A few pics and vids from Roebling Road December 2017
I recently got back from 2 days at Roebling Road - there was a Coastal Empire PCA HPDE the weekend of 12/2-12/3/2017. I was only able to go for Saturday 12/2, but it turned out there was a private day the Friday before that I was able to attend with Bob Woodman tires, so I was able to get a lot of driving.
Friday with Bob Woodman tires:
There were only around 20 cars, and it was open track all day, so there was a lot of clear track. Previous to this day I had only ever gotten into the high 1:27's once, and this day I ran whole strings of laps in the 1:27's and was able to take around 1/2 second off my previous best time.
Some of this I credit to the RaceCapture/Track device and RaceCapture App - it has a predictive lap timer and also shows the delta from your previous fastest lap - so I could see in real time if something I did was faster or slower. You can see the telemetry from these laps here, should be no login required:
986Forum member Swiftmotoring was there for the Coastal PCA event, and showed up late Friday afternoon, and we were able to ride together for some laps, that was a lot of fun.
Laps in this session:
Laps:
Out lap - Spec Boxster (and some other cars passed me)
Lap 43 - 1.29.10 - driving with Spec Boxster
Lap 44 - 1.28.69
Lap 45 - 1.30.90
Lap 46 - 1.28.50
Lap 47 - 1.29.20 - passed spec boxster
Lap 48 - 1.27.70 - clear track
Lap 49 - 1.27.40 - clear track
Lap 50 - 1.30.19 - traffic
Lap 51 - 1.35.19 - traffic and I decided this was my last lap, but I did get the pass by golly, I should have stayed one more lap and got them both...
I was excited because I caught and passed him, but then he went into the pits so I guess it was a cool down lap But once I got back to clear track I was able to get back to my 1:27 pace. I ran a 1:27.4 in that session (and another when I was riding with Marvin in the other video above) - that is my current best time at Roebling. There is still more to be had...
Saturday with Coastal Empire PCA
There were a lot of cars there and the White solo group was choked up pretty good. The first session was a giant train - I think I got a single 1:29 and the rest was just cars and more cars.
I also got to experience what folks have said about HLT crapping out - it crapped out on that day out of the 4 sessions I ran:
Session 1 - no external gps
Session 2 & 3 - external gps but no accelerometer data
Session 4 - didn't record any laps. Blah.
For the 2nd session I got out to the grid pretty early, but so did several other cars, so I was like 3rd or 4th, lined up behind a White Cayman R (what a beautiful car). This video starts on about the 3rd lap, because it took the out lap plus the first hot lap or so to get sorted out (there were so many cars that they were still coming out as we were finishing our out lap).
This session was a lot of fun, me and the White Cayman R passed just about everything in the session. I never really was able to get a point by, despite having to lift in several of the corners to keep from getting too close. It has so much torque and more power vs my Boxster (I think 330hp vs my 250?) but it weighs the same and so during every little straight it would really get away. It was a little aggravating but still a lot of fun.
For the 3rd session, I was talking to the Chief Driving Instructor for Coastal (Steve) and told him I was going to try and get a checkride into advanced solo in January with Crown and to see if he had any tips for me. We chatted for a bit and he said he would take me out on a checkride right then if I wanted, and so we did. That was a lot of fun, but I did one major mistake - I was catching some slower traffic just as a couple of faster cars caught me. I waved off my point by, and gave a point by to the faster cars behind me. They zipped by just in time to get jammed up in the middle of turn 9 which is right at the only real danger at Roebling road. I felt pretty bad and it was a good lesson for me, I won't do that again.
Black BMW going by around 10:29 - came out of pits at 9:54 - he was FAST
12:10 red BMW - another really fast driver
Dark BMW #13 going off at 15:21 in turn 5, also went off at turn 6/7 at 3:08, whoops..
Very odd line by the Miata at 7:30 in turn 5 - I was closing up for the pass but decided to hang back after this oddness
8:37 where's my point by (I never did get around)
9:38 probably shouldn't have pointed these cars by here
After this session I was asking about where my point bys were and Steve said I need to learn to close up better if I want to get the point by I dig it. People should let me by but they shoudn't have to make an outrageous lift to do it... He also gave me some other great tips, thanks Steve!
The next session was the final Black session of the day, and when I was checking my tires after the session I realized I corded both of my left tires (Maxxis RC-1) - there wasn't much life left in them, when I get a chance to take them off the car I'll take some pictures and write a review.
I also bought the photos from the event, this is the first time I have ever bought photos, there were a couple of pretty good ones in there.
Running with the pack...*
*Yes they passed me, this was from the session with the White Cayman R in one of the warmup laps when we were getting sorted out...
Loaded up for turn 5
Turn 2 (I think), you can really see under the edges if the inside tires
More turn 5 goodness, these are my favorite where the car is hunkered down, this was from Session 3 (my checkride), you can see the CDI riding with me
Turn 5 at Roebling is a decreasing radius left handed and I probably pull the most lateral G's there than anywhere else on that track, because I am.slowing down I have a lot of front grip and not limited by understeer.
Steve, great videos and photos! Very nice driving, you look smooth and drive a tight and consistent line.
It looks like you're well into the advanced stages of track driving so you're getting to the point where gains will start to come in inches and 1/10's instead of yards and full seconds.
If I could offer a few minor suggestions they would be: (1) use every inch of the track - giving up a foot (or two) at turn in, another foot at the apex and a foot at exit probably costs a couple MPH and a tenth of a second in each corner which can add up to a second or more per lap. I'm not saying that you need to always be at the extreme edge of the track, instead I am suggesting that you want to be exactly on the fastest line - sometimes that will be at the edge of the track and other times it won't but deviating from the fastest line costs time. I hone this skill on the street by picking a landmark and trying to put the wheel right on top of it. I practice this on straights and corners and it teaches your brain to learn the exact relationship between where your eyes are and where the tires are actually contacting the ground. With practice, you should be able to put a tire with a couple of inches of where you want it to be without thinking about it; (2) Unwind the steering wheel as early as possible on corner exit. You may even have to force yourself to turn the wheel back to straight (you might be surprised at how early this can be done). Every moment that the wheel is turned the car is scrubbing speed so it really helps to get wheel straight as early as possible. Less scrub out of a corner means more acceleration which means higher speed down the straight which means quicker lap times; (3) Can you push a little harder in the corners? I can see that you're feeling for grip in the front tires (which is great) but its hard to tell from the video if car is getting loose very much. If not, there might be a bit of grip that is being left on the table. In mid-corner, the car should be balanced right at the limit. Again, gaining 1/10 of a second in each corner could mean a full second reduction in lap time just by pushing a little bit harder.
And great job at having the CDI ride along with you - that is by far the best coaching and feedback that you can get so whatever the CDI said should outweigh anything that I suggest based on video alone. I was just trying to be helpful.
Overall, you look great. A lot of drivers would be quite happy to have your skills. Well done!
__________________
1999 996 C2 - sold - bought back - sold for more
1997 Spec Boxster BSR #254
1979 911 SC
POC Licensed DE/TT Instructor
This is great, thank.you Tom. Agree with everything you say. I have dialed out a lot of understeer with the stock m030 suspension, and although it doesn't come through that well in the video, the front tires are singing in just about every turn (while the back is stuck like glue, the only time it unsticks is if I lift mid turn to rotate the car, or Trail brake too deep and don't get back on the throttle right away.)
However... Santa is bringing a set of the Tarett GT3 bars and links and Ira gave me some good tips on how to set them, and I am hope to have them on for my next open track day where I can get them dialed in without worrying about sessions
Goals: Less body roll, more even tire wear, less understeer
Santa is bringing a set of the Tarett GT3 bars and links and Ira gave me some good tips on how to set them, and I am hope to have them on for my next open track day where I can get them dialed in without worrying about sessions
Goals: Less body roll, more even tire wear, less understeer
__________________
1999 996 C2 - sold - bought back - sold for more
1997 Spec Boxster BSR #254
1979 911 SC
POC Licensed DE/TT Instructor
But once I got back to clear track I was able to get back to my 1:27 pace. I ran a 1:27.4 in that session (and another when I was riding with Marvin in the other video above) - that is my current best time at Roebling. There is still more to be had...
2004 Porsche Boxster S
Linear Mode
