I just got back from 3 days at Road America. It was my first time there, and I have to say that the track is everything that I had heard it would be: Beautiful scenery, unbelievably fast, not terribly technical in terms of linked turns, and just a ball to drive.

This is a track that is made for our cars. It rewards cars that have a lot of horsepower and good brakes. It's a 4.05 mile 14 turn course that has an elevation difference of about 700 feet from the highest to lowest points. There are three different places on the track where you can get to 150+ mph. One of those straights ends in a 50 mph 90 degree left hander.

I found a guy in the paddock with an older BMW who said he'd been there a lot. I helped him swap tires on his car, and he gave me a ride pointing out the sight lines and nuances of the track. Then he rode with me to help me pick up the line. I went through 3 tanks of gas on Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. My credit card was refused at the gas pumps in town because they thought it was stolen!


I've got some in car video from Friday that I will process and post. No Traqmate data, though. I rode with the chief instructor on Sunday afternoon on worn out PSC's, and he timed me for six laps from 2:30-2:32. That's an average speed of 97 mph. Did I mention that this track is fast?

More to come, but the grin will take a few days to wear off.

Jon

 

Great job!!
If you ran a 2:30 at Road America for the first time in your relatively stock car then
Flavio Briatorre may want to sign you. Road America is a fabulous, challenging track that rewards high powered cars with good suspension. How were your lap times
calculated? With a wristwatch?? You beat my times by 9 seconds per lap. My buddy
was there recently in (2) different cars: Stock 08 C6 Z06 == 2:39 and highly modified
07 C6 Z06 == 2:32.x. You were flat out hauling *** and need to buy a Cup Car.

MK

 

Wood -

I can't document those lap times. The chief instructor was sitting in the passenger seat looking at his wristwatch, and timing at the S/F line. He told me after we were done. I have in-car video only from Friday afternoon (first day) and I just fast-forwarded through it. I ran several 2:41's, but those were the fastest. I am sure that I was faster on Sunday, but I kind of doubt 10 seconds per lap myself.

I was carrying more speed into most of the turns, especially #1, and #11, and was generally a lot smoother. I ran out of revs in fifth between 14 and 1, and between 3 and 5, and I ran out of courage between 11 and 12. I was going through the kink at around 105. I know I could go faster, but all of the scars on the walls on both sides were slowing me down. Hope to meet you up there some time.

Jon

 

Wow! 2:32 on your first time out? Jeez...I think I totally suck. I don't think I ever turned a time under 2:42 on in my 996TT.

 

2:41's would be terrific first time out, and you certainly may have run faster.
We only go there once per year with the Nord Stern club (Mpls/St Paul based Porsche club), but I always look forward to it. Recently 996 Cup Cars from our local club qualified and ran in the 2:16 - 2:22 lap times. Your car sounds like it must be set up
well!

MK

 

Road America is an awesome track that rewards high horsepower cars. Running a time in the low 230's in a street car is an great accomplishment.

We need to organize a 6Speed track day there next year.

 

I can't remember if I ran a 2:30 or a 2:31or2 but you're definitely doing well. I have the time on my lap timer videotaped, will post it on youtube sometime. Like yourself all the paint on the wall in the kink ends up costing a second or two but hitting that would not buff out. Good driving!

 

Jon good stuff!!!! Glad you are using your car for what it was intended!!!

 

+1

Sign me up!

 

I posted a video clip taken on Friday.

http://quattro.me.uiuc.edu/~jon/Porsche996/RoadAmerica_2008

This was my third track session, so some of my lines are still a bit sloppy. I'm too early entering 5, 6 and 8. That got better on the weekend. This is about 2:41, so I am sure I got into the 2:30-somethings on the weekend.

My car really didn't like those rumble strips, especially the ugly black ones at the exit of 5 and 8. I managed to avoid the ugly one at 12, but hit those others a couple of times. Felt like jackhammers.

I had several minor issues on the weekend:

Occasionally, the PSM would fail and take the ABS with it. (I don't always run with PSM on, but it seemed like a good idea while learning the track.) When I got back home, my indy read the codes for me, and the problem was that I hosed up the alignment when I set up the car, so the steering wheel was at about a 10 degree angle. The steering position sensor went out of spec, leading the PSM to bail out. Naturally, it decided to quit while I was under heavy braking on a bumpy section of the track, so I ended up flat-spotting a relatively new Hoosier down to the steel. Fortunately, I had some old PSC's that I could put on.

While changing the tires, I decided that the cracks in the front rotors were getting too big, so I swapped them. One of the caliper bolts stripped the threads in the spindle. Fortunately, there was an indy there who helicoiled it for me. The other one had stripped earlier. I think maybe the PO overtorqued them at some time. I am looking into replacing the spindle.

*sigh* This is an expensive sport!

Jon

 

sure you know but for those who dont, the rotor cracks are "normal" up to 7mm. if longer than 7mm or hole to hole or to edge of rotor then rotor change.

 

Road America is very hard on brakes - especially stock. The progressive rumble strips on those 3 turns can be brutal on your car. I saw several cars going way to far into them and you can see the effective it has on them. If you hit just the edge of them they are not a problem at all.

 

Yup. These had some cracks extending to about 2mm from the edge of the rotor. If the crack gets to the edge, the crack edges can separate and destroy the pad.