Ah, finally back to "Rain & Shine" but only this time with Hoosier R6's and 10 laps of light rain. Below is a clip from the White Flag, to the Checkers! 140.2 MPH (GPS) while crossing the checkers in the rain!!!! Good times to say the least.


Afterwards a quick bite to eat at Casa Ramos and then the drive home…ugh! 190 miles!







Etchhead has some more exciting videos to post. Hopefully we shall see them soon!

On the plus side, we both kept our beasts on the tarmac all day….NO OFFS!

 

Here is some more lively footage presented to us from inside Etchhead's GT-3. This is the first lap of the race a bit further back in the pack where all the excitement happens.

Be sure to watch the whole clip all the way through to T14! Exciting stuff to say the least!

 

Thunder...hill...

 

I've figured out the first lap is the sketchiest and one that I take a bit more cautiously now then work on picking off the cars in the following laps (if possible). My 6TT had much more torque and ability to make some better passes. The GT3 is more of a momentum car so getting some good lines is very important to building/ holding speed. Had a great time on Monday and looking forward to Laguna Seca in a few weeks- 90db could be quite challenging for all!

 

D sounds like you are having a blast driving a 3. Maybe i'll see you + EH at a track event this year. Did you sign up for mooty's track day ? 8 hours of straight driving. Well worth it.

 

^^^ Indeed...been having fun in MG's GT3! That car rips...if you can believe it, he actually offered to let me take it out on LS after my TH off!!! Not too sure I'll take him up on his offer though : ] Although, he had me looking for 19" NT01's. I was pretty impressed with that tire, but sadly, a no go for TT 19" specs. : [

Atomic-80 was in the area the last day or two. I was hoping to meet up with him at LS for a McLaren Playdate, but deadlines got in my way. Looks like he had some fun!

 

Man, love your track videos, that thing is hauling ***!
Love the pics at the rest!
C

 

Yea Vid, your car looks sooo sick.
that front wheels sits nice.

 

^^ HEY, THANKS GUYS!

So here is some in car footage...

Okay, so this is the pace/out lap following the pace car (in car GoPro with RODE PRO MIC) and trying to bunch the field for an even start amongst the classes…its not an easy thing to do…and if you do it too slow, or too fast, everyone has something to say about how "you" started the field from pole….. No one is ever happy….

I actually hate starting from P1 and would prefer starting from P2. Its much easier to follow, pursue, and attack, verses leading the bunch, while racing in your mirrors, and waiting to be attacked.

Sorry I had my GoPro on the wrong settings so you cannot really see out the front windshield, but you can see the shifting and the RPM's, not too mention where some of the cornering loads are at 1.3g's (HLT's / GPS) and there are a few braking points that hit 1.0 to 1.1 G's!

Its kind of fun to watch the RPM's and the shifting though…not to mention how my hands actually feed/play with the wheel…

At the start watch for the flagger and then note we went two abreast into T1! Keep in mind I had a 2800 lbs tubed framed IMSA, 700HP, Trans Am car on my a$$ the whole time, while I am driving a street car weighting in at 3496lbs with me and seven gallons of fuel. Had the drive in the mirrors for ten laps… it was a bit stressful! he finished 0.258 seconds behind me. It was a very tough battle, but very rewarding in the end.

 

Here is some in car footage from Rob's Corvette (P3, race start). Note on T9 that wasn't Rob making a mistake but rather the white BMW sliding out and locking up under braking to his left. He did the same (the white BMW) going into T14, Rob rear camera didn't catch it but Etchhead's iPhone did! (Video/Posting #527 above).

 

I had some free time today so I thought I would test out a new microphone placement, tweak the GoPro settings, and try some new video processing techniques.

The clip posted was processed out at 1280x720p. The GoPro footage original format is 1920x1080p. I also adjusted the GoPro PIP setting so you can see outside of the car now! I moved the mic from the back of the car to the front hoping to reduce wind noise. I used iMovie to do my editing and to cut the clip down in length. This thirty-four second clip is 87.9MB's. From there I ran it through a video processing app called HandBrake and defined a GoPro 720p export preset. This processed the iMovie file size down to 20.1MB's which makes it much easier and quicker to post HD videos to YouTube. I also defined a GoPro 1080p (1920x1080) export preset. This reduced the iMovie file size down to 45.5MB's. It takes longer to upload to YouTube and also takes longer for the video clarity to appear during online play back. Hopefully all this will improve the next track day footage I attempt to record.

Why you shouldn't drive your "track" set-up on back country roads! At the 30 second mark my Werks1 chin spoiler plows into a dip in the road. It sounded horrible from inside the car. I thought for sure I had inflicted some serious damage. Much to my surprise all was good when I got back home. That thing is tough and the metal skid plates mounted to the left and right underside definitely take their fair share of abuse!

1280x720p Processed Clip 20.1MB's:


1920x1080p Processed Clip 45.5MB's:

VID RODE PIP TEST GP1080 - YouTube

854X480p Processed Clip 9.2MB's: (you can definitely see the video / image quality has been compromised at this output level)
I think the 720p might be the best option for posting short high quality videos on YouTube at this point. I should have some Laguna Seca footage ready for viewing in the next week or two.

VID RODE PIP TEST GP480 - YouTube

 

How to make your 997 Turbo sound like a F1 car!!!

This is the full test I ran earlier today, I just sped up the clip while doing the processing. Its pretty funny to watch and listen to.

The native GoPro file is 17 minutes and 3.93GB's. By speeding up the play back I compressed the time down to 4 minutes and the iMovie clip down to 631MB's. From there I ran it through HandBrake and got the file size down to 203MB's at 1280x720p.

 

Sorry Guys…. First time running Laguna at 90db. I had new LS tips fab'd up for this event. Yes, they did work, they just didn't work well enough. I opted to do a sound check in the morning before my first session and recorded a 89.XX on lap one. Lap two, I blew the limit and hit a 91.XX. I took the info and figured out what was needed to stay below 90db ( track far left on the white line exiting T5 and stay at 4,000 rpm's). My first session out I only made four laps before blowing a 96.XX and received my first meatball for the day (mechanical flag for sound). At that point I needed to manage my mechanical flags for the rest of the day (you are only allowed three before you are told to pack your **** and go home). Therefore I opted to sit out S2 and save my last two meatballs for our qualifying session and the race.

Next up S3, Quali! I managed to stay out for eight laps before hitting traffic and realizing nothing I could do at this point could yield a quicker time. Now, I had to wait for our Pre Race Drivers meeting to find out how I did. Somehow I managed P1! Not sure how, but I did nonetheless!

Now for the Race. My goal was to complete all ten laps. Unfortunately I was only able to make four laps before popping sound…my RACE WAS OVER & I WAS DONE FOR THE DAY.

Below is a clip with back to back 1.39.XX's with some traffic on the second lap. To put things into perspective Last year on a 92db date I was able to turn a 1.36.XX while lifting after exiting T5.

To make 90db in a high horse power vehicle is going to be quite a challenge, but it it appears this is what we will need to do moving forward if we want to run at LS….else turn PRO and run the handful of 105db dates LS has offered up for 2014.

FOOTAGE, COMPLIMENTS FROM HLT iPhone 5s:

 

D, narrow escape there. Werks1 lip - that would have been one expensive repair no?

The quality of your video clips is fantastic and getting better. The 45.5 mb has better resolution viewed on this computer at work , but the 20.1 mb seems to have better contrast and looks pretty darn good. Different processing?

 

Hey Can,

Same processing, the only difference is in the video compression/image size while exporting the clip.