A Pro driver/coach drove my car at Roebling Road Raceway
This past Monday 2/27/2017 was an Open HPDE hosted by Holy City Motorsports. They run a couple of different formats include a private track day limited to 15 cars, and an open format limited to 20 solo drivers and 20 novice drivers with hour long solo session with 30 minute novice sessions in between.
The one I went to also had a coaching option where you (along with the other folks that selected this option) could receive driver coaching and data review/metrics by Cory and Adam Friedman of Autometrics motorsports: Autometrics Motorsports | Club Racing, Pro Racing, Race Coaching
I'll start out by saying this coaching exceeded my expectations - I don't think I am ready for a dedicated coach for the whole day. This shared format was perfect for me.
I started the day by driving around 15 laps or so to get myself and the car warmed up. During these laps I ran a string of 3 laps that were within a hair of my previous best of 1:29.27. This is typical for me as it is usually cool in the mornings and I usually run my best times.
Then Cory Friedman drove my car - he first took me out at the end of the novice session, but there was traffic on every lap and so he was driving laps in the 1:30-1:31 range. When the novice session ended we gridded up and so we were then the first car out in the next 1 hour solo session. Holy cow, it was awesome, after our out lap we ran 3 laps in the 1:24-1:25 range, the fastest (they all were very close) was 5 seconds faster than my fastest time! His brother was apologetic because I think he thought I was upset when I was telling him, but I was not, it was awesome!!!!
Here is the view from in the car showing the driver inputs, with data overlay from Harry's Lap Timer:
He is taking it easy because it wasn't his car, and yet totally smokes me. It truly was awesome to see the car perform at that level. I guess I can save my money on buying parts for a while as I get my driver development in line.
The line that Cory drove was very similar to my line, except that he tracked out wider through 1-2 and also through 5 (both of these complexes are decreasing radius double apex turns). I lack the courage to really charge into 1 and 5 because it feels like I am running out of room so I go in more slowly. He had me work on that a little bit, and the other advice he had was "that I could go faster just about everywhere " but especially in the faster corners where I am leaving so much on the table. Through the slower constant radius corners (4 and 6/7) I am doing OK.
I worked on this some, and then Cory rode in the car with me as a passenger with specific things to work on (go faster nearly everywhere but specifically we worked on 1/2 and 5 and carrying more speed through 3 and 8/9)
After this I would drive a session or two and then check in with Cory, review notes, etc... They also had an Aim SOLO they put in the car and then Adam would review the data and give feedback. He said mine looked ok (except that I could go faster everywhere) but that something was wrong with the braking or something in turn 5. I was carrying a lower speed and therefore not tracking out and not needing to brake.
Here is an example of this:
Around 3:00 I decided I wanted to make a run for home as soon as the day was over so I changed out from my Nitto NT-01 to my Hankook R-S3.
Then I had an interesting thing happen - I found that I could sense the limit better, and it gave me courage to really push, and I ran two final sessions with long strings of my best laps, culminating in the final 2 laps that beat my personal bests with a 1:29.09 followed by a 1:28.38 (nearly a full second faster than 1:29.27) - note that I ran my first 1:29 back in October 2015 so I have been at this point for a while.
Now I have beat this time, and I know (and can feel) that the car has much more to give. I ran my fastest lap of the day, it was lap 100!!! (100 laps in one day!!!) I wonder what would have happened if this was a 2 day event and I was able to go out the next morning with the cooler weather and see what I could do.
Here is my final lap which is now my personal best to date:
Later that lap, 13:16, the car behind me goes off, you can hear the screech of the tires. I wish I had my back camera going: https://youtu.be/53gc2ahkmow?t=13m16s
If you go to the beginning of that video, he is gridded behind me. I got lapped in 10 minutes This guy was FAST. He was coming on my like I was standing still.
All in all, it was a great day! Any time I take almost a second off my best time and get off the 1:29 plateau I had been on since Oct 2015 is a good day
Steve
PS There were lots of neat cars there, this was my first in-person look at a new Boxster Spyder (it was there under the blue tape somewhere)
Also I corded my left rear outer edge of the Nitto and didn't realize it until I got home, in the paddock the tires are covered with so much grit and sand and straw that it was hard to see. I am going to have to be very diligent about checking better in the future. My car isn't really setup for R-Comps, I am currently at -2 in the front and -1.6 in the back, 0 toe front, .08 degree toe in per side in back.
For now I am going to stayon the R-S3 (I know I have said this before) and work on maximizing the grip on those tires. Also I don't want to spend any more money on tires for a while
Last edited by steved0x; 03-06-2017 at 01:18 PM.
Reason: typos
" but especially in the faster corners where I am leaving so much on the table. Through the slower constant radius corners (4 and 6/7) I am doing OK.
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