OK, the snow is gone... Finally. Lets go driving.

Who all is going to the Laps Inc track day at Road America?

I only see a couple of Porsches listed. For a change, I would love to not be out numbered by Mustangs.

Marc

 

You're lucky to be living an hour away from such an amazing track. I hope to someday get my car out there and enjoy a few sessions.

Make sure to take a GoPro.

 

GoPro charged and Ready. Will also run iPhone with Harry's laptimer and GPS.

Marc

 

Track day at Road America this past Saturday was excellent. The weather was great. LAPS Inc. did an excellent job running the event. Other drivers did a great job being aware and moving over when needed.

It was great to see a couple of other 991s. Plus a number of other 911 models including the Fall-Line Porsche race cars. And a ton of Spec Miatas. This caused the closing rate at the end of the straights to be spectacular. I will post some video when I get a chance. My Mac died and I need to find some video editing software for a PC.

The car is just unbelievable. I did notice quite a bit if understeer that I didn’t recall from last year. Not sure if this was because my rear tires were brand new and the front have quite a bit of miles on them or not. Keep in mind I do like a car that is loose. So I can get picky. I played with the tire pressure but really never got it the way I like it. I would even trail a fair amount of brake to set the car. Then by mid corner it was back to understeer. I do have the factory camber. So I am sure there are things that can be done but I drive it everyday and don’t really want to mess with it.

The brakes so hot that the rotors were dragging on the dust covers. Once they cooled it would stop. That was interesting.

Here is an unedited video. At 1:40 you can see me following a Fall-Line 911 thru the Kink at around 95-97 mph. It may not look like it but I pooped my pants. You can see me shaking my head. The road has a dip and the car slid sides ways. In a race care that is fine but not in my DD at 100pmh. I left him thru coming onto the front straight. I could keep with him because I was faster on the straights. But once we got back in to the turns he was much more difficult to stay with.


I didn't run Harry’s Lap timer so I am not sure of all my laps. Just timing a couple I saw a mid 2:36. That is stupid quick for a street car. Especially seeing that I am not working the wheel that hard. With a better driver this car has more to offer.

marc

 

Awesome update and video, Marc. I enjoyed watching the video and living through your lens. Like I said, I hope to visit Road America in the 911 one day. It's one of my favorite tracks.

Thumbs up.

 

Nice video, god I want to visit that track!

Getting my oil changed, tech inspection and rear brakes done for Autobahn next month. You must be advanced, I saw some passing in the corners?

 

Nice driving Marc! Last year was my first time to RA, had a blast, my best was only 2:43 using Harry's. Mid 2:30s is awesome! LAPS runs a great event.

 

Excellent. I am going to try and get to Autobahn on June 2nd with LAPS.

Yes, advanced group. Although you are still no supposed to pass in corners.
I think that Porsche was trying to get away from me He didn't know that I knew the Mazda and knew I could get around doing in to 6. The only thing that made me nervous is that I was offline (mid track) going into 6. And there was a lot of dirt on the track. But it didn't affect traction.

I was surprised that the 991 was able to keep with (sort of) the Fall-Line Porsche. The are usually good drivers and very well prepared cars. But there could be a million reasons.

Marc

 

2:43 is a good time. To get down to 2:36-37 I was really wringing the car out. Running with stability off. It will take a couple of days for the brakes to sounds normal again. There is still more time with a better driver. You could here me lifting early going into 1, 12 and 5. I am sure there is more speed at Billy Mitchell (13) and the kink. But I am already doing almost a 100mph in the kink on street tires.

We saw two heavy crashes in the Kink this past weekend. It is not a forgiving place.

Marc

Looking forward to Autobahn. Never been there before. Should be exciting.

 

How do you all like the camera view from the rear? It is cool that you can see the speed, gears and RPM. Only issue seems that the sun sometimes causes the picture to white out.

I cannot seem to find another other good spots. I like being able to see the drive in videos. That way you can see what they are doing.

Marc

 

I like that view. I tried a bunch of positions with the GoPro at Willow Springs. One that seemed to work was mounting it outside of the car, to the right of the driver's side window, and pointing it straight ahead. It gives you a nice view of the your hands and the ****pit, but also gives you a shot of the track from the outside.

 

Glare is the issue w/ that view for me as well. I tried a couple different ones last time at autobahn but neither is great, I think I need at least two cams to do a good vid.