Or it is the definition of insanity... Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result....

 

Perhaps a bit of both, but I do know that I'm having a ball (as I'm sure all of us are) doing it over and over!

 

Yes, a little of both...

 

GBUFF, hope you have a couple of fast, safe and smooth days Mon/Tues at WGI! 🛵

The guys in the garage requested that you leave your old Stan Smiths home this time; they're still recovering from last weeks' 'aromatic' onslaught...🤢

 

Thanks VV, going to watch some of the GP then hit the road.

I'll probably bring the "shoes" along even if I don't wear them--I'm like Linus and they're my security blanket

 

Back from the Glen--what a two days in Chin's Red (advanced) group! First day started out frigid but that only helped give a subtle boost to what little power the car has; it actually felt pretty fast and I was picking up a couple mph at the end of the back straight. Track started out wet from Sunday night's rain but by 10am or so we were full-speed. Day went along with tons of good laps and very little drama--some extremely fast cars out there with many Porsches including GT3s and 911 Cup cars as well as a Ferrari Challenge car (many of these were left over from the weekend's endurance races) that was showing me closing speeds that I've rarely seen. It really was the talk of the paddock even among those of us with "fast" cars. I spent a lot of time flying up the outside of the Esses (and I mean on or next to the left-side curbing) to point some of these rockets by, and they all did go! Even went side-by-side in the Bus Stop with a 911 on one occasion--it's not as narrow as you think but it's not exactly wide either and we made it work. The only time a car did not go when I pointed him was through T8; I pointed his Cayman inside, took to the outside, and came out of the turn ahead of him! We went down to T9 together (why is he not passing me on the straight?) and he finally got by and went on his way. ???

Day 2 also started out cold but sunny and the morning was fabulous--I set a new PB on the first complete lap of my second run (unfortunately it wasn't the 2:21.4 that you clocked me at, VV, but only a 2:28.95) while harassing many faster cars through the turns, especially the Outer Loop and T10 and 11. Then......during the first run after lunch the skies clouded over and the air temp dropped about 10 deg in no time As we were driving, what started as some light liquid precip morphed into about 5 minutes of full-blown sleet and hail! Cars were sideways everywhere within my vision (most were on slicks and my streets were almost there too) but we all made it around, ending our session 10 min early. The line going into pit-in looked like the drive-up at Starbucks Thankfully the sun came out soon after, and the track dried up so the following run group went right out and the final runs were all at full speed. All in all a very satisfying event.

Dennis, who was from Roch and was in the garage next to me with his Cayman S, told me he had a new Cooper S on order that he eventually wanted to track and wanted to pick my brain regarding setup-- I told him my car is set up as it came from the factory which seemed to surprise him. I did tell him that the car is very capable stock but that the aftermarket is ridiculous and the first thing he should probably do is put some camber in the front (like I have not ). So we had a topic of conversation to while away some of the dead time, and as we were packing up he gifted me with this stunning footwear that his salesman gave him which will go just perfectly with my new black shoes


So all in all a really good two days with lots of fast laps and good company. Having said that, it felt great once home not to be frozen! I'll be spending some time getting tires done in the coming days.....

Next up is Mid-Ohio on the 24th which gives me a chance to get my second COVID shot on the 18th--hoping for no side effects!

 

Rain, Sleet and Hail... Oh My... Rail, Sleet and Hail... Oh My.... Ok Dorothy, back to Kansas... What is with this weather? There is frost in the forecast for tonight around this area...

gbuff - glad to hear you had a good time. And love the socks...

Denis may be disappointed with his S. It is not like yours, which, if I remember correctly, has the optional Sports Suspension. That is the same as I got on my Gray S and that suspension was the base suspension for the JCW. It is a really good setup, as you know. The new S is not the same and it is heavier. But, he can do the JCW Pro coilovers and the KMac camber plates, which should transform the car. His next issue will be brakes...

As for camber for your car, gbuff, did you pull the white plastic pin out of the top of your strut towers, jack the front up, loosen the 3 nuts holding the top of the strut, and kick the top of the strut (just push the top of the tire) inward? That is an extra -0.3 deg and it will make a difference.

 

Yes, Eddie, mine does have the optional SS --when the F56 first came out you were able to get an optional SS with that too but that didn't last long. I'm sure he will at least upgrade it mildly as that's what he did to his Cayman.

And no, I did not do the "free camber mod" simply b/c I'm so used to the car as is, but while on point, does that little bit of camber affect the toe enough to require an alignment?

 

It gives it a slight bit of an increase in toe. But it may be still be in spec if you had little toe dialed in to begin with. Trust me, it won’t take you long to get used to the extra camber...

 

I think I'd be doing it more for tire wear than anything else.

 

Eddie 07S — Are you still planning to head up to LRP on Friday 5/28 for Trans-Am practice? I looked on the LRP site and it appears no tickets are needed.

 

Yes!
$30 gate fee per their web page...

 

Yeah, I saw that after I posted. If the weather is good, I will probably drive up. Email me your phone number so I can text you and we can find each other. I'm there tomorrow with SCDA and the weather is looking good!

 

My general target has been to get there about 10 or a little after and grab a spot on the hill overlooking T3 - T4 about half way between the beer tent and the bathrooms (near the parking lot)... Maybe veggi and ZRE can make it too. I’ll get you my #.

Have a great day tomorrow! I’ve been getting ready for NYST on Sat and Sun. It will be my first day out and, to me, on a brand new track.

 

I passed by the entrance to the NYST on my way home from WGI (I take the back roads); Have a blast! I don't see any hail in the forecast 😉

Gbuff, sounds like the Finger Lakes weather gods gave you the finger, at least for a short while. Glad it didn't last! Happy to hear you're planning on making the trip out to LRP for Memorial Day races. There aren't many (if any) motels in the same price category as your place on the main drag in Watkins Glen, so consider yourself invited to stay over at the cheapest place around, the Veggi Vagrant Villa. A mere 50 minutes to LRP, plus an all you can eat tofu scramble for breakfast. Just one rule: no sneakers older than 25 years old allowed!

 

Yes, VV, managed to have a fast and safe event, weather notwithstanding.....of course, this weekend Potomac PCA is there for 3 days and the weather looks great!

And do appreciate the offer to stay at the villa but I'll be at Mid-O with Chin for Memorial Day; if I posted LRP somewhere I stand corrected. And the new black Stans did an awesome job and, more importantly, kept my feet dry!

 

That's the neighborhood I usually sit in. It's penciled in but there's a lot going on here so some things are day to day.

You lads missed a beauty at LRP today! The only downside — there were two novice groups and three intermediate groups which made for two hours between sessions. I also got there early for a 7:15 track walk with the classroom instructor so it was a lo-o-o-o-o-ng day. It's good for SCDA there was such a strong turnout but....

My butt dyno indicates I may have had a few very good lap times but I haven't checked the data yet. And those Hankooks, they refuse to wear out!

 

VV - in poker terms... I’ll see your turtle and raise you one airplane...


Take off at NYST

Just got back from 2 days at the New York Safety Track (http://nyst.com/), which just happens to also be a legit airport. This place started out as a motorcycle track that they have improved into a track that is really fun for MINIs.

It is a really technical track and going off anywhere is not a good option. This was my first time there, ever, and it was nice that they did the first session as a full half hour yellow flag with people out in groups with the lead car being driven by someone who knew the track. So this was a great lead-follow experience.

GVC hosted the event and it was a much different format from their usual WGI event with basically 2 groups - open track and novice. Open track ran for an hour with a half hour break for the novice. So, 5 hrs of track time for the open track group. Once I got the hang of the track, I was able to harass a race truck and a couple of track prepped GT3. I will admit that these vehicles were out of their element on this track, which gave me a huge advantage.

Smaller race prepped cars did really well there. There was a race prepped BMW newer 3 series (maybe?) with a NASA sticker on the back that was blisteringly fast and a guy (actually a group) with a E36 CHUMP (?) race car that I could easily out drag race on the front straight, but after it entered T1, that would be the last I saw of it... On Freekin’ rails.

I realize that there is at least one turn at every track I have been to that hates MINIs. At LRP it is T2; at WGI it is the Toe; at Palmer it is the entrance to the uphill chicane when going CCW. At NYST it is T15. On the track map it doesn’t look like much. But, it is tight, the entrance to it is all wrong and it is really a 2nd gear turn, but there is no good point going into it to shift into second and there is no good place to shift back into 3rd... Oh, if you do get into 2nd, trying to get power down come out of it is likely to just cause wheel spin. Well, I guess it just has to be...

I ran the 17” wheels with the Falken 660 tires... They were the best. A lot of confidence in what they would do. The only thing is they don’t make noise. But they are forgiving and when they do give up, there is nothing abrupt about it. I would like to try this track with those tires but on the 15” wheels. Much like LRP, the better gearing with the smaller diameter tire would be helpful.

I will say I have never been so physically beat up by any other track I have been on. The turns come up fast with a lot of left-rights that just bounce you from side to side in the car. There are a few turns with pockets where there is huge compression and side G loading. There were at least 3 people I talked to who said they were getting car sick. And I am sore today

I have some pictures I’ll post...

All in all, a really good time.

Oh - VV - we did have a turtle cross the track in front of me. I know at least 2 cars made it past it with no harm And there were turkeys... The bird kind...

 

Glad you had a good time, I know a bunch of people that have driven there and they enjoyed it. That run group format is similar to Trackmasters which has open track in conjunction with a novice or intermediate school. Ridiculous track time. They are at WGI today and tomorrow and I wish I was too--weather will be perfect.....

Also glad the RT660s worked out; I just took delivery of a bunch of Direzza IIIs as they are literally the only 200TW tire available right now that I would buy, at least at TR. So when the RE71Rs are done (soon) I've got something to drive on. Weather looks incredible all week here until the weekend when, of course, I'll probably be driving to Mid-Ohio in the rain

 

Gbuff - sorry to hear about weather coming in for the week end. I’ll be interest to read about what you think of the ZIIIs when you get to use them.

The Chump car group was testing tires for an upcoming 8 hr event at WGI. They had the Hankooks, Falkens and a new Cooper. They didn’t like the Hankook; too slow. The Cooper was really fast but wore fast. The Cooper was rated a 260 TW, but to my thumbnail poke at them, they felt more like a 60 TW. I am guessing they are going with the Falken. I am thinking the Falkens are wearing faster than the RE71Rs, but they are not heat cycling out like I found with the ‘Stones. I have 5 days on them and may have another 2 or 3 left on them.

 

So my event at NYST started out seeing what I might be out on the track with...


Smokey in good company


Gen 2 GP, SERIAL No. 007


Should have been interesting, but not.


A 1 Series BMW with a M3 V8, Oh My!


More MINIs


It is a Motor Cycle track after all...


New Cooper Tire... 260 TW. Really?


There is such a thing as “too much of a good thing”, especially at this track

 

Your car looks great--love the white wheels (assuming that is indeed yours)

I recognize that yellow GT3 belonging to Rich DeAsis, the CDI for Niagara PCA. He does 2-min laps around WGI with that thing. Great guy and driver. And I was on track with #723 in that photo last week with Chin--we gave each others lots of waves

Those Coopers look like truck tires. Doesn't look like they'd be particularly quiet on the road.....

I drove those Direzzas last year when you temporarily couldn't get the 71Rs--they do everything the 'Stones do but not quite as quickly. IIRC they were good in the rain and also didn't wear quite as fast in the dry. We shall see....

 

No, not my MINI with the white wheels. Not sure why the guy did what he did. Different size wheels and tires front and rear. I think he was trying a 15” setup without checking to see if they would fit over the GP brakes. So he had 17” in front and 15” in the rear. And the tires were different brands and perform levels. He made it work, but not great...

My MINI is “Smokey”, the Gray MINI in the first picture with the race truck.

Yes, that is Rick D’s car and Mike (?). Those 2 cars, along with the Race Truck were way too much for the track. Plus Rick and Mike didn’t know the track. I was ******* them for 3 laps in my MINI and matching their lap times (have video ). It is so nice, for once, to match cars like those in my MINI and it not be on account of rain... As for the race truck, I did the same with him, but it was just just all wrong for the track. It has a locker rear which made it really hard to get around some corners, he was running 1st and 2nd gear (geared for WGI) and he had bad motion sickness. I’ll take whatever I can get to be able to better a thing like that on the track...

 

I didn't notice that the wheels were different sizes! Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Your MINI is the one with the red stripes? Very nice! And very fast, too, to keep up with those guys regardless of what track you're on. I haven't driven with Trackmasters in a couple of years but there were a group of those trucks that used to run with them at WGI, and they absolutely flew around there. Big motor and not much of a body makes a great recipe for cheap speed. Glad you showed him and the others a thing or two

 

A little bit of camber helps...