mySportsCar.com

posted by 2fass240us on Jun 24

Friday

I had an absolute blast this past weekend. I left Charlotte about 3:15 on Friday and arrived at the track about 4:45. Going was slow because I was finding my way around after not being there for almost 2 years, and the inability of SC drivers to go the speed limit. Next time I’m taking the bypass and circumventing as much stupidity and through-town towing as possible. One or two of the towns are particularly hilly, which doesn’t help at all. Once I arrived, I unloaded everything and my friend VK helped me install the SFI padding. I also met Stephen, another guy from the board and the current THSCC President.

Friday night VK, Stephen and I ate at a Greek pizza place in Camden with some other guys from the club. It was a lot of fun listening to stories, observing the local wild life, and eating. After that we headed back to the hotel and hung out in the room for a little while before retiring.

Saturday

We ate breakfast Saturday morning at the place behind the Colony Inn. Food was OK for the price, and the highlight was VK sticking his foot in his mouth after starting a lesbian joke. Once at the track, we started getting everything ready then attended the driver’s and instructor’s meetings. The club safety guy (Mark Cooper) rolled up shortly beforehand and I made arrangements for him to do the safety part of the tech inspection after we finished up the meeting.

I met my instructor, Bill Gratton, during the “meet & greet.” Bill seems like a nice guy, and ended up being a good instructor. I felt bad that the car was so loud as he was unable to talk to me even under partial throttle, despite trying throughout a lot of the first session. Most of the feedback I received was after the session, and was along the lines of braking, turn-in, line, and those types of things although I did get some feedback on keeping a little bit of distance and waving after I was by someone versus while I was passing them. There were only a few occasions (that I remember) of being too close to someone, and he said that people will give me a wave if they see me back there. Most did not however, including myself, I suppose because we were concentrating on driving. I did run into a few people who were bad about giving the signal, but most were very courteous and track-conscious.

Mark came to look at the cage in the morning and I told him the whole thing was done in 1.75 x 0.095, which was a problem because the rules call for the main hoop to be 0.120″. I drilled an inspection hole in the main hoop and found out that my fear came true: the hoop was 0.095″ wall. Mark talked to my instructor and decided to let me run the weekend, but told me I would need to get it fixed. Later that weekend he showed me the rules, but I cannot seem to find anything in the 2008 SCCA GCR other than the overall tubing diameter (section 9.4.F). There is nothing specific about the main hoop being a different thickness in 9.4.B. Upon further investigation, it seems like I might be OK, but I need to ask around more.

Sessions 1 and 2 were mainly learning the track and feeling out where I needed to pick up more speed. I was signed off after the second and thought I did well on the third. I didn’t mind soloing because I think I can still learn from a lot, and actually saw Bill trailing me for a couple of laps to observe outside the car. He mentioned having trouble keeping up because of his brakes, but he might’ve just said that to be nice because he felt fast around the course from when I rode with him earlier that day. He has a mostly-stock black FD with bronze FN01RC’s and it’s a nice-looking car (and FAST for stock!). Apparently it was campaigned in One Lap by a friend of his who was having multiples and needed to clean out the stable.

I went to the skidpad later in the day, and Stephen was nice enough to take some footage outside of the fence. I really enjoyed it, and got some good practice opening the wheel to correct understeer which I was causing a lot of in the new parts of the course. The fun part was counter-steering to pull the car out of an oversteer situation though, but I wasn’t good enough to do it repeatedly. I will link some video when I manage to get it uploaded. We ate at The Armory in Camden that night with the same crew from Friday night plus some guys at the other end of the table I never got a chance to talk to. The food was flippin awesome for the price and we probably had a better time than even at the Greek place. On the way, Stephen and I stopped at the AutoZone for pads, which was comical considering the “small town” employee and trying to find pads for an early 90’s import. It was back to the hotel and (relatively) promptly to bed afterwards.

Sunday

First session was for Instructors, and I let VK take me out in my car which is always fun. It seems that I am a “show me” guy as I learned more go-fast tidbits from riding with VK than I did the prior instruction in both car and classroom. At least it felt like it. I picked up a TON of speed in the Kink, 8, and 4/5. I became much better at 4/5/6/7 by the end of the weekend, but still stuggled with 12/13 because of understeer and lack of grip. Bill rode with me for the first half of Session 1, I soloed for Session 2, then VK rode with me on Session 3. I think VK, me, and the car have developed a “good enough” communication style because of the noise, and his hand signals were helping a lot in the third session. I packed up between the second and third sessions, and was able to leave the track around 4:15. I tried to buy a track t-shirt, but they were out of my size and I was promptly on my way. The drive home was uneventful despite running into more people unable to drive the speed limit, but passing people with a car & trailer can be fun if done safely.

Overall

I learned a ton and had a great time. I enjoyed spending time on track with Stephen and having VK instruct another Intermediate student as it was two more sets of eyes and experiences that I could use toward becoming a better driver. I found myself wanting to stay out there as long as I could with the exception of one session where I was starting to get some gear noise (see #6 below). I did get a few chances to pass off-line coming into a turn, which was great practice considering it’s done all the time in higher run groups. In fact, I may try to work on more of this at the next event.
The car continues to perform as expected with no major issues. I didn’t get any leaking transmission fluid this time, which black-flagged me twice at VIR last October, and think I have that problem licked. That being said, there’s still room for mechanical improvement:

1. Oil temp is at 230-250°F with 90°F off-track ambient temps. The only thing I lack is the lines to hook everything up, and getting it all on the car. I will be working toward this before my next event, as it will be even hotter in August.

2. Brakes, brakes, brakes. I think I’ll finish out the season with what I have (assuming it looks OK), but definitely need some work here next season. I’m thinking 30mm aluminum 300ZX, the rears to complete the set, and 17/16 master cylinder. Right now I’m leaning toward a relatively tame pad since I don’t have r-comps, but will probably go ahead and add brake ducting to be safe.

3. Figure out a way to remove the excessive toe-in in the rear. The Firestone people were unable to get it out, and I think this is one of the main reasons the car is pushing (at least as far as I understand vehicle dynamics).

4. The rollbar issue, if I can find the part in the 2008 GCR. If the main hoop has to be redone, I may try getting the harness bar moved backward to give me a little more room in that direction. For now it seems I am OK, but I need to gather a little more input before deciding whether or not I need to call Zuffenhaus.

5. Seating position / steering wheel placement. I am currently sitting fairly close to the pedals and wheel, the latter of which can be adjusted with a low-profile hub adapter, non-dished wheel, or both. Despite sitting closer than I might like, it helps me crank on it harder, which is particularly nice since I eliminated power steering. While it’s slightly painful to the side of my foot, I have no trouble heel-toeing.

6. Gear noise when the car is smokin hot. I had this for both events last year and this one. Coming off track, I get a lot of gear noise until I’m able to drive the car around a little and cool it off. I think it may be the transmission fluid thinning out and the transmission making more noise, but I’m not sure. It could also be coming from the differential.

7. R-comps, maybe. Depending on tire wear with the Hankooks after this weekend, I may start hunting around for some used ones. I’m concerned that I’m not skilled enough to warrant them, but could be swayed. As a data point, I didn’t feel like the lack of grip hindered me either time last year at VIR-F nearly as much as it did this past weekend at CMP.

8. More power. This has been at the bottom of my list for longer than I can remember, as I have a TON of things to work out first. That being said, it would be nice to have more power for passing, or to catch the types of cars that are leaving me in the straights after being tailed through the curves while I wait for a passing zone.