Ran with KYPCA this weekend at Putnam Park. First time at my home track with my new ARP Wing, Vented hood, ducting, and front splitter undertray with newly designed diffuser ramps for the wheels.
Results - new personal best lap of 1:19.1. I ran several laps in the low 1:19s on Friday. My previous PB was 1:19.7 and that was only once - I usually run in the low 1:21-1:22s with the occasional 1:20. All the aero mods don't work unless you use them to retrain your brain for the increased grip. What I mean by that is that I have perhaps 1000s of laps on this track and in order to increase my entry speeds I had to retrain myself.
I had been using my gas to help balance the car and keep the weight in the rear. Now with the wing, I can increase my turn in speeds and go neutral or trail brake to the apex and then get on the power at the apex or shortly there after. The hard part was retraining my brain to not brake where I was tapping the brakes.
On turn 2, it was simple a matter of saying to myself, "don't brake, don't brake, don't brake" as I approached the turn in spot. +4 mph at the apex.
On turn 4, the "don't brake" thing didn't work as I keep just tapping the brake before turn in. Looking at my dataloger, it's amazing how much speed you lose even when you barely tap the brake. So instead of going WOT all the way through 3, I would lift way early, coast and then turn into 4 without touching the brake. Then next lap I would hold the WOT a little more and coast less and still not touch the brake. I kept repeating it until I was WOT all the way through 3 and then a simple lift and then turn in. +6 mph at the apex.
On other spots I made a conscious effort to brake a little early and A LOT less and picked up a few mph here and there. And since my entry speeds were picking up, I tried to also pick up the gas as soon as I hit the apex.
Momentum, momentum, momentum!!! Looking at the datalogger, it's amazing how much faster you go if you lift early and coast vs even slightly tapping the brake.
I instruct for 5 different PCA clubs in the Midwest and 95% are good guys, I finally had a 997S guy (intermediate student) ask me in a snobbish tone "Your car is Japanese, why do you always run with all the Porsche clubs?" My response, "Well, because I guess I like passing Porsches."
Results - new personal best lap of 1:19.1. I ran several laps in the low 1:19s on Friday. My previous PB was 1:19.7 and that was only once - I usually run in the low 1:21-1:22s with the occasional 1:20. All the aero mods don't work unless you use them to retrain your brain for the increased grip. What I mean by that is that I have perhaps 1000s of laps on this track and in order to increase my entry speeds I had to retrain myself.
I had been using my gas to help balance the car and keep the weight in the rear. Now with the wing, I can increase my turn in speeds and go neutral or trail brake to the apex and then get on the power at the apex or shortly there after. The hard part was retraining my brain to not brake where I was tapping the brakes.
On turn 2, it was simple a matter of saying to myself, "don't brake, don't brake, don't brake" as I approached the turn in spot. +4 mph at the apex.
On turn 4, the "don't brake" thing didn't work as I keep just tapping the brake before turn in. Looking at my dataloger, it's amazing how much speed you lose even when you barely tap the brake. So instead of going WOT all the way through 3, I would lift way early, coast and then turn into 4 without touching the brake. Then next lap I would hold the WOT a little more and coast less and still not touch the brake. I kept repeating it until I was WOT all the way through 3 and then a simple lift and then turn in. +6 mph at the apex.
On other spots I made a conscious effort to brake a little early and A LOT less and picked up a few mph here and there. And since my entry speeds were picking up, I tried to also pick up the gas as soon as I hit the apex.
Momentum, momentum, momentum!!! Looking at the datalogger, it's amazing how much faster you go if you lift early and coast vs even slightly tapping the brake.
I instruct for 5 different PCA clubs in the Midwest and 95% are good guys, I finally had a 997S guy (intermediate student) ask me in a snobbish tone "Your car is Japanese, why do you always run with all the Porsche clubs?" My response, "Well, because I guess I like passing Porsches."
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