I see 986 Boxsters on the roster for Road Atlanta with Peachstate PCA June 9-10
I see five 986 Boxsters on the roster for Road Atlanta with Peachstate PCA June 9-10... Registration seems light but I bet that is because there is still some time to go before the event, so I bet we will get a few more Boxsters.
Who's going? This will be my first time running with Peachstate, although I see a few non-Boxster folks that I know including at least 1 instructor that went through my PCA Instructor training class (in a 911...)
It sounds like there is a new run group format with 4 run groups instead of 5 which should give a little more track time, I'm very excited to run with Peachstate.
Hey Steve, do you have more information as I am about 20 minutes from Road A and would like to get a little track time. Is this like AutoX or more like the way motorcycle track days are setup where groups are subdivided by experience and run 4-5 20 minute sessions? My car is stock.
The second one, cars are divided into 4 groups with one of the groups designated for drivers with instructors in the car, and these 4 run groups alternate running 20 to 25 minute sessions.
If this is your first time the car in stock form will be fine, just make sure you have fresh brake fluid and your brake pads are greater than 50%.
Here is a link to sign up, and there is also a good HPDE guide on there too.
We're up to eight 986 Boxsters (plus a newer Boxster GTS and a 987.2 Spyder) including 2 spec boxsters. It is probably going to be HOT! But the media building has AC and restrooms and is right at the base of the T12 hill so you can get a great view of cars as you cool off between sessions...
It was a great weekend, but HOT, most of both days (except first thing in the morning) was 90F+...
This weekend I was on my Hankook R-S4 tires (225/45/17 front and 255/40/17 back) and they did great!!! I was 4 seconds faster than June 2017 on the Nitto NT-01 and 3 seconds faster than September 2017 on the Maxxis RC-1. Note that is probably more a testament to how slow I was going those other times... But these Hankook R-S4 did great, wore evenly, no chunking of the edges, etc...
Setup:
Front:
Camber: -3
Toe: zero
Rear:
Camber -2.5
Toe .08 degree in per side, total .16.
Peachstate PCA has been trying a more "Chin" like format with 4 run groups instead of the usual 5 PCA groups. They combine novice and intermediate instructed into group 1, intermediate solo into group 2, and advanced solo into group 3 and 4 with 4 being like the Chin red group, where a point by must be immediate anywhere on track. They ran 4 sessions per day, mostly 30 minute sessions with 1 25 minute session I believe. It was lots of track time!
Because it was my first time running with Peachstate PCA (and because my previous events at Road Atlanta were not registered through clubregistration.net so they couldn't see my history and thought it was my first time there), they put me in Group 2 - intermediate solo. That was fine with me since I don't get to Road Atlanta that often, but when I got to the driver meeting, they had assigned checkrides for everyone that was a "first timer" and I was in that category. I got Dale, a senior instructor with a beautiful 987.2 Boxster Spyder (that I had actually seen before at Road Atlanta in 2014). He was great, gave me some good tips and helped me get some more speed in the esses, and when we were done he gave me my choice of moving to either group 3 or 4. I took 3, because there was a lot of really fast hardware in group 4, cup cars, etc...
Most of saturday was getting my groove back on, and I ran several strings of laps that were better than my previous best time of 1.52.x, but it all came together the last session Saturday where I ran a couple of 1.49.x including a 1.49.171 which turned out to be my fastest time of the weekend.
One interesting thing in this lap, for some reason I decided to try and go 3->2 before T7. I was usually leaving it in 3rd because I felt that making the shift would cause me to overslow. It turned out it did, I was typically having a vMin of 44-45 in T7 leaving it in 3rd, and a vMin of 40-41 when going to 2nd, but this lap going to second, I could see the predicted lap time going down all the way down the back straight. A Goal for next time, make the shift but still keep a vMin of 45
Sunday I ran 3 sessions and then left a little early and skipped the 4th session.
The first session was just me getting warmed back up, and oddly there were hardly any cars so that video isn't very noteworthy (not that any of them are )
The second session had some cool cars, a Ferrari that I feel I caught but then had to drop back to run a cool down lap, I think I could have had him after another lap or so
The final session was probably my best and most consistent session of the weekend, although I didn't set my best time there, it had the most consistent fastest laps, and when I watch it, it feels fast (often they feel really slow when I watch them).
For these last to sessions I was playing with my GitUp G2 camera (Chinese GoPro clone) it seems to have better audio and picks up the LEDs from the Apex Pro better.
I also tried a new thing these last few sessions - a couple times I went from 3->6 going under the bridge and drove flat through turn 12, trying to build up my muscle memory and bravery. I am getting to where I am at the top of 4th at the end of the front straight, so I may try going 3->5 and staying flat in 5th, and then going 5->4 before T1. We'll see. It is hard to keep that foot flat...
I only got to talk to a few other Boxster owners, and Marvin (swiftmotoring) came by Sunday morning and hung out which was really cool, and he took a lot of photos which are on his facebook page).
There was only 1 986 Boxster in the instructed group and that driver was paired with a pro driver as an instructor... I was jealous. My student was a young man in a 914, by the end of the weekend we passed all the old 911s and 944s in our group, and a 370 Nismo Z (or maybe a 350?) and the big cars like Caymans and newer 911s weren't passing us nearly as much. And if they passed us on the front straight, we were on them hard all the way through T5 and had to lift in some instances because we were too close in the esses...
It was really hot so I think I am on break for a while, next event is September at Roebling Road with Florida Crown on labor day weekend, come out!
Maybe one of these days I'll be able to do an HPDE. Crown is holding another autocross on the 30th in case you were interested. Hopefully I can go this time since I had to skip last month from being sick.
Maybe one of these days I'll be able to do an HPDE. Crown is holding another autocross on the 30th in case you were interested. Hopefully I can go this time since I had to skip last month from being sick.
Boxster
Linear Mode
