NJMP Thunderbolt (Schattenbaum), March 20-21st

[CarreraS]

Really had a GREAT time this weekend. Awesome weather, fantastic people, even an appearance by Mr. President himself.

Lainey, even though the starter always put my line out second, I hope I made up some time once I was on the track.

Lunch tip: If you're hungry for something different....Southwestern Moe's close to Rte 55 and only 7 or 8 minutes from the track was pretty good.

[JimWirt]

David nice to meet you. I'll second Moe's it was good. NIck thanks for driving my car and the tips for driving a rear engine car.

[ninjabones]

Nice to finally meet you, Nick and Jim... dinner was fun. 

I have to agree that the schedule was excellent; the four run group format allowed for 5 run sessions each day. Tons of track time... awesome weather... no RTR incidents. Couldn't ask for more. 

Several RTR folks in attendance, including six of us testing/tuning dramatically new setups (George B in the ReidSpeed Evo, Bob T in the newly wide-bodied and soon-to-be GTS3-dominating 993, Darren M in the Mad Max 996, Jeff C sporting new JRZs in his 993, Dan Y in the Dawe-ized regeared and ear piercing bionic 911, and of course my basically "stock" 993 aka Precious). 

[bobt993]

Glen,

Sorry I was so wrapped up in finishing the car and working with my student.  I would have enjoyed catching up to you guys more.  Car ran really well considering we did a quick alignment in the middle of the big garage.  Data shows 31s with the chicane which translate to high 28s on the normal course, so I am pretty pleased.   I ran last years tires and not the new fat ones: 275/315s.  

I was awarded a black flag running in Red with passing everywhere with a point by.  I think the explanation was "too aggressive"  :X.   If there is anyone in that group that felt that way then accept my apology as it was not intentional.

[AMoore]

ninjabones wrote:

and of course my basically "stock" 993 aka Precious).

Yeah, I'm pretty sure "stock" doesn't just mean lack of engine modifications. Lets see. . . suspension, tires, wheels, exhaust, seats, harnesses, cage, (intake?), not to mention the excess weight that has been removed. I'd say your car is well sorted.

I will actually be going back to running stock this season as I am too poor to add mods at this time, street tires and all. Should be an experience. No doubt I'll be flying around the cockpit as my stock seats offer little lateral support.

[betegh9]

Consumables on the ZO6 may even be over the budget.hock:........even stock.

[Lainey]

Dave, you more than made up for it on track.... so fun playing cat and mouse with you and our friend Jim with the other Cayman S (stealthy dude that he was)....

Till next time....

[ninjabones]

AMoore wrote:

ninjabones wrote:

and of course my basically "stock" 993 aka Precious).

Yeah, I'm pretty sure "stock" doesn't just mean lack of engine modifications. Lets see. . . suspension, tires, wheels, exhaust, seats, harnesses, cage, (intake?), not to mention the excess weight that has been removed. I'd say your car is well sorted.

I will actually be going back to running stock this season as I am too poor to add mods at this time, street tires and all. Should be an experience. No doubt I'll be flying around the cockpit as my stock seats offer little lateral support.

Yeah, "stock" was intended as a joke... but PCA still uses the term and my car does meet PCA "G stock" class specs. My car is heavy as a bear though... I'm running with close to 200 lbs of ballast. No sense in practicing with a different set-up than I'm going to race, so I'm leaving the ballast in for DEs this season (3170 lbs with driver, ballast and 1/8 tank).

The car handled great this weekend. It certainly was a handful early on as we adjusted the suspension. We chased after scary corner entry oversteer during the first session, which we were able to correct by stiffening the front sway, then adding two clicks of rebound to the rears, then adding one click of front end low speed, then tightening the front sway once more. The car then seamed to be pretty hooked up on the fast turns, but then suffered from entry push only on the slow turns (#1 and in the long left-hander in the carusel).

At that point, tire temps were near perfect in the rear, but showed that we needed a bit more camber up front. My camber plates are maxed out, and as per the stock class rules, I can't alter the mounting points, so we lowered the front of the car two full turns. That really seamed to solve the low speed corner issues (and I surprisingly didn't really appreciate any bump steer problems). Each correction seamed to take about 1/2 second off my times.

I learned a boatload this weekend and can't wait to put the car to the test this season. By Sunday afternoon, I turned a 1:34.6 (with the chicane), which hopefully will translate to mid 1:32s on the standard track configuration in PCA G-class trim/weight. I'm wondering how much time I'll gain by dropping the 200 lbs in ballast, removing the passenger seat, and finding some other creative ways to lose weight to run in NASA GTS3 (Lightning race next month). Hopefully I'll be knocking at the door of 1:31 by then. Bob T's ghetto widebody and the class leaders (Eric Wong, etc) will be out of reach, but yonkity yonks and I might have some nice battles. We'll see.

bobt993 wrote:

Glen,

Sorry I was so wrapped up in finishing the car and working with my student. I would have enjoyed catching up to you guys more. Car ran really well considering we did a quick alignment in the middle of the big garage. Data shows 31s with the chicane which translate to high 28s on the normal course, so I am pretty pleased. I ran last years tires and not the new fat ones: 275/315s.

I was awarded a black flag running in Red with passing everywhere with a point by. I think the explanation was "too aggressive" :X. If there is anyone in that group that felt that way then accept my apology as it was not intentional.

No worries Bob... you definitely had your hands full this weekend. Can't believe you and Larry were able to pull it off in such a short time. Yonks shot me one of his data files from Sunday afternoon. If you're willing, email me a copy of one of your runs with the chicane. Steering angle sure turned out to be helpful with the suspension tuning. overlaying lateral G with steering gave a very clear picture of how each change affected oversteer/understeer and in which portion of the corner.

[bobt993]

A couple of picts from the two great days.

[bobt993]

Define "ghetto".........