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This was my first time at CMP (Carolina Motorsports Park). Very technical track, but the payment is HORRIBLE. The track appears to be situated in what was a beach, in prehistoric times. Can someone explain the sand???
That, coupled with my Hoosiers pushing their third weekend, made for a very slippery day. You'll see I was fighting for grip most of the time, and nearly lost it tracking down a 450whp AWD STI towards the end.
Sharif... not bad for it being your 1st time... thing about CMP though, there's lots of hidden speed out there. And it usually takes some showing you.
Have you got a copy of that without the music? Hard to tell but it sounded like you were short-shifting a lot.
Anyway... main thing I noticed in the vid was lots of early turn-ins ... this goes away only with seat time out there, but the only places to turn in early are T12/13... every where else is late late late.
T1 is off camber and taken too fast, you'll be offline for T2 which will leave you scrambling for the line in T3. Turns 1-3 put you on the short chute before the carousel; if you turn in too early and too fast at 3, you'll run out of asphalt at track out... and there is not a lot of runoff room at that point.
The carousel is all about mechanical grip and finesse. It lends itself to throttle steering corrections as opposed to steering wheel corrections. You should be full throttle (gradually of course) at the apex of T7 coming out of the carousel.
Turn 8 is the best turn on the track... when you get it right, it should set you up so you'll be approaching 140-150ish (if not higher) coming into the kink... whether or not you can take it that fast depends on your set up and the size of your, um, wallet.
What kind of speeds were you seeing through the kink? In that clip you weren't track-left far enough going into it... too much speed in that situation and you WILL run out of track out on the exit.
Unless you're racing, T11 is almost as late a turn in as T14... T12 can be taken with a wide arc, early turn in, drift through the apex (3rd gear) onto the very short chute into T13. Similar approach here, but there's less asphalt to work with (as evidence by the worn away turf at the turn-in point) so the apex should be later (plus its leading onto a decent straight).
T14 is the latest of the late apexes... if you think you've gone too far, go another 10 feet, then turn in. It's basically a 116 degree hairpin, and should be taken as such. Its off camber, so you can't get the power down anyway, plus, you REALLY don't want to experience the gators at the track out exit. Best to make the pit straight as long as possible by a slow-in-fast-out line.
Make sense?!
As far as the sand... well, it IS South Carolina. Just be glad you didn't have to experience it without paved paddock roads as many of us have.
I personally have never thought the surface was all that bad. It's not as bad as Roebling Road used to be, and Rockingham is even worse in terms of abrasiveness.
CMP is most notorious for brake issues... how'd your do?
__________________ Stacy King (I'm a guy dammit!!) - Owner - Asphalt Ventures
Sharif - are you going to Road Atlanta in March w/ NASA? If so, what group are you driving? I will be there, come by and say hi, I will be parked next to Roar Racing.
Silver8 that took pictures of your car, he is a friend of mine, and wants to get in contact with you to send you your pictures. You can find him on NASA forum or RX8Club.com or at his web site http://www.silvereightstudio.com/
Nice video Sharif. The road surface is choppy in places, going down the straights in a couple of spots there was some definite left to right to left shake. That will take some getting used to before you can hammer down all the way through it with confidence.
You have a huge advantage at over 80mph pulling on the Sti, but he was getting away from you on turn exits. Partly that is having AWD to get his power down, but part was a little too quick into the turn and sacrificing the exit speed because you had to hold back before you could get on the throttle. If you change the entry technique to just a tad later and a tad slower, (the car was a bit unsettled at turn in because you were braking a bit late to "catch up" and did not have the grip...that will work when you can trail brake predictably, but with straight braking it kills your corner speed)....you will be on throttle before apex and "slingshot" out, and it would put you right on his butt coming out of the turn and then zoom past him on those straights, instead of losing half the straight on corner exit and then clawing back on to him with that massive high speed torque of yours!!!!!!!! And with that closure rate at those speeds, that was definitely massive.
Your hand work on the wheel is good, but just a bit too much right hand time off it on the shifter. A pre shift rest and a definite slow return to the the wheel. Off-shift-back on, not rushed, but no lollygagging either. Nice counter steer recovery in the turn exit when you got loose in back.......power on oversteer? Was there a turbo lag kick there that got you, or just testosterone?
Could not tell with the music if there was "short shifting". I know with my car the power band is from 4,000 to 5,200, which is way different than NA or SC power, where instead of shifting at 5,500 as I do now it was at 6,500. I had to retrain my listening for the shift point entirely. Since there is no point pushing the car beyond 5,500 with most TT set ups, (indeed there is a lot of reason NOT to go above 5,500), it can seem like a short shift, when in fact you are precisely where you want to be, and I suspect that is what you were doing since there are few among us that know as much as you do about how that motor is going to be at its supremely best.
Overall, getting smoother and better....the vids are the proof. Nicely done, Sharif...........and the car.......she is a beast!
Thanks guys. Stack, I wish you were in my car giving me those pointers. There is definately some more speed to be had, and I was somewhat handicapped by my heavily worn tires. Towards the end of the day, all I could do was practice drifting...basically. Turn 14 was my least favorite, and I never felt I was able to nail it right. I tried late entry, early, the works and I just never got comfortable.
My speeds prior to the kink were about 120-130mph, IIRC, but I did stab the brakes prior to the kink, as my arse end just refused to stay planted this day, and I didnt want to slide off through 100 yards or so of sand.
In regards to shifting, with 500ft lb's of trq at 3900rpm, I tend to settle the car in the power band, and just drive through it. No real need to take it to redline through most of the sections of the course. The car has a very flat and linear power band between 3500rpm and 5500rpm. My car has a really deep note to it, so even when taken to redline, I have been told that it sounds like I am short shifting.
Eagle, in regards to the near-spin, it was a little too much throttle, coupled with crappy tires. More practice coming soon!
Moodude, unfortunuately, our schedule is really busy in March, and I will not be able to attend. We are hosting a couple of EFI University classes at the shop, so that is sucking up two weekeneds in March. Hopefully we'll bump into each other in April.
thanks for the follow up report, Sharif. It really makes sense with the tire status as you describe! Be well, and I really look forward to your next video of a track day. Terrific stuff.
Ed
god driving, sweet vid Sharif. That STI looked pretty tough to pass.
Yes, he would lurch out of the corners...very typical with AWD. Where I have so slowly ease in the power, the AWD cars can basicaly mash the pedal out of most corners.
I know this is off-topic, but has anyone had any experience with the Nitto NT-01 at full tread depth?
I run the NT-01, with a 9.5" rim in 18" diameter, Enkei NT03+M front with 275/35 and in the rear with the 315/30 on a 10.5" rim (it is by measurement more like 323mm treadwidth on that rear tire, by the way!).
The tire has bigger tread blocks than its sister the Toyo RA-1, and wide siping, so it is NOT to be run in the wet, whereas the rain tire of choice for many is the Toyo. The compound seems to be a bit stickier on the Nitto, and the sidewall modulus is stiffer...so in the dry I think it is a faster tire. It wears well on our heavy cars.
I like them.
The Hoosiers are stickier, but don't last hardly half as much as the Toyo/Nitto tires on our cars. I am running the NT-01 on the car in the video link in my signature, and you can hear the squeal as I trail brake and induce some oversteer/yaw to point the car out of Turn 2, then hook it up and launch out of the turn. Very nice and predictable response there. Compare the speed through the turn and the line when it is open, compared to when we get bunched up behind some bimmers, and you can see how well they perform there, and also into the corkscrew Turn 8 when we get hard on it going down into 8A.
I run the NT-01, with a 9.5" rim in 18" diameter, Enkei NT03+M front with 275/35 and in the rear with the 315/30 on a 10.5" rim (it is by measurement more like 323mm treadwidth on that rear tire, by the way!).
The tire has bigger tread blocks than its sister the Toyo RA-1, and wide siping, so it is NOT to be run in the wet, whereas the rain tire of choice for many is the Toyo. The compound seems to be a bit stickier on the Nitto, and the sidewall modulus is stiffer...so in the dry I think it is a faster tire. It wears well on our heavy cars.
I like them.
The Hoosiers are stickier, but don't last hardly half as much as the Toyo/Nitto tires on our cars. I am running the NT-01 on the car in the video link in my signature, and you can hear the squeal as I trail brake and induce some oversteer/yaw to point the car out of Turn 2, then hook it up and launch out of the turn. Very nice and predictable response there. Compare the speed through the turn and the line when it is open, compared to when we get bunched up behind some bimmers, and you can see how well they perform there, and also into the corkscrew Turn 8 when we get hard on it going down into 8A.
Thanks for the insight, Ed. I am probably going to start running the NT-01 for most of my basic/fun lapping, and probably reserve the Hoosiers for more serious events or competition. The Hoosiers are great, but they dont last, and tire costs are mounting! (no pun intended).
Sharif - are you going to Road Atlanta in March w/ NASA? If so, what group are you driving? I will be there, come by and say hi, I will be parked next to Roar Racing.
Silver8 that took pictures of your car, he is a friend of mine, and wants to get in contact with you to send you your pictures. You can find him on NASA forum or RX8Club.com or at his web site http://www.silvereightstudio.com/
Mood, I tired emailing him, but it bounced. Do you have a good email for him, or maybe you could give him mine sharif@forgedperformance.com
Have fun at Road ATL. Let us know how the new track surface works out.
Forged@Carolina Motorsports Park: Video Inside
