speed thrills at VIR

[pixelblue]

I love this track! beautiful facility and Trackdaze is a great outfit. the day started pretty cool but by the last session temps were in the 90's. thanks to trackdaze relaxed rules shorts and short sleeves are not frowned upon unlike some other outfits.

this was my first time at VIR so the first session was easy going and just trying to learn the lines. car performed flawlessly but by the afternoon with added speed and temps the oil temp was hovering around 270. I was the only one with a 1er but there was a good mix bag of bimmers. some of the notables were four viper ACR's, four F430 challenge cars ripping up the track with their crazy exhaust, there was a Panoz, your slew of Corvettes and Porsches. there was one particular menacing black GT3 with 666 for numbers and it sounded wicked. it definitely represented the lord of darkness.

so this was my first time trying out the BFG R1. good god the grip on them was just unreal. no understeer or oversteer whatsoever and believe me I was trying to the point my breaks were fading coming down the front straight into turn one. btw, my datalogger registered over 1 G on one attempt. having lost nearly 80 lbs from the wheels and tires the car felt light on foot and steering was immensely improved. couple of things I noticed was that the car needs some aero down force at the front. traveling at 130+ I could feel the nose getting light. also I really need a tune now. I was missing some extra grunt down the straights. my favorite section of the track was the uphill esses and powering through the last few turns with WOT into the front straight. the tires just gripped and gripped with no sign of wanting to get loose. it was a sublime experience

[dsm 335xi]

Great video. I am heading there in August. Can't wait.

[Focusedintntions]

Looks like you were doing pretty good there cept for turn 10 . No need to brake and downshift there as you should easily be able to get around that turn at over 105 as I do on the factory run flats. In the vid you're not tracking out completely on that turn. You can carry a lot of speed through there. It's just a tap of the brakes to settle the nose down for turn in and and floor it through the rest of it Overall though looking good for your first time. Next time get somebody to show you the other line through hogpen and onto the front straight. It's a bit faster although rougher as you go over some of the gators through there.

[pixelblue]

^ totally agree on turn 10. should have been able to carry more speed through that turn without downshifting into 3rd. also could have carried more speed through the uphill esses. I know there is 5-10 seconds to shave from my time. also could have carried more speed through hopgen. I was wot after turn 16. could have started wot before that turn. it was a great experience. hopefully will get another chance to improve my time later this summer.

[Focusedintntions]

BTW totally jealous of how planted your car is over mine though the corners haha. Very smooth and your Oak Tree turn is insanely nice. I'm fighting so much under steer through there and hating every moment of that turn lol

[Focusedintntions]

Lets set up for one of the September events Also CCA has their Octoberfest there on the Grand Course

[pixelblue]

trackdaze has two more events there. one in august and one in november. I really like their organization. I was able to register three days before the event and they were very cool with all accommodations.

[DriveHard]

NICE..

oak tree "turn and planted at the rumble strip" was soooo cool... i actually went back and had to see it again to see if it was sloppy, but i was happy to see it was well under control..

How were the brakes ??? you cut both shields, right?

p.s. I bailed on the BMWCCA summit point weekend.. couldnt justify the time ( i wanted to do both days to get max benefit from a HPDE ) its 5+ hours each way driving... well catch up next time around.

[Focusedintntions]

They are pretty good..really like the shorts and short sleeves too. In reality though i'll go with just about whoever I can to get on the track when I can go lol.

[pixelblue]

Alex, I experienced brake fade once. the rotors were over 400 deg in the paddock. I noticed some vibration under hard braking. after inspecting the rotors I noticed some micro cracks. guess time to change the rotors and swap in some new pads as well. the car is really planted and handles really well. just need a tune now

@Focus - trackdaze has an event at summit point in july. we should all sign for that.

[Focusedintntions]

I'm doing the event here on the 24th for a day. July one might be a tad hard to make, but we'll see. Def want to save up and do another 2 day at VIR. Kinda want to go to NJMP too as my boss has said good things about that track (he tracks motorcycles though).

[pixelblue]

yeah I like to try the NJMP too. planning on 4-5 more events before the season is over so I have to plan wisely.

[DriveHard]

Originally Posted by pixelblue

yeah I like to try the NJMP too. planning on 4-5 more events before the season is over so I have to plan wisely.

Im planning on going with EMRA to NJMP July 30-31 and Sept 3-4 www.emraracing.org very cool group also.. relativey cheap as compared to NASA or others.

[Focusedintntions]

Shame they don't have more events closer to us Also from what i hear Thunder is the better course at NJMP over Lightning.

[FTS]

Originally Posted by Focusedintntions

No need to brake and downshift there as you should easily be able to get around that turn at over 105 as I do on the factory run flats.

Woww, that's superb! Do you have any vids I can study to learn how to do that? I am significantly slower through T10 and it is quite intimidating.

Thanks,

[Focusedintntions]

T10 is a bit of a blind faith turn kinda like hogpen. You just have to know and trust your car will catch at the edge and hold even though it feels like you're sliding towards impending doom. Please be kind on my laptime as I was only hitting 125ish on the straights vs the 135-140 possible as I was working on things in the corner vs out right speed lol.

[pixelblue]

Focus is right. no need to downshift to 3rd on T10. just need to have faith in your grip. in my case I had plenty of grip just inexperienced on this track. next time I will nail it. btw, just for shits and giggles, here is a pro doing it. I am 15 sec off his pace but I know I have 10 sec to make up with more practice.

[FTS]

Thanks for the vids. Of course it is difficult to tell without data overlay to figure out what I can do better through those turns. Hog Pen is quite difficult to nail right consistently as well, at least for me.

PCA Hurricane Region has an event on the 18-19 that I'll be attending, with David Murry and Peter Krause coaching and providing data analysis. I don't know if you guys are attending, but might be fun.

Cheers,

[Focusedintntions]

Np! Mike Skeen is amazing to watch in person and great guy to chat with. Turn 10 and Hogpen are pretty similar in the fact you just have to trust the car so it makes sense if you struggle in one you'll struggle a bit in the other. Do as many ride alongs with instructors and people that know the track, that really helps a lot in seeing the line and turn in points there.

[FTS]

Yes, always good to go for a ride with other instructors, there are ton of eye openers.

thanks,

[S54dan]

The best part of that track is roller coaster IMO!

Awesome driving!

[Focusedintntions]

Roller coaster is fun...I should be getting through there much quicker next time now with some negative camber. M3 lower arms are on their way