Cliffs: I went fast.
This past weekend was my last event of the season. The last few times out my car is finally starting to run how it should. Still battling some brake issues, hoping to get that resolved soon.
Friday was an open test day in the afternoon so I wanted to go out and get some heat in the brakes, hopefully get the ABS pump to fire enough times where a good brake bleed would get me through the weekend with minimal issues. When I got to the track I was going over the event's registration list and kinda scoping out the competition. The only one that was going to be close was a buddy in his 488 EVO Challenge car. He wasn't at the track Friday, but had hired a pro driver and Ray Phillips (Precision Driving Analytics) to come out and get his car set up for him to drive over the weekend. On Friday, you had to have point bys to pass...which is obnoxious...but some of the cars testing, like me, were racecars and had windows or window nets so they couldn't point you by. Had a situation with one guy who stay way wide going into T3, and hit the brakes really early, I was assuming he was leaving the inside open for me to pass and couldn't point me by...so I took it, until he came down and almost took me out, so that was fun. I spoke with him afterwards, he never saw me. Case in point why those little 3" circular mirrors on the roll cages are worthless. Talked to the driver afterwards...when I approached him, he had no idea it even happened.
About 3 weeks ago, I ran a 1:37.51 in the same configuration. It was a record for all organizations that have run there, but since I did it during a Porsche Club Event, it didn't count for anything besides some high fives. So, Friday I was running just hard enough to get the brakes figured out, I think the fastest I ran was a 1:42.5. It was 50 degrees, 42/43 degree windchill and overcast all weekend, so that didn't help with tires, brakes or the track temperature. Saturday morning we went out, and I was surprised that my buddy wasn't there...but the pro driver was driving his car during competition. It was freezing in the morning and I couldn't put the power down any where. At lunch I was leading the event with a 1:39.55. First session after lunch the pro driver puts down a 1:36.873....they quickly went and registered him as a driver so his runs would count for competition.
I was pretty frustrated. Event registration is closed at the beginning of the event... but after that session, his name started showing up on the results/grid. I went home Saturday night, well to my son's soccer game, feeling pretty frustrated and discouraged. Not only did this dude beat me and set the official track record, but I felt a little slighted with how it all went down.
Sunday morning I come back to the track, open my garage and find that one of my airjacks blew a seal. So, lovely way to start the day. Seems like everything is going downhill. My buddy who owns the Ferrari was there and was going to drive.
Session 1:
Me: 1:38.525 ( I was DQ'd because on the second lap I blew a turn because my brakes weren't hot yet and went 3 off...so my time on lap #5 didn't count)
Him: 1:42.681
Session 2:
Me: 1:38.150 (I was DQ'd because I spun on the outlap haha so my lap time on #4 didn't count)
Him: 1:42.381
There were four sessions on Sunday, but I could only stay for the first three then had a couple of baseball games to make it to for my kiddo. I knew that coming out after lunch was my last shot, and with as shitty as my day had gone so far, I wasn't very hopeful. Normally on lap 2, I'm rolling and going for my best of the session before I hit traffic or tires get greasy...but I went back through my data over lunch and was seeing my tires and brakes weren't really coming in until lap 4. So I paced myself for a few laps, and sent it on 4 and ran a 1:38.08. I crossed the finish line, saw the time on my Catalyst and felt pretty good about it and figured I had one left. Well I went through T1 and T2 and look at my Garmin to see it lit up green (ahead of fastest lap of 1:37.51, and I was up .5 seconds! So I was full send at that point. I messed up Turn 5, and coming out of the Chicane, but other than that it was a pretty solid lap. I knew it was going to be close! I came around T14 and saw them waving the checkered flag, which meant the lap I was about to finish would be my last of the day/weekend/season. Well, I came across the line and my Garmin went blank for .5 seconds like it always does before it throws up the lap time...and then....BAM!
Session #3:
Me: 1:36.750
Him: 1:43.353
New overall OFFICIAL track record. Overall winning lap of the weekend. Beat the pro driver. Beat my personal best.
I was pumped! It made all of the other junk seem pretty minimal and definitely was a good way to close out the season. My 'trophy'/plaque is still a 2nd place trophy...since NASA does awards Saturday night, but the track record means more to me than a piece of plastic anyways.
After going over the data, on fresh tires (not 14 heat cycle'd Michelins), a clean lap, and more focus... I think my car is capable of mid 34s. ESPECIALLY after realizing when I was loading into the trailer that my splitter was angled at 1 degrees...UP, not down. So I was missing 20-30% of the downforce for turn in...no wonder it was pushing through T3, T7 and T10.
When I updated my Catalyst I somehow turned the recording sound off, so sorry it's silent... Pictures to come this week!
This past weekend was my last event of the season. The last few times out my car is finally starting to run how it should. Still battling some brake issues, hoping to get that resolved soon.
Friday was an open test day in the afternoon so I wanted to go out and get some heat in the brakes, hopefully get the ABS pump to fire enough times where a good brake bleed would get me through the weekend with minimal issues. When I got to the track I was going over the event's registration list and kinda scoping out the competition. The only one that was going to be close was a buddy in his 488 EVO Challenge car. He wasn't at the track Friday, but had hired a pro driver and Ray Phillips (Precision Driving Analytics) to come out and get his car set up for him to drive over the weekend. On Friday, you had to have point bys to pass...which is obnoxious...but some of the cars testing, like me, were racecars and had windows or window nets so they couldn't point you by. Had a situation with one guy who stay way wide going into T3, and hit the brakes really early, I was assuming he was leaving the inside open for me to pass and couldn't point me by...so I took it, until he came down and almost took me out, so that was fun. I spoke with him afterwards, he never saw me. Case in point why those little 3" circular mirrors on the roll cages are worthless. Talked to the driver afterwards...when I approached him, he had no idea it even happened.
About 3 weeks ago, I ran a 1:37.51 in the same configuration. It was a record for all organizations that have run there, but since I did it during a Porsche Club Event, it didn't count for anything besides some high fives. So, Friday I was running just hard enough to get the brakes figured out, I think the fastest I ran was a 1:42.5. It was 50 degrees, 42/43 degree windchill and overcast all weekend, so that didn't help with tires, brakes or the track temperature. Saturday morning we went out, and I was surprised that my buddy wasn't there...but the pro driver was driving his car during competition. It was freezing in the morning and I couldn't put the power down any where. At lunch I was leading the event with a 1:39.55. First session after lunch the pro driver puts down a 1:36.873....they quickly went and registered him as a driver so his runs would count for competition.
I was pretty frustrated. Event registration is closed at the beginning of the event... but after that session, his name started showing up on the results/grid. I went home Saturday night, well to my son's soccer game, feeling pretty frustrated and discouraged. Not only did this dude beat me and set the official track record, but I felt a little slighted with how it all went down.
Sunday morning I come back to the track, open my garage and find that one of my airjacks blew a seal. So, lovely way to start the day. Seems like everything is going downhill. My buddy who owns the Ferrari was there and was going to drive.
Session 1:
Me: 1:38.525 ( I was DQ'd because on the second lap I blew a turn because my brakes weren't hot yet and went 3 off...so my time on lap #5 didn't count)
Him: 1:42.681
Session 2:
Me: 1:38.150 (I was DQ'd because I spun on the outlap haha so my lap time on #4 didn't count)
Him: 1:42.381
There were four sessions on Sunday, but I could only stay for the first three then had a couple of baseball games to make it to for my kiddo. I knew that coming out after lunch was my last shot, and with as shitty as my day had gone so far, I wasn't very hopeful. Normally on lap 2, I'm rolling and going for my best of the session before I hit traffic or tires get greasy...but I went back through my data over lunch and was seeing my tires and brakes weren't really coming in until lap 4. So I paced myself for a few laps, and sent it on 4 and ran a 1:38.08. I crossed the finish line, saw the time on my Catalyst and felt pretty good about it and figured I had one left. Well I went through T1 and T2 and look at my Garmin to see it lit up green (ahead of fastest lap of 1:37.51, and I was up .5 seconds! So I was full send at that point. I messed up Turn 5, and coming out of the Chicane, but other than that it was a pretty solid lap. I knew it was going to be close! I came around T14 and saw them waving the checkered flag, which meant the lap I was about to finish would be my last of the day/weekend/season. Well, I came across the line and my Garmin went blank for .5 seconds like it always does before it throws up the lap time...and then....BAM!
Session #3:
Me: 1:36.750
Him: 1:43.353
New overall OFFICIAL track record. Overall winning lap of the weekend. Beat the pro driver. Beat my personal best.
I was pumped! It made all of the other junk seem pretty minimal and definitely was a good way to close out the season. My 'trophy'/plaque is still a 2nd place trophy...since NASA does awards Saturday night, but the track record means more to me than a piece of plastic anyways.
After going over the data, on fresh tires (not 14 heat cycle'd Michelins), a clean lap, and more focus... I think my car is capable of mid 34s. ESPECIALLY after realizing when I was loading into the trailer that my splitter was angled at 1 degrees...UP, not down. So I was missing 20-30% of the downforce for turn in...no wonder it was pushing through T3, T7 and T10.
When I updated my Catalyst I somehow turned the recording sound off, so sorry it's silent... Pictures to come this week!
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