Get a roof mounted camera - that view is making me sick



<<<< -- After seeing those videos, I'd be embarrased to post one of my laps around Sebring.

 

coincidentally I just ran this track in my gtr about two days ago. (on forza 3). if you're interested I could show you some great off road shortcuts! (GO AWD GO!)

 

Nice vid! Damn that track has some cracks and lot of uneven pavement...is your car in one piece?

 

Sebring's course is part "old airfield", hence all the expansion joints, cracks and bumpy concrete.

 

They could repave it, but then it wouldn't be Sebring. I can't imagine spending 4 hours driving around that track in a prototype car at race speed let alone trying to win. LMP1's lap the track in 1:45!

 

Dave that's just some symptoms of old age.............


KIDDING!!!


Jet, I am friends with Leh Keen and I played that video about 100 times before hitting the track. That guy is an animal. I call him the human sequential gearbox. His shifting speed is not human in nature.

I agree with the track bumpiness. It's harsh, but part of the charm of Sebring. It's really not as bad as it looks. Mostly 1 and 17 are the bumpy parts. Nothing touched down on the GT-R and nothing broke.

 

Unfortunately, you're correct about it being a old age thing.

 

i was embarrased at the time because i had been tight on his tail the first 3/4 lap all the way until turn 16!
[ though, technically, we had been under yellow until that point and not allowed to pass]

then we got the green flag and space got all strechy with those long star lines and he popped into warpdrive

so when he popped back out of hyperspace going into turn 10 (note: at the 2nd brake zone cone) and went by i was very glad i had hurricane taped my doors on!
- at that point i was feeling that i had been lapped in ~ 3 or 4 laps (3.7 mile full course setup) and was thinking WTF?? had i forgotten to drink my prune juice?

but after reveiwing my tape it took 16min5sec to be lapped which was ~5.5 laps (2:50(traffic), 2:55(traffic), 2:49, 2:44(ties my best), 2:46)

i estimate that i was ~ 25 secs/lap slower with him in the low 2:20s

[rest of that session laps of 2:47, 2:45, 2:47, 2:47 (? a theme), 2:44, 2:46, 2:45, 2:44, 2:43(new low), 2:48 and the in lap ending Happy Hour]

[also, technically, i no longer needed the prune juice since i hadn't seen him until the 4 cones at the start of the braking zone, gave the point by, and hoped it would all work out...]

 

Looks like you had a good time out there.

 

That's an interesting analysis. Was this the final super session when I drifted fairly close to your door coming out of 16?

 

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[that was this pass for those of you playing at home]

Nope, i'm entirely comfortably being passed there (it happens alot!) - was too ,ummm, fearful / afraid that my skills aren't up to driving side by side at ridicules speeds thru the T15 esses complex (which is why i held you up until the end of those)- by the time you passed me there i was on the straight [and fairly confident in my straight line skills and didn't do this

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all day]

the trackday group i generally run with only allows point by passing on the straight bits and i'm still working up to the side/side thru corners stuff - the pass in the first mini vid was (for me!) deep in the braking zone where i'm generally all alone in my (in)competance

i had ~50 laps of great fun with the other 'moving roadblocks' and being on track with some real supercars just adds to it!

 

Turn 17 is a very tricky turn to double apex and requires trail braking skilz and innevitably that's going to happen once in a while there. In my opinion 17 is the hardest turn on the course especially since it isn't defined by a curbing or anything which makes it even harder to get acquire your turn in point for the second apex. Good thing you didn't bang the car up.

 

Well put. It's also tricky with traffic as some people take the DE line and others take the race line. Usually ends up nearly two wide into 17 and all kinds of fun stuff.

 

Yeah turn 17 can be weird when people are taking different lines. Especially during a DE becasue you can't pass there so as you dive into the inside to hit the first apex you have to look at your side window for the guy going the DE line to come around and get back in front of you.

 

i had been having a good time keeping up with someone a bit faster than me for 3-4 laps who then pulled over down the straight to go in to the pits - i remember that i was calculating how many more laps i could run fuel wise and didnt pay attention to the turn which bit me pretty hard in the *** :-(

 

Wow that track looks rough, and i thought streets of willow was bad!!!

 

Sebring is the one track I'm actually worried about going out and doing an event on. Everyone has said it's just sooo rough. The fact the walls are right there don't help either. I still will prob get out there this coming year @ some point. The Viper guys have it next weekend, I'm gnna go out and watch the new ACR-X tear it up i think.

 

The only places you really have to worry about hitting the wall are exiting turn 17 and turn 1. And not so much turn 1 either unles you lose your brakes. All the other turns have generous run off by LMP1 cars standards so your not going to have any probems. It's actually a very safe track as far as hitting something. If you can't make turn 17 then there is plenty of room to go stright and stop. Same with turn 7.

 

Hey Matt, as JETPILOT mentioned, it's actually a lot safer than it looks. And despite the bumps, there is a rediculous amount of grip on this concrete sections. All weekend, there was only one contact off out of the 200 participants, and he made the novice mistake of going off track coming out of 16(twhich isn't a terrible thing as there is tons of grassy runoff), but then quickly tried to bring it back on track which ended up hooking him out of 16 and flicked him into the oppositive side wall.

 

I don't know about Sharif, but I certainly enjoyed that video! Particularly the camera angle, which doesn't amplify the distracting tar strips that a low mounted camera does. It also helps to see the driver's technique as well. That Porsche driver is clearly a pro and his downshifts from 6th to 1st (hitting each gear cleanly) while at the brake threshold were a joy to behold.

Congrats are also in order for Sharif. I've never been to Sebring (and it doesn't look like I'm going anytime soon either), but for his first time at that notoriously fast and bumpy circuit, it looked like he explored the Forged R35's potential quite well.