slcook54 - Track Journal

[wyatth]

Dynamite.

[Davisca455]

…c'mon already!!!!

[slcook54]

11/28/2021 - Track Day #4

Goal: Establish baseline time



Up until this point, I decided not to time myself and instead focus on familiarizing myself with the track and car. This time out I ran Harry’s lap timer. My only goal was to find some open track and lay down a clean lap.

The day was very busy, with a lot of bad drivers and constant traffic. I ran in the point-by (intermediate) group and gridded at the front of the slow group to see how that worked out. That was a mistake, the pace was very slow and I was navigating traffic the majority of the session, but did manage to record a 1.48.08, which I wasn’t disappointed with.

After my experience in the first session, I decided to queue at the front of the fast group for the rest of the day. During my 4th session I was able to record a 1:46.53. I walked back to my friends with a big smile on my face, I was super happy to have shaved off 1.5 seconds and I knew I was leaving plenty of time in turn 1, 6 & 9.

I rode with derbo for his last session of the day and realized how much later he was braking into turn 6, he was at least 10mph faster through the turn than I was. I wanted to keep that top of mind during my 5th session. I also knew I was letting off the throttle too early after turn 1. My last time out, I became comfortable cresting turn 1 flat, which is the top of 4th gear, but was able to shift into 5th and stay in it longer this time around.



The last session of the day was around 4:30pm and the sun was already starting to set. A lot of folks also left early resulting in 7-8 total cars for the session. I gridded at the start of the group and was able to put down a 1.44.94 in my third lap. The tires fell off after that. I was ecstatic with the outcome, it was a fantastic way to end the Thanksgiving weekend with friends SAMM3Y & derbo

The car has the full Essex AP kit, Ohlins Track Day kit and Titan7s. Apart from that it is full weight including a baby seat in the back, Euro MDM on 275/35/18 square PS4’s. Given the setup and using some other reference points, I’m very happy with this as a starting point and will start to chip away from here. I believe that over time with more driver mod, coaching, turning off DSC, data, weight reduction, aero and better tires, I can eventually get into the 1:39’s. I will focus on progressively chipping away toward that goal in 2022. The current plan is to log 12-16 days in 2022.

On the MDM topic, as I’m gaining confidence, I can feel how much it is intervening. I know there is a second or more to be found here. I’m not quite ready to turn it off, but am getting closer.

I also think the car is under sprung, it is rolling quite a bit. I don’t really want to mess with it until I’ve pulled some weight out of the car and installed some of the Fall-Line arms that are sitting in my closet. My happy place is currently at 15 clicks, going further only made the car more bouncy. Clearly, I'm not a suspension guy, I just want something that works, so I can set it and forget it.



In other news, I bought a Milwaukee impact, but it wasn’t able to crack my nuts loose. Since I’m running the Core4 14mm studs, they are torqued to 130ftlbs. I had to use a small extension to clear the 94mm studs and I think some torque was being lost through the extension. I bought a deep 6 point 19mm socket and hope that when connected directly to the impact it will be able to break it loose. I picked up a breaker bar in the event it doesn’t.

My E88s arrived, I love them, but we’re having a tough time getting the tires to seat on the bead. Apparently, you’re supposed to set the tire mounting machine to 80+ psi to help the tires seat. My front left is still leaking about 2psi per day, I will get that sorted out this weekend.

I took advantage of a couple of black friday sales and picked up a Dinan intake, Dinan underdrive pulley and stage 1 tune from Mike at BPMSport. Excited to wake up the car a bit on the power side. I'll also pick up a Garmin Catalyst in the near future.

The next day is booked with Turn8 on 1/2/22

[SAMM3Y]

Fantastic Steve, great to see you set yours goal and realize them so early on in your track experience. I look forward to the rest of your journey! Both car and driver are beasts!!

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by SAMM3Y

Fantastic Steve, great to see you set yours goal and realize them so early on in your track experience. I look forward to the rest of your journey! Both car and driver are beasts!!

Thanks brother. Great sharing the day together and thanks for lending a hand on swapping the wheels.

[BMotorenWerke]

Nice to read, those are very good lap times.

Take your time with turning off MDM and going nanny free - ask me how I know

I feel it's a good idea to see where all the DSC is intervening in your regular runs too..

[//steve\\]

Great write up! Keep this stuff coming.

[derbo]

Originally Posted by slcook54

11/28/2021 - Track Day #4

Goal: Establish baseline time



Up until this point, I decided not to time myself and instead focus on familiarizing myself with the track and car. This time out I ran Harry's lap timer. My goal for the day was to find some open track and lay down a clean lap.

The day was very busy, with a lot of bad drivers and constant traffic. I ran in the point-by (intermediate) group and gridded at the front of the slow group to see how that worked out. That was a mistake, the pace was very slow and I was navigating traffic the majority of the session, but did manage to record a 1.48.08, which I wasn't disappointed with.

After my experience in the first session, I decided to queue at the front of the fast group for the rest of the day. During my 4th session I was able to record a 1:46.53. I walked back to my friends with a big smile on my face, I was super happy to have shaved off 1.5 seconds and I knew I was leaving plenty of time in turn 1, 6 & 9.

I rode with derbo for his last session of the day and realized how much later he was braking into turn 6, he was carrying at least 10mph more speed than I was. I wanted to keep that top of mind during my 5th session. I also knew I was letting off the throttle too early after turn 1. My last time out, I became comfortable cresting turn 1 flat, which is the top of 4th gear, but was able to shift into 5th and stay in it longer this time around.

The last session of the day was around 4:30pm and the sun was already starting to set, leading to cooler temps. A lot of folks also left early resulting in 7-8 total cars for the session. I gridded at the start of the group and was able to put down a 1.44.94 in my third lap. The tires fell off after that. I was ecstatic with the outcome, it was a fantastic way to end the Thanksgiving weekend with friends SAMM3Y & derbo

The car has the full Essex AP kit, Ohlins Track Day kit and Titan7s. Apart from that it is full weight including a baby seat in the back, Euro MDM on 275/35/18 square PS4's. Given the setup and using some other reference points, I'm very happy with this as a starting point and will start to chip away from here. I believe that over time with more driver mod, coaching, turning off DSC, data, weight reduction, aero and better tires, I can eventually get into the 1:39's. I will focus on progressively chipping away toward that goal in 2022. The current plan is to log 12-16 days in 2022.

On the MDM topic, as I'm gaining confidence, I can feel how much it is intervening. I know there is a second or more to be found here. I'm not quite ready to turn it off, but am getting closer.

I also think the car is under sprung, it is rolling quite a bit. I don't really want to mess with it until I've pulled some weight out of the car and installed some of the Fallline arms that are sitting in my closet. My happy place is currently at 15 clicks, going further only made the car more bouncy. Clearly, I'm not a suspension guy, I just want something that works, so I can set it and forget it.

In other news, I bought a Milwaukee impact, but it wasn't able to crack my nuts loose. Since I'm running the Core4 14mm studs, they are torqued to 130ftlbs. I had to use a small extension to clear the 94mm studs and I think some torque was being lost through the extension. I bought a deep 6 point 19mm socket and hope that when connected directly to the impact it will be able to break it loose. I picked up a breaker bar in the event it doesn't.

My E88s arrived, I love them, but we're having a tough time getting the tires to seat on the bead. Apparently, you're supposed to set the tire mounting machine to 80+ psi to help the tires seat. My front left is still leaking about 2psi per day, I will get that sorted out this weekend.

I took advantage of a couple of black friday sales and picked up a Dinan intake, Dinan underdrive pulley and stage 1 tune from Mike at BPMSport. Excited to wake up the car a bit on the power side. I'll also pick up a Garmin Catalyst in the near future.

The next day is booked with Turn8 on 1/2/22

I'm glad you found some time to shave from sitting in with my slow car 😂.

MDM does intervene in particular T1, and T9. I was looking at my old data from last year and I see little bumps on the brake pressure graph of the inner rear brakes.

I think once you get comfortable with people passing and you passing others, you should move up to mixed like I mentioned on Sunday. Keep up the good work!

[slcook54]

1/2/2022 - Track Day #5

Goal: Have fun, go faster

Last Sunday, I was able to get down to Laguna with Davisca455 for my fifth track day. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. The day started high 30’s and eventually warmed up to high 50’s low 60’s, perfectly sunny, low wind.



For those following the thread, you’ll recall I’ve been in the novice / intermediate groups the past 4 days. This was my first time running with Turn8 and they ask for your best lap time when registering, which was a 1.44.94. I had requested to be placed into intermediate 3, which was the 2nd fastest group after Advanced. The organizer reached out to me and suggested I move to Advanced as the average time in intermediate 3 was 4 seconds slower. I agreed.

I was a bit apprehensive since I haven’t done open passing before and candidly prefer the point-by, it leaves less room for interpretation. My plan was to approach the day cautiously.

I also had a very big learning lesson during my first session. For those unfamiliar with Laguna, you enter the track from pit lane after turn 2, approaching turn 3. I gridded on the slow side of the advanced group and just took it slowly for the first lap. When I saw the green flag at the start/finish line, starting lap 2, I put my foot down going over turn 1 at roughly 115mph, only to find that turn 2 was totally wet. I got on the brakes hard but the surface adhesion wasn’t there like it is with a dry track. Fortunately, I caught it early enough and overshot the apex by a mile, but kept the car on the track. Lesson learned.

When you’re the first group out, make sure you see the whole track and adjust as needed. I was a bit annoyed that the forecast had been sunny with no rain for the 2 days prior and the track organizers said the track was in perfect driving condition, which was not true. I was very surprised to find turn 2 wet, as were a lot of the other drivers when we did our post session download.

The Laguna folks did a horrible job of cleaning the track, the berms at turn 6 and especially turn 10 were literally caked in mud for almost the entire day, so you had to be especially careful. I also went off line in turn 2 to let someone through and almost sent the car around as all the sand / dirt was pushed to the outside.



In my first three sessions, the car just felt off, it was very squishy. This was only the 3rd day on the PS4s and they looked totally fine. Before my 4th session, I added 2psi all around and between that and the warmer temperatures, the car felt significantly better. It didn't feeling like the sidewall was squishing anymore. In my earlier session they were at 36 hot, I think they are a little happier at 38 hot. I will aim for that going forward.

My best time my last time out was 1.44.94, with a virtual best of 1.44.54. Turn8 has a slightly different format where you run three normal sessions and then we had a 1 hour and 10 minute open pit session that was combined with the intermediate 3 group. I broke this up into 3 10-15 minute sessions. I was able to beat my best time on 4 different laps with a 1.44.72, 1.44.62, 1.44.42 and a best lap of 1.44.18. My virtual best also improved to a 1.43.29, which was a full 1.2 seconds faster than the last time out with no changes to the car. Most notably, the clustering and consistency in the sessions was vastly improved. I ran 3 of those 1.44’s in back to back laps.

I’m absolutely amazed with how the car is performing. It is begging to have some weight removed, we’ll get there later in 2022. I do experience a harsh clunk from the DCT on the 3-4 shift going uphill from turn 5 toward turn 6. I’m not sure if it's where the fluid is sitting within the pan or the overall heat, but something I’ll keep my eye on.

Running in Advanced was a game changer. There wasn’t a single incident all day and the whole day flowed significantly better. I wasn’t constantly battling traffic and was actually able to follow a couple faster cars for a couple of turns.



What’s next?

Power! Not a lot of it, but I wanted to wake the car up a little bit. I bought a Dinan pulley, Dinan Intake and BPM Stage 1 tune. I bought the Dinan intake on Black Friday and it just shipped yesterday, hoping to get these installed next week. I'll also address the idler pulley / tensioner proactively as I've read that it is prone to failing early.

My brakes and tires both look fine, definitely good for another day. My current plan will be to move to the Hankook RS4 after the PS4s are toast. I’m currently running Ferodo DS2500 on the rear and DS1.11 on the front. I’m planning to move to full DS1.11 all around in the future.

Coaching, I’ve been in talks with a couple of different coaches, it seems like the going rate is approximately $1,500 / day. It’s not cheap, but it’s the same cost as a set of tires and I would rather put some money there than more go-fast mods. I’m also still driving with traction control on, I’m pretty confident that I would have put the car off if I hadn’t had it on. I’m still building confidence to turn it off and did catch a couple of partial slides, so that was encouraging. I’m also thinking about mixing in a few AutoX days to help with that. dogbone not sure if you have any thoughts here? I know you left TC on for a while

Next day booked with NCRC on 1/30.

[dparm]

Glad to hear it was a success. A little clunkiness is normal if you have the DriveLogic setting cranked up, especially while going uphill.

Definitely turn the electronics off ASAP.

[DRLane]

I'm jealous slcook54 Looks like an awesome day!

A couple things to consider as you progress into the faster groups.
1. Don't move out of the way to let someone by. Be aware of them but assuming they're more experienced they'll decide when they're comfortable to pass you. Much of that will depend on gaining a brief understanding of where you're likely to be. This is the whole "be predictable" bit.
2. That said, it's also worth purposely driving off line for a couple laps. I mean way off line. Yes there will be all sorts of junk, but it's helpful to know where you can run wide if needed to avoid something. Also helps to drive home how big the track surface really is. Most tracks can comfortably run 3 wide at considerable pace through every corner.
3. Lastly, as you get into the faster groups there's a tendency to try and be faster. It doesn't work, generally the harder you try at this stage the slower you are. Try and run some laps where you take your mind off the focused driving bit. Maybe wave at every corner worker for a couple laps (I love doing this at the start lf every day), or drive without looking at the dash but just listening to engine, tires, exhaust. Maybe just talk to yourself about breathing deeply. Then find the Miata in the run group and try and hang with them. Don't pass them on straights just try and hang with them through corners. You'll find seconds drop from these exercises.

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by DRLane

I'm jealous slcook54 Looks like an awesome day!

A couple things to consider as you progress into the faster groups.
1. Don't move out of the way to let someone by. Be aware of them but assuming they're more experienced they'll decide when they're comfortable to pass you. Much of that will depend on gaining a brief understanding of where you're likely to be. This is the whole "be predictable" bit.
2. That said, it's also worth purposely driving off line for a couple laps. I mean way off line. Yes there will be all sorts of junk, but it's helpful to know where you can run wide if needed to avoid something. Also helps to drive home how big the track surface really is. Most tracks can comfortably run 3 wide at considerable pace through every corner.
3. Lastly, as you get into the faster groups there's a tendency to try and be faster. It doesn't work, generally the harder you try at this stage the slower you are. Try and run some laps where you take your mind off the focused driving bit. Maybe wave at every corner worker for a couple laps (I love doing this at the start lf every day), or drive without looking at the dash but just listening to engine, tires, exhaust. Maybe just talk to yourself about breathing deeply. Then find the Miata in the run group and try and hang with them. Don't pass them on straights just try and hang with them through corners. You'll find seconds drop from these exercises.

Great advice. Thanks Devin.

[dparm]

slcook54 my coach is ~$800/day and he has worked with IMSA and Trans Am guys. He's also a multi-year NASA national champion. I think $1500 is a ripoff unless you're getting the absolute cream-of-the-crop...or that's just the California tax, lol.

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by dparm

slcook54 my coach is ~$800/day and he has worked with IMSA and Trans Am guys. He's also a multi-year NASA national champion. I think $1500 is a ripoff unless you're getting the absolute cream-of-the-crop...or that's just the California tax, lol.

I think it's mostly the CA tax but will keep looking around. It's harder to find someone than I thought it would be.

[roastbeef]

Talk to this dude. He coached me at an open day at auto club a few years back. Really nice guy. It wasn't a formal coaching session, but he was able to review my in-car video and point out a few things for me to work on after every time I went out. It was very constructive and helpful. I think he's in NorCal.

[Davisca455]

Oh yes, that sand blob that was oozing from the apex of T10 was thick.

By the time my group got on the track you guys had sort of swept a clean area for at least the outside tires, so thanks for that!

When I came around on the out lap and saw it for the first time, I decided that the outer tires needed to be on the clean strip of the turn, so that meant the inner tires just went over the sand blob/apex, which worked fine.
It was only nervous the first time around though.

Ultimately I came to realize that the extra care that was needed for that turn, helped me redouble my efforts to focus on hitting every apex.

So, "glass half full" the less than perfect track was a good learning experience.

The screen shot is from the end of the day, after that sand blob had been spread outside the racing line and toward corner exit.

And as was mentioned earlier, be predictable.
It was surprising how many people would go off line to let me pass and a couple of them ended up in that junk.
"Dude, I see you headed over there, I'm not getting anywhere near you until after you have it gathered back in."

[leftfootbr8king]

Why do some people run track days with baby seats in their cars?

To be funny or ironic? To be an excuse when you don't go as fast as you'd like?

Maybe you could up the ante and strap some bags of groceries in there too!

Beautiful car btw. Love seeing mr e92's.

[rhyary]

Excellent report.
When you get to the advanced group you really fall in love with the E92 M3.

Have you considered the RT660 as next step to MPS4S?

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by rhyary

Excellent report.
When you get to the advanced group you really fall in love with the E92 M3.

Have you considered the RT660 as next step to MPS4S?

No, my bias is more toward and an endurance tire with high heat tolerance and not too much additional pace over the PS4. I don't want to move to something stickier while traction is still on, that's skipping a step in a bad way in my opinion.

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by leftfootbr8king

Why do some people run track days with baby seats in their cars?

To be funny or ironic? To be an excuse when you don't go as fast as you'd like?

Maybe you could up the ante and strap some bags of groceries in there too!

Beautiful car btw. Love seeing mr e92's.

Huh?

[leftfootbr8king]

Originally Posted by slcook54

Huh?

The part where you said "a baby seat in the back"

Why.

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by leftfootbr8king

The part where you said "a baby seat in the back"

Why.

You're overthinking it bud. Car is in stock trim from a weight perspective including a 50lb baby seat. I have a daughter who I drive around when I'm on the street. Not sure what's confusing you.