Thanks Btwyx for the information! I ordered the PLX OBD-II WiFi interface but they are back-ordered until early May
I was hoping that I would get it before the 25th of this month when I go back up to Hallett, or May 3rd when I got back to the Sheriff's track!
Well at least I should have it by May 30th when I return to Hallett!
Don't get discouraged! Nothing beats seat time.
Luguna Seca would seem to be a little a intimidating place to start out. Walls can always be scary. Plus that is a very technical track.
I would think that if you can master that track, anything else would be a piece of cake.
I would love to drive the track though myself. Just a little far for me to drive to though.

 

Barry,

Indeed, it was a great day at Laguna on Wednesday!
I had no idea you were timing yourself.

If you have any footage of the blue convertible in action, I'd love to get a link, if you don't mind uploading the footage.

Please thank your wife again for the sunscreen. She was a life-saver!

See you next time!
Joe

 

I'm not officially, I go back and analyse the video. Video's great in that it has a built in time base, I split it into laps when I see the start finish line and read the lap times off the clip length. That's yet another use for video, my first track day I had no idea of how well I was doing (and still don't). You can also get lap times from the time stamps on the photos of your car from the event photographer, its better than nothing. (Who is the event photographer? I'd like to look up the photos.)I'm putting together a clip package of all the MINIs that got caught on my video. I'm currently reviewing 2 laps from session 2 where you're in sight all the way around. I've got quite a few of you, not forgetting the entire first session when Jerry was driving.

 

David Wong was the photographer. He'll have the track day pics uploaded this weekend he said.

http://pa.photoshelter.com/usr-show/...8L0/David-Wong

Looking forward to the clips... I really like your camera mounting system and may steal the idea for use myself!

Was that clip you posted edited or cropped at all? It looks great!

 

Great, I'll check that out.There's 52 min of it, and its currently being compressed as I write.That's my MKIIIa version, I'm thinking of designs for the MKIV now. The MKIIIa is a bit bulky and looks like something you shouldn't have in the car on the track (like a hatch cover). If I were going to stick with the MKIIIa I'd be looking at some reinforcement, its a bit bouncy.Its more or less straight out of the camera, clipped and the data overlayed. The camera's HD, so that's actually half the resolution available, but working with the highest rez gets you insanely large files.

 

Thanks for the vid Btwyz; it captured the feeling alright.

Along with Mini_Joe I was a participant in the class Siddartha organized and I had a GREAT time, and learned a lot. For reference purposes, I've been to both BMWCCA and SCCA HPDEs (the SCCA was a PDX, but essentially an HPDE). So I've had some great instructors, fortunately mostly guys like Siddartha who race and who race smaller cars like MINIs and Miatas.

So thanks first to Siddartha for putting this on: it takes a real commitment to these cars and us newbies to train us on a course like Laguna. It's intimidating, and Jerry's there to push us. But that's what makes you learn. You get uncomfortable; back off a bit and gather yourself and find your comfort level again. Then start ramping it up again and each you get a little farther.

So Siddartha's right about the carbon unit. A good example for me wasn't the corkscrew, cuz I still don't have that dialed. For me it was turns 5 and 6 where you turn left uphill to get up to 7 thru 8b, the corkscrew. I've got a very stock Just-a-Cooper, so I HAVE to hit those corners right to maintain speed up the hill. I have to. Siddartha got me to commit more at the bottom and to just lift a bit at 6 while putting my wheel in a little hole; this gave weight to the front, and allowed the car to turn at higher speed. It doesn't LOOK like it would ever work; you have to feel it work to believe it. In a sense it wasn't just that Siddartha was telling me what to do, it's that he convinced cajoled and conned me into actually doing it so that I felt it work; once I knew that, I could do it again. And some more time (and confidence) picked up. Thanks

If we're ever lucky enough to have Siddartha organize another of these I'd highly recommend doing it. If you think you'll be uncomfortable, let him know: we all have a limit to the amount of new info we can deal with in a given time. But be open to pressing the limits a bit; that's why we do track time.

And although Jeremy Clarkson in the video is kidding around (I agree with Siddartha, I hope they're paying him a ton to drive like that without a helmet), he is right that there are lots of intangibles on any track that a book, video, data set or vid game can't convey. And ultimately it's the driver's perception of those forces in real time that are the limiting factors; we know intellectually that the car, like Jeremy's NSX, can do it, it's just committing to that fact that is hard.

Anyway, sorry to get so long-winded, but I had a great time.

Rob

 

There are different learning styles, and instructors should be able to adapt their teaching styles to work with your learning style. At least that's what I was told during the training I had for being a snowboarding instructor.

see-ers
think-ers
feel-ers
do-ers

Not that it is easy to discuss driving theory in a car that is traveling at speed.

 

Boy, that’s SO true! I used to teach middle school and it was really apparent that some kids favor some ways of seeing and analyzing things. You can experience it when you ask for directions: some folks describe turn by turn, some have to draw a map.

I find that for things like driving cars or biking or skiing one of the most important things for a teacher to be is a cheerleader; you have to get people to do things they already know, but lack confidence to execute. It all sounds kind of touchy feely, but it’s still true.

I’m always frustrated when I do things with my engineer friends: I’m a lawyer, so all I care about is that it worked. Only the result counts. My engineer friends aren’t satisfied with that; they always wanna know WHY it worked. Drives me nuts.

Rob

 

Eveyone always goes on about the corkscrew, but its never actually bothered me. I'm not sure if I've got it right or not, but it relatively obvious how to do it and what makes it difficult (turn 7). For me its turn 9, I could never see a good line through there, and I never got anyone to teach me a good one. I was always afraid of falling off at the entry. It was Jerry and Bob who showed me the line, and all it takes is a little brakes.My first experience of Laguna was in the JustaCooper and exiting turn 5 with enough revs was definitely one of the keys. I'm definitely going to have get back to Lagina in the JustaCooper to see how well I could do now. I have video from the JustaCooper further up the thread if you want to compare.

Jerry (Siddartha) was certainly being a cheerleader, I was looking at some of the video again and he's cheering and clapping at the good bits. Again, that's not something I remember from doing it live, but jumps out at me on the video. I find the video to be a really useful learning tool. I'm surprised I'm the only one of us who turned up with a video rig.

If Jerry said he didn't mind, I'd post some of the video so people can see what its about.
You haven't learnt anything if you don't know why. If you haven't learnt, you can't do it again. There are also different levels of enquiry. I'm a (software) engineer by trade, but I have a Physics background, my high school Physics teacher explained the difference beetween a Physicist and an engineer thus: "A Physicist can tell you why his bridge fell down, an engineer can't tell you why his is still standing."

 

The pro photographer has photos from the event available. There's lots of them at: http://pa.photoshelter.com/gallery-c...000ZlCNio_RwPo

A few good ones of me are:

http://pa.photoshelter.com/image/I0000YJvJKs0VxyU
http://pa.photoshelter.com/image/I0000bzqVeItsjdA
http://pa.photoshelter.com/image/I0000Jp2.qdUAWKA
http://pa.photoshelter.com/image/I0000EzExWaJOwiA
http://pa.photoshelter.com/image/I0000ZzGq_oQx_G0

There was talk of getting a compliation CD of photos for the participants, I haven't head anything of that.

 

Oh you pretty boy you!

Thanks for the update; there are some good photos there. Even if you weren’t there you should check it out; you don’t often get a chance to see lines of MINIs at Laguna. We were probably playing follow the leader, but it stills looks VERY cool if you are a MINI fan.

BTW, I notice you going down the corkscrew with a wheel about 2’ onto the berm. I’m usually there as well, but it seems almost everyone else is to the left of it. Are we offline or are they?

Rob

 

The corkscrew is a great turn in any track, but you get a different feeling on a motorcycle in that turn. Topping the hill at turn 7 at about 105mph and slowing to drop in to 8a like a madman. Plus the change in angles is very intence feeling...it made my stomach drop everytime....did that as a teen on a 83 Suzuki Katana 1100...I had less brains then i guess..!!!

 

I don't know. My theory is if you're not using the berms your line isn't tight enough. The MINIs were taking a very different line from everyone else anyway, so its difficult to say. I've seen video from a couple of other participants there and they always seem to be cutting 8a. Jerry was teaching us a very late turn in, but the other guys seem to have a very early turn in making an almost straight line from 7 to 8a.

The correct line is whatever works for you I suppose. I was also finding I wasn't tracking out so far after the corkscrew so I could set up for the entry to 9. 9 has always been the corner I could never even see a good line for before. Now I'm even slower in the corkscrew but faster all the way through 9 to 10.

 

I agree; Jerry was right that there's a tendency to focus so much on the corkscrew you botch the next set of turns, and that sequence is important for carrying good speed all the way to the turn into start/finish. I think my car could probably do all that flat out, but I wasn't that committed, even though I think I got on the right line to do it.

Do you know where the info is about purchasing downloads of the pictures?

Rob

 

I don't, I thought Jerry had said something about it, I should probably send him a note.

 

Just to add to the pack of track day junkies...
From somewhere in Middle America. Saturday spent the day bombing around in the wind and cold (38 degrees) but managed to pull off some good video.

MPH (Motorsport Park Hastings) is a three year old track designed by Alan Wilson. This was my second two day event at the track that is only 30 miles from my front door.
So, enjoy the vid and let me know what you think.
Track map can be seen --->HERE<---

 

Unlike Buttonwillow with it's professional photographer, lack of group sales, high priced individual CDs, etc... David Wong's selling all shots of your car for $50 plus $4 shipping.

I believe the original "group sale" deal Jerry and Bob were trying to organize at Buttonwillow was to be $25 for five shots of your car.

Of course, the photo CD was going to be $75 at Buttonwillow, vs. $50 at Laguna.

I'm not sure if anyone else agrees, but the photos from Laguna aren't the best quality.. .lots of low contrast, wide depth of field, and even the subjects being out of focus for many shots.

I was holding off on Buttonwillow photos for Laguna photos... but don't really see much to purchase from our day at Laguna.

I think Barry has the correct idea with in-car video... something I'll probably add to Blue before venturing track-side again.

I'm not sure what Jerry's up to... maybe he's busy getting ready for his new 2009 USTCC series? I know that Allen has not heard from him since the day they left the driving school...

 

Zyamfier,
I wish I only lived 30 minutes away from a track! Nice video and nice track. I did feel like a was in the back seat though! Just my thought, but if you can zoom in a little bit with the camera, the track will be eaiser to see and it would feel more like the viewer is in the front seat.

 

Thanks for the comment!
I had tried mounting the camera closer but I was loosing the speedo. Also, using a cruise-cam mount on the front seat with a passenger you get a lot of movement fore and aft during braking and acceleration.
Still a work in progress. I promise to do better next time.

Oh yea I got some footage from a tail pipe cam that I have to load yet. Stay tuned.

Jim

 

Fresh upload last night.
Same track just a tailpipe cam.

 

Zyamfier,

Look forward to meeting you at the Rusmore event in a couple of weeks!

I usually have a vid cam running from the right front seat headrest when I'm running laps at Heartland Park and there is a bit of catchup from the camera on braking and upshifting, but it doesn't seem bad. I also lose the speedo, but not because it's not in the shot, the lighting has to be just right or as the camera is focusing on the light conditions outside the car it appears darker inside than it is. I love the tailpipe cam, mostly because you can really hear the engine!

Which brings me to another point, why do you guys overlay your vids with loud music? I'd much rather hear the sounds of the engine and tires, or even a bit of commentary as you run than obnoxious heavy metal.....just my 2c....

You can sure tell that track is out on the flatlands! Grain silos, train tracks, and flat country all around!

We have a little bit of elevation changes at Heartland, but it's mostly the same way!

 

MINIdave,
Just for you I may strip off the metal and just run sound. Having listened to both the music cuts some of the wind noise on the in car audio. But the tailpipe cam was just becuase.
Keep an eye out it takes no time to upload (2 hours HQ)

 

Ask and you shall receive....
previous video without music.

 

Thanks!

I found a couple layers of duct tape over the mic kills most of the wind buffet noise yet still keeps the engine sound, although on my inside cam it's pretty quiet.........

I hope you didn't take me wrong there, like I said I just prefer the sounds of the engines and tires to music of any kind when it comes to track vids, but a lot of guys tend to make the music more important than what's happening on the track.......

Couple of interesting observations, you can tell all the tire noise is happening at the front!

And things look like they're happening much more quickly from the front camera, it looks like you're going a whole lot faster from that perspective!

 

You are correct sir. Had to rotate front to back after day one. I was tearing up the edges on the fronts. Had plenty of pressure in them but they just kept rolling over.
On day two I tried reduce my turn-in on the wheel. That seemed to give the tire a little more time to react to the change in direction. So I may have been scrubbing the edge and getting some push on the fronts.
Criticism is good else how do we learn.
Thanks,
Jim