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Thanks Ed, Aaron and sponsors for another awesome event!
I showed up to the track with NT01 tires with 6 track days on them. I was a bit worried if they would last till the end of the day when the Time Attack was scheduled. Second session, I did a 2:05.9. During the third session, I did a huge drift on Riverside going 90+mph, so I pulled in early and found that the rear tires had corded.
I figured that was the end of my day, until Si told me he saw a couple of 255 NT01s sitting in the lobby area, which most likely belonged to Aaron. Aaron Bitterman was nice enough to let me borrow these tires, so I took them to the tire shop to have them mounted.
Unfortunately, my fronts were about to cord as well, so when I went out for my 4th session, my car was understeering like crazy and I couldn't feel what the front end of my car was doing. Best I could do that session was a 2:10 or so. William suggested I dial the wing angle back to bring back the balance, so I dialed in about 1.5 degrees of positive angle (front of the wing pointed up), but on a surface that made my car roll forward, so it was probably much more than +1.5, closer to 5 probably. (Maybe I should have removed the wing altogether to help me in PAX position )
I went out again on the 5th and final session, and the car was bearable in the slower stuff, but now it was really loose and floaty from the entire section from Riverside to Sweeper. The best I could do that session was a 2:08. I decided not to mess with it any more, and did the Time Attack as is. William was running 2:05s and 2:06s all day, and he was on much newer front tires, so I figured I had lost to him.
During the Time Attack session, both my laps were a bit tainted because the driver in front of me kept kicking up huge dust clouds that made me lift momentarily until I was sure it was safe. I think he was disqualified for that reason.
It was a frustrating and scary day driving on old R-comps, so I've learned my lesson. When the holes disappear, it's time to get new tires. Since I was able to do a 2:05.9 on old, cording NT01, I think high 2:04 isn't impossible with new NT01 (as Emilio demonstrated).
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