I just got back from a weekend at Thunderhill Raceway north of San Francisco. We ran the new "West" 2-mile track, not the original 3-mile track that some here may be familiar with. It is a tight, technical track with short straights (most of them not really straight).
I ran the car in back-to-back 20 minute sessions with my brother (car on track for 40 minutes at a time). Saturday was 95 degs, Sunday was >100 Degs.
Neither of us had run this track configuration before, so the morning of the first day was spent learning the line and playing with the car. Tip #1 : the Conti's want to be around 30-32 HOT psi, requiring a starting morning cold pressure of about 23PSI. Tip #2 : the ceramic brakes need a 1/2 lap to come up to operating temperature and the bite and feel REALLY changes from cold to hot-- be careful on your "out lap." Tip #3 : car burns one gallon of gas for every five minutes on track (8 gallons after two 20 minutes sessions, but was only 5.1 gallons per two sessions in our morning sessions before we started hammering it). YMMV :biggrin:
I was running in the "Fast Advanced" group even though I was new to track and car-- some very fast race prepped cars and good drivers, but not a lot of high-priced latest and greatest. Anyone with track experience knows that a good driver in a Spec Miata can spank any newbie, and some "not-so-spec" Miatas, Lotuses (Loti?), Evos, old Vettes, etc. are a tough crowd to keep up with.
After a couple of sessions in Sport+ mode for an extra margin of safety, we ran the rest of the weekend in Track mode. Track mode seems to make a big difference in responsiveness and permissiveness of the nannies (which never really kicked in unless I made a mistake). Track mode keeps the revs insanely high and keeps the battery fully charged. At end of short straight (terminal speeds of only about 100 mph), battery was typically around 60-75%, and was full again before getting to full throttle at exit of next turn. It will be interesting to see how the battery performs at tracks with longer straights with terminal speeds of 140+ (it seems like it would be OK). Overheating was never an issue-- although at end of afternoon today (when it was REALLY hot), we both felt the car was a bit down on power. Since my iPhone/laptimer went into thermal protect mode (!), I have no data to confirm or refute this.
Car seemed very neutral at turn in, and (once you pick up the pace) is very easy to throttle steer / rotate. I tried to see if I could "feel" the TQ vectoring. Honestly, in faster turns, I didn't notice anything-- the car just seemed "lighter" and more eager to turn in than I expected. Someone asked about understeer. I don't think it is an issue. Easily addressed with the throttle. But I'm not at 10/10ths of the limit.
In a few slower corners where it was safe to play, I intentionally got on the power very early for throttle-induced oversteer. Here's where the AWD really shined (or, at least was VERY noticeable to me). As the back end rotated around the apex, the front wheels pulled the car around and kept it more or less pointed in right direction, all at WOT. Very cool. Here's where, even in Track mode, the nannies kicked in a bit if the back end swung around too much. I can see where a really good driver would want a bit more freedom to rotate the car and would turn everything off. I probably would have spun a few times trying to get it just right, so I'm a happy camper. A few RWD cars spun out in front of me in one particular turn trying to keep ahead of me, so I was happy to have the AWD edge.
Power delivery is SUPER smooth, shifts are instant, and car picks up speed deceptively fast. We leaned on the brakes HARD and never had any hint of fade or problems. Are we *sure* there is no "physical connection" between brake pedal and brakes? Seems pretty conventional feeling to me.
So, how fast is it? Kind of hard to say. I've never run another car on this configuration, so I can't directly say that I am faster/slower in NSX versus car XYZ. I did a 1:30 fastest lap yesterday. I felt faster today, but iPhone overheated so I have no data. I was keeping up or passing most of the other "Fast Advanced" drivers, but of course this is wide mix of cars and drivers. The best evidence I have is that there was a guy there today in a Z06 on Cup2s that I was at a different track with last week when I was also in my Z06. He was faster than me last week (although he was on Cup2s and I was on SuperSports then). Today (me on Contis in NSX, him on Cup2s), I was able to keep up with him and even passed him once. What does it mean? I think most would agree that a C7Z06 should be faster than the NSX around any track in pro hands. And yet, in my non-pro hands, I seem to be about the same speed in the C7Z06 and the NSX.
Bottom line is the NSX performed like a champ, is a blast to drive and inspires confidence in mere mortals. If you get one, please track it at least once.
I ordered photos from the photographer at the event and will post here when I get.
One more thing: Owner's manual says to remove the tire patch goop and air pump, which I did. You should ALSO remove the black styrofoam mold where that stuff (and tow hook) are stored and also the "tweezers" for removing the lug nut caps. It all melted / deformed. I think you could easily cook a TV dinner back there.
I ran the car in back-to-back 20 minute sessions with my brother (car on track for 40 minutes at a time). Saturday was 95 degs, Sunday was >100 Degs.
Neither of us had run this track configuration before, so the morning of the first day was spent learning the line and playing with the car. Tip #1 : the Conti's want to be around 30-32 HOT psi, requiring a starting morning cold pressure of about 23PSI. Tip #2 : the ceramic brakes need a 1/2 lap to come up to operating temperature and the bite and feel REALLY changes from cold to hot-- be careful on your "out lap." Tip #3 : car burns one gallon of gas for every five minutes on track (8 gallons after two 20 minutes sessions, but was only 5.1 gallons per two sessions in our morning sessions before we started hammering it). YMMV :biggrin:
I was running in the "Fast Advanced" group even though I was new to track and car-- some very fast race prepped cars and good drivers, but not a lot of high-priced latest and greatest. Anyone with track experience knows that a good driver in a Spec Miata can spank any newbie, and some "not-so-spec" Miatas, Lotuses (Loti?), Evos, old Vettes, etc. are a tough crowd to keep up with.
After a couple of sessions in Sport+ mode for an extra margin of safety, we ran the rest of the weekend in Track mode. Track mode seems to make a big difference in responsiveness and permissiveness of the nannies (which never really kicked in unless I made a mistake). Track mode keeps the revs insanely high and keeps the battery fully charged. At end of short straight (terminal speeds of only about 100 mph), battery was typically around 60-75%, and was full again before getting to full throttle at exit of next turn. It will be interesting to see how the battery performs at tracks with longer straights with terminal speeds of 140+ (it seems like it would be OK). Overheating was never an issue-- although at end of afternoon today (when it was REALLY hot), we both felt the car was a bit down on power. Since my iPhone/laptimer went into thermal protect mode (!), I have no data to confirm or refute this.
Car seemed very neutral at turn in, and (once you pick up the pace) is very easy to throttle steer / rotate. I tried to see if I could "feel" the TQ vectoring. Honestly, in faster turns, I didn't notice anything-- the car just seemed "lighter" and more eager to turn in than I expected. Someone asked about understeer. I don't think it is an issue. Easily addressed with the throttle. But I'm not at 10/10ths of the limit.
In a few slower corners where it was safe to play, I intentionally got on the power very early for throttle-induced oversteer. Here's where the AWD really shined (or, at least was VERY noticeable to me). As the back end rotated around the apex, the front wheels pulled the car around and kept it more or less pointed in right direction, all at WOT. Very cool. Here's where, even in Track mode, the nannies kicked in a bit if the back end swung around too much. I can see where a really good driver would want a bit more freedom to rotate the car and would turn everything off. I probably would have spun a few times trying to get it just right, so I'm a happy camper. A few RWD cars spun out in front of me in one particular turn trying to keep ahead of me, so I was happy to have the AWD edge.
Power delivery is SUPER smooth, shifts are instant, and car picks up speed deceptively fast. We leaned on the brakes HARD and never had any hint of fade or problems. Are we *sure* there is no "physical connection" between brake pedal and brakes? Seems pretty conventional feeling to me.
So, how fast is it? Kind of hard to say. I've never run another car on this configuration, so I can't directly say that I am faster/slower in NSX versus car XYZ. I did a 1:30 fastest lap yesterday. I felt faster today, but iPhone overheated so I have no data. I was keeping up or passing most of the other "Fast Advanced" drivers, but of course this is wide mix of cars and drivers. The best evidence I have is that there was a guy there today in a Z06 on Cup2s that I was at a different track with last week when I was also in my Z06. He was faster than me last week (although he was on Cup2s and I was on SuperSports then). Today (me on Contis in NSX, him on Cup2s), I was able to keep up with him and even passed him once. What does it mean? I think most would agree that a C7Z06 should be faster than the NSX around any track in pro hands. And yet, in my non-pro hands, I seem to be about the same speed in the C7Z06 and the NSX.
Bottom line is the NSX performed like a champ, is a blast to drive and inspires confidence in mere mortals. If you get one, please track it at least once.
I ordered photos from the photographer at the event and will post here when I get.
One more thing: Owner's manual says to remove the tire patch goop and air pump, which I did. You should ALSO remove the black styrofoam mold where that stuff (and tow hook) are stored and also the "tweezers" for removing the lug nut caps. It all melted / deformed. I think you could easily cook a TV dinner back there.
Going to Sonoma in two weeks wit the NSX and Z06 and a friend who is a very fast racer. We will drive head to head, swapping cars. I have not driven at Sonoma much (or recently) and am allergic to concrete walls, but my friend should generate data on capability of car and I will generate data on same (intermediate) driver back to back in different cars. At least, that's the plan. If I can figure out how to get the overlay data to sync with video in Harrys Latimer, I will have some video from there. I have video from Thunderhill but the data is so out of sync as to be distracting / unhelpful. Maybe I'll upload a lap of raw video just for kicks.
