Quote:
Originally Posted by imserious
Lots of speed in turn 8! Good job. Tires + Aero + Balls
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Thanks! I like your equation.
Tires: I really like the TD's. I feel secure on them. Braking grip and corner grip are solid. They don't glide/slide nicely like an R6, but they're faster than R6. I'm trying BFGoodrich R1S next week for the first time. I've heard that they're a fast tire.
Aero: I love full aero! It's new to me. Only two events with full aero so far and I've bested my previous times by several seconds at both places I've visited. That's a huge margin considering I'm usually scratching for 10ths and hundredths.
But the story is longer than that…...I wanted to drive the car without aero after the gutting and cage install. (I have always liked having the option to be able to go off-track at Buttonwillow if necessary. Front aero is not friendly to off-track excursions.) But the rear became so light, the car did not drive in a balanced way----too twitchy and edgy in the rear---you could just feel it wanting to step out. I tried to put a band-aid on it by getting a rear wing. But I didn't really commit. What that means is I bought a 67" wing large enough to be the right size for a full front-and-rear aero setup---not a wing small enough to just settle the rear a bit. Even with a mild angle of attack, the wing was still too much in wide rounders like Buttonwillow's Riverside and Big Willows Turns 2 and 9. At 75-85mph in a wide rounder, the understeer was mildly disconcerting. At 85+mph in a rounder, the steering wheel became a useless decoration. And if you reduced the angle of attack too much on the wing, then the rear of the car started feeling nervous again. So, the front splitter went on, and the car's balance has been restored. It feels GREAT. Turn-in is amazing at Willow Springs. I need to get used to that. There's actually a fair amount more speed to explore in Turn 8 and 9, which leads me to the next part of your equation---->
Balls: haha! It actually takes me some time to build up speed. My brain does not adapt to new abilities in the car quickly. It takes me time to build up trust. When the car was lightened by the gutting, my braking zones were totally messed up. In looking at my AIM Solo DL's data at Buttonwillow, now that the car is lighter, at some turns, I'm braking over 100 feet later, and I still don't have it figured out. That's a significant amount later! The AIM shows how I've slowly been adapting to braking later because the car is lighter. But it's not happening overnight. I'm sure someone else with bigger balls would have that figured out right away!
Same thing with this new aero grip. Phew----it's gonna take me some time to sort out how to take advantage of this new aero grip combined with the car being lighter from the gutting. Oh yeah, and then add into the mix a new grippier tire I've never driven…..sure, I'll have that all figured out right away in my warm up lap!
Buttonwillow is next on the list. I consider that to be my home track. My best there so far is 1:54.0. The car had full stock interior and no aero. It will be fascinating to see what happens there-----no doubt a solid learning curve.