soulsea

So after losing my virginity a few weeks ago (https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...n-no-more.html), I was back at it earlier today at Roebling Rd with Hooked On Driving. Great bunch of people by the way, well organized, quality instructors, will definitely run with them again.

Some data:

- It was a nice mostly overcast day in the mid 80s and the car never overheated despite being pushed a lot harder than my first time out. I did swap to an 80/20 water/coolant mix (one of snorman's many helpful tips) and 12oz of Purple Ice so I’m sure that helped a little.

- I was more ambitious with my drive settings. Started out in track dry and ran most of the day in track sport 1.

- I had rotated the tires from side to side since my last time at the same track.

- Had track alignment done but limited to -1.5 camber cause that’s as far as it’ll go lowered on stock bolts.

- Had the differential fluid changed since my first time on track but ran the same M1 oil.

The Good:

I had a real blast today. It was a little frustrating because although there were only about 14/15 cars in my novice run group, most of them were really novices, and many of them were understandably driving slow and scared in cars that weren’t that fast or track worthy to begin with. That made clean fast laps very difficult to come by as you will see in the video. That said, although my best lap recorded lap time was only a second faster than my first time out (1.25ish), I felt a very significant improvement from said first time out. I was able to push the car a lot harder, feel a lot more confident in my cornering speeds, more aggressive accelerating out of apexes, and was able to engage my peripheral vision so I could be aware of both my driving and my surroundings at the same time.

This may sound like a simple thing, but getting out of having tunnel vision of what’s ahead of you, narrowly focusing on your actions, and managing to incorporate your entire environment into the process is no small thing. I spent the first couple of sessions practicing spotting out of the corners of my eyes little things such as counting how many cars I could see two or three turns in front of me, spotting what color shirts the flag station marshals were wearing, and other small details without taking my main attention from driving. Until I got used to doing that it cost me a lot of good laps and even a couple of missed shifts, but I share it because I found it useful, and as it turns out my instructor was pretty impressed as well. It ended up being a short day for me for a reason I will explain below, but I guess I showed enough because they signed me off for solo intermediate driving. Not sure if that happens a lot after one or two track days but that made me really happy. I will still use an instructor every time I go to a new track but it is good validation that I am improving.

The almost death

That’s a little hyperbole. Nothing actually happened, I kept her on the road at all times and other than a little drifting of the rear end a couple of times for being a little too frisky with the throttle out of a couple of mid speed corners, nothing *** puckering ever took place. What did take place is that in the middle of my fourth session I noticed the dash giving me a tire pressure warning. It happened mid lap and thankfully I noticed it immediately and slowed down, because whatever I ran over took the pressure from full psi to almost 0 by the time I turned into the pits. If you don’t know Roebling RD, the last turn is a very high speed turn into the straight (90-100mph) … if I had taken it without knowing that I was about to go flat that would have gotten very ugly very fast. I think that's half the reason I got cleared to go solo is for being cognoscente of what was going on around me and avoiding a potentially very bad situation. So I guess I should have said ‘almost death but for my awesomeness’ …

The who’d have thunk it

So I’m sitting there with a flat driver's side rear tire, 120 miles from home, pondering my next move.

- Do I go to a parts store and get a plug kit?
- Do I use the GM tire inflation kit I had with me?
- Do I try to find a store the Friday afternoon before Memorial Day weekend to patch the tire from the inside and risk them failing and damaging my rim in the process?
- Do I risk it and try to baby her home even though that’s over twice the 50 mile recommended distance the run flats should be driven on?

Chose against the plug kit and the tire store. I considered using the tire inflation goo but as I was about to do it I saw that the max speed is 55mph with it, which is only 5mph more than the run flats can run at. So I said frak it and took a chance to limp her home on the run flat.

And she made it!!!

I didn’t make any friends on 95 going 55mph in a 70mph zone. Lawn mowers where laughing at me as they passed me pointing at the slow jackass in the Z06. And jokes aside, 140mph and gforce strong enough to de-wax your ears didn’t scare me one bit on track, but an 18 wheeler coming at me at 80mph when I’m going 55 is more than unsettling. Thankfully the interstate part was only 1/3 of the way and the rest was in a 60mph highway where I was ok coasting at 55. Admittedly the roads where I am are pretty straight and mostly well surfaced, but she never waivered, never felt like loosing the back end, the sidewall held up and protected the rim … in fact at speed on a straight you’d never know there was a flat tire. I can’t tell you how impressed I am with Michelin that they not only make an awesome SC2 tire but that it can get me 120 miles home when flat. That’s a great dual purpose tire. Like a supermodel who does **** and speaks little level great.

The weirdest and coolest part is that today of all days, is the day I received my wheel/tire package from weaponx, and they got delivered an hour after I got home. I had been waiting for these for so long and UPS drops them off on the exact same day my oe set becomes un-driveable until I can find a replacement set of tires. I’ll do a thread on the new rims tomorrow but I just can’t believe being so unlucky and lucky on the same life situation on the same day.

Aaaanyhoot … it was an eventful day.

——————————————————————

PS: If anyone is thinking about selling their SC2s I know a guy that might want them.

Oh and a video of one of early sessions … which is not that interesting because it’s just me practicing different stuff and communicating with my instructor:

Snorman

Great job!
Having fun and getting back home just like you left is what it's all about. Looks like you're getting hooked.
S.

keagan

Enjoyed reading that. Glad everything worked out ok and you had fun.

soulsea

Thanks S ... mostly for taking so much of your time to help me out, it means a great deal to me.

I was obviously a little frustrated at how it ended, especially sitting there not knowing if she was going to make it home. I was also disappointed because we had spent all the sessions learning different stuff all building up to me putting it together on the last session of the day (where there's always less traffic) and seeing what lap times I could get. So I wish I had the chance to see that play out.

But now that I'm home safe and looking back on the day I am really happy and satisfied. It's like walking away from the blackjack table being up ... I'm not going to bemoan how much more i could have made, just being grateful at the existing reward.

Thanks again bud.

----------------

Thank you keagan.

tail_lights

Greg Quillen

Nice.. i like sport 1.. might try sport 2 tomorrow.. just figure active handling would help rotate the car
sorry about the tire that sucks..
yeah i got annoyed with novice group because of that. I moved up in most groups but NASA had me in 1 till i ask to move up. . Then instructor was yeah yeah you definitely should not be in this group. .

C7_Z06

Very nice soul! Good reading.... and I also can't wait so there's always the next event. Have fun!

Poor-sha

Thanks for the report and the stress test on the RF. HOD puts on great events. Are you coming to their event at VIR next month? I'll be instructing at that.

soulsea

Thanks t_l, Greg, and C7.

---------------

Poor-sha, VIR is a little too far for me to schlep. And now I'm also weary of tracking far from home unless I trailer her there (which I've never done and would need to learn how to do). In fact I have an HPDE booked June 27th at Road Atlanta with MVP and I'm considering canceling it, because if this happens there I will be stuck. It'd be a shame tho because I was really looking forward to RA.

Greg Quillen

Get triple a. I got a tow from lime rock before

BobSWFL

Great writeup, interesting reading. Thank you. As you know, I love Roebling Road.

The topic of spatial awareness/peripheral vision is interesting. It is closely related to how much data your brain can process at any given moment. At a new track I always had horrible tunnel vision for the first day. As you found out, familiarity and practice make the picture get bigger and bigger until you see everything. Reminds me of Chuck Yeager and his incredible visual prowess in aerial dog fights.

Ultimately, I think best lap times come with your eyes focused waaay up ahead on the track, at least one turn ahead of the current corner. Then your peripheral vision is enough to get you through your current location, and you are already pre-processing the next sequence and trajectory.

As you said, Roebling's last turn before the straight has no margin for error. All the fiberglass on your car thanks you for checking the dash before you passed the pit entrance.

You definitely are ready for a faster run group.

This picture is from my last visit to Roebling. The track owner personally came over and told me it is NOT OK to practice NASCAR pit-exit burnouts at his track. Oops.

Snorman

There is a very ample runoff area in T9. You're better putting it into the grass than trying to save it and hitting the hot pit wall.
S.

Snorman

This is a great way of looking at it. There is always another day to go faster.
S.

BEZ06

How 'bout the Nat'l Corvette Museum HPDE at VIR June 29-30??

http://www.corvettemuseum.org/regist.../virinfo.shtml

Click on the "Event Registration" link to go to motorsportreg.com and you'll see registration ends at midnight on June 1st:

http://www.motorsportreg.com/events/...9#.VWCmX9HbL4i


It's a fantastic event with virtually all Corvettes and many forum members, and VIR is an outstanding track in a beautiful venue in the Virginia countryside. After the other tracks I run in the southeast (Daytona, Homestead, Sebring, PBIR, Roebling - all FLAT!), I LUV the elevation changes at VIR - up the climbing esses and down the rollercoaster!! We run the "full course" for 3.27 miles with more than 17 turns!!





Aww...c'mon!! The NCM VIR HPDE is one of the PREMIER events of every year!!! I do tow my car to events nowadays, but I've driven the Vette 1300 miles round trip from Daytona to VIR for a number of years. Hope to c'ya there!!

BTW Poor-sha, I just saw in the AutoX/Roadrace section where somebody posted that the NCM needs a few more instructors for the VIR event. Are you already signed up to instruct?? If not, can you make it?? I'll be there instructing.
.

bigblock427

Great story

Your Z is stunning.:smil iedrool:

thebishman

Soulsea glad you had fun and that you kept the rubber side down, even if one corner a little limp! lol

Btw, a great example of why, for me, the cost of installing the OEM TPMS sensors on a set of track wheels is always figured in to the total.

Bish

RC000E

SoulSea...this has been added to the Track Day log...please add any future track events you do to that thread with details as specified.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1588729433

Madsen

Your a good writer. Thanks for allowing us to see your progress.

dmaxx3500

find a ''goodyear tire store'',they have a patch/plug combo ,just for run-flats,with a warrenty