Since my last post, I ran the last 2 events of the NASA TX season. I've learned a few things, had a lot of fun, and looking forward to doing more next season.
Oct. 2023 | MSR Cresson 1.7 CCW
October's event was 2 days at MSR Cresson—a track I had never driven but was looking forward to. It's short but looks quick, and I'd heard it was a good track to push at since going off has relatively little consequence. Leading up to the weekend, the rain forecast kept increasing until finally I came to grips with the fact that it was going to be cold and wet. That would be an understatement.
The rain began on my drive up to Cresson. I was on brand new RE-71RS thankfully, because even with full tread, there was enough water to get some hydroplaning in several places. More rain would come down overnight and into the morning—enough to create what was essentially a low-water crossing in a couple of corners (Big Bend/Little Bend). We wouldn't see a complete dry line all weekend. On top of all of this, MSR Cresson is known for being one of the slickest tracks in the wet. New goals—learn the track at a low pace, learn the TT processes, and don't find myself needing to power wash mud off the car.
First session example of how much water there was (and this was after the track had actually drained a little).
Sunday was more of the same, just much colder with temps hovering around the 40s all day, and wind to boot. The track was still incredibly slick and while I was quicker vs. some of the competition in the full wet, as parts dried out here and there, track knowledge and skill won out. It didn't help that I was on stiff sway settings, but I'd left the car in the softer damper settings I drove up on. In the vid, you can see how nice and slippery it was—I was just playing TC hero all weekend.
For TT, all cars must go straight to impound for weight check. Learning that process was helpful, additionally I learned that I need to claim a lower minimum weight and will change this for next season—I didn't get DQ'd but came within 10lb. The worst thing about impound is it's basically impossible to check tire pressures hot so it's a bit of a guessing game. Overall the weekend was
a wash in terms of driving but useful nonetheless.
Dec. 2023 | Eagles Canyon Raceway
Last weekend was the final event of the NASA TX season at Eagles Canyon Raceway—another decent drive-to event for me. I was really looking forward to this one since I'd only been to ECR once prior and really enjoyed the track. This time I would have added grip through dampers and RE-71RS, and be sitting a little higher to better visually handle the changes in elevation (see first post—I'm not
that short, I swear).
ECR is a really great track—flowing with elevation and the pavement is smooth with tame exit curbing. One of the characteristics is multiple double-apex corners which makes for a fun challenge of minimizing the number of steering inputs or adjustments after entry.
Previously I'd run a best time of 2:11.4 or so and since this was going to be a dry weekend, my goal was simply to improve upon that and then see how I stack up. There were 4 cars in the TT3 field and I was... the heaviest car with the most power, the only car without any aero modifications, and 1 of 2 cars on street tires.
First session out was warmup—took 1s off the time pretty much immediately trying to get a feel for the track again... things are off to a good start or are they. I'm
way off the pace for my class—8 s off making 3rd place uncomfortable. That answered the competitive question pretty quickly, so back to work on competing against myself.
The second session got off to a rough start with confusion about start times due to the schedule being 15 min behind but then being caught up without a notification. I had to go out after the outlap and behind the cars in the slower TT classes, get tires and brakes up to temp and then get it. All in all this was actually fun for me because I like driving around other cars, but it did mean that my fastest lap (another 1s off) was actually set with traffic and 350Z spinning. Now my time is 2:09.8 but my theoretical is a a 2:08.1. Following that session, a surprise rain shower would basically end any opportunity for progression the rest of the day.
Sunday morning came and along with some very low temps—my car showed 28ºF on the way to the track. Heading out to grid with nearly freezing temps and concerns the dew had frozen to the curbs, I don't think anyone expected this session to be the fastest of the day. We quickly realized the track was surprisingly quick and this would be my quickest recorded TT lap at 2:08.0 (transponder time of 2:07.9—the transponder pickup is in a different location than AIM uses). In the end, the results look like this:
- 1:58.993 | E92 M3—very well driven and detuned on slicks with aero
- 2:01.647 | Evo IX—weight reduction+power on RE-71RS with aero
- 2:02.428 | C7 Grand Sport—detuned on [I think] A7s with aero
- 2:07.971 | A humble M2 comp on RE-71RS
I would end my day playing a little with damper settings and running a hair quicker during sundown and a theoretical best of 2:07.4. I had been on the out of the box damper settings all weekend and found adding a couple clicks of rebound equally front and rear got the car largely where I'd want it. All in all it was a great weekend and I have some thinking to do over the winter—a future post surely.
Right now, my priority is still to drive more and drive better—this is the largest disparity between myself and the other competitors in my class and I'll continue with my coaching through
Blayze. I'm sure tire and aero would help, and weighing in at a portly 3600ish lbs while only on a 275 tire is going to be difficult to overcome, but I'd rather work on skill than modifications at this point. Plus, street tires are cheaper and better accommodate driving to events and changes in conditions.
Now onward to the home track (COTA) for a DE weekend to round out the year.