Ok, I can go more in detail later, but this alone is worth probably about 5 seconds on your time...

(there is stuff before this, but Ill just give you the meat)

The rising esses-HOLD 5th gear and carry more speed through the esses, unless you are carrying over 135 upon entry into the esses in that video and I cant see it, you should be hitting at least those speeds. The downshift only upsets the car going into the esses. When in the esses, dont be afraid to hit those rumbles a bit as they do help direction changes...if you can get that section down, kiss 4-5 seconds alone of your lap time away.

skipping to braking after the back straight

you should be braking at the 1 or lower, the brakes in the porsche are INCREDIBLE and more than able to stop on time for the next right hand turn. I was braking in between the 1 marker and arrow with the gs koni car that uses stock brakes and got to around 145-149 mph at the end of the straight. Carry that speed directly to turn in of that right hander and once set, down the hill and to the left should be full throttle (or 90 percent with your power level and available traction). Then, you should be banging off the limiter in 3rd for the following left and rather than brake before the left, wait till AFTER turn in (this is REALLLLLY hard to get the ***** for...took me ALOT), but only lightly, and FLOAT past the first right hander, get settled, and then be full throttle all throughout the apex of 17a (last right onto the main straight). You will carry at least another 10-15 mph at the end of the straight...again, probably worth a good 3-4 seconds if you get it right.


PS, if you do what I said, I promise you wont feel comfortable, and you will probably be fighting the car a bit...that said, its the difference between fast and HOLY ****. Ill help out more later when I have a bit more time.


-Drew

 

This is great. Thank you very much. I knew of SOME of this (braking zone and the esses) but not the other. As I said in my post, it was a warm up session and it was actually lightly snowing. I didn't have near max grip (and a Boxster had just eaten the wall at South Bend before this session) so I entered the esses at 108 and stayed there (4th, as you know). This is why I feel that I can go 2:09 (2.5 secs off) at least this weekend. This 2:12 was very nonchalant feeling. Kind of a warm up. It's just the best I had on Traqmate before I had an issue that ended the weekend. Thanks for the tips. I really appreciate it. Oh, on braking, I have big Brembos and race pads. So I can go deep like that too without worry. I'm actually happy to see that I had ran a 12 when I did so many cautious things that I don't do when I'm going for a time (like hitting the rumble strips).

 

Be careful in the esses. Do not enter the esses with a MPH in mind. You should work on gradually improving your entry and apex position until you've got it down pat. Then when you're comfortable with that, add speed.

May take day after day to get that down, dont think it will be done overnight.

 

Gotcha. Well heeded. This makes me excited. I love knowing that I have a lot of room left in the car and still had a fairly decent time. Not that I EVER thought that I was CLOSE to tapping out this car, but I'm stoked, guys. Thank you very much. Oh, and I never uploaded to Youtube before with the low res option, so I did on this and it sucks. I know. Next time, I'll upload in a better resolution.

 

There is time to be had in the esses. I have to agree with Heavy - be careful with speed until you get it down. You are able to recover when off a little bit at slower speeds but it gets harder to do at the high speeds our cars are capable of through that area.

 

I agree. Going ***** out thru the esses can get you in far over your head in a very bad spot. Although I agree with everything Drew posted (only because I got to experience this first hand riding shotgun with Matt C.), If you aren't on your game, you'll total your car in the esses. They ruined that section when they built the condos.

I'd stay in 5th, stay track right all the way up until turn in for T7 (past the cut off for North course), and carry as much speed as you feel comfy with. I also agree that using the gator to rotate the car does help, but don't bang it to hard. You can really upset the car there.

I think you can gain a ton of time on entry into 14/14A and 15/16 as Drew mentions. I'm leaving tons of time there because I just don't "feel" the grip I know that is there.

I also think you could lose some more time carrying more out of T1 and all the way over to T4. Especially thru T3.

All these areas are also areas I'm focusing on as well, so you're not alone in that boat!

Mike

 

next time you are up for a members day i will ride with you if you like .. I am positive we can drop quite a bit of time in your car.. i have seen the car at Kerrigans shop... be glad to hop in..

 

You can carry a ton if speed thru 10 after the esses. Again you gotta be comfortable. There is also a lot of time to be gained from 14/14a thru roller coaster and the hog pen. VIR is a course that can reward you in some areas but can also burn you in a hurry if you try to conquer it too fast. I spent two days there and never did a complete lap at full tilt. It is a course that I could drive over and over again always having places to improve - that is probably what makes it such an awesome track.

 

Thanks guys. Matt, I'd love to have you ride with me. I'm not a member of VIR yet, so you'll have to let me know when we can do it. I was out of the country for 7 months this year so I didn't join. Will do asap though.

I do want to point out again though that this was 40 or so degrees when this video was shot and I was on street tires. I had just started the session and didn't push the grip of the tires. You hear a weird noise through the audio, because there was a wire that totally came loose near the end of this session. I fixed it at the end of the day, which was the end of my weekend due to other issues. I'm pretty sure that later in the day I ran some substantially faster times, but I didn't trust my tires this time. Either way, I am SURE that I am leaving time in the esses, as well as the roller coaster, on my best ever. I don't think I've ever ran faster than 120 through the esses and I've never hit third's rev limiter going into the rollercoaster.

One last thing: note as soon as the video comes on how early I am on the brakes in 1. That should tell you the road conditions and my faith in my tires during this lap. It even wiggles a bit on me.

 

we have all been there...dont worry man. As for the 120 plus into the esses...its a pretty harrowing experience the first time you actually really hit them with real speed...and as others have said, it goes from "fun" to absolutely chaotic with just a small adjustment of 5mph in the beginning to even that extra mph when you really get up there (for instance, I hope to enter the esses at atleast 135 in my stock suspension equipped gt3...where as I was already able to hit 131 with my twin turbo before...Im pretty anxious to find those couple mphs...). And for another 2 seconds, lose the **** tires and get something good...like some hoosiers or better yet, dunlop or mich slicks...

 

Yeah man. I've got two sets of Dunlop slicks. That's why I'm kinda making excuses here. I'm used to slicks, but had the road tires on for a magazine test that my car was just in (mandated street tires, it was a comparo). Everything felt a bit sketchy. But I'm nowhere near that fast in the esses yet. I'll work up to it slowly.

 

Dont post that on Rennlist, they'll say you're making excuses....

Dont worry dude, I completely held back in south bend, and took it easy through the esses. I left myself some room on parts of the track I wasnt comfortable with quite yet either. I was running over heat cycled hoosiers too so I know how you feel. I pushed it where I knew I could and get away with it. When I return, I'll be on fresh tires or maybe even some slicks and then we'll see what's up.

I'll be looking for 2:03 or better when I get back up there.

 

You were at the Carolinas event? You're going to be at Chin this weekend? If that's what I'm understanding, I'd love to buy you a beer.

 

If you wouldn't have quoted me, I could just delete the darn thing!

 

Dez - Are you still keeping this list updated or has it died? If you are still keeping it active please add my new time at Brainerd International.

This last Monday I ran a 1:47.4 on long course(original course). Timed with a driftbox.
Two weeks prior I ran 1:46.2 on short course.