stock performance at the track

[Bill Lehman]

Bob, I'm finding this concept interesting but wondering why in your last reply you mentioned turns requiring 2 downshifts.  A turn that I think I'm slow mid-corner is the Lightbulb @ NJMP.  I'm red-lined in 3rd gear at entry and have scared myself occassionally early in the turn.  I seem to lose ground before the apex.  After apex I'm WOT in third, probably HP limited., and picking up 4th at about track-out.  Any thoughts on how to carry more mid corner speed here?

[bobt993]

Bill,  transitions from fronts straights usually see 2 to 3 down shifts.  Example at Tbolt,  I initially did 6th to 3rd for T1/T2.  I now am in 4th in T1,T2 , 5th in T4 down to 3rd to for T5 (sometimes 4th).   The tendancy is to overbrake, slowing the car to match gearing because when up a gear you find not enough grunt and your to low in RPMs leaving the corner.  When you manage to be up a gear and carry more speed everything improves,  higher rpms, more speed less ability to go WOT after the apex, instead you start feeding power as your already barely staying on the track . 

The best way to improve in the lightbulb is do nothing, but do one thing.   What this means is no down shift,  early braking, but use less input. Go first to a very neutral throttle and improve the speed to the apex.  Keep braking early and stop braking with less effort.  As the speed increases  you may need just roll the car into the corner (car should have slight oversteer on entry to do this).  You can do this by setting the front sway bar on notch more loose.  I find the biggest problem is having to fast a set on the front end which causes understeer and "push".   What makes this dangerous is the tendacy to go snap oversteer on exit, thus the cars that spin on exit are typically setup poorly.  

Lightbulb is actually difficult to experiment with because it is a long corner, very high speed with consequences.   The best corners to learn the advanced techniques on are where the 2 gear changes slow down the entry enough to let you experience the improved g-loads before the apex and through the midcorner.