I'll be there in the green Miata. I could use some dinner partners, as I won't know anyone there.

I took the opportunity to delete the AC and PS, and install a NACA duct in the driver's vent window that points at my chest.

I took it for a spin tonight to get another heat cycle on the motor during the "break in" period, and it really does feel stronger than it did a month ago. It's supposed to gain some power over the next 1000 miles (450 of which I'll be driving tomorrow evening) once it loosens up.

Dave said he found a "handful of metal the size of a baseball" in the oilpan of the old engine. I'm surprised it still ran in that condition. I drove it onto Tom's trailer at Lime Rock. I've got an interesting momento to show you that he found sticking out of one of the cylinder bores ;^)

Trying to sort out the big red sled...new suspension etc., and the forecast is crapwich...so don't know if I'll get a lot of time out on track. Not the kind of weather to try tweak that pig.

Instructorating, too. Find me someplace...'65 Mustang fastback...red...I think #51 is still on the doors. Loud...very loud....

I have to wait till next weekend at LRP....

Enjoy :)

Hopefully the car was working better for you on Sunday. My knee is better, and I'll be adjusting the brake pedal this week before another track day on Saturday at Lime Rock.

I don't see myself making it to any more TM events this year due to scheduling, so I'll take a rain check on that ride-along (I really WOULD like to have you sit with me for some laps and tear my technique apart ;^)

I ran into my first track instructor ever within the same hour that I spoke to you. He was parked right behind you with the white Porsche 911...Cecil. Turns out he's the Chief Instructor for the CT Porsche Club now, and was able to offer some helpful insight to the instructor candidate topic.

Hope you get your pedal-spacing issues straightened out. Something abnormal there...every other SM I've been in has been nearly perfect. Mike Lo (don't know if you know him) got down into the 22's on Sunday in his SM...and he's got just got a crate motor. Damn. Can't believe that these guys are going THAT fast in SMs.

Sunday I made some major changes in rear rebound rates, and tweaked the rear bump a little, and got it sorta tamed-down, but I gotta get used to a torsen diff again. Detroit locker was pretty predictable, but the bumps on the concrete patch at the Toe drove the torsen crazy, if I had my foot hard-in-it. Of course, the last rwd torsen I raced had a LOT less hp (like less than half)...so maybe THAT has something to do with it.

Still having shock travel issues in the front, and may downsize front rates and go with big-ass bar, to try and keep from blowing up any more shocks.

Keee-rye-est...that car is loud. Weather was perfect on Sunday, and (sorta as expected...) one of the Minis barrel-rolled it thru the gravel trap at the Bus Stop. Nobody got hurt, but the car was toast.

Any-hoo...catch up with you some other time.

I haven't pulled the memory card to look yet, but I saw a few 2:26s on Saturday. I've still got alot to learn about getting all that I can out of this car. I'm braking a bit too much for corners at this point, and am trying to figure out how to alter the "school line" to suit the car and how it likes to take corners. I know I'm taking the wrong line (for this car) through T5 and the toe of the boot.

26's in a street car is cooking right along. Before trying to shave that down, consider becoming emotionally detached from the car....you're reaching the point where cars get disposable.

"Pull trigger early" - that's pretty much the proper technique in low-power cars. Figure out what you need to do to get your right foot flat on the floor as early as possible...and leave it there.

If you've got some kinda data acq., play with running the 'exit of the Bus Stop/entry to Outer Loop' real wide..."square it off", so that you can be at full throttle as soon as you turn-in off the left hand edge of pavement at the exit wall of the Bus Stop...and carry that full throttle all the way down the stinkin hill.

I know I've nailed T5 when I "lose the rear end" twice before I get to the dragon's teeth at the exit. Exciting (especially on the short course), but it tells me "yeah...ok...push any harder and you're going to get an ambulance ride (again)".

Toe is mostly remembering that you have to throw yourself at the hill on entry, and avoid fighting "three forces" all at once (gravity, camber and crown). Pick two at a time. Don't drive into a hole that you then have to drive up out of. Time can be found by blowing the apex at the Toe. Really.

Other places where people give up time where they don't realize - T10, where you should be flat flat flat no lift no lift no lift in 4th gear (unless you're running the short course); and T11, where everyone "over-taps" and late apexes. Lots of pavement there, with a healthy camber. If you haven't scared yourself in T11, you need to....

My car isn't disposable since I have to drive it home at the end of the day. So until I get a trailer and tow vehicle, that'll always be in the back of my mind.

T5: So I should basically turn in SUPER late at 5, and floor it all the way down the hill? I was coming out of T4 full throttle, backing off about 50% at the turn-in cone, feathering the throttle from mid-track in towards the apex and putting it to the floor when I knew I could come within 2 feet of that apex cone.

Following a faster SM, I got into that "lose the rear end" scenario on one lap in T5, in the first 1/2 of the corner. The tail stepped out, I caught and corrected it, then it did it again 1 second later...same result. Not a big deal, but I wasn't expecting it. And there, I suspect, is the difference between an HPDE versus a race environment.

The toe: what's the best way to carry as much speed as possible through that corner? I was turning in early (5 feet before the cone) and hugging the inside curbing all the way to the apex, then tracking out across the concrete pretty quickly and using that extra pavement at track out. I tried the slingshot approach a few times, taking the corner mid-track but it didn't seem faster. I forgot to look at my segment time on those laps to see if it was in fact slower.

T10: I built up my entry speed so that I was breathing the throttle maybe 25% on entry just to give the front tire bite on turn-in, then back to WOT through the turn. There were a few instances when I thought I was going for a ride into the kitty litter there, but I didn't end up putting a wheel off ever. You're suggesting no lift at all, eh?

T11: this corner was giving me some trouble the entire event. My issue is getting all the way down to the damn apex. I could barely do it on a consistent basis. I could tell when I hit T11 correctly because I'd run out of 4th gear at the end of the front straight and bounce off the limiter for a second, or lift/coast before beginning to brake.

Thanks for the tips John. Keep'em coming. Now I'm wishing that I did take you up on that offer to go for a ride...doh. My knee just wasn't up for another session, and is fine now.

Let me get some videos posted up in the next few days for you to critique, if that's ok.

...because describing it doesn't really do it justice.

T5 - you need to "square off" the entry to the turn, so that you can be full throttle waaaaaaay before you even see the apex cone. Get turning done earlier, open up the following 75% of the corner to a bigger radius. Most of the "lose the rear end" feel there is due to the loss of camber...a walk of that section of track is really eye-opening.

At the Toe, if you're hugging curbing, you've driven yourself down into a hole that is costing you horsepower to get yourself out of...and slowing you down. Again..."square it off", and even consider just blowing the apex entirely by 5-10 feet, and see what it does to your exit speed (good reference is "rpm at exit cone" or "rpm at flag station".

Any of this making sense ?

Here are two vids. The linked one is one of my faster laps due to the lack of traffic. Please critique.

For T5, you're suggesting a super LATE turn-in, as in way past the cone? I see what you mean about killing my momentum in the toe by hugging the inside curbing. I'm going to try T10 without the lift next time I'm there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6SoY9G9a0A<ul><li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f5XrkWH2Vg">One of the faster laps</a></li></ul>

With the "John/TSR"-line into the Outer Loop, you should be at full throttle by the 0:58-0:59 second mark on the vid. I can hear your "throttle turn-on", and you're several seconds late. "First guy on the gas is the first guy to the next corner".

Toe - your left-front tire enters the concrete patch at the right side...mostly right-to-middle. In my odd little world, my right-front tire enters the patch at its left or left-to-middle side. That's 1-1.5 car widths further to the left. Use your entry speed to carry you up the hill, instead of having to use the throttle (and those raging 100hp) to climb out of the hole on the inside. Your way is shorter, but it's slower, too.

"The School Line" in T9 also makes you late on the throttle. Adjust accordingly.

Work your way up to "flat" in T10...don't do it on the first lap, or you'll be on your head. If things start to go bad, bail to the right and into the gravel trap. Don't try to save it.

T11 - late on the throttle...have it nailed as soon as your hands turn the car at entry. There is a lot of room at the exit...really.

Second link - Didn't study the whole thing, but you're giving up "radius" at the entry to the Downhill Left (T6). Don't make that turn tighter than it really is.

It'll cost you big to have me explain the "secret line" from the entry to T2 to the tunnel. Doesn't do much for you in HPDE, but in race traffic you can beat somebody to the back straight if the track is not all marbled up. Think "don't fight the hill, the camber and the crown all at once", like I mentioned before about the Toe.

1) did you get the glen track dvd last year? it has a couple of good tips.

one of which was to stay off the apex at turn 2. keep your right tires on the concrete, so you're maybe 4' or so away from the apex. That line was letting me gain on Tom the whole way up the hill last year.

what gear are you in at the bus stop? If you're shifting down to 3rd, try not doing that...

-j

and I'm carrying that gear all the way to the Toe.

I've got that WG video somewhere, but have not watched it.