Hmmm. Where to start off. I guess overall I'm super impressed with this car. This weekend was my 2nd time in HPDE with this car. First time back in HPDE3 and first time back at Summit since November 2016 and in my opinion I feel like I was cooking it based on my times (more on that later).
![[Image: 3f76785334b234a5bc31eb18c42cd69e.jpg]](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180426/3f76785334b234a5bc31eb18c42cd69e.jpg)
I started off decently slow in the first session. Very cold track and the tires would not hold any type of grip. I started to push a little too much at the end of the session.
Entering into T10 so fast wasn't the brightest thing in the world, but I was confident in the car... If I would've stayed in the throttle instead of only keeping 1/4 in I would've been fine and saved it. My passenger front wheel went over the curbing into the grass and hit the large gap between the grass and the pavement after the curbing and upset the car snapping me around. As mentioned on social media I wasn't scared in the moment I was pretty confident I was going to save it from the start. The car is very predictable.
![[Image: bd2dc2cd8ac2bf38644e37c9d15828f1.jpg]](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180426/bd2dc2cd8ac2bf38644e37c9d15828f1.jpg)
As Saturday progressed I got more comfortable with the car and being in HPDE3 again. It just felt right being back out there in HPDE3 even though it's been so long. The car was happy to do as I commanded. Slight tendency to understeer on trail braking into slower turns. Tendency to oversteer on longer sweepers if you enter too fast. Tendency to throttle steer the car by lifting in turns to rotate the car such as T6->T7.
![[Image: cf0512410adfe8b3248fa6ea358d89cd.jpg]](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180426/cf0512410adfe8b3248fa6ea358d89cd.jpg)
I started to pick up more speed over the weekend and confidence over the weekend. Squealing the tires to the limit into turns. Braking at the 3 marker. Entering T10 at 80-85. Entering T4 at 95/braking into T5 at 95-98 felt sketchy, but awesome at the same time.
![[Image: a4caa0883749765cac7f2dd9a67ecf05.jpg]](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180426/a4caa0883749765cac7f2dd9a67ecf05.jpg)
I started to get a weird shaking/womp womp in the steering wheel as I got faster. I couldn't figure out what it was. On right hand turns I felt it the most (driver's side loaded up). I looked over everything and it was all tight. DJ recommended swapping left-right on the tires. The problem still persisted. I eventually started to get it on left handed turns as well when really pushing it. All I eventually attributed was the tire rolling over the sidewall. I took temps after one of my last sessions and saw they were at 34 and 34.5 psi front. Seems weird it would be doing that at that psi, but I knew I was pushing to the tire limit. Next event I will start at 30 and 31 psi cold to see if anything changes (was at 29 psi cold). If not I have a mystery on my hands which I hope aren't wheel bearings.
![[Image: 9e83935c60011c19347d3dd75459e404.jpg]](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180426/9e83935c60011c19347d3dd75459e404.jpg)
![[Image: 110089084f68377a78964f4df55c9046.jpg]](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180426/110089084f68377a78964f4df55c9046.jpg)
On to videos... I mean I will admit I felt decently quick when I was keeping up with some certain vehicles out there. It also helped when I had two people compliment me on how fast I was going. I didn't really realize how much until I got an estimate from video. Looks like was running a 1:28.1 at the fastest...... Which made me feel super excited about how this car will do when it is "race" prepped vs the "track" prepped it is now as well as having me become a faster/more consistent driver. I especially know there is more time left on the table with my current driving ability. If DJ or whoever is fast jumped in I know it's a 1:27-1:26.9 car.
Future mods I still should do that will help with lap times:
My car sits at 2678 pounds with me in it (175-180 pounds) and just over a half tank of fuel. My guesstimate on power is 150-160wheel so ~155wheel makes it a 17.2:1 WtoP. I feel like the lap times combined with my driving ability, time in the car on track, and the way the car sits is pretty damn good.
Overall, I'm looking forward to where this car takes me. I feel like I could for sure surprise some people. Another odd build and another one that's decently quick makes me feel good.
I started off decently slow in the first session. Very cold track and the tires would not hold any type of grip. I started to push a little too much at the end of the session.
Entering into T10 so fast wasn't the brightest thing in the world, but I was confident in the car... If I would've stayed in the throttle instead of only keeping 1/4 in I would've been fine and saved it. My passenger front wheel went over the curbing into the grass and hit the large gap between the grass and the pavement after the curbing and upset the car snapping me around. As mentioned on social media I wasn't scared in the moment I was pretty confident I was going to save it from the start. The car is very predictable.
As Saturday progressed I got more comfortable with the car and being in HPDE3 again. It just felt right being back out there in HPDE3 even though it's been so long. The car was happy to do as I commanded. Slight tendency to understeer on trail braking into slower turns. Tendency to oversteer on longer sweepers if you enter too fast. Tendency to throttle steer the car by lifting in turns to rotate the car such as T6->T7.
I started to pick up more speed over the weekend and confidence over the weekend. Squealing the tires to the limit into turns. Braking at the 3 marker. Entering T10 at 80-85. Entering T4 at 95/braking into T5 at 95-98 felt sketchy, but awesome at the same time.
I started to get a weird shaking/womp womp in the steering wheel as I got faster. I couldn't figure out what it was. On right hand turns I felt it the most (driver's side loaded up). I looked over everything and it was all tight. DJ recommended swapping left-right on the tires. The problem still persisted. I eventually started to get it on left handed turns as well when really pushing it. All I eventually attributed was the tire rolling over the sidewall. I took temps after one of my last sessions and saw they were at 34 and 34.5 psi front. Seems weird it would be doing that at that psi, but I knew I was pushing to the tire limit. Next event I will start at 30 and 31 psi cold to see if anything changes (was at 29 psi cold). If not I have a mystery on my hands which I hope aren't wheel bearings.
On to videos... I mean I will admit I felt decently quick when I was keeping up with some certain vehicles out there. It also helped when I had two people compliment me on how fast I was going. I didn't really realize how much until I got an estimate from video. Looks like was running a 1:28.1 at the fastest...... Which made me feel super excited about how this car will do when it is "race" prepped vs the "track" prepped it is now as well as having me become a faster/more consistent driver. I especially know there is more time left on the table with my current driving ability. If DJ or whoever is fast jumped in I know it's a 1:27-1:26.9 car.
Future mods I still should do that will help with lap times:
- 225 Hoosier vs 245 RE-71R
- DTC-60 + Brake Ducts vs Stoptech Sport Pads
- 1.8 catless header + race muffler + dyno tune vs catted header, street muffler, and remote tune.
- Take weight out the car
- Aero
- Hardtop to help with aero/speed
My car sits at 2678 pounds with me in it (175-180 pounds) and just over a half tank of fuel. My guesstimate on power is 150-160wheel so ~155wheel makes it a 17.2:1 WtoP. I feel like the lap times combined with my driving ability, time in the car on track, and the way the car sits is pretty damn good.
Overall, I'm looking forward to where this car takes me. I feel like I could for sure surprise some people. Another odd build and another one that's decently quick makes me feel good.