Thunderhill One Lap In Car Video
 

Hello All,

Here is my thunderhill video.

I welcome your comments and suggestions to become a faster driver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJuwuZPR1WM

Nice video. I love how you were right on that Porsche's a$$ :)

Thanks for sharing the video. I haven't driven T'hill so I can't comment on your driving but I want to make a couple of comments about doing in-car videos. Mounting the camcorder high is good in that it gives you a "faster" feel but then the rearview mirror is blocking the front view. If you could lower the mounting for the camcorder that'd be better. Also if your camcorder supports it, hook up a pair of external mics and stick them behind the dash cover on the passenger side (close to the interior fan) and they'll pick up more intake sound than wind noise. Check out my in-car video for comparison.

Regarding slower car not letting faster car by, I absolutely hate it on a track day. Sadly, the "slower" cars in most cases are often P-cars.

He was never really close enough to pass

Thanks for your suggestions, Race Miata. What camera mount are you using? Your camera mounting point is much lower than mine. Nice Video, BTW. I am currently using a Ztec camera mount, and it isn't height adjustable. Also, it is nice that you could record the engine sound, but my video camera doesn't support an external mic. All it records is the wind noise :banghead:

PR has so many trees (we don't see these in CA :D ), and from the video it seems there is little run-off in the corners :eek3: (and can't see any safety barriers though I presume it's just because of the poor resolution). Nice flowing track with elevation changes, and nice driving (and missing that cone in mid-track) :thumbup: .

I been to PR twice and it was raining both times.

I really like the track but the surface condition isn't the best and they are very strict with passing zones and turn-in points, etc.

PR is just like my back yard road.. hwy 9, etc. :D

You were flying even in the wet. Looking foward to see/hear what you could do in the dry. :thumbup:

Though not a world-class race track, PR is more like a miniature of the Ring -- the bumps and dips, change in banking/gradient mid-corner, trees, massive elevation changes, little runoffs (no Richard, it's not just perspective from my footage), long straightaway, flat-out high speed corners. Quite a challenging track.

Proformance Race School (whose track days I go to) is indeed strict on turn-in points. Richard, the cone lying in the middle of the track was part of the gate limiting our turn-in line. Somebody went too close and took it down.

[QUOTE=smile,May 30 2006, 09:57 AM]Thanks for your suggestions, Race Miata.

Smile, your line looks pretty good to me. It's hard to tell from the video how well the car is balanced, with regard to understeer and oversteer, but I'd suspect you're going to need to do a little suspension tuning to get your new pieces dialed in.

It looks to be like you're overbraking a little for turn 1, and maybe turning in just a heartbeat too early. I'd try turning in just a little later, with incremental speed increases, and then experiment with tunring in as early as you were in the video.

Your line through 2-8 looks great, at least from what I can see in the video.

With 9, you might want to try moving your braking point 10 feet earlier, but I don't say this to get you to go through the corner slower. If you can get on the gas 10 feet earlier, your car will have more time to accelerate through the turn-in, and your exit speed will be a little higher. 9 is a corner where you don't want the car unsettled at the turn-in, but you can carry a lot of speed out of. The car should be thrown all the way to the outside berm. If you get your braking done sooner, and then get on the gas sooner, I think you'll see an improvement in your lap times. I consciously think about starting my braking at the 3 brake marker, and then being flat on the gas again by the 1 brake marker.

You look like you're turning in to 10 just a little too early. It's not a crucial corner, since you're braking again so soon for 11, but you can carry a lot of speed through it if you get the line right. Ideally, the car's kind of out of control at the exit of 10, but then all you need to do is brake for 11, giving up some of your turn 11 entry speed in order to maximize your exit.

At turn 15, I'd like to see you turn in a little later, also. It's really important to get on the gas as soon as possible for 15, and early apexing it can kill you this way.

But all of these points are kind of quibbles. By and large, your line looks very good to me.

I don't know if it will help, much, but here's a clip of my car running the same configuration. Disclaimer: my car isn't an S2000.