What a great way to start out the Thanksgiving Day Weekend!

I spent Wednesday at Laguna Seca and had a great time. Of the four tracks that I've driven (Thunderhill, Buttonwillow, Infineon and Laguna), this one has got to be one of my favorite. We did a total of 5 runs, about 20 minutes each, on a perfect weather day (a little cool and overcast). At the end of the day, I even drove into Carmel with my buddy to get a nice seafood dinner (can't get that at too many tracks, eh? ).

Here's a video of one of my runs -- not the fastest one, since I decided to dial it back and work more on my line for this run. My car is basically stock and running on street tires -- a suspension upgrade may have to be next .

I'll say it again -- if you haven't gotten out to the track, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yni3V608YtU

 

What are you using to get the RPM and throttle read out on Harry's Lap timer? KIWI? Is it easy to set up? I am assuming just a plug in to the OBD port? Thx....

 

Thanks for the post/video. I'm glad you had a good time.

 

Yes -- I got the PLX Kiwi Wifi. It was very easy to setup. Sampling rate is not very high, but it seems to work pretty well. I just received it a day before going to the track, so I haven't had time to play around with its other features yet.

 

Very nice vid Eugene; glad to see you had a good time.

 

Fantastic video setup

 

Thanks Eugene. We should go together sometime. Maybe try to arrange a group of us from the NorCal 6SO group!

Thanks. I'm pretty happy with it. I'm sure it's not the most accurate setup for true racers -- but it seems to work well for HPDE events. Two guys parked next to me in the paddock saw the setup and immediately downloaded it to their iPads and iPhones. One of the guys had a sweet black 2012 Nissan GTR that he was breaking in at the track. I should get a commission from Harry's Lap Timer. LOL

 

I tried out the timer at Infineon but I wasn't getting good readouts from the gps so the times were all over the place. Are you using the TomTom mount for it? I just ordered the emprum gps unit Harry's recommends and a custom window mount, so we'll see how that goes next time. The overlay feature is pretty nice, and sure beats paying 1k for a dedicated rig.

 

Yes -- I have the TomTom mount. It has worked well for me at both Laguna Seca (twice) and the one time I had it at Infineon. I do know that it works much better with a mount that has a GPS chip built in (e.g. TomTom). One of the guys who downloaded the app onto his iPhone3G was having trouble getting the GPS to pick up his laps. I suspect it was the combination of the older iPhone and not having a good mount. The other folks with an iPhone4 or iPad seemed to have no problems.

Let me know how it works out for you.

 

Sweet video and love the Harry's app- been running your same setup for the past year and have been very impressed with it. Haven't done the KIWI add yet, but looking forward to this addition. May need to pick your brain for setup.

LS is a sweet track, glad you were able to get down there and had sweet weather. Suspension and tires makes a big difference, but its all fun!

Cheers- Mark

 

Nice video! I actually just missed you by a day (I was there Tuesday). What mount are you using to keep the phone from shaking? As you can see from mine, it shakes like crazy. This was my best time of the day!

 

Nice run! I'm relatively new at this (at least in the 996TT) -- my best time of the day was about 8 sec behind you -- but I was also making a conscious effort to focus on improving some specific things rather than pushing too hard. I know that there were definitely spots on the track where I could have made up some time (turn 6 to 7, turn 11 to 2, etc). Always stuff for me to go back and improve on eh?

How do you have your car setup? Any mods? What tires are you running? *** Edit: Never mind -- I saw your other post. ***

Hope our track days line up in the future.

 

I have been at it for many years. I used to instruct with the BMW CCA club in the midwest at Mid-Ohio and Putnam Park and will likely instruct with PCA clubs in the region next year.

You are definitely focusing on the right things. Once you have a really good line you can start adding speed little by little. I am still learning the tracks around here but Laguna is amazing.

By the way, what mount are you using to keep your phone steady?

Thanks

 

I was using the TomTom mount for an iPhone4. I was actually a little surprised that it came out looking so smooth. It was more stable than the GoPro camera I had on the outside of the car. It could also be that my stock suspension is a bit softer too.

 

I had the TomTom mount up high in the windshield and clearing my hood, later at other track days I aim it down to capture front of the hood which gives a better perspective on actual speed. I got a little sloppy after the CS. VID997 is the car that passes me on the inside of 2- his car rips!