The Spark

Ran the Texas Motor Speedway ROVAL this past Saturday night. That was awesome. Not only driving fast on the banked oval - but doing it at night. We ran from ~6:30 PM to midnight.

It was HOT though. Started at 103* then cooled down to about 95*. I never overheated but my coolant temps got close to red and my oil temps were ~270* (even with oil cooler). But the temps came down quick on cool down lap.

The oval track was lighted but the infield road course was pretty dark.
I'll work on the video and post something later.

I got one session on video. Then on my next the camera mount came loose so I got the warmup and about 3/4 of the first lap. Then all I got was the back of the passenger seat

But here are some pics of my car in the NASCAR garage.

jdrake

I know this car! Yea, was a great time to be had by all. I was looking at the pics from the event online. Some nice glowing rotor action in the braking zone on the infield straight!

I got a bit hot the first session but simply changed my shift points. I was running the RPM's a bit higher than I should. After that, no problems. 250 degree water and 270 oil temps.

Everett Ogilvie

That sounds awesome. I love that track (I have not been on it, but have been for Cup races). It is beautiful at night.

How was it being on the oval, and what kind of speeds?

JVetthead

So who puts these events on at TMS?

The Spark

The Drivers Edge

The Spark

Let's see if the video will work.



My camera mount was slipping so the picture leans a little.

The Spark

I think I was hitting about 125 - 130 at turn 4 (the oval turn 4).
They put a chicane in between the start/finish and turn 1 to slow things down a little.

You turn into the infield just after turn 2 and come back onto the oval at turn 3.

The C6 Z06s were kicking my butt. A friend signalled for me to pass but his extra 150hp was too much for me so I had to let him go.

The first time I turned into the infield at dusk I thought I was driving with my eyes closed. I could barely see the track. But the next time it was much better. I don't know if my eyes adjusted, the lights were brighter or what. But I felt more comfortable going from the lighted oval to the dark infield road course.

I ran a 10 lap NASCAR experience there several years ago. They put an instructor in the car with you and you drive on the oval. This was not lead-follow. We were limited to 150mph. The turns are banked 24* so you don't get as much sideways g-forces as you do downward g-force.




It is

Everett Ogilvie

Cool vids, thanks for posting.

MikeFleischer

I don't know if they changed the configuration but I ran at Rick's first event at TMS back in 2000

and went there later for some PCA events in my C5 Z06. I was at 160+ indicated before I stopped looking and was focusing on my braking zone for the chicane at the end of the Nascar straight so maybe a bit faster than that. Probably about 110 to 115 into the first 180 degree turn into the road course section. That was in a stock 01 with Hoosiers and harnesses. There was a guy there with a 600+ HP 993TT who people claimed was hitting over 190 at the same spot on the track, and watching him he was visibly the fastest car out there.

Not my favorite track, turns are all simple, very high speeds, lots of heavy braking, decent laps times of around 1:35 mean very little chance to cool things off. No room for mistakes, you mess up the walls will not give you a break. I cracked 3 out of 4 rotors in 1 1/2 days at TMS once, had to take the chicken lane through the chicane and bypass the infield to get back into the pits.

Running it at night sounds cool, the oval is really well lit, the infield less so, the ALMS races there ran past sunset there also. That would be the extra little twist to make TMS worth going to more than a few times. Really hard on the car, heat shields on suspension and tie rods are a must along with brake cooling and duct work, and still extra rotors and pads...

OK just watched the video it looks like they moved the Chicane back towards the middle of the NASCAR straight? They used to put it at the end before NASCAR turn 1. Good idea to keep speeds down a bit I think.