March 20-22 COTA - BMWCCA

[besiktas]

Who is going?

[BrewRifle]

I would, but I'm not intermediate.

[dbyrd]

I'm in!

[Brent Dalton]

I'll be there.

[besiktas]

Where are you guys staying? I am waitlisted, once confirmed, I need to book a hotel.

[surlynkid]

Sally and I are going all 3 days. We are in white and are staying at the Best Western by the airport. Rooms are crazy $$ due to the SXSW music fest.

We will be garaged with a couple of Rennlist guys in 997.2 RS's.

[dbyrd]

Please let me know if anyone has garage space for Saturday and Sunday.
Thanks!

[besiktas]

I am staying in Holiday Inn Austin Midtown.
Who else is there?

Is there anyone who is very good at changing brake pads? in case I have trouble with mine?

[surlynkid]

Very good at BBK brake pads. If you have stock, don't come see me.

[Franklin Joseph]

Originally Posted by besiktas

I am staying in Holiday Inn Austin Midtown.
Who else is there?

Is there anyone who is very good at changing brake pads? in case I have trouble with mine?

Changing pads prior to event, or at the event if you run low?

If at the track, i'm sure anyone around can help out...if not, come find some of us wearing staff or instructor shirts.

[Brent Dalton]

I'll help if you need it, if I'm not with a student. Yep, change them before coming to the track if at all possible. They'll make a little noise, but it's alot better than trying to scramble first thing in the morning to get them swapped.

[besiktas]

Thanks guys, I will change them in houston and drive to the event. but its good to know there is help if needed.

Do you guys suggest any trustworthy shops in houston area for inspection and other work done. I moved here recently, havent figured out yet

[jphughan]

I'll be there.

[dbyrd]

Originally Posted by besiktas

I am staying in Holiday Inn Austin Midtown.
Who else is there?

Is there anyone who is very good at changing brake pads? in case I have trouble with mine?

I'm happy to help with your pads and even have extra OEM pads if you get in a jam. I'll be in the paddock (unless I get lucky and get a garage) in a grey e90 with ARC-8s.

[TXmtrhed]

I'm in for all three days in the B group. Staying at the Quality Inn by the Airport. Have a garage too but no plans for garage mates.

[besiktas]

Originally Posted by dbyrd

I'm happy to help with your pads and even have extra OEM pads if you get in a jam. I'll be in the paddock (unless I get lucky and get a garage) in a grey e90 with ARC-8s.

Thanks man, I appreciate it. Dont have a garage either. 1st time in COTA, so I will be hanging out where garageless people are

[besiktas]

First time in COTA. Best lap of the first dry day.
Still a lot of time to improve. 6-7 seconds without adding mods I guess. PF06s did not give the same stopping feel as the PF08s.

[03BeastCharmer]

Originally Posted by besiktas

First time in COTA. Best lap of the first dry day.
Still a lot of time to improve. 6-7 seconds without adding mods I guess. PF06s did not give the same stopping feel as the PF08s.

Sub 3 minutes for your first time at COTA isn't bad.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by besiktas

First time in COTA. Best lap of the first dry day.
Still a lot of time to improve. 6-7 seconds without adding mods I guess. PF06s did not give the same stopping feel as the PF08s.

Thanks for the 06/08 comparison. I found one more set of 08s for my ST-60 setup and also bought a set of 06s since they were disappearing too. Not crazy about running 11s or 13s, the 12s that seem to be the replacement for 08s aren't available in ST-60 shape, and the next closest equivalent to 08s would be Pagid Yellows, but I don't want to deal wit having to bed them in beforehand. Oh well, maybe I'll get a GT4 before my last new set of 08s are done.

As for the video, if that was your first time at CotA, very nice!! I do have a few suggestions though, since you do a few of the same things my student originally did:

- Don't go out wide for 8. Apex 7, let the car slide out to the right where you see that huge bulge of extra pavement, and then head basically straight for the apex of 8. You'll need to brake harder there for that line (quick stab of threshold braking), but since 8-9 is so short and you need to stick to the inside through 8 to set up for 9 anyway, the time it costs you to go out wide before turning in for 8 isn't recovered by the higher exit speed, so it's better to just cut straight across 7-8. It looks like you weren't going fast enough for the car to push out into that pavement, so instead you were hugging the inside of 7. But I watch some cars apex 7, slide out wide, and then drive all the way back to the left side of the track before turning back in. All that extra driving allows me to pick up 3+ car lengths on them. That said, 7 definitely feels weird and it's completely unintuitive the first time you're out there that you don't need to brake before turning in AND that you can carry as much speed as you can thanks to all of that extra pavement at track-out, so it's not at all unusual to see people new to CotA not use all of the track there.

- Upshift right BEFORE entering 10, not right after. It sounded like you were holding the engine at high RPM through there, and being in a lower gear means you'll get more weight transfer than you probably wanted if you adjust your throttle input mid-corner -- and that is not a corner where you need a lot of weight transfer or want to upset your car. If you get your shift done first, you'll have a more controllable path through 9 and you won't lose any meaningful time.

- Other than that, keep working on throttle smoothness, getting on the power earlier, and using all of the track, since I saw a few times where you made the corner tighter than it needed to be by not being all the way on the edge of the track prior to turn-in and/or not getting all the way down to the apex. But overall, great job!

The best line reference video I've found thus far for CotA is this one. Obviously it's a different and much faster car, but the line in general is broadly applicable. Notice where Mike Skeen is on track when he turns in to 3 compared to where most people are. That's another place you can make up a lot of time on people by not driving the extra length and unnecessarily increasing the amount of rotation you have to complete for 3 and 4:

[besiktas]

the sessions were 25 minutes long. so we basically had 6 full laps to run each session. I found it too short to get used to fixing mistakes.

I was very consistent, out of 21 laps that day, 3:00 or quicker at least 10 laps. (could be better but letting cars pass me, or passing cars made me lose time). Most importantly, when I arrived to the facility on friday I saw a badly wrecked M5 on top of a tow truck, I just didnt have the balls to push the car hard once I saw it.

I always started the back straight in the 3rd, in this lap I decided to switch back to second. I think if I switch to second earlier it would also make a difference. because at 30-40 mph, the car just dont have the pull in 3rd gear. I thought I could do the entire track in 3,4,5 but i guess i need to switch to 2nd at some areas. Any suggestions here?

PF08 has a bite like your eyeballs are coming out. PF06 is not the same at all. I will try pagid yellow next. In the first day we had a lot of rain and wet circuit, and I had crazy vibrations when braking. the next morning I re-bedded the brakes, and vibrations were gone.

Amazing facility though.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by besiktas

the sessions were 25 minutes long. so we basically had 6 full laps to run each session. I found it too short to get used to fixing mistakes.

I was very consistent, out of 21 laps that day, 3:00 or quicker at least 10 laps. (could be better but letting cars pass me, or passing cars made me lose time). Most importantly, when I arrived to the facility on friday I saw a badly wrecked M5 on top of a tow truck, I just didnt have the balls to push the car hard once I saw it.

I always started the back straight in the 3rd, in this lap I decided to switch back to second. I think if I switch to second earlier it would also make a difference. because at 30-40 mph, the car just dont have the pull in 3rd gear. I thought I could do the entire track in 3,4,5 but i guess i need to switch to 2nd at some areas. Any suggestions here?

PF08 has a bite like your eyeballs are coming out. PF06 is not the same at all. I will try pagid yellow next. In the first day we had a lot of rain and wet circuit, and I had crazy vibrations when braking. the next morning I re-bedded the brakes, and vibrations were gone.

Amazing facility though.

25 minutes is pretty standard for HPDEs because (so I've been told) studies have shown that organizers who run longer sessions see a significant uptick in mistakes and consequences after the 25-minute mark. But that's ok, more time with CotA is all you need.

As for 3rd, you're right about the pull, and it's worse for me because I have 6MT, which has (slightly) taller overall gearing. If you choose to stay in 3rd as you are now, you'll notice an improvement as you get faster and learn to carry more entry speed, which will of course mean higher RPMs -- but even then it will lug a bit in some corners. I personally live with it, because when I tried 2nd, I found that it isn't usable for very long after corner exit before you have to shift right back to 3rd, and of course your throttle is twitchier through the corner itself in 2nd compared to 3rd. If I were to drop to 2nd, I'd be doing it at 1, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 20. Counting shifts back up to 3rd shortly after track-out in those corners, that's 12 extra shifts on the track, and for not a whole lot of time spent in that lower gear -- I don't even think I could stay in 2nd for 12-13 without either switching to maintenance throttle partway down that little straight or banging the limiter, so that's a lot of shifting for very little track covered. Maybe if I was driving DCT I'd consider 2nd since downshifts are so much easier, but with 6MT, each time I'd be dropping to 2nd would just be one more thing to do in the braking zone, one more relatively difficult heel-toe to nail just right if you want to avoid upsetting your car, and one more risk of over-revving your engine. Since nobody is paying me to set lap records or will be covering the costs of ruining my 2nd gear synchros (or my whole driveline in an over-rev), I just don't bother. The only occasional exception is if I'm behind a really slow high-horsepower car coming through 11 or 20, in which case I'll drop down just to get a little extra burst of power because I've found that some cars don't lift enough to let you pass and then think you just don't WANT to pass, at which point they take off -- and if you don't get that pass on the front straight, you're stuck behind that slow car until at least Turn 9.

All that said, when a Grand Am pro driver took my car out with me riding shotgun, he shifted to 2nd in all of those places, so I'm sure that it's faster.

On the other side of the shifting coin, I actually recommend upshifting early to 4th on entry into 2, 10, and 16, because at least once you learn to carry more speed in those corners, the penalty is minimal, and the smoother weight transfers and throttle afforded by the higher gear will help you throttle steer and add more throttle mid-corner in those areas with less risk of the back end stepping out if you get overeager.

Interesting comments regarding the PF08s -- I've never had to bed them to deal with vibrations. You sure the vibrations weren't from your ABS/DSC kicking in due to slippery conditions in the rain? Anyway, from what I've read, people who start with PFCs tend not to like Pagids when they switch, so if you can still get 08s for your brake setup, I'd stick to them. I like them a lot, and hopefully the 06s will at least be serviceable if I still have this car when I run out of 08s.

[besiktas]

The vibrations were due to brake pad residue, not ABS etc. the entire dashboard was vibrating (with a weird sound) not just the brake pedal.

but all fixed now