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Thanks for this.....and the first thing I do when I get new track wheels is take the center caps and put them in the closet. I can't believe that yours haven't melted prior to this.....the track does not like plastic. At all.
Time to watch some of the Indycar race at Mid-Ohio that I recorded, since I'll be there all of this coming weekend....maybe I can pick up some pointers. That is, if I can find 40 seconds a lap or so to keep up with them
Thanks for this.....and the first thing I do when I get new track wheels is take the center caps and put them in the closet. I can't believe that yours haven't melted prior to this.....the track does not like plastic. At all.
Time to watch some of the Indycar race at Mid-Ohio that I recorded, since I'll be there all of this coming weekend....maybe I can pick up some pointers. That is, if I can find 40 seconds a lap or so to keep up with them
Or is it - plastic doesn’t like the track, at all...
That was the first time out with those wheels and I didn’t even think about the caps melting...
If I had, I would not have spent any time to make them into “JCW” caps...
It does leave one wondering what that heat is doing to the grease in the wheel bearings...
If you find anything, other than “bump and run”, that you don’t already know, post it so the rest of us can learn from it.
I like watching Indy cars on road courses, but there is still a bit of the NASCRAP mentality mixed into minds of some of the lesser drivers. I’ve seen Indy car races where there were multiple car destroyed and at one race one of the team owners said that at several million $s apiece this has to stop. I took that to mean he would look at pulling out if it didn’t stop. That’s not a good way to run a race series with that sort of thing going on.
I think in all the time I've been driving on track, which is 26 yrs now (and MINIs since '05) I recall replacing only 2 hub bearings, and oddly enough one was in the rear. They both were driver's side as you may have guessed......whatever it is they are using for lube in those things works very well indeed.
RE Mid-Ohio, I've been there so much I can almost drive it in my sleep, but it is the kind of track that presents itself differently almost every time out largely because the surface is so poor now which makes it really interesting. There is so much sealer all over that there is no consistency like you get at the Glen or other tracks with newer surfaces, which gives Mid-O some of its "charm", but the track can feel completely different depending simply on the ambients i.e. the heat, humidity, the fog that rolls in early on, etc. The morning sun coming up over Thunder Valley makes that turn even more blind than it normally is. I usually don't even time on the first run (if it's raining, not at all) because there is usually very little grip, but when it finally does grip up (relatively speaking) it is just an absolute blast to drive--really fun.
I hear you about Indycar--it's basically become a spec series now. All the cars use the same chassis (Dallara) and either a Honda or Chevy engine, which is good in a way because success depends more on the driver than, say, in F1 where the car is the star. Every week I watch and Red Bull/Verstappen just puts everybody further into the rear-view mirror, just like it was with Hamilton/Mercedes, Vettel/Red Bull, Schumacher/Ferrari etc. But in Indycar they really do have some savage crashes where the drivers do get hurt--the cars just aren't as safe as the F1 cars, for example (which may be part of the reason why the average F1 annual budget is about $300m now--they are instituting a cost cap of much less that that). F1 has its share of wrecks, too, but it's rare to see big injuries.....even that fireball that Grosjean was in last year gave him nothing more than superficial burns to his hands. Ironically, he's now in Indycar.....
Just started watching the Sahlen 6 hrs at the Glen (up on YouTube) and the WeatherTech Porsche had a bad oil fire. The driver got out fine, but it looked like a really bad fire. There has been a lot improvements in safety over the years. Grosjean had a bit of luck on his sided, but to a larger part you are right about the cars being extremely safe. The fact they brought in the halo a few years ago, saved him. I bet the whining that went on after they implemented that as being ugly and taking away the nature of F1 has all but gone away after that accident. Even so, it seems that drivers may not be happy being in F1 with likes of Grosjean and Magnison leaving that for other auto racing....
I was hoping to see the Indy cars at the Glen the last year of the 3 year contract they had (2018?), but they cancelled but instead went to PIR... which is not worthy of those cars. When I went to the Glen a week ago I had thought about going early and watching the Sahlen race, but thought it would be packed, but the video shows that hardly anyone was there... Shame. I wonder how packed the upcoming IMSA race at LRP will be?
If anyone is interested, ZRE and I plan to be at LRP for that race on Saturday (17th)
Yup, ran in INT2, and had three dry sessions with the slicks on a very hot track. No greasiness, though, just tons of grip, especially in the uphill and the downhill. Left before the thunderstorms arrived, and cooled off in the pool when I got home. Car felt great, driver was spent after just three sessions in the heat. Thinking about the 26th @ NYST...it's on the radar screen Unsure of the likelihood of a sellout there, or if there is a waiting list.
Yup, ran in INT2, and had three dry sessions with the slicks on a very hot track. No greasiness, though, just tons of grip, especially in the uphill and the downhill. Left before the thunderstorms arrived, and cooled off in the pool when I got home. Car felt great, driver was spent after just three sessions in the heat. Thinking about the 26th @ NYST...it's on the radar screen Unsure of the likelihood of a sellout there, or if there is a waiting list.
Sounds like you had a good time...
I just signed up for the 26th at NYST. I guess I will find out if it is full yet or not... By the way, I kept my numbers from the last SCDA event and will use them... I have a feeling they don’t give out numbers...
And some more reading about tires--in lieu of the 052s I'm actually liking the Conti ECS, at least on paper. Have seen them at the track and though they are a 340TW tire they grade out pretty well at TR. Plus, I think they are inside/outside like the 052s so I can move them around. We shall see.
Have fun at Mid-O!
And don’t make a mess of it like the indy car bozos who tried to win the race in the first lap...
In the dry, you can move a directional tire side to side without flipping it... I do it all of the time with no disadvantage.
I think you might be disappointed with the Conti DWS on the track in the dry... It has much less grip than the 200 TW tires. Also, a lot of tires with a harder tread compound tend to chunk with track heat...
Have fun, GBUFF! Hope things aren't too wet, but if they are the Contis should do well. In the dry, I agree with Eddie07; I don't think you'll like their performance.
Eddie07, it looks like NYST is a little more serious with their tech inspections. Does the car need to be signed off by a mechanic before the event? Or can you check off the list yourself? I didn't see a start time for the event, but I'm assuming it's 9:00. Looks like just under 2 hours for me to get there, so it'll be an early wake up.
You can sign the tech form off yourself, but I thought you had someone to tech your car for SCDA.... If you haven’t done it in a while, this might be a good time to do that.
I am hopeful that they will send something out in the near future that will give us start times and what not... I didn’t see anything either...
The second number set is the turn number from the above track map.
General Rule: Stay off the curbing. It is there to let you know you are at the edge of the track. The leading and trailing edges are sharp and may do damage or “throw” your car.
3:50 T1 - Do a late turn in. Turn in a little later than he does
3:52 T1 - skip this apex; 1/2 to a car width off the apex
3:53 T2 - Apex here, track out all the way to the right like he does, then drift back to the left side of the track.
4:00 T3 - hold it straight here a little further and do a late turn in and skip the first apex. Apex at the second apex. Make it one big long arc. Track out left 4:07 like he does
4:10 T4 - Drift right just as he does. Stay right through T5
4:14 ..... turn in for T6 cone but don’t turn in at the cone. Do a late turn in. Wait about another car length after the cone before turning in.
4:16 T6 - this is too early of an apex for this turn. The later turn in will correct this. There is a pocket at the apex. You need to just touch the curbing here to get in it. Hold the track out a little straighter than he does and tighten it to the left so you can pass parallel to the concrete on left; not at an angle 4:22
4:24 T7 - Aim for about the middle of the track to crest the top of the track. The crest of the hill is diagonal to the track if you take it further to the right. Wait to turn until after you crest the hill. Let the car drift left to finish the track out, just a he does.
4:27 T8 - Follow his line, drifting right to setup for T8. T8 is a high speed dog leg to the left. Take just as he does
T9 through T13 follow his line.
5:00 T14/T15 complex - Don’t try to straighten this out. Drift a little left coming out of T13, Take T14 a little wide and then swing right to get to the right side of the track for T15, then late apex T15. If you try to straighten the line between T13 and T15, the FWD MINI won’t make the turn at T15 and the track out will be wide which will screw up getting to T16. This is better viewed on the Google map below.
5:11 T16 - Here you will see that the track map is wrong. This is from Google Maps:
NYST last set of turns
At this time point you can see the apex of T16. Take it as a show; a normal mid corner apex.
5:13 T17 Is the second part of this complex and is a left hand dog leg that is a late apex. It is important to not apex this too early as that will send you off the track after T17. A late apex here will help you to line up on the far side of the kink of the little right hand dog leg between T17 and T18. Stay to the right of the track leading up to the turn in for T18.
5:17 T18 - This is a good corner to trail brake into. Again, don’t early apex this corner. There is a strong desire to early apex this turn, but don’t. Even be a little late. This will give you a much better exit. An early apex will just drift you off the track out edge of the track and you don’t want to do that.
Last edited by Eddie07S; Jul 10, 2021 at 05:28 AM.
Reason: Added info Corrected T17
Also, I added a few more bit of info to the above. Stay off the curbing, but touch it to judge the track edge. It is not designed to be driven on. And, there is a pocket at the apex of T6, right at the curbing, that is good to get into.
A lot of the parking area (and most likely where we will be) is grass and crushed stone and slopes as shown in the start of that video. Not the best for changing tires. You might want to consider driving there on the Nittos if it is going to be a dry day. I know you don’t want to put the miles on them that way, but consider it. You could bring your street tires for the drive home. As people will likely leave early, there should be room on the paved area to change them at the end of the day. And just a reminder - A Harbor Freight jack would be a worth while investment...
Thanks for the info...I don't mind driving the Nittos to Lime Rock, but there are a lot more miles involved getting to NYST. I may just get there super early to grab a spot (or two) on the pavement. The 'toy' jack has worked fine since that 'incident' at LRP...I probably will just take my chances with it for the rest of this season, as I think I only have 3 or 4 more days left on my track package with SCDA.
gkp, I have extra bedrooms for rent at a very reasonable price for track buddies. You're welcome to spend the night before here and head out the next morning.
Unsure of the likelihood of a sellout there, or if there is a waiting list.
