THSCC Forums

You weren't holding up too many people in Blue group with 1:49's. It looks like I made it to high 1:46's in the BRZ, last year I was running 1:51's. The new pavement is pretty grippy!

1:49 was my best, most of my laps were mid 1:50 towards the end.

I think I was pretty mid-pack laptime wise. There was a decent chunk of cars that had a ton of power on me but cornered significantly slower. Caused the scenario where I'd point them after hog pen they'd go screaming away and I'd be on their bumper by T2. Usually they would be gone forever after snake though. For the most part though drivers were either faster everywhere or faster nowhere.

One nice thing about being in a Miata at VIR is that I get really close to the aero induced speed limit of the car on the front straight. So I don't mind giving a big lift early in the straight to get someone by me since It'll only cost me a few MPH entering T1's braking zone.

Get behind me next time. I'm not so fast that it will blow your doors off, but fast enough to give you one hell of a tow Just don't hit me in the braking zone. With a good run, I saw 122-123 indicated on the speedo (up from 119 last year). A little tire wear for gearing and a few HP from the tune helps. I think GPS (when it worked right) reported me at about 120 even.

Cash, your car is handling very well in the corners. All of that winter work has paid off. There's a lot of rubber under that Mazda 6. I was watching you through Stevey Wonder and rollercoaster. The only reaction that I had was that I was taking it easy on the straight and leaving you. I was being nice to you by lifting all the way off. In the corners, I think that you're right on.

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Mike Miller
AutoX VP 2016/2017
Just a C Stock Miata DD
Mazda Speed 3 Family Car
Corvette Z06 Toy

1:53.536 before you put it into the wall. 67.0mph is just too fast for T16. Apparently. :-) We're both normally going through there at 57-58.

My best was in the last session Sunday... 2:03.027. With no shocks, and very little brake pad left, I managed to beat your best lap from T16 to T1, despite braking 150ft earlier to avoid the horrific vibration (and tire bounce) from heavy braking. (104.3mph in a car I wasn't 100% sure would be able to stop. We've changed the rev limit, so I don't know what the max speed is; but it used to be 108.9)

Thanks, Mike! There were a bunch of people being VERY courteous to me on the straights and I really appreciated it. The car doesn't have much in the way of torque and the top speed seems to be about 115 - but it is a blast in the corners.

_________________
09 Bullitt - DD
11 Fusion - Wife's DD
03 Mazda6 - Track car
00 PSD Excursion - Tow rig
67 Firebird - Don't you still own your 1st car?
61 F100 - Dad's truck
90 Moto Guzzi Calif III - Tourer
00 Cagiva - Adventure bike
00 DRZ400 - Woods bike

That may explain why Aaron was leaving you. I'm pretty sure we were topping out at 120 on the front straights.

What's with the 115 limit? ECU limited? Talent limited? I know your car is lighter and has way more power than my old Z-24 and I could do about 113 in that.

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

Based on your description of the car, it sounds like you should have used the last session as an opportunity to put the car on the trailer, not the track. I think if you polled the folks who were sharing the track with you, you might find that the majority feel that way.

I wondering why you were out there with a car you KNOW was broken. I know of many others that had mechanical issues during the weekend, and they all parked their cars once they knew that there was nothing that could be done to fix them at the track.

Chump Cars are measured by their various degrees of brokenness.

Finally got my last session up there. Best total lap is lap 9. On the last lap the corner worker in T4 threw me the aloha hand signal and made T4 much more exciting than it needed to be. That's at ~20:55.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ECGDbtbuFs&hd=1

Critiques welcome. I know I need to get on the curbs more in pretty much every corner. T3 I'm usually turning in too slow and a mix of too early and too late. I struggled to find new brake and turnin references for that corner.

A lot of people were mentioning this throughout the weekend, including the instructors. - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S

BTW, for those (like myself) who were wondering about the PITA cones making for a sharp left turn when exiting grid, I finally asked Bert (VIR Grid Marshall) why they were there. He said the owner wanted them placed there so we didn't run over the newly painted white lines. Not because the paint was wet, it was so we didn't accelerate across and put tire marks on them. I said to Bert "OK, I thought there was a reason, and being it's VIR, I knew it would be a stupid one". He agreed, but said he had to do what the boss wanted.

_________________
Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

That's up there with the tire wall on the apex of T5 and the tire wall on patriot (that got taken out 30 minutes in) at the Chumpcar event that was a week before ALMS.

I've been thinking about this myself. We can't rule out talent limited entirely I was short shifting some and being quite deliberate about my shifts, because I'm almost out of clutch. I think the bigger issue is gearing. I was hitting higher speeds last time (about 120) running a 24.75" dia tire. This time I'm running a 25.6" dia tire - not helpful. Also, being a frugal family sedan, 4th and 5th are over-drive - again, not helpful.

1st - 3.153
2nd - 1.842
3rd - 1.258
4th - 0.947
5th - 0.733

I was at or near redline in forth at about 108ish. I'd shift to 5th before the kink and would pick up very little speed. Suggestions? I have a set of 16x8 wheels, but they don't fit over my brakes. And I really like the grip of the 275s on 18x10s.

Cash

_________________
09 Bullitt - DD
11 Fusion - Wife's DD
03 Mazda6 - Track car
00 PSD Excursion - Tow rig
67 Firebird - Don't you still own your 1st car?
61 F100 - Dad's truck
90 Moto Guzzi Calif III - Tourer
00 Cagiva - Adventure bike
00 DRZ400 - Woods bike

Man, that 5th is killer. What's the R&P in the Mazda6? Does the Fusion's gearbox have different ratios?

e: looked up the MS6's gearbox, but it's the DISI motor vs the V6

1st 3.538
2nd 2.238
3rd 1.535
4th 1.171
5th 1.085
6th .853

e2: looks like 4.133 for the FD