Thunderbolt Advanced day

[AMoore]

I had a great time at Thunderbolt for the Advanced day.  Wow what an experience.  First full event in white run group, no cones, and no guidance other than advice from fellow drivers regarding the line.  I really did enjoy the trial by fire and felt comfortable with my line by the end of the day.  Certainly, however, there is room to improve. 

A couple questions:

I did not find it necessary to brake for turn 2 or turn 3.  Turn 2 was uphill so I did not brake and really accellerated through this turn.  Maybe if I took turn 1 faster, I would need to brake for turn 2.   Turn 3 was faster.  I found that a little tap on the brake to settle the nose of the car might have allowed me to maintain speed, but make the turn easier.  I found if I apexed turn 4 early, I had plenty of room to track out and could maintain a lot of speed before the next slow left hander.

Any thoughts?

[Darren]

AMoore wrote:

I did not find it necessary to brake for turn 2 or turn 3. Turn 2 was uphill so I did not brake and really accellerated through this turn. Maybe if I took turn 1 faster, I would need to brake for turn 2. Turn 3 was faster. I found that a little tap on the brake to settle the nose of the car might have allowed me to maintain speed, but make the turn easier. I found if I apexed turn 4 early, I had plenty of room to track out and could maintain a lot of speed before the next slow left hander.

Any thoughts?

It depends on how much power you have. In my Integra I don't need to brake for either T2 or T3, but in the 911 I absolutely have to brake at both points.

T4 is the place where everyone loses time because it's decievingly fast. If you can early apex it and stay on track then you can also hit the right apex and just go faster

[John_Janick]

A short stab at the brakes in both of those corners for me too.  And agreed again on 4.  Earlier apex and a little more speed than you first expect always seem to work out well, if not a bit harily at first.

I still leave a lot on the table in 2 though...need more guts to jump on the gas sooner.  Take my opinion with a grain of salt though; best lap was a 1:38.4 with normal laps in the 1:39's. 

Anyone know the relative difference in lap times with and without the chicane after turn 2?

(Not that times matter, just use them to improve myself)...

[Darren]

For me, it's a best of 1:33.3 without the chicane, and 1:37.4 with.

[John_Janick]

Darren wrote:

For me, it's a best of 1:33.3 without the chicane, and 1:37.4 with.

I was guessing about 5 seconds, I'll take 4 though!

Thanks

[George3]

. . . . I'm having withdrawal symptoms.
I really missed not being there. . . .

[Wally]

You should

[pnolan]

I tried taking two without even feathering the brakes when I was feeling in the groove and ended up with two wheels over the gator at track out, so I went back to feathering them.

I'm in total agreement with Darren's reply on T-4 - if you can early apex it you can certainly hit the correct apex faster and have track out room and take the turn faster.

I worked all day at taking T-4 faster and was still leaving something on the table.

Glad you had a great day on your first full day in the White group.  From what I could see you we're doing great!

What a fun track and less than 2-hours away

[Darren]

T2 is definitely interesting, only second to the decreasing radius turn.  Both are very unusual turns that really challenge the driver.

My first event at Thunderbolt I was trail braking up to the apex at T2 -- instead of braking hard I was dragging the brake from the turn in point to the apex.

Yesterday though, I found that I could actually turn in before braking.  It's an advanced technique that doesn't work well in very many places -- but I was trying to see if I could do it there.  I also was doing it into the chicane when I ran that configuration.

The challenge is that you can carry way more speed to the apex than you can away from the apex (because you run out of track).  You also get a braking advantage by braking up the hill.  The alternative of straight-line braking, though much safer and of course how we instruct, leaves the driver in a neutral throttle position going up a hill.

[Brian Minkin]

My Saga of our advanced day.  2nd lap of familarization laps I noticed smoke behind my car at turn 3.  There is still water on the track so I am not sure if it is steam coming off the exhaust or smoke. 20 yards after turn 3 I decide it is smoke and look at oil pressure and its good. Smoke is getting thicker so I pull off line and put out my fist that I am going to pit in. By now I can smell that it is oil. Drove the rest of the way around the track and pitted in. Jump out of car in the paddock and there is oil pouring out and the back of the car is covered with oil. My day is done and I never even turned a hot lap.  To add insult to injury today I find out that it cost me $500 for 50 bags of oil dry to clean the track up. The damage is either a case stud or the cylinder on #4. Will Know more when the engine is torn down on Monday. Hope to have it back together in time for our 3 day event at thunderbolt.