WDCR TnT thread

[John V]

So Bren, what did you think of the Vette? Gonna take some getting used to? Alex seemed to like it :D.

I had a great time, although I'm burned to a crisp. The skills are definitely a little bit rusty, though. Clyde, you sure you can't get those videos up before Wednesday? :eeps:

[bren]

Burned :check

Rusty :check

Vette was definitely fun...even on the transition heavy course. There is still some learning to do re: where it's limits are, how it's going to react, and then to trust it.

I think the biggest thing I'm going to have to get used to is the driving position and pedal placement. Stabbing for brake and getting a foot full of air or clutch pedal (yeah, the brake is closer to the clutch than the gas pedal) isn't confidence inspiring.

[mhyrr]

Everyone seems to have had pedal issues yesterday. On quick stabs of the brake, I kept hitting my foot on the side of the gas trying to get back over to it. It was like the pedal went up a little further or something.

[Nick M3]

Everyone seems to have had pedal issues yesterday. On quick stabs of the brake, I kept hitting my foot on the side of the gas trying to get back over to it. It was like the pedal went up a little further or something.
I wouldn't put it past GM to use a flexible pedal mount. ;)

[mhyrr]

p.s. Alex please tell me you stayed for part of 6th heat... :pray:

[John V]

Also... that course was tricky. Very deceivingly technical. The little zig-zag leading to the bottom of the hill turnaround was one of those make-or-break areas. I never did get it right. I think the fastest way was to give up a little before the hard left hander so you could get the car to the left for the right-hander leading to the turnaround. If you got it right (or close to right) it let you carry a bunch more speed down to the turnaround, which was also really tricky in terms of picking your braking point and getting turned uphill.

Then the "kinky" slalom, with the top of the hill turnaround which was a very deceiving element, the faster-than-it-appeared finish, all in all I think it was a really good representation of a more sprawling HPT course. I liked it. I want another couple stabs at it. This car is gonna take some getting used to.

[clyde]

I have some adjusting to do.

The brake pedal in the Boxster is up a lot higher relative to the RX-8's. When I'd lift my foot off the gas to move to the brake, it would bang the side of the brake pedal and I'd have to lift my foot up higher and then move it over...and then have to correct through the rest of the turn. After coming in from the first run, I tried some left foot braking (a skill that I really don't have), and found that my feet are too wide to even try it in this car (either get some clutch or push my right foot).

The seat belt cuts into my neck.

I need to learn the extra width of the car.

I need to smooth my brake release, increase my entry speed and be more agressive with the gas mid corner.

I need to adjust my gas/steering timing in slaloms.

On our fourth runs, I beat John to the left of the first slalom by a couple tenths, and then gave up half a second in the following right by taking the wrong line and braking WAY too much. We were back to even at the entry to right hander pointing down the hill. Between that point and the the last few slalom gates going back up the hill, I lost about 1.2 seconds to John. I picked up a little bit in that last little section which I gave right back by braking too much for the left to the finish.

DL1 data here (http://teamwtf.org/datalogs/032507.zip) (load the j4c4.raf file first, which includes our fourth runs preloaded). Videos by Wednesday, I hope.

[bren]

Everyone seems to have had pedal issues yesterday.
Yeah, but did anyone else break off a piece of dashboard with their shoe? :ack:

[BahnBaum]

p.s. Alex please tell me you stayed for part of 6th heat... :pray:

Of course.

The Vette was really really really really really really fun to drive. The steering is surprisingly quick and the car feels like it drives lighter then it should. I'll need to drive much more aggressively. Bren set the benchmark by beating me by about 3 seconds in raw times. :ack:

And I stopped counting the number of interior parts that fell from the car during the afternoon at 3.

Alex

[rumatt]

Yeah, but did anyone else break off a piece of dashboard with their shoe? :ack:

:lol:

Bren set the benchmark by beating me by about 3 seconds in raw times. :ack:

Wooohooo.

[John V]

I make fun, but I really love the Vette. Those cars have such a great look to them. And it sounded great, even if it is way too quiet. Sawzall day at Terry's? :eeps:

Also, after looking at the data, it's quite clear that I'm completely incapable of determining what I did correctly and incorrectly on my own. So I'm gonna shut up now. :ack:

[Sharp11]

Yeah, but did anyone else break off a piece of dashboard with their shoe? :ack:

Is that your new car in the avatar? No more M3?

I like that era Vette, interior parts falling off notwithstanding.

Ed

[bren]

I make fun, but I really love the Vette. Those cars have such a great look to them. And it sounded great, even if it is way too quiet. Sawzall day at Terry's? :eeps:
Maybe. I'd really like to hear it un-muffled.

Is that your new car in the avatar? No more M3?
The vette is just an autox toy....still have the m3 for DD duty.

[John V]

Maybe. I'd really like to hear it un-muffled.

Mark Sipe side pipe? :D

The vette is just an autox toy....still have the m3 for DD duty.

WEALTHY!

[trentmw]

And it sounded great, even if it is way too quiet. Sawzall day at Terry's?


We'll have to do an unmuffled side by side comparison to see which one is louder... the vette or Alex's Jeep

[bren]

We'll have to do an unmuffled side by side comparison to see which one is louder... the vette or Alex's Jeep

As of right now, it's the Jeep..

[CABINBLACKM3]

I personally had a blast. Although my braking sucked! and well my acceleration out of turns well...Sucked. And well even though I sucked I think STU is going to have a whole new flare with the addition of me and Nick to the Mix.....PS-----I loved the long course...and it was laid out very nice. Data Aquisiton maybe that can help my suckiness. LOL

Nick....I will have a steering wheel by the next event....I cant wait to try to catch up to your tuning needs..LOL...we need to raise the front end a bit already....maybe a half inch...PS we will also need to check nitrogen levels I think there off a bit we need thame at 185 around...and their not thanks to my lazyness of trying to down grade the pressure to quickly.

[CABINBLACKM3]

PS: ALex great picutures...that was the only thing that wasnt WTF rusty.

[John V]

Man, I was just looking at the videos, and I was terrible. Ugh. No aggression through the slaloms. Lots of indecision about when to start braking and how long to carry speed. No corner-entry rotation into sweepers, which means I wasn't aggressive at all with my brake releases or turn-in. Ugh.. terrible.

[mhyrr]

And yet you still PAX'd up high. That bodes well. I feel in the same boat. I didn't expect such sharp turn in and so would turn, stop, turn again. I also didn't get aggresive enough in the slalom till the last run, and I never got on the power early enough. Never thought I'd say this, but the damn thing needs more power! It's going to be a fun year.

P.S. Everyone should watch Sam's vid too. Two big things I pulled from it were that I'm not braking near early enough, and the way he turns into a corner smoothly but quickly.

[John V]

Just watched Sam's video. He's very decisive with his steering inputs. Fast and agressive, but never upsetting the car more than necessary.

I remember watching Sam drive the Mustang at Devens last year. He had an E36-like tail-wag going up the offsets just after leaving the start. Always working all four tires to the max.

[bren]

He's very decisive with his steering inputs. Fast and agressive, but never upsetting the car more than necessary.

I've watched it several times and can't figure out how the rear never steps out....at least I haven't noticed any counter-steer in his hands.

[clyde]

It's there. I only watched it twice, once last night and once this morning, but the one place I defintely remember seeing it was coming out of the showcase into the uphill slalom.

Still, you don't see him countersteer much because when it's getting sideways, it's rotating the way he wants it. It's a lot easier to see this with Sam driving when you're watching form the outside.