NASA Mid-Ohio April 9-10 Recap

Larger Picture of SVTF:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k61/smikeevo/MidOhioSVTF.jpg

Just settling back into normal life. Here are my thoughts on this weekend:

Great weekend overall. Finally had a chance to run with NASA; should have done this long ago. Over the years, I have done DE events with a half dozen different HPDE/TT/Comp groups. Some good. Some bad. NASA falls squarely in the good.

My track toy is a 2002 Focus SVT (SVTF). Been track racing for going on 6 years; with faster cars. But honestly, the SVTF is a great tracker. Sure, it’s not a 150 mph car down the back straight car; it does attack each corner with scalpel precision.

Car:
http://forums.focaljet.com/svt-headquarters/646581-2011-season-prep-amsoil-touge-factory-dbrs-autopower-racequip-kirkey.html

Last track season the car still had a full interior and I was running 215/45R17s on my Team Dynamic race rims. Nitto NT01s are great mild r-comps. Talk and predictable. However, I found their limits and pushed them as far as they could go. Previously, the car would understeer at its limit. Suspension on the car is H&R coilovers with 7/8in rear sway bar on full stiff. Corner entry would consist of the following: slight oversteer via throttle lift on corner entry, trail brake to get some more rotation, push though apex.

This season I am going with 225/40R17 Hoosier R6s. Road course r-comp. Pretty much the industry standard. Car is also gutted. No other changes. Note on tires: 225/40R17s are the widest you can fit on the TD rims/suspension. I just clear by 3-4mm. My front fenders are rolled out some.

Car dynamics are completely different now with the new found weight loss. It was sharp before. Scalpel has been replaced with a cauterizing laser. Corner entry, oversteer on demand, apex without understeer. With trail braking and throttle I can pick where I want to go.

Cooling last season was an issue. Now with an 180F thermostat and new Contour housing, in addition to adding .5 in to the rear hood latch (vents hood out back). No more overheating. Got up to mid 70s and my coolant temp did not move at all.

Oil cooling still needs to be addressed. At the end of a 20 minute session, I saw it getting hot. Pressure was good. Some oil blow by in my catch can. Running Amsoil 0w30. Zero fear about my engine. I have an idea for some more cooling soon.

Seats - a must. Trust me. Even with running a DOT harness on my Evo 8 with its Recaro street seats. A full track seat and 6pt harness is more comfortable and holds you better. No more bruised elbows and knees from bracing into the door on turns. And this track had some turns with a far bit of g-force. I can't even speak to how well it felt not having to brace via elbows and knees. Well worth the investment.

Back to NASA. Very well done event. Professional. Clear. Kept to schedule. Very nice people. Amazing array of cars at the event. They started me off in HDPE2. 1 is complete novice. Full-time instructors in car with them. 2 is next level up. Drive without an instructor but share track with 1. 3 are intermediate. Share track with 4 (advanced) and open passing. Since I was new to NASA, they placed me in HPDE2 to start. First session out I was pushing the traffic.

Mid-Ohio was a new track to me; however principles of late braking, smooth turn-in, and thinking about where you want to be a turn ahead of time, etc. Work on every track. And with the EBC YellowStuffs with Amsoil DOT4 fluid that I run on, I have zero fear of late braking after a few laps to gauge my speed. Brakes were consistent and fade free for all sessions. And I drove them home! Actually, my daily pads also. Great pad.

NASA instructors are good. From having being one myself, I know what its like to be second seat with a new person to you (luckily for me, it was with a friend that I've known to be a cool headed driver). We talked about experiences, modifications to the car, etc. The instructor I grabbed for my check ride was also a SVTF owner. He was running TTF in his car. Downside on my part, I went for a check ride on my second session out on a new track. I was still finding the speed for my car. And the track was drying up from some dampness. Instructor watched me for a few laps. Made sure I was scanning my mirrors. Passing cleanly. Not tossing the car. After a few laps he gave me some instructions to take different approaches. Back off and allow others to pass me. Work though some traffic. We then got to some track tips. He had some good suggestions on areas that I could carry lots of speed. Namely corner 7 after the long straight. It looks like you have to slow down more. But you can push the car up the hill can scrub off speed there. I was staying tidy before. After my check ride, he signed off on my ability to keep cool under fire.

On to group 3/4. This is where I am much more used to being - Intermediate/Advanced run group. Passing in open. Cars in the group are almost all full-blown race cars. Vettes, Vipers, Porsches, BMWs. From coming from the Evo. I sort of missed being a higher HP car. Play more with those cars. Mixed into that crowd were some Spec Miata, Integra, Elise, and me. There is a rowdy crowd! We might be small, but we're fearless. I'll have to go over my points and the NASA TT Rules one more time (and get my car scaled). Fairly sure my SVTF is a TTE car. TTF if I down mod some. Puts me right with the Spec Miata crowd. The video I'll show in a moment is from my first session with 3/4 (third of day). Looks like I was running 1:54 to 1:56 in that session. Mostly dry track conditions now. I was playing around with some entry/exits still.

Track:
http://www.trackpedia.com/mediawiki/images/f/fc/MidOhio.jpg

My run though on the track. You come into corner 1 at the top of 3rd gear in my car. Given running a slightly smaller diameter tire means I've lost some top end out of the gearing. Lift, tap brakes late under the bridge. Apex for me was the start of the yellow pit entry guard on the left. Car will slide some out to the right side (and with the under bridge area covered from the sun - it was damp. You will slide some). It’s full throttle from entry to the end of corner 2/3. Lots of people lifted before the end of 2. 1-2/3 is where I caught a lot of drivers.

Keyhole (corner 4/5) has an apex way out at the end. Come in middle of the road and dial it in over the turn. Push out to the left under WOT. Straight is long. Topped out 4th gear at the rev limiter by the 300 ft markers into corner 7. Late brake here. Again, many did not do this. Caught up some here. Enter early with speed and let the car push up the camber/hill into 8. Thats a "balls" corner. You find it, you accept it, you just do it. 9/10 are normal. Come in and get them done. 10 is blind setup for 11. Stay tidy on 10 and WOT into 11.

Early into 11 and push out to the left. Line up for 12. Hugging the living daylights out of the wall. Apex into 12 at the first candy stripes on the left. Car will drift out to the right on WOT. Aim straight into wall for 13. Brake short and hard. Middle track turn into 13/14. Dial in at end of 13. WOT over candies on left in 14 onto front straight. Rest, rinse, repeat. Just my thoughts on how I was doing it.

Enough talking, eh?
Here is the video:

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMdOrqctkjs

Sunday started off great. Only got 1 session in before the header collector decided it no longer wanted to be connected to my cat assembly.

Broken Exhaust
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k61/smikeevo/IMG_20110410_142649.jpg

That ended my day there. I found a coat hanger and a worm clamp. Got it together and limped her home. Hey, that’s racing.

Once back, I was able to fab up a bracing bracket to hold it together. And welded the hell out of that area reinforcing with U exhaust clamps. Tested after it cooled off and it held up to a brief but hard drive around the block.

Fixed:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k61/smikeevo/IMG_20110410_172153.jpg

Happy Racing,
MG