...not sure here, but from watching your video you entered the left hander correctly, you appeard to catch turn 3 correctly and then you tracked out naturally to the rummble strip ( near the flagger) and then you naturally cut accross to gently catch the rumble strip on the right which sets up up for the uphill. Looked fine to me...Greg? I thought it was a picture perfect lap.

 

Jason is a very good driver and I'm always impressed with his videos. For his first time at LRP he did a fantastic job and should not be at all critical of his performance at this time.
Jason, you drove that track better then many I have seen who have been there many times. It's a trickier track then many might think because it carries so much speed, unlike NHIS which is the same length but about twenty seconds slower to get around.
Big bend will come easier to you next time out. There is really no right way through there, but there certainly are wrong ones. I don't like double apexing it myself.
Again, I cannot stress enough that you need to seriously consider your safety, please.

 

Thanks Greg... the check is in the mail.

I mean, thanks for the compliment. And completely unrelated, the check for the harness belts is in the mail.

Michael said in a PM that it looked like my instructor was holding me back a bit. Not true. My instructor was playing the middle ground. He let me know that there were many places on the track where I was slowing more than I needed to, but he wasn't pushing me to go faster through those spots - most noticably west bend. He was letting me speed up as I felt comfortable.

Apparently, I was his "good student" that day.

The pace I had was the one I fell into where I still felt comfortable. I knew there was still a fair amount of room left on the exit of the corners, and I was in no big hurry to speed up and use up that extra room. Unlike NHIS where I'm not leaving much room in some places

I've still got more video footage to work through... some shots of some of the other MINIs blowing past me, especially Michael. And some funny comments from my instructor.

 

My instructor showed me the way through where you move to the middle of the track at 4, hit the first rumble strips, then ride that line out to half of the concrete (near the 1st apex in the 2 apex method), then get on it and get it right in on the second right rumble strips, track out to left.

In the end it turned out to be one swooping way through which I was more comfortable with than the 2 apex. I wasn't that quick through there, or anywhere (intermediate, second time at the track), but I felt better about that way through.

mb

 

I think it's important to learn as many ways thru each turn as possible...if you plan actually race; unless you're in the lead, or within a gap, someone is either always pushing to get around you or you need to find a way around them. Yin when they yang or vise versa.

 

I finally got around to editing the rest of my footage from the event:

~11 minutes long, ~47MB

Streaming web page:
http://homepage.mac.com/jtross/iMovieTheater52.html

Or, direct download from here (right click / save as):
http://homepage.mac.com/jtross/.Movi...g-05-06-06.mov

 

Nice driving Jason I can see that you became more comfortable as the day progressed, that last lap was a pretty good one

 

Damn, couldn't watch it because of some compression thing missing? Any ideas? I did hear the instructor say "Man, MINIs are amazing".

mb

 

You need Quicktime 7 installed.

Go here:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html

after installation, restart your browser / movie player

 

The video is now on google video. It's my first time trying out uploading there...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...22931510116490

 

Jasen,

Onasled told me I was on film, so I thought I should have a look. I completely missed the first apex in my first appearance and consequently lost time trying to get back on line for the second apex...your instructor's comment about power is correct; it corrupts

I gotta get a camera going in the car. Thanks for inlcuding me in your video

I may catch up with you at New Hampshire in September...

Michael

 

Hope to see lots of people at NHIS some time.

I was wondering how I closed on you through big bend. Of course I then had my one a track day brain fade and screwed up my shifting.

My untrained eye, watching tiny video of meb's car speeding away from me causes me to ask... was it under-damped? It seemed to be bouncing around a bit, but that could just be the video playing tricks on me. We had a tuner civic show up to an autocross that was slammed on really firm springs and way under-damped. It was fun to watch that thing bounce around the parking lot. Not that meb's car looked anywhere near that bad, just a little "bouncy".

Another reason why I didn't get adjustable dampers - I'd just wind up adjusting them incorrectly.

I've sent in my Watkins Glen registration for late September.

Autocrossing this weekend, taking the MINI around the go-kart track next weekend.

I think I need an NHIS day sometime soon, or a cheap Lime Rock day (if such a thing exists).

 

That was fun to watch, thanks for posting! Looks like our instructors were suggesting similar lines through big bend and the rest of the track. The only difference was mine told me to take a late apex on the uphill and do it in 4th. As I got faster, the car was in the tourque more, and it worked out. At first, I was like, uhhh, the car isn't going anywhere, sir. haha.

mb

 

I'm not sure how the gear ratios compare between the Cooper and the MCS once you get beyond second gear. I can tell that if I really pushed it down no-name and through the uphill, I'd be playing near the rev limiter in third around that part of the track.

 

Oh yeah... I'm not sure if my instructor kinda "gave up" on big bend. Towards the middle of the last session, he said "why don't you try your own line through here". He kept trying to get me to start the first part of the turn earlier, and I kept not quite doing it.

 

My car does bounce a bit. But like everything in life, my setup is a compromise. The Megan spring rates are probably quite a bit higher than the JCW springs (280F & 335R), and, I'm still playing around with the damping; I'm trying to get enough responsivness while keeping it all as soft as possible. I think I was exploring adjustment 24 - out of 32. I didn't take notes . I also still have the stock rear bar, so all the rotation is coming fromt springs and damping.

The ride home was amusing - forgot to loosen the dampers - it was brutal. As is typical, what feels soft on the track feels very hard on the street.

The car is still not working correctly despite new ball joints, Powerflex bushings, and, the stock swaybar endlinks being reinstalled. But I'm getting closer...I hope

 

When I hit the esses right, I'd hit the rev limiter of 3rd a little before the braking zone on no-name, going into the uphill. So he suggested upshifting and instead of downshifting again, taking the uphill in 4th with a late apex to "let the hill plant the car in the turn."

I just nodded and tried it - that's what novices do, right?

I'd love to know what revs other MCS's are hitting on that straight and when, and how they tackle the uphill.

mb

 

My lap is like this.
Crossing the start finish line in 5th, downshift to third into big bend. Upshift to forth at the end of the Esses. Take the uphill in forth and upshift to fifth on the back straight. Take West bend in fifth all the way back to Big Bend.
About 1:05+.

 

Thank you very much for that. Now I know what to shoot for. My lap is start finish 5th, big bend 3rd, 3rd through esses and out, 4th before uphill, 4th all of the way through downhill, etc... Dkstone showed me how slowly I'm going through the esses. It'll come...

mb

 

I think we have 4 different sets of gear ratios to deal with, though. :D

Old Cooper (Midlands 5-speed)
New Cooper (Getrag 5-speed)
Old MCS (Getrag 6-speed)
New MCS (Getrag 6-speed mk2)

I'd bet that for all four, 2nd gear take you to just past 60mph (to improve 0-60 times by only having one shift instead of making you shift to 3rd to get to 60). After that, all I know is I think the ratios on the new MCS are closer together than the ratios on the new MC. So an MCS should hit the top of third at a lower speed than a Cooper will. I think. But I'm probably wrong.