Well, I went to Mid Ohio a couple weekends ago to get some practice in and a feel for the track before next year's Redline Time Attack event there. The track is very fast (a friend riding along said I was going 129mph on the back straight before the braking zone. ) but still has some fun sections to it. I guess I am spoiled by Shenandoah Circuit.

Anyway, here's a video for all you fans. Feel free to point out problems with my driving (I know I have some).

Note: During the HC race before this video, a car blew the motor and spilled oil at the back straight which is why I was staying to the right and turning in early...I was braking around the second set of cones when pushing it a little earlier in the day.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1...520166712&hl=en

Thanks for the comments.

BTW, the Evo in front of me was on 255/35/18 Pirelli Corsa's (I was on 255/40/17 Azenis), stock turbo with bolt ons, don't know the suspension mods. Had a nice Varis diffuser, too.

-Andrew

 

A few tips...

1) You can turn in earlier and use a lot of track on the exit of 1 because of the camber in the track. If you're going fast, it's natural to use the access road on the right at the exit.

2) Don't lift before turn 3 and downshift for turn 3 it's 3rd gear easily not 4th

3) Keyhole is a 2nd gear corner in my 2.0L car with 2.2 transmission. With street tires, you should easily be able to do it in 2nd.

4) Use more track on the corner after the back straight's exit. The S2000 doesn't need any help getting over madness so there's no need for an abreviated exit to get back right. It's unlikely you were actually going 129mph unless you've got a ton of power for an S2000 and you've got a F/D change - 120-124 is probably your actual speed unless you have GPS data.

5) In the S2000, you shouldn't have to lift in turn 10

6) Carousel is 2nd gear also.

Your line looks mostly good though! What times were you running? 1:47-1:49? I did a 45.1 there in June and the track should be faster now from what I've heard because of pavement running in and the curbs being cut down.

 

2) I was concerned about upsetting the car so I left it in fourth so I could be more aggresive with the throttle.

3) I did the keyhole exit onto the back straight in 3rd. (you can hear VTEC at 6000rpm during track out), if I did it in second I would hit the rev limiter on corner exit.

I have a 4.44 FD. My mod list is linked in my sig.

4) I was staying right because of the oil spil on the left side of the track. You can sorta see the oil dry dust in the video. The 129mph was as observed by a ride along.

5) I am not sure which part you are talking about, is it just before the down hill turn after the carousel? I lifted kind of early for that to stay off the rev limiter.

I don't know a lot of the turn names/numbers, but I think I am following everything. Thanks for the help!

 

Here's my 0.02

As said above your driving style looks great, very relaxed with clean inputs and nice lines.

I noticed you turned in with authority, but really did not have the corner exit speeds the car is capable of. On a course like mid-ohio with tight turns and longish straights your corner exit really counts for a great deal on your overall time.

The video is pretty short but I came up with 2 possibilities on how you might get some more time back:

1. A few times you appeared to get loose on corner exits, if this is the case you might want to tune this out of the shocks for similar courses.

2. You may be putting too much emphasis on turn in. By doing this the car generally is not planted sufficiently to really start putting down the power mid corner.

 

makes sense, the rear ride height is too high, so I get a lot of oversteer on corner exit, I will be lowering the rear before my next event.

 

Shoot I was there in July, but had a wedding to attend for the Aug NASA weekend. Shame we missed each other. I don't have sound right now, so it's hard to hear when your braking etc.

I ran a 1:44 there in july (with the chicane). My goal for nationals next month is a 1:42 (again with chicane) in my TTD S2000. I'm thinking my car is about as fast as a SCCA T2 s2000, so low 40's on the club course is pretty fast!

btw I'm going to selling Speedtech T-shirts and Polo's to offset some of my cost for Nationals and getting shirts made up. Stay tuned...

 

Andrew,

We didn't actually meet, but I was the guy with the Sebring AP1 right at the corner of the skid pad lot. I think you drove by and said "Hi", while I was bleeding the brakes.

Any way, the car looks nice.

Dan

 

Yeah, that probably was me. Sorry I didn't get a chance to actually stop.

Thanks, though.

-Andrew

 

My speedometer read 125 on the back straight in my unmodified '01 with the top down, so I don't have much trouble believing 129 in a modified car with the top up.

 

Peak GPS datalogger speed in the T2 S2000 was 122mph. That was 2.0L with stock 2.0L tranny.