Lime Rock Park, CT - May 6, 2006
I started importing my in-car video onto my computer this morning. I'm not sure how long it will take for me to get a video together, though... I wasn't able to work on it yesterday as I was out autocrossing (bested the 3 MCSs, but lost in class to an SCDA instructor driving an older Mazda 323 all wheel drive turbo hatch - I was 13th out of 41 cars overall - our autocrosses are really really tight so horsepower doesn't help much).
The Lime Rock day was great fun. I'm very pleased to know that I can go to a new track and not be completely lost. I was certainly not driving LRP as well as I drive NHIS, but I made it though the day with no problems, and got faster as the day went on.
My Cooper performed flawlessly... 93,000+ miles and it still runs around the track with the RPMs up about 5000 most of the time without complaint. Nice and stable at the end of the front straight, no drama when braking from 100+ mph, great stuff!
The wheels / tires / suspension combination worked great. No understeer problems popped up, and I was able to adjust my line with the throttle. My setup was 215/45R16 Azenis (the old ones),
JCW suspension upgrade springs and dampers, stock sports suspension front swaybar, and the RDR / helix rear swaybar on the softest setting. There was one time coming into the second half of big bend that I was sure I had too much speed and was about to plow straight to the outside of the turn. So, I let off the gas and turned in a little extra, and the darned thing grabbed and turned in just like I told it to. Of course, that wound up being too much (since I was expecting understeer), but everything worked out. I guess there's more grip in my car than I thought.
The harnesses made it through tech inspection with no problem. They worked very well for me, but I can see where using real race seats with a sub belt hole would be even better. There was still some sliding around happening at times using the stock seats. My instructor mentioned that they were really nice belts and liked how easily the could be loosened up when you're getting out of them. Thanks for the advice on those, Greg. Sounds like you picked the right stuff.
The first session was
interesting for me.
I was put in the experienced / yellow run group, and the first time out while I was trying to learn the track, the rest of the group seemed to already know where they were going.
I got passed quite a bit that session and never really got to go into any corners at full speed, which made it hard to learn the course.
As the day went on, things got much better. I was still taking most of the corners too slowly, but that's better than too quickly.
I
love the downhill turn! It hardly seemed like I was going that fast into that turn, but looking at the video I was getting close to 90 mph at turn in. I did find the rut next to the apex curbing, and it really does grab those tires and hold you to the inside of the turn. Of course, one time I didn't quite get far enough inside and without that extra traction, I wound up closer to the outside of the track on track out than I liked, but that just means I had around a foot of track left instead of 2 feet.
Next time I'm there, I need someone to explain Big Bend to me. :
: You'll see my line when I get the video done... I guess I was trying to do the double apex line, but was too late on the first apex and too early on the second one.
