shiv

Lol maybe 100 km/h ! I agree though that setup will play a big part. That being said, once I found the line that i liked I was going into the corner at approx 78 mph. Once I was about 2 car lengths or so away from the cone on the right I opened up the throttle and held it there, let the car track out slightly over the rumble strips and away I went. Now when my ego got the better of me and thought I could catch a gtr (LOL) and the spec Miata, I flew into the corner at about 84 mph. The car seemed to be okay initially, but the slightest touch of the throttle and the back wasn't having it. So low 80's with the rs3 tires I have on it definitely seems doable.

Edit: I'm also running stock suspension, and stock alignment as well. But 225 front section, and 245 rear section rs3's

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^ As I said "some of it is the driver"

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So let's talk fuel consumption. I seemed to use close to 7 gallons for 2 runs.

If I did not fill up I'd probably have stalled on track during the last session. Anyone else figure out how much fuel they use?

mswitz88

First off, thanks for setting this up Aashish! I am so addicted now it's not even funny! I really enjoyed meeting everyone and getting advice from you guys! I definitely learned the driver was the slowest part of my equation. I learned a ton both about my driving and about the car. As I realized how far from the limits I really am when my instructor took the car in session 4 and passed the Ariel Atom in it, all while complaining how much my brakes sucked . And on the brakes note, I quickly discovered yesterday that a brand new set of Project Mu NS400's were not capable of handling the braking needs of Watkins Glen (even for a rookie like me) so dedicated track pads will be in order for next year! After session 3, the rears came in smoking and a quick shot with the infrared thermometer put the rotors at 780F and considering the pads are only rated to 750F, they were definitely pretty mushy and unhappy with me. Other than that, the car was much more capable than the driver so I have plenty of room for improvement. I didn't have a lap timer and my borrowed gopro only recorded sessions 1 & 3 where my rough lap times were 2:00 and 1:49, respectively. After switching instructors in the 4th sessions, I was MUCH quicker but since I don't have footage (or lap times), I can't tell by how much. In the last session I passed a lot of cars that lapped me in the first 2 sessions and kept pace with a 350Z which lapped me twice in the first session so there was definitely massive improvements. I need to really work on my downshifting since for the better part of the day, I was either running in 4th gear around the whole track or only shifting down AFTER the corner exits . Considering I only had maybe a dozen drives in a manual car under my belt at that point, it could have been worse. Out of pure embarrassment, I will refrain from posting videos but I had tons of fun and learned a lot so that's all that matters to me! I look forward to doing this again next year!

Hello! My name is Matt and I have an addiction...

mswitz88

I was completely full when I pulled it off the trailer in the morning and ran out of gas going into the bus stop on the last lap of session 4. I probably got better mileage than most though because for sessions 1 & 2, I never really left 4th gear so I was running much lower RPMs than normal. My trip meter read 137 miles at the end of the day so ballpark 10 MPG. I think I had about 2/3rds of a tank at the beginning of session 3 when I started using 3rd gear more and the tank really drained on session 4 when I started downshifting in braking zones like you are supposed to.

On a side note, I am not able to heel-toe downshift yet but my instructor for session 4 said I didn't need to rev match. Instead he was having me brake-clutch in-downshift-ease out of clutch- turn in. While this technique of not rev matching seemed to work fine, I can imagine it's tough on the clutch and syncros. Anyone have input as to whether I should be avoiding this technique? I realize re-matching is more ideal and I will work my way up to doing that but for the time being this seemed to be functional. The instructor went on to claim he never rev-matches in his race cars and also a bunch of reasons why rev matching is counter-productive and that he's never had a problem. That doesn't tell me, however, whether or not he had to rebuild his transmissions and clutches every couple races. Any input would be appreciated.

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I missed seeing Lisa, Anne & Paul this year.

Paul was there in spirit sending encouraging texts all through the day. He said I should be shouldering some of Greg's load, but it seemed like everyone did very well and did not need any hand holding.

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Matt - no shame in being slow. FWIW I stayed in 4th for my entire first track day and part of the 2nd.

Keep in mind you are first trying to build the skills of driving a consistent line and keeping your eyes up. Speed will come so don't worry about it too much. Just accept that no matter how fast you get there will always be a faster driver. And you will learn from everyone regardless of the class they are in. Post up your video. You will likely get a good critique.

Glad you are hooked. Thank you for coming and thanks for dragging Alex along as well and for the hot dogs.

Next year you need to sign up for 2 days. Also in addition to Watkins Glen, you guys are close to Mid-Ohio as well. See if NASA has an event there that works for you. The key to improve is seat time and get as much as you can.

toplessPolak

I did all 4 sessions on one tank of fuel. On the last session it was showin a little over half. By the time I got off I had a 1/4 tank

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Wow! You got in all 4 sessions on one tank full as fast as you were going. Good job

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Dear Mr. Jeff - I can split the cost of whatever track time photos will charge you. Let me know.