I remember the good old days when we battled it out but our track time delta keeps growing- and the crazy thing is I keep improving on my last time at the track- your just doing it at a faster pace- great job out there especially for your "Rookie" race year and in a fully plush road car. As we grid up next time you should crank that Bose up for everyone!

 

Ah yes, the good'ole days...09/12/2011...when we were still both cageless & sporting OEM comfort seats with seat heaters...

Let's hope your 2014 GT-2 "Rookie" season goes just as well next year! Rumor has it DF may get bumped into GT-1 which would put you in a very strong position. Although if WP de-tunes his GTR it might be a tough battle for you in the Championship points hunt.

GRID @ TH, I'll keep it low key....maybe SP in Nov... might have to crank some tunes as we roll out!!! Just will need to find the right song....

 

UPDATE: Ecthhead officially received his Racing License today in a very clean fashion!

Congrats EH!!! Lets see if you can still capture that 2013 Quali Championship without your full license! Pedal to the metal my man!!!!

I am looking forward to seeing you on the GT-2 Podium next year!!!

 

Cheers- thanks Vid! New Nt01s tomorrow ahead of THill later this month. Hoping to beat my previous time and shoot for best GT2 qual times.

During off season will be looking at a few tweaks (motor/tyranny mounts, sways, maybe billet snails) HARD work keeping up!

 

Thunderhill 10.21.2013:

Great day at Thunderhill this past Monday. The track wasn't super fast and only a few laps were clocked under two minutes for the full day. The HLT clip below is the first Green Flag Flying Lap from our Qualifying Session. This yellow 911 is extremely quick and has out qualified me at our last two events. However, this past Monday at Thunderhill I finally was able to best his quali attempts!

 

Race Start & Lap One from inside Etchhead's 996TT:

 

ET: Are you all set for SP this coming weekend? Looks like I might be able to make Saturday mid-morning! Unfortunately I had to order new front calipers on Friday. If my vehicle isn't ready by Friday, can I race yours on Sunday?!?



Also, ended up ordering a new set of Toyo 888's but had to cancel that order Saturday morning. Turns out the maximum rim width for the triple eights is 11.5" and I'm running 12.0" wide rears. The eights have a very narrow contact patch as well, thus making it a bit too much of a stretch for my application. They need to offer these in 325's!

So, it looks like either new R6's or old RE's for me on Sunday.

0% chance of rain for the weekend!!!! Woohoo!

Cheers,
VID
PS: Last event for 2013 for me!

 

Worth checking out the NT01 tire to see if they have something that fits in your size- all the web chatter has these as a better tire than the 888. Like most new tires I found the NTs quite slippery my first few sessions and they they will only get better like my previous Ventus TDs.

Unfortunately I'm going to miss this last event so your going to have to take all the points and podiums for us! Depending on the weather we should see if there is any room with NCRC Dec21st at Laguna.

 

Hey Etchhead, NT01's are not offered in 19's...18's or 20's...

I'll probably bite the bullet today and pick up yet another set of R6's seeing as I need them mounted up no later than Friday.

December is stupid crazy busy for me work wise...most likely I wont see the track again until mid Feb–early March

You will be missed on Sunday.

Cheers,
VID

 

I'll be there Saturday.

 

NT01s are offered in 18" for the 997TT. I've been running the NT01 245/40/18 and the new 305/35/18 on 18x9/18x12 wheels. I bought the last 5 sets for under $1000 out the door. These are 997GT3/TT sizes and are a fantastic set up for the money. The 305/35 runs wide for it's size and sits square on a 12" wheel which is a mfg recommended wheel width. I'd skip the 888, they are way inferior compared to the NTO1s. The 888s become useless at about 50% tread life. NT01s are good all the way to the cords.. I have 33 sessions on my current set and they are down to total slicks with a couple of sessions left in them.

 

^^^ PowderHound,

Looks like my previous post you quoted me on was a bit miss leading or broken. I meant to indicate that the NT01's are NOT offered in 19's, but are available in 18's & 20's.

However, thanks for the insight on the NT01's...33 sessions is amazing!!!! I have been getting 8-10 heat cycles out of the R6's and they start cording. Looking for a more cost effective set-up for 2014. I have two sets of 19 inch wheels currently and have been contemplating making the switch to 18's. There is so much more to choose from in the 18 inch arena and their price point is quite a bit lower then any 19 inch rubber out there.

PS: How much does your car weigh with fluids?

 

UPDATE: I will finally be testing out a set of Toyo R888's at Infineon/Sonoma this weekend!

After searching high and low for a set of R6's without any success, I pulled the trigger on a set of R888's yesterday. I originally ordered these last Friday and then cancelled the order Saturday morning after realizing my GT2RS wheels were too wide for the R888 recommended rim width range. Not having any fresh rubber for this event was killing me. Therefore, I opted to mount the 8's up on my Champion RS171 wheels which are 11.5 inches wide. Looking forward to trying something new!

My RE-11's still have plenty of thread left up front, however the rears are pretty thin. I'll be keeping the 245/35 fronts, ditching the 305/30's rear and then replace the rears with 325/30's!

 

CFRA 11-24- Sonoma Raceway. First time running Toyo R888 Street tires….rather interesting…R6's have definitely spoiled me.

Would have been nice to have a fresh set of RE-11's to run back to back comparison test. The Triple eights are definitely a DD/DE tire, by no means a track tire or TT tire. I do not recall the RE-11's needing inch perfect entry line execution. The Triples do, and if you are sightly off they are very unforgiving. I had to be very, very, precise with my turn-ins, not to mention methodical with my throttle application, both after braking and then while applying throttle through the turn an on exit. The Eights were not "awe inspiring" nor did they offer me any confidence in my vehicle and what the out come would be on each and every turn. Braking points radically shifted as well with these tires, which may have contributed to me being off an inch or two at turn entry. I will say they did improve throughout the day and my confidence did grow. However, I believe that had more with me learning how to drive the vehicle with this rubber compound and not the actual tire. I needed to adapt to their "window" of performance, and once doing so times became more consistent. Jury is out at this point.

First lap qualifying session Turn 11 Mayhem…fortunately everyone made it through without swapping paint samples. YIKES! Keep in mind all four cars in front of me are full blown purpose built race cars and running racing slicks, and their front tires are wider than my rears!

Enjoy!

 

You all will quickly learn that Toyo R888 are not even close to the same league as Nitto NT01...not close. Plus keep an eye out on the tread seam splitting on Toyo R888's. I had 4 tires do this along with others I track with around the southeast. R888 is a JUNK tire.