A few laps at the FIRM, Mobius camera and Beluga Racing Exhaust
I went to an open track day at The FIRM this past weekend and it was pretty cool. Last time I was there in December I ran some 1:37 laps in the morning on my Hankook R-S3 tires and in the afternoon I ran some 1:33 with Toyo R888 and a single flyer lap of 1:31. This was on the stock M030 sport suspension.
This past weekend I was still on my Hankook R-S3 tires, but since December I had installed KSport Kontrol Pro coilovers and a Beluga Racing exhaust. This weekend I ran a whole bunch of 1:31's in multiple sessions including several consecutive laps that were faster than my previous 1:31.x on the R888. I attribute it to a few things:
In December I ran the car with the Toyo R888 and had the courage to push the car harder and felt what it felt like to run a 1:31.x lap. The car didn't magically fly off the road or self destruct, and so I felt confident pushing it harder.
I've been to several events since December (2 days at Road Atlanta, 3 days at Sebring, and 4 days at Roebling) and so hopefully my skills have improved.
However, I've only been to 2 events since the KSports - Roebling in May (disaster, I had the car setup all wrong, it was scary) and Roebling in June (car was setup properly but I was still building my confidence)
With confidence in the car, I felt comfortable pushing it. Also The FIRM is relatively low speed and that helped my confidence.
One milestone for me - I turned off the Traction Control and didn't use it except for the first 2 sessions (which were in the 1:34 range but I don't attribute a 3 second gain from turning off TC) - I got sick of it cutting power every time I tossed the car into a corner or bumped a curb with a back tire... Next time I go to Roebling I am turning it off...
Here is one of my sessions, recorded with the Mobius. I had to upload the whole raw session because for some reason when I produced an edited version in Camtasia, the audio would get out of sync.
Here are my 2 fastest laps, these were recorded on my Windows Phone and produced by Track Attack. Unfortunately the data is ahead of the video by a few seconds, that is a frustrating thing about this app and they don't seem to be making any progress toward fixing it. On iOS and Android the app has a feature that lets you fix this on the phone before upload, but Windows Phone doesn't have it...
My virtual best lap was a 1:29.782, made by combining the best segments together:
Most of that time gained was in the segment that included the hairpin, I got a good run through that corner on a lap that was otherwise slower (on the corner before and through the esses) and was over a second faster.
Things to work on for next time
The Mobius camera - I like it pretty good, and for $75 I love it. The video quality is not as good as the $500 GoPro Hero 4 Black that I returned, but it is not $425 less good. For example, with the GoPro I could easily read the digital speedo, can't with the Mobius (same resolution and frame rate, 1980x1080 30 FPS). The goPro also has a good spot metering, the Mobius not as good so sometime the road is washed out looking. This may be just because there are more setup options I haven't yet discovered.
Mobius Pros
$425 cheaper than the GoPro Hero 4 Black
Easy to use and setup - I have it configured to start recording when I apply power and stop when I cut power, this was very easy to setup
Cons vs GoPro
No external mic jack, only comes with an integral mic
Easy to overdrive the integral mic and there is no gain option in the config
Video not as good as GoPro
Audio not as good as GoPro
My wallet is heavier and fatter with all the money I saved
The Beluga Racing exhaust - I like it, but then my car is not a daily driver. While I have no drone, it is a fair bit louder at 3,000 which is where I usually seem to be when I am cruising along, and in a daily driver I think it could get pretty tedious. I think it sounds pretty good. In these videos after the hairpin, I do a pull in 2nd and then a pull in 3rd, I think it sounds pretty good
Several other Porsches came, my friend Caleb with his 2015 Cayman and a new friend Adam with a beautiful 2000 green 996 cab. I rode with him one session and you could really feel it when he hit the gas.
One improvement with the KSports - compare the body roll side to side, and also the nose diving and raising when I get on the brakes and throttle - this was my fast lap on the Toyo R888 last December. It is not extreme like a Miata (love to you guys) but there is a reduction:
Threaded Mode
