That was an incredibly fun weekend. Was nice to meet you Fixxxer and Sektor.

My favorite part of the track was bus stop (chicane) and keyhole. My last two sessions I think I finally started to figure out Carousel (last turn on to the pit straight). Most of the last session my instructor was silent so I suppose that I did pretty well.

 

Rob I am so happy you went man....I knew you would love it

Glad to see that everyone got out safe and sound...
Sorry about the LSD, but hey no-one bumped into anyone or anything thats the good part!

 

I'm not 100% sure its my LSD that gave me the problem. I'm actually leaning towards trans. I should get to work on it later this week or early next week. I'll keep everyone updated!

 

I had a BLAST at the track this weekend. I am so glad I signed up for the 2 day event. I do want to sign up for the 2 day NASA event in August. I learned a lot this time around and worked on improving some of the things that I was avoiding at the tracks in Michigan.

My downshifts are not as smooth as I'd like them to be and in Michigan I got away in 3rd gear except for in long straights. At Mid-Ohio you do need to shift a lot to be in powerband. I still can't heel-toe but with Pete's help I did kinda smoothed it in the very last session on Sunday. I checked my videos and I believe I was running 1:50 - 1:51 on Saturday and I am very positive it was a couple of seconds faster the very last session but can't confirm since both my camera's ran out of memory on the cards

It was nice meeting you guys - Justin & Dominic. I am pretty sure we will meet more often at Mid-Ohio. I took a ride with Dominic in one of the sessions, good driving man! But we did have a lot of trouble with that guy in the red RX-8 that wouldn't let us pass in first 2 sessions on Saturday. The Sunday was pretty good, I skipped first session because of rain. All in all not bad considering it was supposed to rain all weekend.

I do feel the need to get some kind of data logging system. I'll have to look at something cheaper or used.

 

Thank you, glad that the money I spent on seat time last year helped.

I do not think I would want to get into group 3 because I am not as fast as you guys. I will only consider switching a group if I am the fastest. I know for sure I am not,, PLUS the open passing through out the track does not make it very appealing.

Yeah, I had the chicane pretty good but I am sure I could carry more speed. I sat in with Dominic and saw him take a different approach and tried that some. But I only got one try at it, I'll have to experiment more.

 

I plan on going back to Mid Ohio again in August with NASA. I hope some of you guys can make it down again. Deepu, I see you're interested. Let me know for sure if you are going. I am ordering some Enkei wheels today and some R888's. I will have them on before then, so I can drive my car the way I want to. Those crappy Advan's are killing me. I think my best lap time on Sunday was 1:48 which was about 3 seconds slower than when I was there in April with my other tires. I am shooting for a 1:41 or so with the R-comps. I know its a big jump, but those tires are really that bad. We'll see. You should sign up for group 3. You'll be fine. You won't get slowed up as much because everyone is faster and are better with letting you by. I can't believe its only like three more weeks away. It will be here before we know it.

 

My vids and comments are up in a new thread:
https://my350z.com/forum/autocross-r...-mid-ohio.html

 

- Alright, following is my video of the 3rd session on Sunday the 25th of July.
- I was driving in HPDE2
- You will see that I do not downshift at the following points even though I should be to stay in powerband. Since my shifting is not so good I end up shifting late
(a) Entering into keyhole should be in 3 instead I shift after completing turn
(b) At the end of long straight should shift to 3, instead shift at Turn 9 (going uphill).
(c) I should shift into 4 between 11 & 13 and then into 3 just before carousel, instead I drive 3 all the way to finsih and then carry it on to keyhole. Sometimes I downshift to 3 at turn 1

You can see Lee at around 6:45 and Rob a little later. My session 4 was the best but the memory cards were full and didn't get the video.

Also, this is my first attempt to make a PIP video, it's really cool. I tried to get them synced but they are little off but that should be OK.

Make sure to go to YouTube and watch in HD at fullscreen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXjOsQ_lqFk

 

Here is a clip from my 3rd session on Sunday. My gf was ridin with me. Amazingly I am lucky enough to have a gf that loves to ride with me on the track and appreciates it.

Beware of slow entry speeds due to shitty tires... Not for much longer. R-comps are on the way!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIblH4-ui8E

 

I am just going to jump in and say I'm not a huge fan of the R888's............I prefer the NT01's (or RA1's if you can find them) in the 100 tread wear r-comp category. On top of that just about every other racer I know who has used them........feels the same way. Not too mention the NT01's are considerable cheaper. Just my .02.

 

Your comments don't count until you come drive with us

j/k j/k

 

I was actually hoping to make it out to your last Mid-O event, but I got swamped. Oh well. Maybe later in the fall. Not sure if I will make it out that far.....may run the beaver later this year though.

 

I appreciate your comment. I am honestly up in the air about it. I basically just flipped a coin. I have heard good things about all three of them. How much cheaper are the NT-01's? I will have to check into them. I thought they were all treadwear of 100. Shows you how much I pay attention.

 

What sizes are you looking for? The R888 are the new toyo 100 treadwear tire that was to replace the RA-1's, but the feedback has been mixed to negative, and thus toyo has kept the RA1 going much longer than originally planned. The NT01's and RA1's use the same compound with a different tread block design/sidewall design.

 

I know I am not an avid track goer anymore but..

I know a bunch of people who race Vette's and Lotus's that SWEAR by the NT-01. I don't know why they say that they grip real good one warmed up a bit and they last forever... cold they say they are flat out scary....

Now these guys are not the worlds greatest drivers but they compete at a high level so they have to be decent...

Just a thought you might want to look into it a bit more.
Try the SCCA Prod car and T1, 2 and 3 sections.

I know these guys post in there....just a thought
Hope to meet you and give you a run sometime...though I am retired now...
-AJ

 

I am looking for 275s for rear and 255 or 265 for front. These are going onto an 18" rim. I just checked the NT-01 and they do not make a 255 or 265. They make the sizes I want in the R888's. I did not know that the R888 was the new RA1. Thats weird that people still prefer the older one. Toyo must not have done enough R&D on it.

 

What size are your wheels?

 

18x10.5+15 and 18x9.5+15. I was thinking about going 275's all the way around. The NT01's would work then, but I think I would have to get my front fender rolled to clear the tire because it is a 275/40.

BTW, I like your sig!

 

I use a 265 on front and don't have any issues. The R-comps will be a bit wider. What is your alignment like.....the NT01's/R888's love camber.

You can almost put the 315 on those 10.5" wheels. I would run the 275 square set-up though. Just an FYI I run 265/275 on my 9" wide rpf1's.

 

Thanks for the advice. I know the 265 will fit but I did not see the NT01 in that size. Running a 315 in the rear would be nasty too. I am running -2.5 camber in the front and -1.7 in the rear. I may have to adjust that when I switch to R-comps since they will be gripping better around the corners. Thanks again. I just bought the RPF1s too.