For those that have never run the track at Miller Motorsports Park, if you get a chance, do it! What a track! Running the full course 4.5mile track at Miller has always been on my bucket list and I finally made it out there this year. Seven of us from our area loaded up the trailers and went out there this past week for their annual PCA club race / advanced DE. Two of us brought Spec Boxsters to run in the Club race while the rest of us ran in the DE. I brought my 996, Elite1 brought his 997TT, Steamboat brought his 997TT, and we also had a 997.1GT3 and a race prepped 968 to round out the group. The whole facility is superb with terrific amenities like huge covered garages, 24hr security, etc, etc. There was talk of Miller going under at the end of this year but the track is under a purchase contract by a Chinese company that will keep it going. The deal however is tied up in the courts for the time being but hopefully the track will keep it's door open next year. We ran 4 sessions (30min each) on Friday, Saturday and I left early Sunday after running the 2 morning sessions. Weather was sunny all 3 days with temps in the 60s and 70s. We really lucked out as it rained all day on Thursday. My car ran well all weekend without any issues. I mounted up new NT01s prior to the even and they were pulverized 10 sessions over the weekend. Compared to my home track, I was using some fuel here, right at 8 gallons per session.

As far as the track goes, this is one of the few events each year where they run the whole 4.5 mile track instead of just the east or west sections. Having never run Miller before, it was quite a challenge to memorize and figure out all 23 turns and took a better part of the first day. What makes it even more difficult is the fact that the surrounding terrain is pretty much the same everywhere you look without any distinguishing landmarks. There is also a bit of elevation change which further masks some turns. Despite this, I was pretty comfortable with it by the next day and really started to shave down my times. The track is very fast and one is constantly turning. Running slicks here instead of DOTs would really shave some times. The event was run very well and if there is one complaint it't the fact that passing was restricted to the straight-aways instead of open passing as done in most PCA black run groups. I also felt they did a poor job staging cars according to their lap times which made it a pain to weave thought traffic if you were late to grid. Besides that, all was good. Even though the run group was quite large, the track at 4.5 miles absorbs a lot of traffic. First lap was always run under yellow with the green flag dropping after that. We had a mix of car including 991GT3s, 997GT3s and RSs, 996GT3s, TTs, Ferrari 458 and 430, Lotus, and at the typical slew of various Porsches, BMWs, and a few Jap cars. There was also a Viper TA. Anyway, this was a phenomenal weekend and we will be back next year for sure. I also got a chance to meet a fellow 6sp/Rennlister Z06801.

Below is a video of the track from my car. The quality is pretty good if you select 720HD resolution. Volume is also a bit low so you have to turn up the speakers on the computer.

 

Mr. Hound, I couldn't agree more.


Nice Vid dude! Really nice! I have the Go Pro mounted to my bar and, its not near as nice in my opinion. Meanwhile, Motec setup is almost there. I am slightly confused with your dash display numbers though. I would think that this is the gear engaged but, It may not be. Regardless, seeing this vid helps as your lines are very close to mine. You hug a few more turns which I was contemplating and I think your right.


Excellent time at the track. Hitting 160MPH on the straight is toxic in a turbo. This track does exactly that. My car really showed off its 5th gear potential on it.


Your times shouldn't be seen in a DE though. You should probably be attending the club race. PCA just needs a Street category for us amateurs.


This track is my current favorite and I will look forward to being in its attendance next year if the new acquisition doesn't ruin it.

 

Man, what a weekend! Glad you made it out brother. I still have to program the ECU bridge to overlay the data onto the camera. Didn't get a chance to do it before we left. The Motec central display number is the gear you are in. It is strictly calculated using RPM, gear ratios, and speed. Thus when you shift or depress the clutch and rev match, the rpms drop momentarily it thinks that you've gone into a higher gear or vice versa. Once gear is engaged, the display reflects that. I actually have to double check the ratios to make sure they were inputed correctly. That may be the issue also. The gear display is really there to be used for cars with sequential or PDK gearboxes where the gear signal is electronic instead of calculated. It really doesn't serve a purpose on manual transmission cars.

I've looked at the data and a 3:06 is possible with running a clean lap. I was still leaving a good bit of time on the table in many areas. Another day at the track would have helped. With slicks I can see running a 3:02 or 03 and real close to the 3 minute mark on an error free lap.

 

The NASA dates are all ready set for next year. You guys should come and run one of the outer loop NASA events, that's my favorite configuration and what the Pirelli World Challenge runs. The NASA TT run group is open passing and a lot of fun.

 

I like NASA TT. Ran with them for the first time this past summer. I'll look at the dates and see if I can make it work.

 

I just noticed that the Tresduro in oct includes the full track this year, three different races and time trails, you can use 3 drivers and the times are added up for the overall winners in class. So east track, outer loop and then full in the day. This is the sched for Friday practice. Kind of a cool idea for the year end final.