TL;DR - New PB, new tires are awesome, and new brakes are awesome. Still some disappointment on the PB. Pics/vids to come later.
Since I was a Patriot course instructor on Saturday I was allowed to run Open Practice on Friday for two sessions. That of course was a complete shit show lol. The first session I bed in pads and got a light heat cycle on the tires. The 2nd session I ran and it was just unbelievable what I was seeing. Cars in turns at like 40mph. Almost stopping at the exit of oak tree... I don't even know what people were doing out there. Still snagged a 2:17 with all the traffic so I knew the car had plenty left. I also started catching on to the nuances of race tires. They make a small noise on the front, but the rear will just slip, but will also grip. There were several times where I felt the car wanting to slide in the rear on exit, but it stayed gripped up. Weird feeling that street tires usually wouldn't do. Race tires also do really need sometime to warm up. On street tires I could just go. On the race tires they needed a 2 or so laps of pushing to get up to temp. Never experienced almost ice like slide understeer, all in the name of the tires just not being warm. Where several turns later or a lap later it gripped up like all heck.
Patriot course instructing was for sure a workout. Basically every hour we had a new student, different car, etc. Had an amazing first student in a C6 GS. Next guy in a GTI was very ambitious/excited, but was also the "I want to race, how fast will we go type". Then last ones were just fine. I think my favorite one was a stock, beat to shit, Tiburon. That car really had 0 power, but the way the car handled, rotated, and the way the chassis felt was excellent for a stock, fwd car... Really changed my mind about that car from just being an instructor in it.
I was able to run only one TT session on Saturday which was the final one. My goal was to just get a time down so I didn't start in the back in the morning. I didn't know the track conditions nor did I know how the car would react to really pushing on the new tires. Had to fight through about 6 different slow cars, but still managed a 2:17. I also had my first, decently full, drift on the Conti's in T1 from just past the apex until the exit... It was actually a pretty easy save for some reason. The race tires require quicker corrections which I think I was doing on street tires. Street tires I think I was actually being too quick which cause for some few spins. So, I had got on the throttle as normal in T1 turning the wheel so my left hand was at 12 and right at 6. No noise happened, but I just felt the car start to slide. I naturally without thinking just started to correct a little and lifted slightly then my brain caught up so I started to add back throttle and I kept correcting until my left hand was at 6 and my right hand was at 12. The car started to grip back up as I the front end pointed to the middle track and I slowly unwound the wheel to straighten as the car regained traction. My GoPro literally died going into Oak Tree before this happened so I didn't get it on video. No big internet points for me... I do however have a few other smaller slides I will post later from the weekend.
Sunday morning I thought to myself I just wanted to get the same time as I did on my only session on Saturday. I thought if I did even a 2:16 I'd be greatly happy. I somehow end up running a 2:14.5... and left speed some in T3, T4, South Bend, Oak Tree, back straight braking zone, and hogpen. Easy 2:13's were achievable I just couldn't put it together.
The rest of Sunday I struggled to put a better lap together than a 2:16. Not sure what happened. I need to look at data. I thought I was pushing ok, but I guess I wasn't. I'm thinking a little was the heat and the car not wanting to make the same power and other half was for some reason I was literally thinking to myself before each session about just getting home with my car drive-able. Overall, good weekend and a new PB even if it wasn't the fastest I know the car could do.
The G-Loc's are great. They have actual pedal feel, they have actual modulation, I just don't lock up the brakes to ABS all the time anymore, they stop well, the wear looks great so far, and they had no problems with the abuse. Cars feels super stable on braking as well and over curbing. The Hawk's on braking would make the car feels super un-stable especially braking over the curbing into hogpen...
On the tire part, I know I haven't the exact limit on them, but I wish I went on them sooner. They have tons of grip and I wasn't using them to their full potential. The braking ability in the car now is amazing. The tires are super stiff. I can see why they will slide due to that. Braking without lifting until the 3 marker on the front straight with ease and still can brake even later. Back straight I was starting to brake between 1 and the arrow. I think I could easily do the arrow, but I'm still getting used the car. I'm basically having to relearn the entire track and turns now. It will be a process/long time before I'm at where I want to be/should be time wise.
On to the next event at NJMP in June!
Edit: A final note, I think a big positive from this weekend is I believe I have the car setup where I like it. I think from here it will only need small tweaks, but for now it's working well. It was an understeer pig on apex to exit at Summit. With lowering front rebound 2 clicks, increasing rear rebound 3 clicks, and lowering rear tire pressure 2 psi it felt just right at VIR. We shall see how it is at Summit later this year.
Since I was a Patriot course instructor on Saturday I was allowed to run Open Practice on Friday for two sessions. That of course was a complete shit show lol. The first session I bed in pads and got a light heat cycle on the tires. The 2nd session I ran and it was just unbelievable what I was seeing. Cars in turns at like 40mph. Almost stopping at the exit of oak tree... I don't even know what people were doing out there. Still snagged a 2:17 with all the traffic so I knew the car had plenty left. I also started catching on to the nuances of race tires. They make a small noise on the front, but the rear will just slip, but will also grip. There were several times where I felt the car wanting to slide in the rear on exit, but it stayed gripped up. Weird feeling that street tires usually wouldn't do. Race tires also do really need sometime to warm up. On street tires I could just go. On the race tires they needed a 2 or so laps of pushing to get up to temp. Never experienced almost ice like slide understeer, all in the name of the tires just not being warm. Where several turns later or a lap later it gripped up like all heck.
Patriot course instructing was for sure a workout. Basically every hour we had a new student, different car, etc. Had an amazing first student in a C6 GS. Next guy in a GTI was very ambitious/excited, but was also the "I want to race, how fast will we go type". Then last ones were just fine. I think my favorite one was a stock, beat to shit, Tiburon. That car really had 0 power, but the way the car handled, rotated, and the way the chassis felt was excellent for a stock, fwd car... Really changed my mind about that car from just being an instructor in it.
I was able to run only one TT session on Saturday which was the final one. My goal was to just get a time down so I didn't start in the back in the morning. I didn't know the track conditions nor did I know how the car would react to really pushing on the new tires. Had to fight through about 6 different slow cars, but still managed a 2:17. I also had my first, decently full, drift on the Conti's in T1 from just past the apex until the exit... It was actually a pretty easy save for some reason. The race tires require quicker corrections which I think I was doing on street tires. Street tires I think I was actually being too quick which cause for some few spins. So, I had got on the throttle as normal in T1 turning the wheel so my left hand was at 12 and right at 6. No noise happened, but I just felt the car start to slide. I naturally without thinking just started to correct a little and lifted slightly then my brain caught up so I started to add back throttle and I kept correcting until my left hand was at 6 and my right hand was at 12. The car started to grip back up as I the front end pointed to the middle track and I slowly unwound the wheel to straighten as the car regained traction. My GoPro literally died going into Oak Tree before this happened so I didn't get it on video. No big internet points for me... I do however have a few other smaller slides I will post later from the weekend.
Sunday morning I thought to myself I just wanted to get the same time as I did on my only session on Saturday. I thought if I did even a 2:16 I'd be greatly happy. I somehow end up running a 2:14.5... and left speed some in T3, T4, South Bend, Oak Tree, back straight braking zone, and hogpen. Easy 2:13's were achievable I just couldn't put it together.
The rest of Sunday I struggled to put a better lap together than a 2:16. Not sure what happened. I need to look at data. I thought I was pushing ok, but I guess I wasn't. I'm thinking a little was the heat and the car not wanting to make the same power and other half was for some reason I was literally thinking to myself before each session about just getting home with my car drive-able. Overall, good weekend and a new PB even if it wasn't the fastest I know the car could do.
The G-Loc's are great. They have actual pedal feel, they have actual modulation, I just don't lock up the brakes to ABS all the time anymore, they stop well, the wear looks great so far, and they had no problems with the abuse. Cars feels super stable on braking as well and over curbing. The Hawk's on braking would make the car feels super un-stable especially braking over the curbing into hogpen...
On the tire part, I know I haven't the exact limit on them, but I wish I went on them sooner. They have tons of grip and I wasn't using them to their full potential. The braking ability in the car now is amazing. The tires are super stiff. I can see why they will slide due to that. Braking without lifting until the 3 marker on the front straight with ease and still can brake even later. Back straight I was starting to brake between 1 and the arrow. I think I could easily do the arrow, but I'm still getting used the car. I'm basically having to relearn the entire track and turns now. It will be a process/long time before I'm at where I want to be/should be time wise.
On to the next event at NJMP in June!
Edit: A final note, I think a big positive from this weekend is I believe I have the car setup where I like it. I think from here it will only need small tweaks, but for now it's working well. It was an understeer pig on apex to exit at Summit. With lowering front rebound 2 clicks, increasing rear rebound 3 clicks, and lowering rear tire pressure 2 psi it felt just right at VIR. We shall see how it is at Summit later this year.