LancePearson

I'm driving my 76 L48 four speed at VIR May 5 in their Touring Lights deal as an experience. If dry weather no issue other than fun for first timer on course. If it rains they still run and I'm wondering how you drive a limited slip posi rear end in the rain since this is my first posi owned. I can handle a normal drift but have no experience with rear end posi.

If I understand the limited slip posi with the clutch packs inside the posi carrier when you accelerate hard it locks the two wheels instead of allowing differential limited slip in each and accelerating out of a corner on wet roads would then lose the back end I think. Not positive, no pun intended, if my understanding is correct.

Slowing down is first step I'm sure and with 255 size tires on it especially over puddles so they don't become four little surfboards.

Beyond that, any advice, corrections in my understanding would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

lance pearson

Jason

Just drive gently. Smooth inputs. Easy on the gas. Even 3-4 shifts can light the tires.

brkntrxn

Jason nailed it.


Besides, if I can race this in the rain with a Detroit Locker in a 9" diff, you can drive yours

LTC Z06

If it rains I would not want my first time on the track to be in the wet.

LancePearson

I hope it won't rain as I'd like my first experience on a road track to be a dry one too but if it does they run rain or shine. slower will be the order of the day and they do have a big skid pad at vir and if it's raining I might try and work out some of the kinks on the skid pad to get a feel for it first. I'll have 100 minutes over four sessions so should be able to develop a rhythm...Touring Lights is following a pacing car and without passing allowed so a fairly controlled learning experience.

It should be okay as I've driven the car on asphalt with lots of loose sand on it and drifted it around so the instincts are still there and reasonable confidence in handling absent experience with posi on rain surfaces.

Thanks for all the input. I perceive Jason's to be superb and it is engraved on the back of my eyeballs.

Lance

Black89Z51

The problem with the skid pad idea is that it's often times used as a parking lot.

If it rains, just start slow and get comfortable. Don't go out there your first time and expect to set the world on fire. Go out there to learn. Talk to other people, and try to follow experienced drivers' lines. Your wet line will be a tad different than your dry line.

Learning to drive in the wet will make your actions significantly smoother than they otherwise would be with dry conditions. The rain forces you to be smooth, or you'll end up in the weeds.

Good luck to you, rain or shine!

LancePearson

It's close enough to Carolina it ought not to rain! But...if it does I see the general way to handle it subject to actual experience. I'll be okay now. My goal is to learn how to flow through the course instead of jerking down quickly and accelerating hard anyway so learning how to drive that course with more of a flow would seem to fit either wet or dry, just diff. speeds and techniques. My 76 L48 four speed while in great shape and modified with duals is not going to overpower the track or lots of other modern cars anyway so I'm hoping to learn to drive smoothly and get around the course in 3 minute times if the pacing car will do that as the course of the day and the four sessions allows it. If I do better than that it probably won't be brute force on a dry track in my case but getting around the course with reasonable rhythm.

If I had a ZR1 I might be too dangerous with my inexperience with all that power so this will take a bit more finesse. I hope they let me let it out in fourth gear on the 4,000' straight later in the day to see how it feels. I already like cornering with it and its 255 tires.

Real racing it won't be but it will be a real race road course experience which is appropriate for a novice at that like me and as I understand it each session picks up the pace as the Touring Lights cars learn more.

thanks again for advice...will heed or attempt to.

lance

Jason

"Sure, just take a little hit off this pipe. You'll be fine. No way will this turn into a lifetime obssession that involves diesel trucks, RV's, stacker trailers, gutted/caged cars, mountains of spares and entire months of your life at a time. THOSE people have a problem. No way that'll happen to you."

Black89Z51

I bet you could make it in the 2:20's if you really got a good groove going.

StKnoWhere

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought touring lights was basically touring laps behind a pace car, no passing?

LancePearson

My first goal is to learn the lines, braking, accelerating then start to put it together smoothly. If I can do that I've seen the youtube vids of others doing touring lights in a miata at 3 minutes which is only an average of about 65 mph for the total track. It does not look at all difficult to do 3:30 to 3:00 after several learning laps. The first 25 minute session I'm sure is big time learning then easing it up each of the following three sessions. the club secretary keeps telling me by the end of the day with my car that I'll be exhilerated, excited and feel pushed by where we end up with it. Could a 2'30" lap be in there? First, let me crawl a little and do a 3' lap. If I can do a 3 then I'll jsut have to be sure that the 35 year old car can handle being pushed a little bit and if it can then we'll see where we end up. I do have a stop watch packed!

I am mostly doing this for the experience as I like the car on the road and curling, taking turns, etc. a lot. By modern vette standards it's underpowered but some of them do 1'54" laps with experienced drivers. But, by some other standards it's still a 5.7 liter v 8 with 1/3 more torque than horsepower and it ain't no stock 76 in terms of exhaust 2-1-2 and a big old pellet cat converter anymore so I I can keep the average speed through each corner smooth enough and high enough the clock ought to take care of itself. I want to try and keep the red side up too.

Anybody have any advice when your session on the track is done what to do with the car between sessions? Hood up and let it cool off a little, look for leaks, fuel if needed? Liquid for the driver, some high energy bars, a piece of fruit? Talk to others on the paddock and learn from that with whatever just happened?

the car right now is better than it was Dec. 21, 1975 when it saw the end of the St. Louis assembly process engineering and functional wise.

I appreciate any relevant experience at this point. You get to teach a 6'4" rookie who is an old dog and willing to learn new tricks.

Lance

Aardwolf

Warming up your lunch on your intake manifold.. priceless!

Yes to hood up, look for leaks, add gas/fluids, check the brakes! Between sessions I usually download my camera data. Then go off and check out other cars and talk to people.

Driving in the rain can be great for learning. Aside from some cold rains I've enjoyed the rain events I've been to. Drive smooth, look for run off spots/deep puddles. Look for traction, the surface will look grainy rather than smooth. Be aware of traction changes between concrete and blacktop surfaces (if your track has changes, my home track does).

The paint on the track edge is EXTRA slippery. I've had some bad under steer at apex from getting a little to close to the track edge. Also learn to control over steer. If you get into a death wiggle situation where the rear is oscillating, remember to hold the wheel straight and lightly accelerate. I think I have some HPDE3 NASA video at Road America from a few years back.

http://vimeo.com/4357831

LancePearson

They do four sessions following a pacing car so the pacing car will control the overall speed and time. I expect that each of the four sessions will show progress on the speed that the pacing car will do. We will see. The youtube vid's of it are at 3' times for the first laps so one might expect to see a bit more as the day goes on.

Talking to the club secretary who says it's for novice drivers like me that by the end of the day I'll be pushed. That doesn't seem to me keeping it the same speed each lap all day long. I do not believe there will be any flat out speed...always behind a pacer. They have offered to let me be a passenger in a club member's car between on track driving of my car to experience flat out race practice speeds which if it works out I'll do.

We will see. I like the no passing as it removes a complexity from a new driver and we get to learn the right line as we are out there following that car. They told me that they have had as few as 1 touring lights car and as many as 40 on a day so it depends. The fewer there are the more individualized it might get to be and I have no clue how they figure out what speeds to take us. Out of my hands. I'm not there for fast lap times but the experience and to see if I can do it smoothly and rhythmically as I learn.

My time is on a Thursday. A weekend would likely be more cars as people work they have told me.

brkntrxn

Lance,

To again echo what Jason said and you mentioned, if it rains just take it easy and concentrate on being smooth. If the track is damp to wet, be VERY aware of not getting on the gas out of T6a aka the last turn of the Snake. Unless you walk to track, it is hard to notice that you are at the crest of a very small rise and still turning at what is usually a shift to 4th gear. I have personally seen that section of track eat more cars than anywhere else in the rain.

To give you an idea of how slow and smooth I mean, last month at the NASA MA event I ran a 2:20 in the morning on a wet track. That afternoon I ran a 2:06.

In between sessions, DRINK fluids. The first sign of dehydration is decrease in concentration. You don't want that to happen while on the track. Your routine should be: drink, pee, track, drink, pee, track, etc. As an organizer and grid worker, I have seen way too many people do something stupid due to dehydration.


-Kevin

StKnoWhere

You will have a fantastic time Lance. Be sure to take advantage of a ride.

Best advise starting out is you can't go too slow but you can go too fast

parkerracing

StKnoWhere

I just posted this link in another thread but thought it might be of interest here.

VIR Hot Lap

And some good advise here from Peter Krause Track Wisdom.

LancePearson

Two weeks from right now I'll be done with my first ever experience on a track. Hope I kept the red side up and enjoyed it, learned at whatever speeds the pacing car will take us to do it rhymically. I'll probably even look different at the end of the day! Thanks for all the advice. me and the car are ready except to pack a few clothes for the night's stays.

Lance

TheSkunkWorks

Seriously, if you brave the wet, treat the controls (wheel, pedals, shifter...) as if connected to the car with delicate crystal stems. And, better to brake early than end up in the wall on your first day. Do keep a cautious eye on fade.

Racer86

Not sure you will be traveling fast enough, but if it rains, disconnect one link on the rear swaybar. This will help reduce the oversteer.