Poor-sha

This was my first time on Summit Main since the repave last Fall. The track definitely has a lot more grip but today was not a great day weather wise. The high was around 40F, it was really windy, and overcast. I was running a set of Pirelli slick scrubs that I had run at VIR last Fall and left in an unheated garage all Winter so they were well past their prime.

Last September at this track my best was a 1:18.1. Today I had multiple laps in the 1:15s with a new personal best of 1:15.5. You can see me using 2nd gear in the lower part of the track which was new and I played with a number of different lines through T6-T9. I'll do another video with a full data analysis of the improvements. However, here's the session video. Skip to the 8:00 mark if you just want to see the fastest lap.

mallett435

Wow! Fantastic laps! Those are serious race car lap times. Your engine and brakes were probably loving the cold air. 14s on the horizon with the Zr1.

ckchan10

AzDave47

Very nice job. I noticed you carried more speed thru T5 on you best lap than on the others and did a good job carrying speed thru T10 on the last few laps, which helped on your speed at the end of the Main Straight. The C7Z turns great times at Summit when driven well as you do.

I have many laps from driving in a lot of 12 hr races at Summit. On your warmup lap, it reminded me of all the rain driving and where all the puddles and streams crossed. That may change with the repaving, but most of the corners look like they preserved most of the places that will puddle.

jbsblownc5

GREAT job, you can really see how you pull hard Gs on the braking as well as corners...

jvp

Chris paid close attention to that when he repaved the track last year. You can't tell from the car, but if you walk the track, you'll see that there's an immense amount of pavement layering put down. It actually raised the elevation of the track a couple of inches in some places. This served to both toughen the track but also to help with water management.

sammyv

Very smooth!!!

Newton06

Great driving, especially in those conditions!

Given your in PTM Sport 1 turning those times means very smooth driving.

I'm surprised you found that much grip given the cold temps.

Are you running Mike's track alignment specs?

maniac719

Nice work. My first race of the season is at Summit Point-Main this year. I've been running the simulator pretty hard, but its good to have a reference point on the new pavement with a similar car (I race a C5 T1 Corvette).

Looks very grippy, any place you had less grip than you thought out there? Any notes on the new surface that might be relevant?

mallett435

I noticed other hot laps you've done at SP using 4th gear through T10. I've always used 3rd gear coming out of T10 in my previous Z51 car. In this lap, I see you used 3rd gear. Curious if your Cosworth data shows 3rd gear is best for time out of 10 or minimal difference in gearing.

Bill Dearborn

Noticed there were some instances where you had to feather the throttle in the tight turns due to what I think was the back end stepping out. Have you been able to get any closer to what the OM says we should be able to do; Going WOT exiting a turn? The last time I was at VIR I still couldn't go wide open exiting the tighter turns in my car. I could hear PTM working but it couldn't manage power sufficiently for me to go wide open and let the car do the work.

Bill

shizon'00

Nice session! I talked to Jim (M4 GTS) and he said you were moving. I watched it and I was wondering what you were doing in the carousel there. Guess it'll be in the next Cosworth series

Poor-sha

Yup, I had DSC check and tweak the toe to their specs the car after I did the initial setup myself with the AMT camber blocks. I am running a bit more camber at -2.4F and -2.1R.

I stayed in Sport 1 because the temps we so cold that I just wanted the extra safety net.

Pretty much there's more grip everywhere but with as cold as it was it took a long time to get the tires up to temp. The initial look at the data seems to support this with generally 0.1G higher lateral everyplace I am pushing the car despite it being cold and on old tires.

T3 still had the hump mid-corner exit but the James Brown double bump at T9 apex is gone.

I'll do a deeper data dive on this but I do think it's faster. A lot of this is coming from my experience at VIR coming out of Oak Tree in 2nd. What I learned from the data there is that while your top end may not be different on the straight you have a period where that lower gear gets you to a higher speed more quickly and that translates in to lap time (say 90-120). The aero drag eventually catches up and you're roughly at the same speed at the end but the gain is there.

I was pretty well throttle steering the car in the carousel. I was stabbing at the gas to rotate the car and also to plus up a couple MPH which was worth a bit of time. Some laps the PTM would kick in after I turned back right but I can't do exactly what GM wants.

Yeah, great meeting Jim and checking out that M4 GTS. Super nice guy. He kept mentioning your first name and "white Corvette" but I didn't figure out who it was until he said your last name. You should come out as his guest - it would be really fun to have some competition. The McLaren, 991, AMG GT-R, and M4 GTS really weren't a match

Mark@AMT Motorsport

Nice driving! That is absurdly fast. The NASA ST1 Lap Record is a 1:17.1. Super Unlimited is 1:15.5 in a Superlite! Get a cage in that thing man! Would love to get back to Summit at some point. Been 5 years since I've been there and I've never been there with the Vette.