When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
So a little back ground... I've had my Grand Sport for roughly 14 months and it has been a fantastic car. Its my daily driver but I often go to mountains to better experience the handling capabilities; at reasonable speeds of course.
But to really see what the car could do I began going to VIR it any way I could: parade laps, charity laps, member days, and yes HPDE Because of all the driving last year (24.5k miles) funds would only allow 1 HPDE but afterwards I knew that I had started down the slippery slope and the bottom was no where in sight.
So this year I decided to kick off the driving season with Chin Motorsports per the recommendation of many friends. And I can honestly say attending a Chin event is an experience unto itself. Their slogan of ... "More Track Time.." was not a just some words on the website, even with us missing half of the first day due to bad weather I ended up being on track roughly about ~5 hours and turning over 50+ laps. By the time I got home my wife was asked, "If I had fun, and was it worth it?" I told her to ask me Friday because I was completely beat. In retrospect I was wasn't too far off because it took my brain and body about 3 days to really digest everything that took place. So here my recap of the event to those interested and still reading...
I wanted to fully immerse myself in the experience so I decided to come up Friday for check-in/tech, and stay in the lodges on site. On the way up I noticed the ice everywhere and didn't think much of it, but to my surprise I learned that there had been a serious ice/snow storm Thursday night which left the facility covered in snow. I knew it meant that getting on the track tomorrow morning was out of the question but honestly it didn't bother me because the track was beautiful. And since I signed up for an adventure it appeared that it was going to happen one way or another. The staff at VIR didn't flinch though and worked their butts off to have the lodges ready and the roads "clear enough" so people could at least try and bring in their trailers. By sunset the paddock was a winter wonderland of floating ice and standing water but I was like a kid watching all the serious track guys braving the bad conditions and parking 20+ foot trailers at dusk. No matter what happened tomorrow I knew I would be at home among friends.
The next morning wasn't much better than the previous night but at least this time we had sunlight, and stuff was melting fast. Chin staff notified us that the earliest we'd probably get on track was after lunch but not to expect any miracles because certain parts of the track was consistently in the shade. Afterwards VIR's workers began driving the emergency vehicles around the course to break up the ice in hope the sun would do the rest. Well they were right and a little after lunch everyone got a chance to go out for parade laps.
New Pavement Thoughts:
The first thing I noticed was that Turns 1 to 4 are really wide now, so much so that my muscle memory kept putting mid-track most of the weekend. I think for wheel to wheel racing that is probably where we will see the greatest change. Also Oak tree is now a parking lot and there is additional pavement over the curbing in between Turns 3 and Turn 4 and also on the exit of Oak Tree. Overall the pavement is still pretty slick but it is crazy smooth and very very flat from end to end. Other than the widening that was the greatest thing I felt throughout the track. Lastly, I noticed the my tires were warmer throughout the weekend more so than last time I was here. For instance last time I saw roughly 5-7PSI change this time it was closer to 8-10PSI.
In the end I had a blast and I'm please with my overall results of the weekend. First off I didn't have any incidents nor did I break anything , secondly I had ton of fun and saw all kinds of cars being driven well, and lastly I set a new personal best lap time of approx 2:25 which makes me happy because it means I'm getting better.
1. Your entire profile completed & read Instructions: Yes
2. A copy of your entire time slip posted to the thread as in post: Yes
3. The complete details of your pass using this template in your post: Yes
4. Year Corvette : 2013
5. Type of Trans : MN6
6. Type of Suspension : F55, Magnetic Ride set to Sport
7. Stock Performance options (as in optional gears with the automatic, & etc.) : None
8. Tires utilized : P275/35R-18:Front & P325/30R-19:Rear | Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position RFT
9. Modifications if any : None Stock Powertrain
10. Dyno numbers if you have them : Never dynoed, butt says around 400RWHP@390lb/trq
11. As much info you may want to add about the run, launch techniques, tire air pressure & etc :
Ran it in daily driven trim:
- after-market 10" sub with all wires, harnesses, and amp.
- Exhaust commander controller bypassed for always open NPP operation.
- Driver 205lb driver, car weight unknown.
- ~31psi front/rear tires, less than 1/8 tank of gas.
- tires @ 25k miles with less than 4mm of tread left on rear
- TC/AH set to Competitive Driving Mode
- Mild to sometimes sloppy 1st gear burnout in the box
- Attempted to launch between 3100-3300 RPMs, little to no traction from 3500RPM and above
___ Name of the Track - Fayetteville Motorsports Park
___ Date of the pass & weather conditions -11/9/14 ~60 degrees, DA: 525' via Dragtimes Webstite
** Disclaimer: This thread is intended to be a RELATIVE comparison, not Apples to Apples. I understand it is various cars, on different days, with different drivers & skill-levels on a updated widened track. Please for sake of meaningful discussion respond accordingly. **
My Track Observations:
I have personally driven VIR pre & post pavement I can say without a doubt lab times are better. I am in agreement with the "at least 2sec" improvement crowd. Most attribute this to the sections that have been widened but I would argue that those parts of the track are only mildly faster. I personally believe most of the ~2secs is because the track surface is uniform and there aren't as many dips and road camber changes to upset the car. Also know that is in reference to the Full Course Layout which is the only areas that have been repaved, the infield of the Grand Course still use the old pavement.
Observations on PDR:
For those who don't trust the Cosworth Developed PDR system, let's look at what that could possible mean in actual terms. According to documentation the system operates at 5Hz which means it updates 5 times per second --> (1/5) which equals a 0.2 interval. Which means every 0.2 seconds it records a new piece of data, in engineering speak this is the system's resolution. But let's say somehow the system is acting up and recording at half its resolution which means new data is recorded every 0.4secs.
My point: For road course lap times the system has enough accuracy for at minimum a half second comparison to actually matter. Although for 0-60, 0-100, and 1/4 miles times which measurements often start in the hundredths (0.01) of a second, a resolution of at least 100Hz is needed.
Important Split-Screen Facts:
The PDR uses a different start/finish ling. I have aligned the videos based on end on pit exit.
The sound had slightly been shifted left & right respected of the slip-screen, so it is best to enjoy with headphones.
Observations on Z06 vs ZR1:
The Z06 is much smoother and flatter throughout the entire course. (Due to the new pavement)
Z06 mid-corner speed is roughly 2-5MPH faster throughout the lap
Z06 enters the uphill essex @ 145+ which is race car fast, and only looses about 15MPH at the top. Mind you this is with street tries
Top speed on the back straight hit a wall early and held for about a second. My guess more speed could be attained with less downforce or different gearing
I think the infield of the Grand Course (01:30-02:25) really shows how much mechanical & aero grip this car has in stock form.
My educated guess is this car will run 1:50 lap times on the Full Course with a strong driver.
So I subscribe to Car & Driver through next issue and was excited this year when I saw them post all of their Lightning Lap Video. I'm a track rat in the making and I really enjoy studying track videos, but I was very disappointed when I saw the wide range of driving ability among the journalist. On some of the videos the lines are just bad and the gear selection was just wrong. So with that in mind I personally don't put any faith in the Lightning Lap times as a measurement of what said vehicle can accomplish, but I do believe it is a fair indicator of what an average driver could achieve given the opportunity.
Observations on Z06 vs 918:
First I believe the 918 can shave at least 5 seconds off the lap time with a really aggressive factory drive that doesn't have to worry about crashing the $1 Million Loaner.
I saw that both Z/28 & 918 read lateral loads of 1.16g so I wonder if that was the actual number or if that is the upper limit of their tools.
With that being said the Z06 was consistently hitting 1.25 with is as good or potentially better than the 918.
At some point the 918 hit 170 MPHs which is crazy fast at VIR particularly considering this configuration has a shorter Back Straight. Note: I'm assuming that number was achieved on the Back Straight.
The Z06 is able to keep up with and achieve a better lap time when the next closest competitor is 6 seconds behind.
All I can say is that its amazing that a Front Engine Rear-Drive vehicle can be even in the same sentence as a Mid Engine All Wheel Drive Hybrid Hyper car.
03-23-2014, 05:12 PM
Because of all the driving last year (24.5k miles) funds would only allow 1 HPDE but afterwards I knew that I had started down the slippery slope and the bottom was no where in sight. 
And I can honestly say attending a Chin event is an experience unto itself. Their slogan of ... "More Track Time.." was not a just some words on the website, even with us missing half of the first day due to bad weather I ended up being on track roughly about ~5 hours and turning over 50+ laps. 
By the time I got home my wife was asked, "If I had fun, and was it worth it?" I told her to ask me Friday because I was completely beat. 
In retrospect I was wasn't too far off because it took my brain and body about 3 days to really digest everything that took place. So here my recap of the event to those interested and still reading...
but to my surprise I learned that there had been a serious ice/snow storm Thursday night which left the facility covered in snow. 
I knew it meant that getting on the track tomorrow morning was out of the question 
but honestly it didn't bother me because the track was beautiful. And since I signed up for an adventure it appeared that it was going to happen one way or another. The staff at VIR didn't flinch though and worked their butts off to have the lodges ready and the roads "clear enough" so people could at least try and bring in their trailers. By sunset the paddock was a winter wonderland of floating ice and standing water but I was like a kid watching all the serious track guys braving the bad conditions and parking 20+ foot trailers at dusk. No matter what happened tomorrow I knew I would be at home among friends. 
Most attribute this to the sections that have been widened but I would argue that those parts of the track are only mildly faster. I personally believe most of the ~2secs is because the track surface is uniform and there aren't as many dips and road camber changes to upset the car. 
'Merca for the Win 
