Instructor Clinic on Friday was very informative and helpful as always. After level 2, I feel like I am capable of instructing most students, not just the easier ones that I lucked out and got the first time. The drills were similar, but the classroom focused more on specific techniques to help out your students and to keep them “inside the box of prudent risk”.
Saturday and Sunday had me on a jam-packed schedule, between my 2 students and DE4 and Time Trials, I was on track for half of each day. Ended up 2nd both days in TTF behind Max Koff’s E30 again, but I was closer this time. I managed a 2:29.889 as my best overall time from the weekend. Max had a 2:25, but on a 3.27mi track (compared to the similar 4 second gap at 2.54mi Road Atlanta) the average speed difference is a lot closer. I am going to have to spend those last few mod points to catch him though; those cars just have way too much pull down the straights to make up for in testicular fortitude around the corners.
I also had an opportunity to meet some people from roadrace-autox.com and the (in)famous Greg Amy, who has been kicking ass in ITA recently with his Nissan NX2000. I had a chance to learn from this guy, talk about classing and specifically building a MK2 MR2 for the class, and so forth. He’s a really great guy. He hopped in the car with me for my last DE4 session of the day on Saturday to see if there were any pointers he could give me, and also to experience one of these cars at speed to see how they might work in ITA. The Verdict: Brakes are phenomenal compared to the rest of the class, torque is great, handling potential is way up there too, just need to get some horsepower out of the car up top and overall (around 145whp+ while maintaining or adding more torque should be enough to dominate the class). I can’t wait to be able to start ripping into the car to prepare it now! It was also pretty confidence inspiring to have someone that is that much of a hotshoe tell you you’re doing great and that they’re actually learning a few line tricks from you (and not the other way around!). I just need to be faster through South Bend (turn after the esses before Oak Tree) and Hogpen (17 & 17A), but most of that is traceable to “I need to drive this car to work on Monday”.
My students were great. I had an older gentleman in a supercharged Miata in DE2 that was quick, but timid in a few spots that we worked on through the weekend and he showed fantastic improvement by the end. He was a really fun guy to teach. My DE1 student was in a (surprise) 2nd generation MR2 NA in his first trackday with just a little bit of autocross experience prior. We both improved well over the weekend and except for a bobble in one corner that was just unlucky and caused us to back into the tires at 14A, he did great. Fantastic attitude learned and picked up on a lot of things, and after the incident still wanted to go back out and get his confidence back. The car was mostly ok, just a lot of black marks over the backend of the car and a small dent in the quarter panel. I really need to stop instructing MR2s at the lower levels though; I seem to be snake bitten or something like that…
This past Friday (April 6th) Doug, Devin and I went to Atlanta Dragway to do some testing for OneLap. The ride down there was relatively uneventful, we went through tech were Doug caught some grief for not having the proper switch for his battery relocation kit, we unloaded the car and I pulled into line for the first pass. First impressions of the car: holy complicated batman, there are a lot of dials and switches to get the thing into race gas tune mode, and holy FWD power batman as well. The first couple runs were a combination of wheelspin and wheelhop combined with missed 2nd and 4th gear shifts. We adjusted the clutch and did a few more passes; this time discovering the car was suffering from some sort of boost leak that we tired to track down, but were not able to. The end result was 13.9 @ 101 on 15psi, not the 24psi the car used to dyno at 385whp. I imagine at full bore, this thing will be quite the handful not only at the strip, but on track too. On the ride back I stretched out across the backseat and actually took a bit of a catnap. I think this trip won’t be so bad after all. Devin drove on the way home and we also “tested” the handling on a cloverleaf. Those Advan Neovas just plain stick, not only in acceleration, but also in turning. This car is a contender!
We are planning on some more testing on Thursday at Greer Dragway’s 1/8th mile before I leave for my next NASA-SE event at Rockingham this weekend. I should have a new post up after that event, I’m shooting to run 1:12s and see if I can hang with Max (if he is there) on a shorter, tighter track. Take care until next time!
