30% chance of rain. I'll bring a plastic baggie for the cookie

 

Most recent weather report says no rain! I'm in for donuts and cookies!

cr/b with x-lites, I'll be there early berly.

mb

 

I'll bring donuts and a chocolate chip cookies - from Dunkin.

Don't forget to bring plenty of water.

 

Look forward to hearing from you all about today.
Sorry I couldn't make it. Just way too much to do trying to get my own car out there.

 

Turned out to be a great day more MINIs than I could count, all the usual suspects showed and we all had a good time. The rain stayed away, drizzle a bit in the AM but stayed dry, we did miss you though.

 

I made it home... a few hours ago.

I'll post more tomorrow, and have video at some point. But for now, I need to sleep so I can go autocross tomorrow morning.

In the last session, I was turning in laps in the 1:13's... probably nothing that impressive, but I was very happy for it being my first time at the track, and the first time I've had my Cooper over 100mph (speedo inidicated, anyway - I got darned close to 110 on the speedo at the end of the front straight).

 

snid,

You were doing just fine - twas your first time at LRP and a 1:13 for a non S is a very respectable time That JCW suspension looked firmly planted.

dkstone, great to see you again. I always fail to place your face with dkstone...sorry. I have it now.

My only complaint about BMWCCA - and this was my first time with this organization - is the amount of track time. I had 1/3rd of a tank left at the end of the day. With other organizations I would have had to fill up before my last session. Oh well.

Other news...I forgot my tarp...so when it began to drizzle, I went to the LRP store and bought an umbrella. When I came out of the store the sun was out and the sky was blue... The sun stayed out for the day. Amazing...

My right side control arm bushing is torn.

Greg, we missed you...but your heart was in a more important place. Catch you next time.

Michael

 

I was there on Friday 5/5 with the CT Valley Chapter for their school. Only a couple of other Mini's. Weather was fantastic. An M5 wrecked about 10 seconds in front of me on the "No Name Straight". It was in my last session, so that was it for the day. Hope the driver and instructor are OK. The M5 is not OK.

 

We heard about the M5 from many folks. The driver is okay...the car is as wrecked as a car can get.

We were told that he was way off line and tried to correct. Can you confirm?

 

Meb:
The sessions were only 20 minutes each because they ran 2 instructor groups instead of one like most other clubs, this arrangement gave the instructors a break it allowed us not to be jumping out of one car and right into another, it allowed us at least a 20 minute break between rides.

 

Let me tell you what was FACT, and what is speculation on my part.

He wrecked just past the "Esses" at the start of the "No Name Straight." There was a huge dust cloud coming from the right of the track and his M5 was against the left guard rail with the nose on the track severly damaged.

The M5 passed me immediately after (in this order) a Lotus Elise and a Porsche 911 Turbo. They all passed me on the front straight together as a group.

Now for my speculation...That M5 was not nearly as fast as the Lotus and the Porsche all day. The M5 never passed me earlier in the day as the Lotus and Pursche had several times. I think that the M5 driver was out of his comfort zone trying to keep up with faster, lighter cars and got out of control. I would guess that he carried way too much speed at the right hander of the Esses and got two wheels off the left side of the track. With so much more traction on his right wheels, he probably got sideways and shot to the right across the track into the guard rail and then bounced back across the track and ended up on the left.

Again, the accident details are speculation, since I was a little behind it (thankfully!) I do think that he was out of control and again will speculate that he was pushing too hard to keep up with lighter faster cars.

 

I thought it was absolutely awesome. My instructor (thom) was very helpful and a wealth of knowledge.

One thing I take away from the day is how capable a bone-stock MCS is. I hardly felt the understeer, and when I was on the right line and driving well, the car was very well balanced. Thom was even impressed with it.

Thank you again, Trevor, for the ride in theduke! You showed me what the car is REALLY capable of and made me a little sick at the same time! haha

Now it's to the web to find some more of these to go to. Oh man, this is going to get expensive, isn't it?

mb

 

Hey dkstone,

Yea, I know, I just didn't think before writing. Instrcutors sometimes never get a break. I got my sign-off, but I would like to take a ride with you sometime - me drive (insert smile) I learn something valuable from every instructor.

Bob,

I heard he ran out of track...meaning he was way wide after the left hander. Who knows. I was shocked to hear that there are a lot of offs in that very place. I love that series of turns...actually my favorit part of the track.

 

I think the #1 battle for me all day was to rid my mind of the inherent competetiveness of the event. Once I stopped caring about who was passing me or whom I was passing, I was able to really get in a comfort zone and improve. Everytime I TRIED to stay with someone or pass them, I got slower. Everytime I forgot about it and just did what I was learning, I got faster.

All that said, I guess one buys and M5 and expects to remain "better" than a lot of people. That's my speculation, of course.

The car I was most impressed with all day, which is probably really saying the driver I was most impressed with, would have to be the dark grey cayman S.

mb

 

It's so off camber there. that I can see a big heavy car like an M5 having a difficult time. I'm never worried in the Mini there!

 

I started importing my in-car video onto my computer this morning. I'm not sure how long it will take for me to get a video together, though... I wasn't able to work on it yesterday as I was out autocrossing (bested the 3 MCSs, but lost in class to an SCDA instructor driving an older Mazda 323 all wheel drive turbo hatch - I was 13th out of 41 cars overall - our autocrosses are really really tight so horsepower doesn't help much).

The Lime Rock day was great fun. I'm very pleased to know that I can go to a new track and not be completely lost. I was certainly not driving LRP as well as I drive NHIS, but I made it though the day with no problems, and got faster as the day went on.

My Cooper performed flawlessly... 93,000+ miles and it still runs around the track with the RPMs up about 5000 most of the time without complaint. Nice and stable at the end of the front straight, no drama when braking from 100+ mph, great stuff!

The wheels / tires / suspension combination worked great. No understeer problems popped up, and I was able to adjust my line with the throttle. My setup was 215/45R16 Azenis (the old ones), JCW suspension upgrade springs and dampers, stock sports suspension front swaybar, and the RDR / helix rear swaybar on the softest setting. There was one time coming into the second half of big bend that I was sure I had too much speed and was about to plow straight to the outside of the turn. So, I let off the gas and turned in a little extra, and the darned thing grabbed and turned in just like I told it to. Of course, that wound up being too much (since I was expecting understeer), but everything worked out. I guess there's more grip in my car than I thought.

The harnesses made it through tech inspection with no problem. They worked very well for me, but I can see where using real race seats with a sub belt hole would be even better. There was still some sliding around happening at times using the stock seats. My instructor mentioned that they were really nice belts and liked how easily the could be loosened up when you're getting out of them. Thanks for the advice on those, Greg. Sounds like you picked the right stuff.

The first session was interesting for me. :D I was put in the experienced / yellow run group, and the first time out while I was trying to learn the track, the rest of the group seemed to already know where they were going. I got passed quite a bit that session and never really got to go into any corners at full speed, which made it hard to learn the course.

As the day went on, things got much better. I was still taking most of the corners too slowly, but that's better than too quickly.

I love the downhill turn! It hardly seemed like I was going that fast into that turn, but looking at the video I was getting close to 90 mph at turn in. I did find the rut next to the apex curbing, and it really does grab those tires and hold you to the inside of the turn. Of course, one time I didn't quite get far enough inside and without that extra traction, I wound up closer to the outside of the track on track out than I liked, but that just means I had around a foot of track left instead of 2 feet.

Next time I'm there, I need someone to explain Big Bend to me. You'll see my line when I get the video done... I guess I was trying to do the double apex line, but was too late on the first apex and too early on the second one.

Start some threads up when you pick your next track day... I'll be sure do the same when I figure out what NHIS dates I'm going to - most likely they'll be weekend ones.

 

snid,

Easier said than done. Folks spend a lifetime trying to perfect big bend. It worked out very well for me Saturday, but I had my new brakes; the entire sequence was much quicker...It felt it was easier for me. It's sort of trivial to explain here, but after you've nailed the first apex, you almost have to drive to a point on the track where you feel like you are driving off the track. Once there, as you wrote, drop the throttle, get a little rotation and power thru the second apex. It's easy to screw up.

I've had 5 events at LRP since last fall after twenty years off. With PDA we usually get 25-27 laps in a session. Of these, I probably hit big bend with textbook accuracy 5 times a session or 20 laps out of a possible 100...and I'm in good company too. In other words, I shouldn't quit my day job.

You did well ...where's the video?

 

Jason,
Looking forward to your video.
Glad you enjoyed my home track here in CT. Quite fast isn't it. Seems like you were driving well if you found yourself at 90 mph at the entrance of the downhill.
I really do think though that it's time for you to bit the bullet and get some seats and a Hans if you see yourself continuing with this stuff.
Just to note, my seats are up for sale on eBay. I'd be happy to work something out with you if you want.

 

Michael, Will call you in a few minutes.

 

thanks

 

Big bend is where I can gain a lot on faster cars.
There are many different lines through there and even the best drivers take different ones at different times. I prefer the single long apex myself, throttle steering the whole way through.
Fun to see just how deep I can brake. VIDEO
Just can't do that more then once or the day is over...

 

Video of my fast lap might be here:

http://homepage.mac.com/jtross/iMovieTheater51.html

We're having internet connection issues, so I haven't been able to test that the page actually works yet.

It's just my fast lap (plus the downhill from the previous lap). I'll have more later...

 

 

...so what's the problem with big bend snid? I think you nailed it!

 

Thanks Michael, but it didn't feel like I nailed it. Much like turn 9 at NHIS (the left hander as you crest the hill and come back towards the oval track)... I'm not doing it horribly wrong, but it doesn't feel right.

With my instructor prompting me, I'd turn in off the front straight... umm... somewhere. That's part of the problem, I wasn't quite sure where the turn in point was. Left to my own devices (which I was most of the last session), I'd turn in halfway between "1" and "2".

I heard other people talk about "bending in at 4". When I look at that line, I just don't see it. If, at the "4", I turn across the track towards the inside cone, I have to turn again once I get to the cone to hit the outside cone halfway through the turn, then turn a third time once I get there to apex the second half of the turn and track out. Surely I'm missing something.

I did have a thought, which I didn't try, of staying on the gas until the "4" marker, bending in towards that first inside cone and braking until I got to it, off the brakes to bend in again lining up for the outside - halfway point cone and braking as I approach that, then doing the final turn in / track out. But the handout they had showed the double apex line as braking on the front straight and (if needed) in a straight line between the first inside cone and the outside - halfway point cone. Most of my confusion is that I never found a straight line between those two cones.