redpriest HPDE journal

[roastbeef]

what an asshole... all that just to botch the turn. and of course a miata waits for you to be up his ass before giving a point.

[CalSE]

If the silver GT3 has BH dealer rear plates then he's the same idiot that failed to properly blend in as he entered the track. I almost hit the idiot.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by CalSE

If the silver GT3 has BH dealer rear plates then he's the same idiot that failed to properly blend in as he entered the track. I almost hit the idiot.

I fear it's the same guy.

[redpriest]

Have a track marathon planned this weekend:

Buttonwillow on Friday
Chuckwalla on Saturday
Willow Springs on Sunday

New RE71R tires.

[///Mobbin]

Originally Posted by redpriest

Have a track marathon planned this weekend:

Buttonwillow on Friday
Chuckwalla on Saturday
Willow Springs on Sunday

New RE71R tires.

Sounds like an amazing weekend, enjoy!

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by redpriest

Have a track marathon planned this weekend:

Buttonwillow on Friday
Chuckwalla on Saturday
Willow Springs on Sunday

New RE71R tires.

holy smokes dude... thats a lot of track days! i'm on the fence about buttonwillow, trying to save a little money, but i really really want to go.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

holy smokes dude... thats a lot of track days! i'm on the fence about buttonwillow, trying to save a little money, but i really really want to go.

Let me help you out:

I hear you though about costs. This will be 13-15 track days in 4 months, and at least 4 sets of tires now. I'm going to have to draw back a bit after this month and settle for maybe 1 or 2 per month, for a while. Who am I kidding, I probably won't.

[roastbeef]

well, i have two machine addictions, and my offroad toy needs tires... and they are big and a lot more expensive than a set of track tires.

[redpriest]

Been a great day so far. Only have a couple sessions left on the day, but each morning session I got better and better times than I have ever done on this track; my final morning lap was 2:02.88; almost 4 seconds faster than my best previous time here!

It will probably hold the record for the day, as while I've gotten near it, I haven't been able to beat it, and I don't want to beat my tires up too heavily. Having the DS1.11 on the rear brakes made a big difference; I had the Ferodo 2500 back there previously and the back end got a lot more squirmy in heavy braking.

Making a conscious effort not to squirm around all over the place and it has made a big difference for me, nice smooth driving for the most part with little drama. No incidents

[redpriest]

What a great weekend it's been!



Chuckwalla at sunrise:


I had a timing chain tensioner fail in my engine a week or so ago- saga documented here: http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1194123 - but the good folks at Performance Technic put me back together in time for this track marathon, so I can't thank them enough.

Mounted fresh RE-71R tires for the weekend; I could probably have done one track day on the last set I have, but I wanted to be sure I could last the entire weekend. Drove down on my 245/265 19" Michelins with the RE-71Rs in the back seat.

Car ran mechanically perfectly, despite me beating on her for 44 Buttonwillow laps, 49 Chuckwalla laps, and 41 Willow Springs laps, or about 357 track miles. I ran with Speed District and doubled up on Chuckwalla run groups with Speed Ventures (Black and Orange mixed passing) so I got maximum track time this weekend.

Not to mention which the 1100 mile road trip that was required to take me to all 3 places this weekend!

It was pretty chilly both on Friday morning and on Sunday - it was 30 degrees in Willow Springs! It warmed up on both days, and I set better times because of it, I'm sure. I skipped the first session at WSIR since I was still setting up, and then spent the first session at WSIR warming up my tires.

Here's my best Chuckwalla Valley Raceway CCW time of 2:08.14:

Had one blemish on the entire weekend, and that's when an FRS went two wheels off in front of me and kicked up a gigantic rock that took out my windshield:

Set personal best lap times at Buttonwillow, which I was really happy with, and one at Willow Springs of 1:37.89. Harry's Lap Timer says I'm capable of 1:36.79 - but I just can't seem to put it together for this track.

I had a bit of a SNAFU that morning because I had forgotten to re-up my track insurance package, so I had a bit of a mental block going through the entire day. Fortunately, I would have been covered - I bought a 6-pack at the last second and sent an email begging for forgiveness. Lockton Affinity Motorsport insurance is fantastic, and has fantastic service.

I can't seem to bring myself to brake late on turn 1; I keep braking too early. Also, I feel like my lines are garbage going through the turns still; feel like I'm leaving time on the table, especially the 5-6 transition, and I'm not really happy with my 8-9 line either.

Overall, I'm really happy with the wear on my tires. The colder temperatures and careful monitoring of pressures seem to have done the trick. I can probably get another 1-2 track days out of these tires, with the exception of 1 passenger side tire.

Chuckwalla was pretty warm (80 degrees in the afternoon) and all the CCW turns were brutal on that front tire. For Willow Springs, I had it mounted on the rear, and watched it closely. No cording on any of the tires all weekend.

I now have a good collection of good RE-71R tires (12 to choose from) so I don't anticipate buying a new set of tires for a while!!

[redpriest]

Was worried about surface crazing on my J-hook rotors on Friday, and was concerned that I wouldn't be able to make the entire weekend on these rotors, so I emailed this picture to Jeff Ritter at Essex and he assured me that I was just getting started and this was completely normal:



Thanks Jeff! You were right - brakes were flawless the entire weekend.

[roastbeef]

i can't wait to run willow springs again. my car has less power than yours, and i'm only running the front essex kit and i ran a 1:36:345.
i think a lot of people leave time on the table at 8-9, its hard to trust the car, but you got to do it.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

i can't wait to run willow springs again. my car has less power than yours, and i'm only running the front essex kit and i ran a 1:36:345.
i think a lot of people leave time on the table at 8-9, its hard to trust the car, but you got to do it.

Yeah, I think it's just a mental thing for me and this track - I'm fighting myself more than anything else. I've tried a couple different lines through 8/9 and still feel not so comfortable with it. The only line I'm really happy with is 1-2, lol, and even then, I feel like I'm braking way too soon and could carry much more speed through there.

Virtual best if I executed perfectly is 1:36.79 for me at the moment. I have to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Probably will get Jordan to ride along with me next time and get some tips.

It's funny, I had the car up to 145 mph GPS, 160 mph on the speedometer, and it felt more comfortable going through the long oval at ACS (with a wall!!) then it does going 125 through turn 8 at WSIR.

[roastbeef]

i really started to get my times down when i started to figure out turn 6 and not upset the car going over the hill. i also want to re-work my turn 5 to get on the gas sooner. i'm pretty comfortable in 8-9. so much to learn!

how did you like chuckwalla?

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

i really started to get my times down when i started to figure out turn 6 and not upset the car going over the hill. i also want to re-work my turn 5 to get on the gas sooner. i'm pretty comfortable in 8-9. so much to learn!

how did you like chuckwalla?

Do you lift coming up over the crest? I feel like I have to or I will go skidding off to the left.

Chuckwalla was fun, pretty warm. Was very crowded. Lots of turns, with only a couple of short straights. Was worth doing at least once but since it's a 600 mile drive for me to get there, not sure how often I would do it, haha.

Doing 6 sessions really put a hurting on my passenger side front tire though, probably because of the temperatures.

[roastbeef]

Nice. I do lift over the crest, but as I'm becoming smoother and more consistent with the line I'm taking, I'm lifting less and the car is more settled.

[redpriest]

Blackstone reports look decent enough:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=18996284

[redpriest]

Getting ready for Thunderhill 3 mile this Sunday. Found some stuff when going over the car; my motor mounts are shot:




I hadn't bothered to look at these before, but since my intakes are constantly slipping off each other, and have been for several track days now, this was a possible cause and sure enough. Replacing these this weekend before I go.

Doing sparkplugs + another oil change for good measure too.

[roastbeef]

i can't remember if i mentioned something about motor mounts when you were expressing your frustrations with your intake at the streets a few weeks back, but it crossed my mind. i've been thinking about mine, buy my car has half the miles yours has and less track days.
are our mounts filled with oil or something? they look a little wet...

[admranger]

As far as WS goes, try Jack's line and tweak it for the E9xM3.

Jack Olsen's Willow Springs Lap

I would argue that turn 4 is where most time is lost, as well as the exit of turn 5 (it leads to your longest full throttle section at the track).

BTW: Nice blog and I enjoyed your review of the Bridgestones...

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by admranger

As far as WS goes, try Jack's line and tweak it for the E9xM3.

Jack Olsen's Willow Springs Lap

I would argue that turn 4 is where most time is lost, as well as the exit of turn 5 (it leads to your longest full throttle section at the track).

BTW: Nice blog and I enjoyed your review of the Bridgestones...

His line over turn 6 in the M3 upsets the car. Porsche lines are a little different, but it's a great vid nonetheless.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

i can't remember if i mentioned something about motor mounts when you were expressing your frustrations with your intake at the streets a few weeks back, but it crossed my mind. i've been thinking about mine, buy my car has half the miles yours has and less track days.
are our mounts filled with oil or something? they look a little wet...

Yeah, I really should have looked into it earlier.

It's easy to check - you can just turn the wheel over and peek underneath, it's what I did. Don't have to take the wheel off. They're filled with some fluid to make it stiffer, which makes it a great tell if they're cracked - because they look like molten chocolate cake afterwards.