LOST 1/2 track day at Grandsport

[LordZ]

Vid of the last session with myself, doghouse, jperrett, and nigel going around a few laps.

Doghouse I think held the record for the most offs of the day. I think he keeps forgetting he's not in the miata.

I was feeling tons of oversteer out there. Not sure if it was just my crap LSS suspension, my under pressure tires, or me not knowing the track. Probably a combination of all of those. So needless to say I was taking it very easy (after spining in 3) and not really knowing the lines.

All in all it was a fun time, but the lack of facilities (air compressor) and shade really detracted from it. Loved seeing all the Lotus out there though, some nice F and P cars too. Great event that Paul put together.

On to the video... (make sure to hit the HQ button, not sure how to put that variable in on the link.)

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[Chili Red]

Cool video, I especially liked the part were you were going 11,000 Miles per hour.. Im guessing you couldn't get a good GPS Signal out there..

Honestly it doesn't look like you did to bad, the 2,3,4 combo seemed to be really killing you though. Watch my video below, not sure its the fastest way around, but seems to work well for me.

PS, Turns 2,3 & 4 give a lot of people problems.

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[Doghouse]

Hey LordZ, thanks for the video showing me having not one, but two offs on the same turn.

I think Prof. Chili is right, the Miata has ruined me as a Lotus driver. Going off in a Miata is not big deal, but in a Lotus...

My only comment is that the extra horse power in the Exige vis-a-vis the Miata was just too much to resist. Especially coming out of the turn 2-3 combination once you got a little rotation to get the back end pointed in the right direction. WHOOSH away we go through the esses and down the back straight. Wooo Hoo! that's fun!

What I was missing in that turn was easing off the brakes to regain front tire grip before turning in. I was one session away from either nailing that turn or calling AAA for towing service. You can see in the video that when I got it right, I was carrying a good amount of speed into that short shoot before the hard left onto the front straight.

Bummer that my video and Trackmate gear is all in my Miata right now and the Miata is at GHM getting some prep-work done on it so I can do a turbo in the Fall. (Then my Lotus eating Miata will be done. ) At least if I had something in car beyond a hand held stopwatch then I'd have some video / data to defend myself with...

Anyway, I had a really fun time and Paul / LOST hosted a great event as usual.

[LordZ]

Yup that's the problem with being faster than me. It means you will be in front and all your mistakes will be on video.

I would have felt alot better out there if my rear tires didn't feel so squishy from low pressure. Next time I'll have to bring a compressor so I can add air. That and I really need suspension I think. Still don't trust the car 100%.

The video also shows that power really doesn't make much of a difference without long straights. I think all it does is allow me to drive at a lower rpm (good for the motor) than the NA cars. Now at TWS or Cresson with some semi long straights it helps alot. Not so much on the short tracks.

[Alphonse]

As a suggestion, go just a bit deeper into one before turning then on two go for a late apex. You are apexing two way too early and that puts you on the wrong track for 3 and 4.
You should be able to carry good speed into one and then use the short section between one and two to scrub off speed. Get over to the right in that area and then late apex on two. That will then give you a much faster path to the back straight. Done right you can be in fourth and accelerating as you come into that back straight.
Turn two is a throw away in the sense of speed. It's more important to set it up right so that you can then make more speed on your run to the back straight.

just a thought.

[LordZ]

Yup, just wasn't feeling the love from my rear tires on Saturday. Tons of speed left for me through 1, just felt the back step out on me a few times so didn't push the car very hard out there.

[Chili Red]

The key to remember is that out of turns 2,3 & 4, turn 4 is the most important. Don't do anything in 2 or 3 that will hurt your ability to get on throttle for turn 4. This does not mean over slow for 2,3 though.

As for turn 1, key here is to make sure that your on throttle at or just before apex to keep the rear planted. You can take turn 1 extremely fast if done correctly. Ive done turn 1 at 90+ before but it was a bit sketchy though.

[Houston Lotus]

Nice driving LordZ. I will try to post some of the video from my car later this week to YouTube and Vimeo.

[LordZ]

What you talking about? That was terrible driving. Just wish the car felt better to me. I'm just happy I didn't get lapped by the whole group...

[Houston Lotus]

Originally Posted by LordZ

What you talking about? That was terrible driving. Just wish the car felt better to me. I'm just happy I didn't get lapped by the whole group...

Was this your first time on Grandsport also? I took me a little while to get the track down.

[LordZ]

Yea was first time, but I really feel it was the car's setup vs anything else. That and I don't like going off.

[Doghouse]

Originally Posted by Houston Lotus

Nice driving LordZ. I will try to post some of the video from my car later this week to YouTube and Vimeo.

That's REALLY what I need, more video from this past weekend at Grandsport. Yea, post up those videos while you can, but later this year when the Miata becomes a monster and it passes by you with a WHOOSH! and all you see is the back end of green a Miata (with obligatory a rainbow sticker and scarf dangling out the window) leaving you behind, THAT'S the video I want posted up.

[Chili Red]

Originally Posted by Doghouse

That's REALLY what I need, more video from this past weekend at Grandsport. Yea, post up those videos while you can, but later this year when the Miata becomes a monster and it passes by you with a WHOOSH! and all you see is the back end of green a Miata (with obligatory a rainbow sticker and scarf dangling out the window) leaving you behind, THAT'S the video I want posted up.

Not gonna happen..

[Houston Lotus]

I finally got my video from this LOST track day event online. Here it is.

<object width="400" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5815567&amp;server=vimeo.com &amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portr ait=0&amp;color=00ADEF&amp;fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5815567&amp;server=vimeo.com &amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portr ait=0&amp;color=00ADEF&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/5815567">Grandsport Speedway HPDE Lotus Elise</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/alexbrownracing">Alex Brown Racing (VimeoChannel)</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><p>This is video from my first track event at Grandsport Speedway. I am driving a 2005 Lotus Elise - Alex Brown Racing</p>

[Chili Red]

Originally Posted by Houston Lotus

I finally got my video from this LOST track day event online. Here it is.

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Gotta say your line looks pretty good Alex, only suggestions I would have is to be a bit wider into T2, put your passenger side wheels over into the 3rd lane. Ive also found it to be faster to go around the outside of the turn after the back straight instead of apexing the turn.

Awesome job and I timed you at 54.8 in the video. Was a bit of a challenge finding laps that you were not passing people too...

[Houston Lotus]

Originally Posted by Chili Red

Gotta say your line looks pretty good Alex, only suggestions I would have is to be a bit wider into T2, put your passenger side wheels over into the 3rd lane. Ive also found it to be faster to go around the outside of the turn after the back straight instead of apexing the turn.

Awesome job and I timed you at 54.8 in the video. Was a bit of a challenge finding laps that you were not passing people too...

Thanks Chili. My 2gb SD card ran out after the two run sessions that I posted on Vimeo. I went back out later in the day in some of the lower run groups (don't tell anyone) with not as much traffic to try to lower my lap times. I ended the day with a best lap time of 53.3. Not bad for a car that at the time had tires that Clint at Gashead Motorworks said should not be on track (I bought new Toyo R888s the following week).

BTW, will you be at TWS for the NASA event this weekend? Hope to see you there.

- Alex

[Chili Red]

Originally Posted by Houston Lotus

Thanks Chili. My 2gb SD card ran out after the two run sessions that I posted on Vimeo. I went back out later in the day in some of the lower run groups (don't tell anyone) with not as much traffic to try to lower my lap times. I ended the day with a best lap time of 53.3. Not bad for a car that at the time had tires that Clint at Gashead Motorworks said should not be on track (I bought new Toyo R888s the following week).

BTW, will you be at TWS for the NASA event this weekend? Hope to see you there.

- Alex

Thinking of stopping by on Sunday to spectate... We will have to see...