Weekend at Hastings MPH

[husker boxster]

2 wks ago was our annual club race & DE at MPH in Hastings, NE. Was scheduled to drive on Fri & Sun, teach the novice class on Sat, as well as doing the registering for 65+ entrants and volunteers.

In what little spare time I had prior to the event, I studied my past videos and decided to try short shifting coming out of T6 and ride 4th gear all the way to T9. In the past I'd just stayed in 3rd and was running around 6K rpm thru that section. Makes a lot of noise but seems to be not making a lot of speed. The change paid off as I cut 3 sec off my best ever lap in the 2nd session on Fri, while it was still cool. In fact, all but 2 of my laps in that session were faster than my previous best. But then the 100 deg temps hit and the fast times were gone.

Was able to get on the track on Sat by running in a lower run group. The day was hot from the start, so no chance for any quick laps. After lunch I checked my tires and found this on all 4:



Game over, almost. I did the last session of the day as kind of a lead-follow for one of the novices who was having trouble with a cpl corners. She wasn't running very fast in her Macan. I didn't drive on Sun, but got to instruct the student from the lead-follow as her instructor needed to assist her husband with the club race. We worked thru the student's issues and got her to solo the last session. Made it home w/o any issues and now I'm watching 4th of July tire sales for some new shoes.

Here's my video from my fast session on Fri.

https://youtu.be/pLTAhTAYjmI?si=rkOaZE_OPG_7N1GO

[bcrdukes]

Wow, thanks for sharing! 3 seconds shaved off from a gearing strategy is awesome!

I am curious which tires these are and how old are they?

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Wow, thanks for sharing! 3 seconds shaved off from a gearing strategy is awesome!

Yes, and the previous record was set last year and was 3 sec better than the old record. I attributed last yr's leap to being faster in several corners. T3 is an 'instinct survivor' corner where your survival instinct kicks in before your bravery does. I started to take that corner in particular a bit faster. It makes sense I would be faster this yr with the short shift since it dropped me back into peak torque range rather than 1K rpm above it. Seems like the final 1/3 of every straight puts me in the gray zone debating whether to shift or stay in the same gear. I tend to stay in the gear and save 2 shifts on the clutch and trans.

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

I am curious which tires these are and how old are they?

My tires are / were Bridgestone Potenza Sports. They are a little less than 2 yrs old with approx 6K mi and 5 DEs on them. I have camber at -2.2 frt, -2.0 rear. I normally get 3 yrs out of my tires w/ 3 DEs / yr. This was my first set of Bridgestones and I wasn't impressed. I would list them behind the Mich Super Sports, Conti Extreme Sports (not 2), and Yoko Advans I've previously run (and in ranked order).

I'm not sure if maybe I caused some of the damage to this set. I normally chase pressures and measure to a pressure after each session. I did that on Fri, but it quickly got to 100 on Sat and only bled after the 1st session. I knew I wouldn't be cutting any quick laps at that pt so I didn't cont to bleed air. That might've caused too much heat in the tires and blistered the edges. I plan to talk to the other 2 ppl I know who blistered their tires and see if they were chasing pressures or not.

My tire strategy in the past has been to buy a premium tire that's low priced. The Yokos have really fit the bill of being a good street tire for mileage and a decent tire for the track. I've had 2 sets, buying the last set for $750 before installation. PS4Ss were around $1200 at that time. The Super Sports I had many yrs ago were the best tire but I don't see the advantage of 2-3 seconds / lap when I'm going to tear them up in a short period of time. I can buy 3 sets of Yokos for the price of 2 Mich. Going thru my 'broke yrs' where I was unemployed and just living off a small pension and savings, it made a difference.

But I recently started Social Security and have a little more discretionary income (but also rebuilding my savings), so more options are available to me. The PS4S is on its last leg before the 5 is released, so this might be the best time to buy a set before the higher priced 5 comes out. The PS4S is on sale for $1350. My 2nd choice would be the Conti Extreme Sport 2, which is new technology. My only reservation was yrs ago I had the Conti on 2 different Caymans and both sets cupped on the front. I don't see anyone mentioning that in the comments where I did on the originals. 10 yrs is a lifetime in tire tech, so maybe they've solved that problem. Contis are $1230. Or I could cont with my current strategy and get a set of Yokos. With rebates they can be had for $940. Need to decide today.