[GT3]

Originally Posted by BMAN

Enjoyed the weekend too. It was great to see everyone.

Really? You were there? I did not see a Cup car pass me nor a turbine wiz by on the straights.

[tbernard]

I came down with a stomach bug Friday night. On Saturday, I was really out of it, just going thru the motions. I started out on Sunday feeling better, but got a bit nauseous during the second session, so I packed it in for the weekend. I don't get car sick.

Highlight of the weekend was catching Brian and getting a point by, while feeling crappy.

Good seeing everyone.

[tbernard]

Originally Posted by forklift

Special props (and thanks ) to Vicegrip for his parallel parking skills.

Here's VG showing off those parking skills.

http://files.me.com/toddb993/vsxk1p.mov

[ausgeflippt951]

Wish I had gotten some video. My camera was even hooked up and ready to go but the battery died. It was tough to get a feel for an accurate lap time, given the traffic in Green group and the limited passing areas. I did get a couple effectively trouble-free laps though, and my timer put me in the 1:32's. There are a couple/few seconds I know I can pull off of that time right off the bat, given that I was generally backing off once I would hit 128-130mph (which would be around the start/finish or so) and was probably only braking ~70% into T1. The few times I really wrung it out I was able to hit 143mph before needing to brake. I was also taking T9 pretty conservatively, given the White group's earlier mishap.


Given it was my first time at SP, I didn't want to focus on lap times. Instead, I wanted to focus on (a) learning the line, (b) consistently hitting the line correctly lap after lap -- regardless of pace -- and (c) internalizing the various nuances of the track (e.g., where the pavement changes, or the 'hump' exiting T9, or the uneven braking zone into T10).

I'm very excited for the next SP event. I'm pleased with my performance. Next time around I may actually focus on lap times.

[ausgeflippt951]

Originally Posted by tbernard

Here's VG showing off those parking skills.

http://files.me.com/toddb993/vsxk1p.mov

Wow that's interesting. He rotated to the left as opposed to the right. What did I miss? Was that the result of trail brake oversteer? Maybe I just need to chock it up to the craziness of 911 weight distribution...

Never driven an old 911 on the track before, but I know my car would've rotated right (i.e., backend would've stepped out wide) under the presence of trail brake oversteer.

Got any in-car footage? It'd help me conceptualize if I could see how the driver reacted.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by tbernard

Here's VG showing off those parking skills.

http://files.me.com/toddb993/vsxk1p.mov

Impressive!

[tbernard]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Impressive!

Here's your cyclone.

https://files.me.com/toddb993/nbqfu8.mov

Clean the car out yet?

[BMAN]

Originally Posted by forklift

...one of the laps on Friday resulted in the best times of the weekend trying to keep up

I had fun chasing you Friday too! I think those were some of my better laps, also trying to keep up, but my camera failed to record ALL DAY I wasn't satisfied hanging with you, I wanted to go faster So I changed the shocks and sways (for the 3rd time that day), ended up spinning and then drove like a sissy for the rest of the weekend

Originally Posted by GT3

Really? You were there?

^^^

Originally Posted by tbernard

Highlight of the weekend was catching Brian and getting a point by, while feeling crappy.

Why you gotta tell everyone?

[Vicegrip]

Originally Posted by ausgeflippt951

Wow that's interesting. He rotated to the left as opposed to the right. What did I miss? Was that the result of trail brake oversteer? Maybe I just need to chock it up to the craziness of 911 weight distribution...

Never driven an old 911 on the track before, but I know my car would've rotated right (i.e., backend would've stepped out wide) under the presence of trail brake oversteer.

Got any in-car footage? It'd help me conceptualize if I could see how the driver reacted.

I will post up a set of in car and other cars videos of this little spin soon. Am waiting for the pro shot stills to come in. Stills and video are a hoot.
Snap spin due to Drover treating car as if it had 100% full braking and proper brake bias. Was in straight line braking at the time, the car picked the spin direction. Way too much rear bias due to a fresh unbedded in set of front pads and I put the car in a situation where I needed near 100% braking. My fault for over driving the car's mechanical condition and I thank the other drivers for not hitting me.

[Eric S]

When heading up to the grid for the last session on Saturday (the laugh-out-loud session described below), I rolled up to Jim E in the paddock and he wanted to grid together so I pulled over and waited. Then I saw that Bob was still getting situated, so we waited a little more. Finally we all made it to the grid with me in about position 5 of the first line and just in time for the realization that they called us early and we still had about 10 minutes before our session.

As it is wont to do, my mind started wondering and thinking of one particular ex-hoped-to-be-girlfriend, so I tried to shake it off and visualize driving. I started a deep breathing/focusing technique that also happens to be a good relaxation technique; has anyone else found that muffled engine vibrations, a secure harness and your head leaning forward into the HANS gives the sensation of suspended floating and makes for a fantastically comfortable POWER NAP? I fell asleep on the grid!!!! Next thing I know there is a terrible racket and lots of loud engines – I was startled awake and opened my eyes to see the cars in front me pulling away and the steward frantically waving me on. Rushing to gather myself I promptly stalled the car; by the time I got it restarted, the steward held up our line and let the entire second line go out ahead of us! My apologies to anyone in the first line that got held up, but it was fuch’n hilarious!

Eric

Originally Posted by Eric S

Great seeing everyone, car ran well (except for a last session DNF - more later), and had a really good student. On Friday had lots of fun running with Jim E and Bob M; in the last session Bob and I were making lots of passes, some induced by "creative signals", like moving track right and giving the signal to the left entering T1. The only limitation was that in that session White was combined with Red/Black so we were restricted to White passing zones.

In the last session Saturday Jim Bob and I were performing multiple leapfrog passes with three cars, then Bob and I took it to a whole new level. We passed several times each lap, and in total we made passes in every corner and every straight except 7-8! The highlights were a pass at the apex of T8 after having given Bob a pass between 6-7, and we once passed three times between the brake zone and the exit of Turn 1 (I gave Bob a late pass under braking; he moved left and pointed me to the apex, I took it but he knew my line was compromised so he dove underneath and I gave him the pass just after apex)! I have never literally laughed out loud while I was driving on track before; pure on-track gold!

DNF: Was shifting to 4th after Turn 3 and something broke in the shift linkage; found a spot to get out of the way to the right of T5 until they could tow me over to the tub at Carousel so that they didn't have to black flag the session. Turns out I snapped the stud of the shift fork that mounts to the shifter and holds the end of the forward shift rod. If that is all it is, then it is an inexpensive fix and it happened on the session of the last day, so I'll count my blessing - it could have been a lot worse.

Eric