that the dampeners were a little soft to work well with the springs, There was a small amount of bouncing after bumps and stops sol I took a guess and stiffened them up to 1 ½ turns from full hard up front (D-Specs have 6 turns of adjustment, but compression and rebound adjust at the same time), and 2 turns out back.

Finally got to get out to an AutoX. Between FedEX field changing the schedule and some work commitments I hadn’t been able to try out the changes for quite a while.

Double event with a small offshoot of the WDCR-SCCA called Autocrossers, Inc. They run at a smaller lot at the Blue Crabs stadium, which is only about 45 miles from my house. The pull a smaller crowd and because of that they run two courses in one day. We run one course before lunch, they change things up and we run a different course in the afternoon. (sometimes the morning course in reverse, sometimes just changing up the first course a little)

Anyway, down to the details. I decided to put in two runs before making any changes to get the tires up to temp and feel the car out. After the second run the car was pushing a little so I went in and softened the fronts up another ¼ turn. I could really feel the difference, but I didn’t understand just how much until the last turn. I turned in, rolled into the gas and headed right for the inside cones marking the finish. I ended coming to a full stop at the line, mostly because I was confused to be where I was, as I expecting to be on the outside and my brain took half second to readjust.

After shaking that debacle off I went out for my last run of the morning and put in a clean run, and really felt that the car was a lot easier to drive on these springs. It transitions faster and just feels more nimble. I was out in front of the slaloms and turn in was much crisper. All in all the car just instills more confidence than before.

Took a break for lunch while they reworked the center section of the course and went back at it.

There wasn’t a lot of drama in the afternoon. I can say for certain that the car is now easier to drive than it was, and I didn’t feel like I was fighting it all day. I did get a little push in a couple of sections, but it was predictable and entirely driver error. I found myself over driving and under driving different sections. A couple of times I would turn in and readjust because I was turning too tightly.

Anyway the take away from this event is that I now need to be more aggressive and push myself to drive faster. It is in the car and I just need to catch up.

There are a couple of things I need to address in the future.
First I need to carry boards or race ramps, with the new springs I can’t get the jack out from under the car without lifting up on the fender when I have the 18 in Hoosiers on.

Second, I need to figure out how to keep my rear sway bar from hitting my exhaust. That is getting annoying.

Lastly I think I need to get rid of the two piece drive shaft. There is a lot of slop in the carrier bearing and it is banging around. I don’t want to stick a new stock piece back in, but If I go one piece that will kick me out of ESP. I figure that I will run out these Hoosiers and then swap over to CAM. There are a couple of things I want to do that are out of class for ESP anyway. I do have mixed feelings since CAM in this area is a pretty slow class, and I would feel a little like I am cherry picking. I thought about CP, but I like my AC and interior very much.

Oh and I need to learn how to drive, I keep forgetting about that.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Nu1CptVtw

 

[cgornowich]

Summit Point

I too have been to Summit Point's "Friday at the Track" and agree it is a blast. Well, most of the time. Search youtube for "racecraft" and "Summit Point" and you'll find a few videos. The most recent time, I threw a rod.... My fault, 12psi via a small pulley and a Saleen supercharger was more than the stock rods wanted to hang around for... So I'm in the process of collecting parts for a rebuild.... Anyway, just wanted to chime in, the people at Summit Point are great! Can't wait to go back.

Charlie