Putnam Park - 5.13.2012 - Drifting into 1st place!

Saturday evening I rotated the tires; X'ing the front backwards. I figured the LF would be nearly bald - and it was. But the RF was worse! Sunday was going to be interesting with no grip in the rear, but I was thinking since the fronts looked ok that I'd at least be able to turn like I could early Sat.

(Pic):  Left side tires from Sat evening. Front on the left; rear on the right. I rotating the bald ones to the rear....

I made more suspension tweaks, rolling back the changes I made late Sat in hopes it would help the car grip more. I had some pulsing in the front end under braking on the out lap. I figured something was stuck to the rotor and/or the tires were flatspotted from sitting all night as I had reset my pressures to my normal morning starting pressures. It seemed to go away with some really hard jabs so I put it out of my mind and hit it hard. I ran 6 laps with a best of 1:18.2 which the car was no longer sliding, but rather drifting today! Jeff's Evo was behind me this session and got some good vid; check it out below.

For S2 I bettered my time to a 1:18.1 but that's all I could get. The rear was drifting around so much that I had to do more than countersteer, I had to get out of the gas some which is a killer for times. This is the session I put the camera on the rear and had a Mustang 302 behind me. My overall times were better than his, but in this session I just couldn't get the power down and after drifting through T4 and getting out of the gas I simply pointed him around.
When done, I looked over my tires carefully to see how bald the rears were now and to verify nothing was corded. The tires passed inspection, but the LF rotor did not. Check it out:

While I had a spare, it was 12:30pm at this point and very hot. With basically 0 chance to improve my times and only to play around more, I decided to forgo the fix and just pack things in and go surprise visit my Mom with it being Mother's day and all. It'd only add about 45min to my overall trip. With all the crazy turmoil with my wife's family recently; I've been trying to take the extra effort with regards to visits and calls and whatnot. I was actually going to cancel this event but the wife told me to go and enjoy the distractions. So I watched the start of my friend's race after packing up and took off.

Overall the car did great. No mechanical issues, just the broken exhaust bracket which was no biggie, the broken rotor which is a wear item and my boost gauge is still broke (so no, I've no idea what boost I was running). Oh, and my time easily held up Sunday for first in TTA once again.

After looking deeper at all my GPS data, everything is pretty cut and dry.  An 8/10's lap from 2011 on wider A6's yielded a nearly identical laptime to this year's lap at nearly 10/10's on skinnier R6's. Nuff said.
Braking force with R6's is crap compared to an A6; I had data confirming this already. Cornering G's were about the same but that's the 8/10's vs the 10/10's thing to allow that. I was able to push my brakezones a bit which is good and the car rotated great w/o hardly any understeer given what front grip I had at least.

The 2012 setup vs the 2011 setup to me feels better with regards to power and rotation. I'm really happy with how smooth the car idles, and I don't even notice the Synapse BOV thx to Buschur's tune (he assured me it'd be smooth; he's right). The differences being a Buschur tune on the engine this year and an ACD-tuning update in the ACD unit. Also different on this track were taller tires and a taller 4th gear as compared to May/2011 - both of which hurt my laptimes as the car was previously geared incredibly well for Putnam. With less speed on corner entry from the ****tier tires and the gearing changes I was actually forced to downshift twice more per lap to keep the turbo spinning. So factor in all those changes and running 1.3 seconds behind my blitzing 2011 time of 1:15.7 and I'm feeling pretty good about the car.

Video's coming...

Putnam Park - 1st in TTA - 5-12-2012

After running the Enduro on Friday afternoon/evening, I awoke at 6:45am Saturday tired and sore.  I still had to unload, unpack the car, and do some prep but that was about it.  Our warmup wasn't until after 10am so it was relaxed.  For the warmup I lined up around grip spot #3 I think and after waiting 1 lap for things to come up to temp I put down an easy 1:17.9 to earn #2 in grid.  I then went to tech and got weighed since I still had no solid idea of what the car weighed post-cage.  It came in at 3198 lbs; which was about 50 lbs over what I was claiming for the day so I was pretty happy with that given the current fuel load. 

Session 2 was at noon and I made no changes and fired a 1:17.0 which slotted me first in class and first overall.  I hit traffic very quickly as there were 44 cars in TT on Putnam's 1.7 mile course.  Also someone nailed the hay bails in the final turn so we had a few sitting on the exit of T10 which was right in the line - and after 2 laps of that I seen the double yellow.  I was probably going 130mph when I seen it, closing in on 2 lower classed cars probably going 95-100mph but I made the passes safely before the flagstand and tucked in behind the traffic.  Oddly though that traffic was another car giving pointby's that was off pace.  By the time I realized it I'd been re-passed by a few cars - I think this confused some cars as other passing from other cars ensued and only 1 was called in for passing under double-yellow.

For S3 I made a few small tweaks and ran a best of 1:17.2 but the car was really starting to slide at this point.  Wasn't sure if it was the heat - sunny and around 85 - or the tires giving up.  I figured a bit of both.  I know I was starting to drop 1-2 tires into the dirt in multiple corners on exit as the car just wouldn't hold and would slide.  It made 'catching' the slides a bit interesting and fun but I knew this wasn't going to be faster.  I was also given the pleasure of the 'meatball' flag and when I came in was told my exhaust was rubbing and throwing sparks.  This shocked me as there was no audible difference.  When I got back to my paddock spot I seen the brace by the rear axle had broken and it was hanging low and would need a bandaid!  I recently had another bracket re-welded and perhaps with that being tighter, me dropping tires and that rear brace being rewelded back in 2009 - the extra pressure caused it to break again.  Either way I had 2 hours to fix it, and with my idea and some help from a friend it was pretty simple.  (see pic)

For S4 I adjusted the suspension a touch to try and aid rotation/grip assuming things would be worse if the tires were the problem.  I had my answer in the first lap; it was the tires!  I ran 3 hard laps right around 1:18.3 until I hit traffic, then I played for another 1-2 and drifted.  I actually had a few people ask who left the drift marks in certain turns as I was at least having fun!  At this point I new the tires were shot, having 12-16 Heatcycles each.  Also good news was that our exhaust fixed had held up just fine.  My time from S2 would hold to land me 1st place in TTA by about 3 seconds - but I was 1.3 seconds off my record from 2011 when I was on wider stickier rubber.  But considering the tires I came with I thought the car did very well - running times right where I thought we would.  Power was smooth and rotation was great with no understeer; just an overall lack of grip especially at turn-in from the worn tires. 
Vid from Sat; A lap each from Sessions 2 & 3 from different angles:

4.22.12 - NASA TTS @ Autobahn

After the brake caliper failure on Saturday, I switched the car to run Time Trials on Sunday to do some testing with the brake setup.  As for changes, I swapped out the leaking RF caliper with another that I had (always bring extras) and did a quick bleed of the brakes.  The odd thing was besides being a bit low of brake fluid, there really wasn't any air bubbles or darker fluid that came out of the system.

Having no time in TT from the previous day, I gridded in the rear and clawed my way through the traffic to find a descent lap while trying to be nice.  I ended up with a respectable 1:34x, similar to what I was running in the race the previous day - on the same setup.
Session #2 I bolted up my better 255 A6's that were leftover from 2011 and laid down a personal best 1:31.9, running just 3 quick laps.  Everything felt great including the brakes and things seemed to be back to normal overall although the car was rotating more that usual with the more aggressive ACD map from ACD-Tuning.  By this time it was lunch, so I popped out the front brakepads to check for wear assuming I'd need to drop in a new set.  But, they did not look any worse so I left them in. 
Session #3 I was lined up behind another Evo and we turned some good fun laps, nearly identical laps all right around the 1:32x range until he had an OFF and we both came in.  Overall, no better.
Session #4 I stayed out and ran 6 hard laps; which coincidentally was all the further I got in the race!  These turned out to be my best laps as I was pushing the car pretty hard - a bit too hard probably for the tires - through some of the tighter turns.  I had multiple laps in the 1:31x range.

At the end of the day, we ended up 2nd out of 5 cars in class; besting 2 TTS Evo's with front/rear aero and set a personal best of 1:31.666.  Keep in mind we were actually running in legal TTA form (but in TTS for competition) and this would have set a new TTA lap record with that time.  Huge thanks to Buschur Racing, AMSOIL and ACD-Tuning for their 2012 support.
The video below is from S4; enjoy:

Road Atlanta - 3.11.12 - Day #2

Day #2 at Road Atlanta started dark and slow. With the time change in the ET zone; it was pitch dark when I got to the track and nearly that for our morning meeting. Then a screwy schedule had me waiting around for about 2 hours. I really had no changes to make, other than remounting my camera and GPS and putting in a little fuel. I'm tuned for 100oct; and having used all I brought I was using a cocktail of 98 unleaded and 110 leaded since that's all they had (well had 112 leaded too). Oh, I did get my AFR guage hooked back up as the wire had come out. Lastly I had installed a different ACD in my car as I had planned on doing some testing on a reflashed ACD unit from ACD-Tuning. We talked over the winter and Mathew hooked with up with a unit with 3 special maps; each more aggressive than the stock Tarmac map.

When our first session finally came, I had the inevitable slow-down from a new track on a new day and not being aggressive. I also had overestimated the tire pressures so everything was high - which I could tell by the reduced grip. I took it easy on the tires and ran a some mid 1:35's. Watching the AFR down the long backstraight in 5th gear 'planted', I seen 10.5 - 10.6 on the new Buschur Racing tune with the 98/110 cocktail.  As for the updated ACD unit, I completely forgot about it until the session was done - which is good. Nothing detrimental at all to say about the map, no locking, no confusion, nothing at all that slowed me down. However, I didn't really notice any huge changes either which could mean I needed a more aggressive map or I simply wasn't pushing hard enough to tell - probably a combination of both.
I checked my data afterwards and I finally cleared 150mph on the backstraight!

Again - screwy schedule, so I had a big break before the next session. I had already started packing up, and continued that just in case I were to leave after this next session. Changes were small, reset the tire pressures was about it. I did decide to move my ACD to map #2 as I did not feel anything really different with map #1.
Finally around 12:30pm I lined up for session #2 - where I was up to 5th on grid I think. Knowing I had a 10hr drive home, I really just wanted to better my time from yesterday primarily. No sense in putting the car in danger with over-aggressive driving or torturing the tires (given the 2012 Hoosier contingencies). I ran a pair of 1:34's including my best of the weekend - a 1:34.1 - with a nice drift through T10A at the end of the long backstraight. Besides a few key areas, I was getting about as much out of the track as I could with the tires I had. I believe the time held for 1st place again in TTA and the 4th best out of 37 cars in TT.

Given the screwy schedule - I had 2:20 until my next session - I decided to head homeward. If we drove straight though I could be home around 12pm.
Gotta give huge props to David and crew at Buschur Racing for all the updated work on the car, installation of parts and most notably the new tune. Also thanks to AMSOIL, Forgeline, ACD-Tuning, KNS Brakes & Andrews Racing. The trip home was long and tiring. I'm thankful my Dad was with me, he drove the middle 4 hours of the trip probably and I ended up home about 2:30am ET. And yes I was at work Monday...

Road Atlanta - 3.10.12 - Day #1

 The day started with a 7am meeting. The TT group was first out at 8am. I went out on street tires with a goal to learn the track, stay out of the way of the locals, and try to set a fast enough time to stay towards the front of the grid.
The track was... pretty fun. Nothing too crazy. I was motoring down the backstraight and glanced down to see the odo approaching 140 really quick. Damn! Got past that; through the 'S' curve and then I went under the bridge and down the hill into T12. Holy sh1t; it was like the Log Ride - seemed like it was straight down. This was going to take some getting used to...

For S2 - I went back out on the street tires again. I was picking up the track, but definitely coasting down the latter part of the backstraight and down 12 (the huge hill) I netted a 1:39 still on street tires! I was actually pretty proud of that.

For S3 - I bolted on the Hoosier R6's. 2 were new; the other 2 were used so I'd need to scrub everything in. I tried to keep my track positioning in the first 2 laps and control the inevitable skids - which was fun. After a 1:37 I reset my tire pressures and was ready for S4 to hammer it.

S4 - Traffic! By now I was working my way through some of the TTS cars that are 1 class above me and run more HP. I'd catch them in the first part of the track but they could pull away down the long backstraight and down the big hill in T12. Track positioning is definitely important for a flying lap in TT. Best of 1:36.5.

S5 - I was up to 7th on grid by now, but as not everyone went out I was actually 3rd. This proved to be my best track position and allowed me to hammer w/o having to worry about navigating any traffic in front or behind. I had my best laps of the day; with the overall best of 1:34.8 that netted my 1st place out of 3 in my class of TTA and 5th out of 38 overall in TT.

The day turned out great, the Evo made it through it's first track event of 2012 with flying colors, which included a new tune by Buschur Racing. No problems over the ~100 miles on track including a top speed of 149.87 mph on the backstraight and around 130 on the front!
So I quickly rotated the tires and checked the car over before Then off to the NASA awards ceremony just off the main straight.  Above is a good vid from Session #2 looking backwards to demonstrate some of the elevation changes at this track.  Enjoy!

 

2011 Season Recap!

2011 NASA Midwest Region TTA Champion
2011 NASA Great Lakes Region TTA Champion
2011 NASA Nationals 3rd place TTA (out of 14 competitors)
2011 TT Most Improved - Midwest Region
2011 TT Perseverance - Great Lakes Region

16 Regional Events

• 10 1st place finishes
• 5 2nd place finishes
• 1 3rd place finish

5 track records in 2011

My last 38 NASA events dating back to 2009:

• 29 wins
• 12 track records

25,000 miles and 83 track days in total on the car, all with the stock motor, cams, turbo, bottom-end, etc. 
As always a huge thanks to AMS Performance, AMSOIL, Forgeline, Hoosier, Hawk, Boostin Performance and Buschur Racing.