2009 NASA TTB: Sizing up the competition

[zxtwou2]

i wish i had...what's that stuff you need to road race...oh yeah...a fortune

[Hornswoggler]

Took 2nd place out of four cars in TTB today. My times were just slightly better than last years.. which tells me I am not getting the most from the recent improvements. Still about a ~4 second gap between me and Nate's first place EVO. I hope to get closer tomorrow but 1:36's on the south course is out of reach. He is just too well prepared. Overall for the TT/HPDE4 run group, I was 8th out of 32 cars.

Time to shake off the rust, tweak my braking zones, and push the corner entry speeds a little more. 1:39's should be reasonable tomorrow. 1:38's would be optimistic.

[Hornswoggler]

Originally Posted by zxtwou2

i wish i had...what's that stuff you need to road race...oh yeah...a fortune

Takes balls too.

There are ways to get on track for cheap. You could get a car that is easy on consumables, and volunteer for free attendance. Cars and driving is an expensive hobby.

[Hornswoggler]

Turned a 1:39.1 on Autobahn South today... better than my last year laptime by about 1.5 seconds. A good improvement but not good enough for the win today.

Nate did a 1:35.x in his EVO. His car was better prepared to the rules and he did some great driving from what I can tell. Beat his own Redline time by ~5 seconds just switching from street tires to Hoosiers (plus he says he has less power now, "only" 310 awhp, compared to a more powerful setup at Redline).

If I weren't so rusty, I could probably find another second or so from my car how it currently sits. I was better able to exploit my lower weight today, but might need to fine-tune some braking references and min corner speeds. My car weighed about 100 lbs heavier than it could have... not enough hours in the day. Running Hoosiers would have helped a lot (I am on last year's Toyo R888's), and I could use more aggressive parts for some of the points I am already taking. Going from a performance street cam to a race cam would get me another 10 HP or so, but I would be spending atleast $2k between the cams, software, and install. Plus I don't want to add any power as I would have to run more weight when I make the switch to NASA GTS racing (German power-to-weight wheel-2-wheel class.. I want to be as light as possible for that). There is some room to close the gap, but unfortunately it won't be this year.

Next I'll be pulling my dash to remove heater core, HVAC stuff, excess wiring, and anything else I don't need. The M3 probably won't see any more track action until next year. This will be a nice break as any trips/vacations I take should be more relaxing than a track day!

[Kazz5]

Frankly, overall, it sounds like you did very well. Congrats on a hard-driven weekend with good progress!

[Hornswoggler]

Thanks Kazz, I tried!

[Hornswoggler]

Here is the DS1 STI I ran against in TTB this weekend (along with the already pictured DSM and EVO):

[prostcj]

Well, at least you got out there. Did you finish second? If you did it sounds like Nate had the field by a good margin.

[Hornswoggler]

Originally Posted by prostcj

Well, at least you got out there. Did you finish second? If you did it sounds like Nate had the field by a good margin.

I was 2nd on Saturday but not sure about Sunday. Randy Johnson in his STI signed up for TTB on sunday (he was HPDE4 on Sat.) and may have put down a better time. I didn't stick around for the final results, but that would have made five people in my class, which makes it pretty fun. I should know in a day or two when results are posted. Our times were close all weekend.

Nate not only beat our field by a good margin, but he crushed the next higher group (TTA) and beat quite a few of the unlimited class (TTU) cars. Came pretty close to a track record. I am curious how he gets 310 rwhp from just software and a few small points... he really unlocked some mad power from just a few TT points.

[Z3papa]

AWD or 4WD cars like the EVO and STi are a marvel to watch. Audi years ago demonstrated why having four wheels powered can really have an advantage at times against 2WD variety.