L98Terror

For those that care or were wondering, Here's the deal.

I ran in TTA

Car set up 2003 Z06, T1 Bars front and rear, adjustable end links, Vararam, HANKOOK 275/40 17 Square C50s & C70s, Hawk Pads DTC 70s up front & HT 14s in the rear (was a problem when I lost ABS, worked fine other wise, this was because these were the pads I had not for some balance I was looking for)

Special thanks to Vector Motorsports & Greg Dansbury for helping to set up the car, Hawk Brake Pads & Hankook tires. I'd also like to thank all the other Corvette guys that were so helpful over the year in sharing tips and helping me to learn the track , including Jesse, Dave, Wade, Danny, Jeff, Jon, Matt, Greg and countless others. including a mustang guy Rob

A special thanks goes out to Zerka, Erotica & Jon for getting me so drunk Friday night I could barely walk



I brought two sets of Hankooks, a set of C50s that had about 7 heat cycles at the start of the week and a stickered set of the C70s.

On Thursday I started with the 70s and laid down a lap that would have held for the entire weekend on my 2nd hot lap of our first timed session. (Our warm up/ Practice was black flagged), I then took them off the car and put the C50s on and waited to see if anyone would be able to challenge my 1:34.584(Bettering the Track Record of 1:35.787, Dave did run a 1:35.299 in Aug but it was in a session that didn't count). I was able to pull off 135s with the 50s on, I really tired not to push it, no need to take chances in my position.

On Friday both Jesse and Dave were down in the 1:35.1s and rumors started going around the paddock that I was a one lap wonder. Since I have grumbled in the past about people who can't back their laps up I decided to slap the C70s back on and see what I could do.

I went out in Friday's last session and had ABS issues on the first lap, I ended up flat spotting my right front going into the keyhole. We checked all the connections unplugged and plugged everything and went back out in Sat morning's practice session, no issues


Right before Sat's first time session someone puked oil all the way through thunder valley, which added to the excitement, time was running out people were trying to let it all hang out and we had to run through oil & oil dry I went out with the C70's and was able to back up my first days times with a back to back 1:34.502 & a 1:34.510 I will say I was a little nervous heading through that oily area, my car did feel stable but I also took it a little easier trying to keep the car stable through that section. Unfortunately my car coded on my cool down lap


Then came the last session, I will say I wasn't comfortable with my lead and I had many capable drivers on my tail. I headed out only to have my car code on the out lap, I reset the codes on the fly but it coded again before my first lap while playing with that I was able to put down a 1:35.002 and knowing I couldn't go any faster without ABS I decided to pit in, after a discussion with Greg I decide to try and get another lap in, I reset my codes and headed back out. Coming down through thunder valley my car coded again so I pitted once again. As I sat in the pits a few TTR cars headed back out so I decided to give it one more try, I set myself up to get a clean lap and came across the start finish line hot with no codes showing yet This was it, show time, I didn't want to get bumped on the last session of the last day. I tried to get the fact that I could lose ABS at any moment out of my head and focused on running the best lap I could. I was able to get a full lap in without running into traffic, I glanced at my in car timer to see a 1:33.958

Now a sane person would have called it a day because if you go off or spin the time doesn't count, not to mention my ABS issue and I wanted to take my daily driver home in one piece. Of course I felt I might be able to better that lap so I stayed in it waiting to see if I could get in another clean lap. I came up on the 240 SX TTS car, luckily I was able to pass him on the back straight, my fingers were crossed hoping it didn't slow me up to much. The rest of the lap was clean and it was feeling good I came across the start finish line with a 1:33.889


A few facts: I ran a full weight car with nothing removed, I scaled in at 3350 about 150 lbs heavier than other Z06's running TTA.

I Dynoed at the track a high of 361 hp (middle of the pack for the Z06's that got dynoed) & I had a Vararam everyone else was stock.

I also ran the smallest tire of the group 275s square and ran Hankooks (What's a Hankook )

Miaugi

Nice showing.....Congrats!

Olitho

Great driving!

beerkat

Congratulations on the win and new record.

folsomlarry

Congratulations on a great job

Larry

StArrow68

Great review and fun reading. Wish I could get that far east just to
watch. Fantastic finish super Corvette week. Keep enjoying the runs.
Randy

mrc24x

1) Speech,speech.......

2) "A few facts: I ran a full weight car with nothing removed, I scaled in at 3350 about 150 lbs heavier than other Z06's running TTA....."

Soooo not true, I saw you remove the CD case from the visor!!

3) Very nice job Ken. (your partner in crime did a great job in his vintage C4 also.) Congrats.

AU N EGL

Hear Hear. Great driving

Falcon

Very impressive dring by you Ken! Congratualtions on a job well done.

All you guys in TT did great and y'all just kept pushing each other.

gkmccready

Congrats! I guess you're liking the 'kooks? We ran them nearly 15 years ago on a F1600 car (spec tire)... never could get them to work on that car. Last year I saw a guy with a vintage Mustang running them (and hating them). So it's great to see you do well on them!

glen

ReddyZ06

Great work!
Mike

L98Terror

Not bad considering I was in HPDE3 two months ago

I love the Kooks, just look at the times and to think it didn't cost me anything for my National tires, I got $230 Kook bucks from the last event minus the $900 a new set cost me that's $670 and The Kook paid $1000 for first place so I netted $330 & a set of tire that should be good for a many more events.


I choose the Kook because they supported NASA and they offered an contingency that was the only reason, oh and they were cheaper.

I am extremely happy with the tires they stuck well and were very predictable, what I didn't like was the fact they were 2 years old (Man date 11/05) and I couldn't get the new version I had to run the C50s and C70s not the C51s & C71s. They also seemed to hold up very well.

I would love to think I was on a inferior tire because that would mean I could go faster and a 1:33.8 is smoking for a TTA car.

There is no reason I would run on a different tire unless I need an adult size.

BTW The only new tires I've ever run were Nitto NT-01s, Hoosier AS305s (Which I corded after 12 laps) & Kooks C50s & C70s. Those were the only 4 sets of new tires I've had.

gkmccready

I'm very jealous of your driving abilities! You and Danny should swap cars for a session. ;-)

ScaryFast

Everyone thought he was crazy for running the 'Kooks. To quote Ricky Bobby - "who's retarded now?!?"

After trying the C50's for the first time in August Ken layed down a fast 1:35.xx and decided that they were ok. Then we realized that the only comparison times were on old Nittos. Thus was born Hankook's new ad slogan:

"Hankook tires - better than scrubs."

I think it's since been updated:

"Hankook tires - we wake up and **** excellence"

L98Terror

Actually I only ran a 1:36.2xx in Aug on the C50s, either way you about summed it up.

Did you figure out whether or not your last lap was a clean one? I would have loved to see what you could have done on the C70's

ScaryFast

The 1:35 was about 6 laps in when the C50's were already slippery. I had one minor thing on that lap as well (I think it was when Rob S. spun in front of me) but nothing major. I hate to make assumptions, but had I had a clean lap early in the session I could have been two positions higher in the standings since 3rd and 5th were separated by 0.4 seconds. I left at least half a second left on the table.

I played my weekend poorly, I shouldn't have f'ed around on Thursday as it screwed up my grid for the rest of the weekend. The best grid position I had was for Friday's last session, but I spun and lost the chance. Saturday's noon grid was still decent, but I chickened out with the oil in 10 and lost that chance too...I shouldn't have waited until the last session of the last day to try to set a fast lap.

My new CF name - "Kindafast".

varkwso

Ken you are the man - you can drive a car

Look forward to running with you again sometime...

PA Z06

Congrats, I love watching and learning from your videos.

oh btw Any video from this weekend

Scooter70

Congrats again dude.

Fastguy

Taught him everything he knows.