Summit Point Main Track

[DaveL20]

Could they have screwed up Summit any worse than it is currently?

Man that thing is coming up big time in a ton of places.

[armitage]

Yea, I was looking forward to driving on the new pavement for the first time this weekend. Big disappointment with having to take weird lines around half the corners to avoid washboard potholes

[DaveL20]

I was 3 seconds slower on my fastest laps than November when the track was first paved trying to find a line that would work and not wash out to badly.

5,6, and 7 were terrible to try and find a "smooth" way through.

[Gonz]

I was two seconds faster than in October, which was just after they repaved. However, I had all winter to get the car sorted out and and better prepared for this event. Having a more predictable handling allowed me to drive better.

I looked at the race results in CMC & CMC2, & it didn't seem to have a big impact on the lap times compared to last year.

However, several people in class were complaining about it. Probably the guys with coilovers or stiff "race type" suspensions.

Anyway, they definitely need to patch it up or it will just get worse. In my videos (see the other thread) you can see some of the ruts that developed. You can also in T5 where some "gravel" is picked up by the lead car and bounces off the camera lens

[DaveL20]

This picture is the best I can find to show how choppy it was. This is turn 6

[Gonz]

Looks like that Mustang is aiming for the worst of it with his loaded side tire. There is plenty of room to put the right tire against the curbing & not notice the bumps. Or it could be straddled, or put the unloaded tire on it.

perhaps it's not the fastest way around, but for me I wasn't racing, and it's an opportunity to learn another way around the track. They had a 12 hour race the weekend before and some of the bumps developed.

Still it's not bad like autocrossing at Rosecroft or Harry Grove where every body's car bottoms out on the drainage channel running through it.

Here's my video from last session ( 5:30 PM sunday,) you can "See bumps" but you don't actually feel them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw5Q7nkt ... re=related

I'm going back to SUmmit on July 11. If the bumps are still there, at least now I know a way around them

[DaveL20]

Here is my video.

For some reason the only place I could never really find a comfortable spot to get around was turn 5. I missed the rest of them for the most part.

[Gonz]

cool. I'll have to check that video out. My younger brother was driving a black 4 door 325i in your group.

I'm sure you passed him once or twice


Rgarding the pavement. We did have one driver in our group who shreaded his front tires ( HOOSIERs) because of braking/sliding across the bad pavement. On Sunday he had to run on his street tires.
He wasn't too happy about tearing up the Hoosiers.

[DaveL20]

I know the guys from RRT.

They wore out a set of slicks to the cord on the rears also. Took a patch as big as your hand out of the center of the tires.

[DaveL20]

I have a video that I will put together tonight of the aftermath of the guy upside down also.

I was 2 cars behind that. You brother may have been right in front of me when that one happened and I glad we were a little slow through 1, 2 and 3 on that or we would have probably been right in the middle of it.

[Gonz]

Here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBPfm4RiGEo

[1M3ANM3]

Here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBPfm4RiGEo

I've watched that crash like five times and I cringe every time he smacks the tire wall as he's going backwards

Fernando.


Did I mention that I'm looking for a roll bar?

[Gonz]

you know, once you have a roll bar, you'll be less cautious and have a greater chance of going off.
Feeling safer makes people take greater chances. ( at least that's what psychologists will tell you).


Let me know if you find a roll bar fabricator.

[DaveL20]

I see he was by himself.

Everyone kept saying he had an instructor in the car with him.

[DaveL20]

Did you see on the NASA forums the guy that was running HPDE 3 in the blue BMW broke his neck when he wrecked in the last session on Sunday.

Broke I think his C2 in 2 places.

[Gonz]

I did read about that. Fortunately he is going to be OK.

Any time I see a car off it's kind of a reality check, that there are risks involved. It's the first time I've really heard of someone injured in HPDE at an event I was attending.

His off was actually in the first session on Sunday. It was a pretty bad hit. In one of my videos you can see something off to the left just before T9. That's his car against the tires.

When I saw that, I just did a cool down lap and pitted in. Was near the end of the session and I didn't feel much like driving after that.

I'm looking to get a roll bar & put a harness in my car. I always had that as something I wanted to do by the time I got to HPDE3, and now i've done two events in group 3.

[TubeDriver]

Looks like I should bring my old, nearly dead RA-1s and just burn them up on Friday.

[Gonz]

Good idea. You don't want to trash a new set if the pavement has jagged edges.
Guess I'll see you tomorrow.

[TubeDriver]

I was about a second faster than my previous best time despite the crappy track conditions.

[Gonz]

I was about a second faster than my previous best time despite the crappy track conditions.

so were you out there on RA1s or your V700's ? or something new this weekend?

I also have to say the pavement has no effect on my lap times. I'm just "not that good" or consistent where a ripple here and there is going to make a difference in my lap time. I'm getting my lap times from watching my videos, and I can vary as much as 1.2 seconds between a good lap and one I butchered.

Here are the Youtube version of this weekend's video, from my NASA HPDE group:

1st session Sunday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTzbPIPmOOk

2nd session Sunday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtYdWR8njs4

1st session Saturday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEsoC2LAJEo

Click "watch in high quality " to get the best video. I like the part where I pass the Skyline GT-R.....twice

Hehe. Must have been the guys first time at Summit.


Gonz.

[armitage]

What the heck is up with that orange RX-8?!?

[TubeDriver]

Just the usual old RA-1s. I have been trying out 888s but I left them at home for this event.

I was about a second faster than my previous best time despite the crappy track conditions.

so were you out there on RA1s or your V700's ? or something new this weekend?


Gonz.

[Hobbs5313]

Thanks for posting the video clips. I just saw my car in the second video around the 3:55 mark. It was a fun weekend. I didn't get a chance to tape any of my sessions, but I did run my personal best lap time there with a 1:27.3. I also got signed off for my provisional TT license. Looks like I'll try out TT in October.

[Gonz]

What the heck is up with that orange RX-8?!?

With the NASA group they are really geared to "going racing" as the ultimate goal. So in the HPDE groups you get a lot of guys who already own race cars, or are driving race cars as they go through the student groups from beginner to advanced.

That RX-8 was very nicely set up. Very professionally done. There were at least two or three similar ones backed by a big- time support vehicle.

Just the usual old RA-1s. I have been trying out 888s but I left them at home for this event.

How do you like the 888s? I've got 9 days on my RA1's now, and I think the cords will be showing their ugly mugs pretty soon. Right on the outer edge of the tire there isn't much left. I've got a used set of V700s that I'll run when they are done, but I might eventually just run street tires to cut back on tire & brake pad expenses.

Thanks for posting the video clips. I just saw my car in the second video around the 3:55 mark. It was a fun weekend. I didn't get a chance to tape any of my sessions, but I did run my personal best lap time there with a 1:27.3. I also got signed off for my provisional TT license. Looks like I'll try out TT in October.

Congrats on the provisional license ! I'm signed up for October HPDE3. You probably came up on me pretty quickly that time. My motor was running too hot, and I was trying to make the whole lap in 4th & 5th gear. Of course when I let you pass, I did try to speed up and keep up with you. It didn't work. Your lap times are 5 seconds faster than a good lap time for me. Nice!

I should have a new radiator before the next event as well as a couple of other fixes that I need to make. I saw you running with the other red S2000 when they merged the instructor group for the last session. LOoked like you two were having some fun out there

[Hobbs5313]

Congrats on the provisional license ! I'm signed up for October HPDE3. You probably came up on me pretty quickly that time. My motor was running too hot, and I was trying to make the whole lap in 4th & 5th gear. Of course when I let you pass, I did try to speed up and keep up with you. It didn't work. Your lap times are 5 seconds faster than a good lap time for me. Nice!

I should have a new radiator before the next event as well as a couple of other fixes that I need to make. I saw you running with the other red S2000 when they merged the instructor group for the last session. LOoked like you two were having some fun out there

Thanks. My car's lighter than yours and I'm running a wing, so I'm most likely taking the corners a bit faster. With about 200 rwhp, I need to keep the momentum in the corners to get a good lap time.

I'm also going to sign up for the October NASA event tomorrow for the TT group. If all goes well, I should have my full TT license after the event. I did run with my buddy in the other red S2000 in the last session. We were taking turns leading/following for several laps. It was so much fun. He's an instructor and also runs TTs. He's a bit faster than me at this point. He ran a 1:27.2 to my 1:27.3 last weekend, and our cars are pretty much setup the same way.