Trip report and footwell camera showing my heel/toe downshifts at Road Atlanta
This past Friday, 6/16/2017, I went to a 1 day event at Road Atlanta with JZilla. There was a high forecast of rain, but we got lucky, and other than a few sprinkles in the morning, the weather held off and we had a great day.
The night before as a different story - I went on a track walk, and about halfway through it really started coming down. Going down the hill before turn 12 I was afraid my feet were going to slip out from under me. It is hard to communicate in pictures or watching a video, or even playing a driving sim, but it is steep... Highlights:
Lowlights
One cool thing I tried this time was to clip a camera under the steering wheel on the owner manual tray to see if I could catch some footage of the pedals when I was driving, and that actually turned out really well. In that session we also had a red flag drill, and we end up stopped going uphill between turn 6 & 7. I hook my wheel over the edge of the track to try and hold me (which doesn't really work) and you can see the brakes really smoking in the car ahead of me. Fast forward to 12:45 to see it. https://youtu.be/4gCpegHQWsw <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4gCpegHQWsw?ecver=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I also ran one session when I mounted the camera outside the car. I tried that once before, but this time I was able to capture where the tire met the road, and you can see the deflection of the tire in the turns. If you fast forward to 8:55 I am right behind a car that doesn't make turn 3 and goes off. They did a good job going straight off and not trying some heroic save, or else I may have been caught up in it. https://youtu.be/ei1O7CzVUiQ <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ei1O7CzVUiQ?ecver=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> In the final session of the day a Nissin Nismo Juke had an ABS failure and went off in turn 1, didn't hit the wall, but got stuck in the gravel, so they black flagged the session to drag him out. I was right behind him for about half a lap and it looks like his brake issues started when braking for turn 7 (you can see a big cloud of smoke ahead when I come through 6), here is some video of that: https://youtu.be/lwPiABg2jys <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lwPiABg2jys?ecver=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Here is a video fro the car behind. You can see here that as he is entering turn he starts to spin like a top: https://youtu.be/pT2hmV-gwo4 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pT2hmV-gwo4?ecver=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Also not shown in this video, the red NC Miata that is in front of me as I go up the hill toward the bridge leading up to turn 12 did a money shift and went 3->2 near redline instead of 3->4. He is out of camera range right then unfortunately, as I was curious to see if his back tires smoked or not. He reports that his car is fine thankfully :) https://youtu.be/Qc4vSvxG3Gw <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qc4vSvxG3Gw?ecver=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> There was also a guy in the novice group with a very nice Lapis Blue 996, I was talking to him and we were talking tires, and it turns out he had Continental Contact Extreme DW (or whatever it is called) on the front, and the DWS all season version on the back. I told him that was a terrible idea and that he was likely to feel some squirrely behavior near the limit. He said he was working on getting some new wheels and tires. Then I later saw this video posted by another driver from the last session of the day (I can tell because you can see where someone had oiled down the track earlier...), the 996 makes its appearance at 45 seconds in: https://youtu.be/3K8MJATkN2w <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3K8MJATkN2w?ecver=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Here is a Harry's Lap Timer view of my "fast" lap: https://youtu.be/qihLO2a4G9I <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qihLO2a4G9I?ecver=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> It was a great trip and I think I am going to try and go back this November with MVP Track Time. I also met a fellow 986forum member there, either Justin (or Jason or something) (sorry Justin, or Jason...), he said he only posts here when he has a problem, but usually he searches and finds the answer so he barely ever posts. I meant to get a photo with our cars but it never worked out.... And I never got his user name either. He and I were the only two Boxsters there, although there were some Caymans and 2-3 996s. |
Looks like you had a great time. I've not been to RA in far too long, that will be rectified next month.
You would definitely benefit from going down a gear in a few places. Watch some of the spec boxster vids from RA and see. Also need to keep you foot in it coming down the hill into T12, its a really fast corner and on NT01's you can carry much more speed. Congrats on the time decrease and keep working at it. |
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Nabil talked me into coming over and teaching the novice classroom sessions at the next event. Since I need testing time with the new SPB, I am going.
Since I've not driven an SPB at RA it's difficult for me to say exactly what gear you need to be in. In the other cars that I've driven, T1 is not a downshift unless you are in traffic and have to slow. Having said that, in order to get up the hill to T2, you will have to carry more speed through 1. T3 has been a downshift in every car I've driven at RA, then upshift to 4th before entering the SSSSSS. T6 is difficult to answer until I drive it as I've done it both ways depending on car driven. Watching video from Todd Lamb, he is going into 3rd at T6, followed by 2nd at T7. The shift back to 3rd comes at trackout and can be difficult. |
Your gears are a little different than mine since I have the 6 speed, your gears are all just a little taller I think. I guess I should look it up.
Brian was at the JZilla track day instructing and driving, Nabil and Brian are good folks, I just did 2 days with them at CMP and I'm going to try and go to Roebling with them in November if it doesn't overlap the MVP Track Time event at Road Atlanta. JZilla says there "may" be another Road Atlanta day added and I wonder if it will be the Friday before this Just Track It event. That would be a cool combo. Maybe I will see you there, if so, maybe you can ride with me and help me get faster :) Does your SPB have a passenger seat If so I will beg a ride along... Edit: uggg I just verified that I have a work trip that week to Seattle, so no Road Atlanta for me in July... |
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