Wow. We had a great weekend at NASA Mid Atlantic's July event. We had five cars in class. Me, Wade, and Steve all drove our SER's while Todd drove the indefatigable Ford Probe. David Lee was there in his Integra. Saturdays race was nuts. I started on the PTE pole (high 2:18) with an Playboy MX5 cup car and a couple of sports racers in front of me. Unfortunately I started on the outside row. At the drop of the green I slotted in behind the Playboy car and squeezed in front of Todd on the inside. The Tiga rolled and went away and we both passed a Diasio. Todd started to immediately pressure me. In fact he hounded me for the next 20 minutes never more than two car lengths away. It was the most exhausting 20 min race i have ever had but I managed to stay in front by driving defensive lines where it was necessary. I have never had to hold someone off for so long. Still, it was good to get the win. Wade and Steve fought it out for 3rd and 4th not far behind. David in the integra finished back a bit.

On Sunday I qualified on pole again. The interesting thing was that Todd and I both qualified in the 2:17's. I had a 2:17:6xx and Todd had a 2:17:9xx. My time would have beaten the old track record by 1.4 seconds. In the race I started on Pole because the Playboy car didn't show up and the Tiga started back in the field due to problems before qualifying. I fought it out with a Diasio side by side through turn 3 before taking the lead with Todd in 3rd. The diasio was able to get by after a couple of laps and that left Todd and I to battle at the front. This time I was able to get control of the race and pull out a couple of car lengths per lap. Wade and Steve fought it out behind us but Wade finally remembered that he had new tires on his car and started chasing down Todd. Wade charged and passed todd on the white flag lap but they had some contact while swapping positions.

The stewards ruled in favor of Todd and the final order was Scott, Todd, Wade, Steve, David.

All in all it was a great weekend for me. I have never won two races in a weekend. I think my favorite moment of the weekend was that I was able to honest to goodness flat-foot my car all the way from the flat esses all the way to braking zone before south bend. I have never been able to drive flat through the uphill esses before but if I hadn't Todd would have taken the position away.

I also participated in the Time Trial event but there wasn't much drama there. I think I finished ahead of a five car field by about 5 seconds on Sat and Sun. Every Nissan and Probe driving PTE competitor was faster than all of the other TTE guys.

Whew. We need videos from Wade, Todd, and Steve. I didn't have much happen in front of me, frankly. Great job by all of the PTE guys. We all had a great weekend.

We want VIDEO. Post 'em up!

hi guys!

here's my incar vid from Sat's race:

http://www.vimeo.com/5795891

i qualified 2nd in PTE (a 2:19.0 to scott's 2:18.8). got a good start, and chased scott HARD, while trying to keep the Diasio behind me from interfering with our race.... i stayed close the entire race, and at one point near the end thought i had scott when his car popped out of gear in hogpen; i got a real good run and was going to sail by and take him before T1, but a lapped car in front of us thwarted my attempt! ha ha! i finished 2nd, and the margin was .5 at the line, i believe....

i don't have sunday's race downloaded off the camera yet, but i'll give the backstory --

i KNEW i had to qualify first, if i was to have a shot at winning the race (assuming scott didn't break down). i went up really early to qualify (about 30 mins early). scott came up early too, and was right behind me. i paced us slow, and scott set up 20 lengths behind me. i put down three of the hardest, hairiest laps i've ever run at VIR; the car was honestly on the ragged edge (god i wish i'd had my camera in; i had a mad dorifto up in T9/T10 that would have made great footage!). after the three laps, scott had crept up to my back bumper, so i knew that he had qualified faster than i had.... he ran a 2:17.6 to my 2:17.9! it should be noted that the track was not particularly fast this weekend (it was SO damn H-O-T); the fast spec e30 guys were in the high 2:19's and the fast spec miatas were in the 2:21's. after seeing the qualifying, i changed my gameplan; no way i could run 40 mins flat out, chasing scott like i had in sat's race; i'd burn the car to the ground (the extra weight -- 2660 min -- and the 225 tires, and the heat would have done me in); i figured that i'd try and conserve the car as much as possible, and hope for a FCY near the end, and then i'd mount an attack. i also used 5th gear on sunday, on the front and back straight, practically every lap, to be easier on the motor (sat's race i used 'war emergency' power every single lap, and instead of shifting to 5th at 6500 rpm, i held 4th and over-revved the motor). well, the race progressed as i expected -- scott eased out ahead, and most of the race i spent about 20-30 lengths behind him (there never was a FCY, so that kinda didn't work out!). near the end of the race, i caught up to some 'bad' lap traffic; i miata spun in front of me, and some were going side-by-side fighting in corners, and/or crawling up the esses.... wade was doing a great job and really using it to his advantage (plus turning some great laps!) and he closed on me til he was right behind. we had a drag race out of oak tree on the final lap, and a bit of accidental contact at the top of rollercoaster, and i ended up placing 2nd, and him 3rd (there was no hard feelings between the two of us; it was just one of those things that sometimes happens during racing!)

scott really has picked up his game, and moved to the next level!!!!

anyway, i'll try and get the vid downloaded from the camera and uploaded to vimeo soon!

see you all at summit?

todd
ReidSpeed

great weekend, some amazing lap times put up by you guys!!!

thankfully since i don't have any major work on the car, i am going to try to work on the little things before the next race (more camber, fix rear brake caliper, actually align the car before the race)

I also ordered a couple (2) new shaved toyos for the front to put on for the summit race........looked at my tires last night and not enough left for the front of the car for the last two events so i had to break down and buy a couple new tires ;-)

camera only got 15 mins of sunday's race but i will post it up, there is some good video of wade on there

I'm decent on most of VIR but I still don't have good cornering speed around South Bend. Maybe I can lose some time there in October. I flat-footed the esses for the first time that weekend. That was scary as heck.

Thanks for the vid, Todd. We were pretty even on most of the course. I had to take the 100% defensive line after South Bend b/c you were killing me there.

Thanks for the vid, Todd. We were pretty even on most of the course. I had to take the 100% defensive line after South Bend b/c you were killing me there.

yep; my advantages on VIR full seem to be:

1. uphill esses/southbend. i gain a good bit there on you (but you were real smart and protected and i couldn't get around without fear of a collision)
2. braking, especially at the end of the back straight into the rollercoaster. i brake later there, and can do it while trailing into the corner.

your advantages are:
1. you kill me from oak tree to the brakezone at the end of the back straight. you pull many car lengths there.
2. you are slightly better thru hogpen.
3. you are slightly better thru T4 and T5.
4. you have a very small advantage on the front straight (which i can easily erase in the brake zone for T1).

i've watched the vid many times already ( :rofl: ) and i have determined that the only place i think i really have a chance to pass you (assuming that your tranny doesn't pop out of gear) is exiting T10 down towards oak tree. but, even if i'd managed that, i am sure that you'd easily repass me up the backstraight and then i'd have to be all the way on the left, and outbrake you into rollercoaster (which i am fairly confident that i could do). it would be my only chance; that sequence of events.

the low speed accelerator-ability of your car is amazing -- 2nd and 3rd gear you fly away; once you hit 4th gear it lessens a bit, and by the time we are up to 115 mph you stop pulling away and we are even in acceleration. i think i've got a much better shot at you at summit point, cause there is no super slow turn leading onto a super long uphill straight for you to murder me on; the 'big power' areas are all lead-into by sweeping, high speed turns (much like the entrance to VIR's front straight).

it'll be closer at summit; i'll put up a good fight there, i promise! :biggthump

todd

hey guys! looks like you all had a ton of fun. i can't watch the video on this POS laptop, but i was checking mylaps throughout the weekend. looked like a real tight battle. provided they don't extend my trip out here in washington i hope to be dicing it up with you at VIR with some new go fast goodies in the form of hosspowa :)

Thanks for the posts and vids, good stuff.

here's sunday's long race:

http://www.vimeo.com/5820004

i went into sunday's race figuring that my only chance was to conserve the car, and hope for a late race FCY, then attack. i was shifting into 5th on both straights, and was trying not to abuse the tires too badly, and keep them under me. the FCY didn't happen, and some unlucky late race lap traffic brought wade up to my rear bumper. there was some accidental contact on the last lap, and after speaking with the officials, the PTE order ended up: scott, me, wade (wade was super cool about the contact; it was totally by accident, and it was one of those tough situations. it was crowded up there, what with me, and wade, and the miata, too! if we hadn't had contact, it would have been a super exciting finish to the race, cause wade and i would have raced down to the finish line side by side, thru hog pen and out onto the front straight!).

boy, was it H-O-T out there, too!

enjoy.
todd
ReidSpeed

Thanks for the vids, Todd!

It's odd that in both videos that I'm locking up the outside (left) rear caliper under trail braking before the roller coaster. I wonder if I should change it?

here's my video from the sunday race, shows my brilliant jump at the start ;-), followed by my not so brilliant move to the inside when i hadn't quite cleared wade all the way:eek2:

tape cut off so only got about 10 mins of race but there is some good early action with Wade, he and i were quicker (till my crappy tires faded to dust) in different parts of the track (him turns 1 and 2 and quicker in hogpen, i was quicker in uphill esses and was gaining ground going into rollercoaster, then wade just destroyed me and ran away from me;)


good news i think after watching videos my power is better with the new fuel pump, bad news is the tires sucked, turn the sound up and listen to the tires in hogpen, oaktree and turn one
http://www.vimeo.com/5851589

Thanks for the vids, Todd!

It's odd that in both videos that I'm locking up the outside (left) rear caliper under trail braking before the roller coaster. I wonder if I should change it?

are the pads wearing funny on that caliper? does it look like its getting overly hot? that is weird behavior! how did the rear tires look (any flat spotting?) any chance that the right side is frozen and not working, thus letting the left rear take all the brake line pressure?

Todd, I installed new pads before this race. The RR caliper is two races old. The LR is 2 yrs old. When I spun the pot in on the LR, I got a shot of brake fluid past the seals but none came out during the weekend. That's all I know.

I'll check to see if the pads looked funny this weekend. The tire didn't have any flat spots.

You all had your very own little SER Shanty-town going on over in the woods. Never really made my way over there to say hello.

Shanty town? Hardly. We had our own showers, electricity, shade, and cool green grass to walk on.

It felt at least 10 deg cooler in the trees than it did in the paddock. Great weekend.

Here are the in-car vidoes from Wade's car from Sat and Sun....

First 10 minutes of Saturday race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKrvTZBG28U

First 10 minutes of Sunday race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwUitHORj9A

Last 10 minutes of Sunday race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82rFhoGMtZM

Those last 10 mins are awesome!!!!!

Some really nice driving there, thanks for posting the vids. Gives you great perspective on running VIR, too.

Thanks for the vids, Todd!

It's odd that in both videos that I'm locking up the outside (left) rear caliper under trail braking before the roller coaster. I wonder if I should change it?

That's weird because I assume you're also also loading the front more on the left? I sometimes would get rear lockup on opposite corner from the more heavily loaded front side, but not the same side.

Most of that problem went away when I upped my springs all around so now the rear isn't getting so light; in my case un-weighting a rear wheel with excessive front dive would let the tire come up and also usually under trail braking.

I would really like an adj solution for F/R bias but just haven't gotten around to finding one yet. Overall rear bias is a little more than I'd like, even running basic OEM replacement type pads and rotors, which is pretty weird with Wilwood 4-pot fronts and Ferodo pads.

Those last 10 mins are awesome!!!!!

I concur!!!! Man, that Probe V6 sounds sweet pulling up the back stretch! I gotta get up to that track sometime. The esses, the elevation change, holy fun all the way around!! Great job guys.

what are the chances some of yous can put the videos on dvd and mail them to me here in washington? i can't watch vids on this POS laptop, and i'm having withdrawls, heh.