I attended my last DE event (FATT) of the year yesterday at Summit Point in West VA. It was just about 70 degrees (unusual for late November)

This was my 3rd this year and first in completely dry conditions

I was bumped to the group 2 class at the last event so I got to run with the faster drivers. A lot more agressive class and there was some stuborness as some didnt want to wave you by.

I had a interesting moment when going from turn 9 up to 10, the car on left waves me by on the right and the car on the right was hand up going into the pits, just enough room to squeeze by in the middle, brake hit the apex and onto the main straight, my instructor was not amused. Hey ever drive on the DC beltway? no problem

On the first run 3 laps into it someone parked it into the tire barrier and the session was black-flagged.

Run 2, I wanted to try out my new driving shoes (wrestling shoes) and found out I can't heel and toe with them and had a hard time shifting (a few missed shifts) and poor braking. Even with those problems I was able to achieve some laps times in the 1:36 range. I had too much tire pressure (tires were 45 PSI hot) and the tires got greasy half way through the session

Run 3, with lowered tire pressures (still got greasy at the end) and my regular shoes I could not heel n toe better and downshift better. Didn

 

GFactor,
Sound like perfect conditions. I have trouble heel/toe shifting in wrestling shoes too (it's easy with work shoes with some heel to them). I found that running rears at 32-33 and front at 35-36 worked best for me in terms of traction, a little higher and absolute grip is diminished somewhat but the car is more predictible. I have never even hit 120 (well maybe a few times but often end up with 115 to 118) on the straightaway. I think it is a function of gearing and the charcteristics of turn 10. 3rd gear runs out of steam but 4th gear is way to high since exit speed is in the 80s/90s. I guess if you could get through the turn with more speed (r compounds and bigger balls) than 4th might work. Oh, using all of the track will help too (certainly on turn 10). Sounds fun.

 

I find with narrower shoes you actually have to heel toe, meaning lifting your heel up and stabbing the gas with it not just rolling your foot over

Try that...

 

Yeah, I need to work on it more, its just that I cant seem drive on the street in a similar fashion to track driving.

I just need to attend more events next year.

George

 

Hey Pete,

I went and checked my cold pressure a day after the track event and after adjusting the hot pressure to 39 R and 40 front, they were all around 29-30 PSI cold. I guess I can use that as a better place to start out

Going into 10 I really didnt need to brake that hard to blip into 3rd, but carrying enough speed in 4th will take a leap. I did have turn 4 nailed pretty good however hitting 85 pretty consistently. No braking after 3 just breathing the throttle a little

R compound tires are in the budget for next year, maybe a new clutch as my throw-out bearing is making noise now. I am also considering a gearing change however to 4.56s.

George





[QUOTE]Originally posted by TubeDriver
GFactor,
Sound like perfect conditions.

 

group 2 is way worse when it comes to following the rules. I almost got outbraked into turn 10 by an instructor in a porsche...i had just completed my pass of a car and he was at my door...... at some point we were given the black flag....just then a guy in a full race GT2 porsche (older 993 version) passed about 8 cars with no signals down the main front....everyone was inching out to see what was going on and this dipshit goes screaming past......

good to hear you had fun.... how were you timing the laps? how did you get paint chips?

O ya.... the black flag we got was for some retard who drove his 3 rotor rx7 convertible into the enbankment in turn 2 (he went off then came back across......)..... whatever happened to "both feat in".

 

Oh, I hear ya there... The little stones coming off of hot R-compounds as you are behind someone doing 100mpg leave a very nasty dent in the plastic front clip too.

The thing that scares me more, but is far less serious are the huge black marks I get from hitting the flying chunks of tire snot. They show

Out of curiosity, what part of your foot do you have on the break pedal? I have found if I'm not on the right hand edge of the brake my foot is too far from the gas and that makes heal-toe difficult. I wear a thin sole driving shoe and actually step on the brake with my foot already on an angle, then to blip the gas all I'm actually doing is pushing my knee to the center console, which in turn rolls my foot and gets the gas with the side of my foot. Easy to do, hard to explain... Bottom line, lots of practice till you find something that feels good to you. Good luck.

 

I did prefer group 1 where I was able to catch and pass everyone else and didnt have to check my mirrors. During the drivers meeting the instructor said they were thinking about alowing some of the solo drivers to drive in group 1 since group 2 was always pretty packed.

A friend got some lap times with a stop watch, I have a Mycron timer from my Racebike but I wasnt sure anyone had a beacon set up for timing.

The paint chips are from R tires spitting up rocks, some are halfway up the hood, so even If i put that 3m stuff on, I would still have them...sigh...It's a price to pay for driving on the track

George




[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scot
group 2 is way worse when it comes to following the rules.

 

I just roll the right side of the shoe over, that seems the most natural to me, I just can't get it right with the flat soled shoes. No biggie, I am glad I didnt buy real race shoes.