Like I said, I can see 2nd in 3. I just don't LIKE it. Not because it's not fast, but I just don't like turn 3. I am always convinced I am gonna lose it there.

I can also see being intimidated by 11.

 

Hmm, I double down on that Saini story. He rode with me on my second time at that track and gave me crap for grabbing 2nd anywhere.

And so this is how urban myths grow.

I cannot see grabbing 2nd in 3, you'd have to be upshfting right around the apex.

Jeggy and anyone else, remember that if you spin on throttle oversteer in turn 11, keep your foot in it. You'll spin to the inside of the track. Saved my bacon once.

 

I did the same, except I would just hit the rev limiter coming into 5. I didn't see a benefit of upshifting with the speed I was carrying.

Conclusion - Someone buy me tires.

 

B Serious, can you street drive the 10/8 Carbotech setup? Ideally I would like to throw in some pads I can run on the street too. I don't really care if they eat rotors or not, I'm just too lazy to swap pads at the track. I'm a run what ya brung kinda guy. Feel free to chime in guys on this topic.

 

Yeah...you can....err...sorta.

My car's not my DD, so I don't really care about a lot of practicality.

They don't make any noise anymore and there's no excessive dust after the track event. While breaking them in, they were very loud and very dusty.

It's not recommended to use them on the street since their cold performance isn't "street safe", but I've never really had an issue.

I also never drive the car in the winter...so not sure how that would work out. You do have to take them to the track to get them to stop acting a fool, though.

Before I took them to the track, they were loud as hell and dusty to the point where after 25 miles, my wheels looked black instead of gold...very little exaggeration there. They also engaged ABS with BARELY any pedal pressure. It was like a brake on/off switch. Very annoying.

They're good now, though.

 

Hmmm...grabbing dirt is an interesting way to go for 3...maybe I'll try it at a dry test and tune.

Harry - your turn 10 makes a lot of sense and I think I'll try it next time. I think my current method is diving deeper at location 3 and turning earlier for location 4. So I kind of make a 90* turn with the corner between 3 and 4. That makes me turn in too abruptly even though I'm hitting the apex every time. Frustrating since it's the most important turn on the track.

SimpleMan - I was using Carbotech XP10/XP8 for track pads for a while. They will dust like crazy and are a bit noisey. Do you daily drive your s or occasional drive. One option would be to go XP8 all around for daily. Then when you go to the track, you just have to switch out the fronts. I did that last year with a Cobalt setup.

 

Good idea pat, I might just do that

hecash, I use the EXACT same line for 10 as you. I agree it works well. I get to use 4th for a good bit before 11.

I have a lot of trouble finding a good line through 5-6 in the S2K. Being that 6 is off-camber really throws my mind off too going in. With the Mr2t I would trail brake and cut in, then pedal down right at the apex. Wasn't working too hot with my 225's on the front of the S, it would go wide

 

Never got Jason's 'grab the dirt' technique. I tried it at Laguna Seca (my avatar) but they black flagged me for it

Simpleman, you're saying that you're understeering on exit to 6 ? If so, I'd that you could either trail-brake it more (though you seem to have tried that) or you're turning in a tad too early.

Or get Harry to instruct you or draw it out as his communication skills are much better and more practiced than mine

 

For the most part, I agree. But, there did seem to be some brief moments where I was not in VTEC in 3rd (like turn three) and if I'm not in VTEC, then I could be in a lower gear. On the other hand, I think I have a pretty good natural instinct regarding what gear to be in, and without thinking about it, I never shifted into 2nd.

 

I ran my XP10/XP8 combo all last summer. There is dust embedded into my wheels that I can't get out now. If you leave the pads on, you have GOT to stay on top of keeping the wheels clean. (If you care about the wheels.) I did two track days with those brake pads, and about 4,000mi on the street, when I finally got around to changing them out, they were pretty much gone. I would have expected 4 track days out of the set at a minimum, possibly 5 depending on the tracks. So the street use did seriously impact the life of the pads.

It was summer, so the pads never got below ~70 deg, but the heat range for XP10's is way above 70deg. They always grabbed on the street, and even just pulling out of the driveway would grab harder than OEM pads. I believe they can be safely driven on the street, but the wear is an issue on pads that cost so much (relative to OEM or ceramic street pads.)