AO

What an AWESOME track.

Yesterday, Dave K (davek9) and I joined the 3BallsRacing group for their track day at Mid-Ohio, arguably one of the premier tracks in the Great Lakes region. It has history, it has speed, and oh so much fun!

Mid-Ohio is a 2.4 mile Road course with 12 to 14 turns depending on which course you run. We were running the "Club Course" which includes a chicane between Turn 1 and 4 (Keyhole).

Unfortunately it's about a 3+ hour drive from my house (closer to 4 for Dave). There really isn't anything nearby, so we both opted to wake up really early and drive down yesterday morning. The weather was perfect. Mostly sunny, a gentle breeze, and temps in the upper 70's to low 80's.

Here I am the day before ready to go.



#BallRacing is a great group of guys. They are not wicked strict on tech inspections and basically presume you know what you're doing and will take personal responsibility. Let's just say, they you had better have 5-6 DE days under your belt before going out with these guys.

Driver's meeting was at 7:15AM. First laps were at 8AM.

Here we are after unloading.



Dave scored himself an instructor as this was his first time at Mid-O. We fist went out witht he instructor and got a little familiar witht he track. We were in the 3rd run group and when we went out, I could tell Dave was a bit overwhelmed with the new track, but you could see that with each lap, as he learned the turns and the line, he was getting better and better.

For me, it was all about gaining confidence in how far I could push the car. I still have a lot more to go. Last year, my best lap was 1:55. This year I managed to get into the 1:50's. I know there is probably another 5 seconds there.

To re-famialrize yourself with the track layout, here is a map. I spun last year at Turn 1 and it made me keenly aware there is a wall there. Healthy respect was paid to it this year. Turn 7 (aka China Beach) was also an area I was probably scrubbing too much speed, but the alternative was potentially really bad, so more respect was paid.



I was pulling in excess of 1'g consistently through a number of turns, but there were others where I felt I could carry more speed and maybe change the line slightly to scrub less. Here is a chart showing G's. THe red areas are greater than 1.0 G's.



Throughout the day, I was hittin 1.52, sometime with traffic, sometimes without. On my last session, I decided to push a little harder through Keyhole (turn 4), China Beach, and the Carousel (Turn 14). It worked. I hit a couple of 1:50's.

Here's a video of my last session for the day.


Finally, I was doing some bench racing with a guy in an S2000. His best for the day was a 1:48. When I look at the data, however, it's clear. I'm losing him in the turns. I need to see if I can carry more speed in and out of the turns. I have way more power in the straights, so if I can get my turns better, I should be able to get a few more seconds off the clock.

Here's the data.



Finally, here is a video of the S200- lap for reference.


Some other action shots.

Here is the main straight.



And here are a couple shots of "China Beach!"

mark kibort

nice! sounds fun.. what is the power again out of the new engine? tire sizes and type.

nice work!

definitely one of the top race tracks in the country.... one i want to visit.. along with road Atlanta!

mark kibort

Just checked it out. Such a great track , right?
You might want to downshift for the majority of those turns , unless you are in engine protection mod still.
the downshifts going into the turns, creates a lot more stability and control and of course, the exits give you 50 to 100 more hp in most cases.
I think if you do that alone, 1:46s are definitely in the cards for you . are you on DOTs or pure street tires. your budddy in the S2000 was on street tires for sure. i remember those lapping days on street tires. the noise would make me laugh while i drove!

Mark Anderson

Mid Ohio was a tough one for me to lean quickly but good memories. I may have some in car video I can dig up if you think it might help. It looks like I was turning 1:40 there on DOT's but more hp

AO

Thanks Mark. I was running new DOTs (Nitto NT-01). Engine is a stock AFAIK. I was thinking the same thing. Downshifting through some of the turns would really help. But I think even beyond that is not taking too much speed off in the first place. Just need more seat time.

To be fair... (that's internet for why I think you're wrong) You were running the race course, where I was running the "Club Course" That has to be worth a couple seconds. 1:40 is booking! There were a couple of stock cars there running 1:43's. Most of the Corvettes were running 1:45's - except the slow one on my run group. They were really slow.

mark kibort

I think if you get the RPM up and think more , WOT or full brake, during the lap, you will find a lot of time.

as far as Mid ohio goes... yes, Mark anderson was running the race course, but the only difference is the chicane after turn 1. its worth a couple of secs, but he was on (280 treadwear)street tires (they are 4-5 seconds slower). the mustang i beat that following year and she ran 1:37 on DOTs Mark would have easily beaten her, in the 1:34 range if i was going to guess on that race course.

Looks like you had a good time and the best part , its all in one piece and ready to run again! What oil are you using??

AO

Amsoil, but I also have an Accusump.

Gary Knox

Andrew,

Nice driving. I remember Mid-O well. One of my first days there I spun on madness, going agricultural in the grass on the left hand side of the track! A really nice track for the 928, but two I thought were better are: Watkins Glen and Virginia International. Both of them have uphill stretches where the torque (some say horsepower) of the 928 really pays off.

Keep up the good work. Glad there are still guys out there campaigning a 928 to show the 911 guys that it can perform like a 'real sports car'!!

davek9

My first time on a track more suited for our cars as I've only been running Waterford's 1.5 mi track and never get out of second (Auto).

Mid O I was in third on the long straight and Second everywhere else, on the long straight that "kink" is really negligible and I'm flat out through it and standing on the brakes at the end to avoid China Beach

I'm running Ken's S300's, Ott x, no cats stock resonators and RMB, AO is also running Ken's chips with headers and custom exhaust.
I'm also on Street Tires BFG G-Force 275 Rear and 225 up front, AO I believe is running 275's up front and 305(?) in the rear.

It took me all morning to find my line and some parade laps w/ Andrew at lunch then I was good, but no way could I keep up in the turns with my Street tires/ suspension setup (camber/shocks) and the Hawk HP street pads.
In short of building a dedicated Track car I'm thinking I would need to go to at least a 295 / 245 combo w/ a track camber and more aggressive track Pads.

What I found if I push my tires they don't last long before becoming "greasy" then I'm done, Andrew and I marked the Tire Triangles w/ a grease pen and I was able to dial in the air pressure at 35 PSI and was right on, in the morning I was over inflated.

All in all I was very happy driving to my limits, learning the track and running flat out on the long straight
Here's some Pic's of the day.

john gill

THanks for sharing , I am taking my newly finished racecar for its first ever race (including mine) to Queensland Raceway for the 3 day s of thunder event. at the weekend
Will be on a steep learning curve in amongst all the other drivers for a change , should be great fun.

mark kibort

that's a smart move .

It sure does a good job at the track, and much faster of the class of cars its same decade for sure!
as far as "T" ... "some" say T, but they really mean rear wheel T at any speed, which IS synonymous with "power" by definition.