SCCA Track Night in America. Advice and recommendations please

[noldevin]

I finally got around to uploading that full session instead of just the end.
Unfortunately it's just a bunch of me and the cobra waiting for point-bys lol
But at least this one uploaded properly in HD
[video=youtube;qZJFzPuk-6c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZJFzPuk-6c[/video]

 

[DocB]

My friend and had planned on going to NJMP, but had to un-register.
FYI-No race cars allowed, only street cars at Track Night.
He has a Boss 302S and I run a FR500S.
I am somewhat disappointed, because I had planned on going to a few events throughout the year.

 

[noldevin]

My friend and had planned on going to NJMP, but had to un-register.
FYI-No race cars allowed, only street cars at Track Night.
He has a Boss 302S and I run a FR500S.
I am somewhat disappointed, because I had planned on going to a few events throughout the year.

Yeah track night is really supposed to be an amateur thing, guess they don't want racecars out there scaring people or running crazy fast lol. You should be able to use them in HPDE events though, right?

 

[SeikenFreak]

Yea no race cars

Probably just to leave room for all the new people so they can get their foot in the door and then do more full-day events? Or noise restrictions because its during the week?

Although, I tried to look up SCCA HPDE (I guess they call them PDXs?) as a Saturday/Sunday thing and I could not find any schedule or anything. NASA has like 2-3 events at NJMP in the year (one already passed I think) and TrackDaze doesn't have NJMP anymore.. Kinda sucks.

I'm still on for this coming Wednesday with my friend. Been stalking the weather on my phone and it went from meh to 80 and partly sunny (awesome) and now back to 70 and mostly cloudy.. with thunderstorms the day before so.. ugh I hope it clears up.

 

[SeikenFreak]

So the May 11th NJMP event is done. Rain started first session on track.

It was interesting but I'm not sure how much I learned that would apply in the dry? If I had turned traction control off, then I could see it helping with throttle control on exit but I wasn't risking that (although I pondered it toward the end). Didn't get track insurance this go around. It'll certainly teach you to be smooth with your transitions and stuff but I don't think I've had much of a problem with that in the dry.

I will say it made me not to fear the rain as much? Maybe because I didn't have an instructor in the car, the course layout, having driven the car on a dry track before, or various other possible reasons but I felt more relaxed and comfortable going at my own pace. I was able to experience and recognize understeer/ploughing though. May have been more obvious because I had tire pressures up higher than usual. I lowered the front pressures for the last session and I'm pretty sure I felt an increase in grip on the low speed turns.

Definitely would've preferred a beautiful, dry, warm day out though. Thunderbolt course is preeeetty fun. Friend's first time as well. He was in the silver BRZ you see pass me in the one video. By the last two sessions he was comfortable enough to go out ahead and move at his own i.e. quicker pace. A lot of people seemed to bail when it started pouring at the first or second session which may be why I had so much open track to do my own thing. Sounds like various people went off in our group but we never saw any of it (except for the overly aggressive, overzealous E46 M3 driver in the last session).

Next SCCA Track Night at NJMP is like end of June though so now we're debating where/what to do til then. Event at Pocono but ehhh. NASA event 2 days before the next Track Night.. hmm.

Here are the only two partial videos I got. Combination of friend, rain, and Novice briefings between every session messed with my camera routine so I got all outta whack, forgot microphone stuff, forgot to turn cameras off and had them record forever in the parking lot etc.

[video=youtube;SvCjw58VpdE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvCjw58VpdE[/video]

[video=youtube;VubV2_I9JvE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VubV2_I9JvE[/video]

Now I don't want to hear anymore Veterans' "Rain is the best.. should've stayed for the rain" talk!

Edit: Oh and isn't there a "Phoenix Racing" guy on here? Is their tire guy or something? They appeared to be running some testing when we showed up? Couple 911 race cars. I spotted a brand new, temp tagged GT350R in the garage?

 

[the5]

I saw your car there man looked real good!
I was the idiot in the Miata with the Top off, Had to test before 24 Hours of Lemons this past weekend.

I ran Poccono a couple Weeks ago, HATED it. I dont even consider it a real track. Hate the layout they ran.

 

[noldevin]

I saw your car there man looked real good!
I was the idiot in the Miata with the Top off, Had to test before 24 Hours of Lemons this past weekend.

I ran Poccono a couple Weeks ago, HATED it. I dont even consider it a real track. Hate the layout they ran.

Yeah it was kinda fun being able to hit the banked turn and the huge straights but tbh I like NJMP's tracks much better.

 

[SeikenFreak]

Another event down. This time with clear weather and new Toyo R888s!

The tires made all the difference. Was much more comfortable and confidence inspiring. Ended up turning the traction control off after the first session because it kept kicking in at weird times and acting up. Once it was turned off, everything was smooth.

Session 2 - Interesting thing here was this STI that was in front for a bit. It was the first car I'd been behind that was on a similar pace so I could actually get an idea of where I was slower or faster etc. He seemed to be driving in some kind of weird way.. Line was off or braking/accelerating weirdly etc. Seemed to be over driving the car. And at the 7:40 mark I think he almost went into the back of a GTO. Not sure what was going on with this car.

[video=youtube;C8UaRFKrmoo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8UaRFKrmoo[/video]

Session 3 - This run opened with my friend in front (Silver BRZ) so I could get some video of him. By the time the tires felt good to go though he had an issue or felt like I wanted to get by or something so I didn't get any good close up stuff. There is also the part where my left eye starts to well up out of no where and create a dangerous situation for a lap. I was dumb for not pulling in but it wasn't too bad until we got on the straight and were driving into the Sun for a bit. And then I think I had it cleared up by the end of the lap. I was practically blind for a minute there.

[video=youtube;2iPKJqXAH3U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iPKJqXAH3U[/video]

I guess the "fastest" lap of the day there was on that last lap. A 1:46 flat according to Harry's Lap Timer. Obviously room to improve but I'm curious how much. HLT has a couple neat charts/logs and I'd love to compare info with someone who has a similar car. 1.2 Gs was measured on that lap around that slower long left hander. What speed are you hitting on the straight because I still have that subtle vibration and I almost want to say the car doesn't want to go above 115 or something. Curious for any info though. How long do you give your R comp tires/brakes to warm up? It felt like everyone else just immediately flys out of the pits into hot laps.

I think I'd also like to put my 3.55s or some 3.73s in which should give me another 10mph or so? That way I can not be topping out 3rd and 4th in their respective sections.

 

[SeikenFreak]

Hmm. Might as well do a final post on this for the year.

The last 2016 Track Night event for NJMP was 8/31. I decided to bring out the Skyline to see how it would do.

[video=youtube;QUanDempV8A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUanDempV8A[/video]

It survived. I had wanted to update at least the brakes on it before going (when I cleaned them up and re-greased everything, I noticed the pads said Nissan on them so I assume they were OEM 1990 compound, along with the factory drilled rotors) because I was concerned they would fade/disintegrate/crack etc. I just went out and was overall quite cautious, at least at first, about the brakes and temps.

Nothing went wrong as far as I can tell. Factory oil temp gauge topped out at 130 C (260ish F) which is around what my Mustang does. Coolant gauge never moved (don't know if its a dummy one) Brakes didn't have much bite but the pedal remained firm and I don't think they faded. I was short shifting it sort of on purpose, mostly because these cars have a famous flaw with the oil pump/crankshaft. No idea if it'd fail but not worth the risk. Power felt fine at mid-range anyway.

Had a lot of fun in that second session with the S2000. The first half of the video had him kinda following me and then decided to let him go. He had a little trouble but there were spots where following him made me push a little more out of my comfort zone. By the end, I was almost going WOT around the final turn onto the straight. Also, small world, that S2000 was just at my dealership the week before and people were looking at it.

The Track Night events were pretty awesome. I think I did 4 or 5 in the last few months. Really looking forward to next year and starting the season early on. I've got a list of things I'd like to do, on either car, just have to decide which machine gets the goods. Both cars put down about a 1:45 min lap time.

Highly suggest anyone who hasn't done a road course yet and can should go out to at least one event and try it.