Flying Finn

This past weekend at Sebring I was feeling good with my new tyres (Kumho 710s) & fresh alignment and on the second session broke the 2:30 mark which was my goal.

First time I did it I was pretty psyched end even though my driving wasn't perfect when I looked at the lap timer, I changed my mind and realized how "perfect' in a way it actually was!

chris walrod

Petu, how apropos! A 993 lap. Congrats! Sebring is a place that I would love to drive someday, even if its in a rental car

DJF1

Damn, that is pretty darn fast lap Petu! I think my fastest lap was a 2.34 on a practice session on MPSC's but I had a ton of understeer to fight. You should get into club racing for sure, this time is a front running time in D and C, but you would have to add weight back. The good news is that if the new proposed rules pass, then the 95 993 is going to weigh 3020 lbs instead of the 3064. The weight will slow you down a tick, but in your case I dont think by much! LOL!
How do you like the Kumho's???? How do they look like after all the sessions?

Chris , if you drive Sebring, its like a DRUG! LOL Especially turn 1! It scares the heck out of me and its a leap of faith to take it fast , but its what a rush!

Mark in Baltimore

That's a good time, Petu! I love that track.

Is your hot lap velcroed? I'm surprised Turn 17 doesn't shake it loose.

Flying Finn

Chris,

You need to get your *** down here during winter. Sebring is friggin' awesome!

Thanks Danny, I'm certainly thinking of adding weight back (and club racing). Especially in front, even now I was faster with full tank than with empty tank.

That weight drop proposal is good and IMO should be done but what the hell is this?: "Add 200 lbs to stock class weights to include driver and weigh cars with drivers"
200 lbs? That means I'd have to add 20-30 lbs more than i.e. you my friend?

I liked Kumhos a lot, here's my description from Racing Forum:

"I liked the Kumhos. First time with them and only other tyres I've ever run are those 17" MPSCs. I also changed my alignment at the same time (last alignment was 3+ years ago...) so I can't say how they would compare to Hoosiers and even comparing to MPSCs is somewhat pointless since these are wider and the lignment is different.

But on their own, Kumho's were very predictable, when I was getting over the limit, my car was just basically on a 4 wheel drift (rather than over or understeering) although I could get it either over or understeer if I wanted to. Losing the grip was not sudded and very predictable and easy to recognize so. Little unstable on braking and also little squirly when changing direction but I think that's more due to alignment than tyres. And neither of those was not something I wasn't expecting (IMO normal stuff when you are getting closer and closer to the limit).
Second day, last session I was getting more understeer I wanted but that was probably because of the lightness in front because the gas tank was almost empty, I certainly hope it wasn't because they already were losing the grip but based on what you've heard, maybe that was the case (every clear lap was 2.30s so the times were not dropping but I felt I could've gone at least 1 sec. faster if I had more grip in front, probably it was more my fault than anything else since I could've just changed the way I entered the corners a bit).
I only drove 6 30 min. sessions and on most of them there was traffic so I probably only had less than 10 clear laps where I could push hard the whole lap.
On my way I up to Sebring at some point it was pouring down (really hard!) and these certainly don't make a fun rain tyre (doh!), on a new smooth asphalt I had to drive about 30 mph and car wanted to go all over the place!

Overall so far, very pleased with them. Will know about longevity better after next couple of days."

Mark,

Thanks. Yes, it's velcroed and even though it didn't come loose, it did move a lot!

DJF1

Its tailor made for me

On the weight issue here is a short story from my end. At the TWS club race in 03, I was running on 17" MPSC's and the car was understeering like a dog. I could not get below 2.06 for the life of me. On the day of the race, in the first morning practice session in the DAMP conditions the car felt much better and I turned a 2.04!! 2 seconds faster in the damp conditions on a ful tank of gas!!! I was confident I will drop down to a 2.02 and below so as conditions would dry... What I forgot was that the previous night when I left the car on the track I loaded the trunk with my race jack and the rest of the tools, about 60lbs of extra weight... After the session when I realized what happened, I took out everything from the trunk and on the next session I was back down to 2.06 and the ugly understeer had promptly returned....

pedsurg

Finn: I told you you were flying!! Great time Good to see you again.
Jack

Flying Finn

Danny,

I know you're behind that proposal!
I remember that extra weight story, I'll try and add weight in front since I didn't have spare in trunk etc. so fairly easily I should be able to add som pounds in there.

Thanks Jack, you're no slouch either. Always good to see you.

pedsurg

Finn: There's a world of difference between "not being a slouch" and literally flying. Great job.

Jack

pcar964

Great lap Petu, wish I could have made it this weekend... did you take any video this time?

Flying Finn

I was looking for you. Next time then.

I did tape it. I'll send it to Terry and he'll host it so I'll most likely post it here or in Racing forum at some point.

pcar964

Great, look forward to seeing it! Now all I need to do is figure out how to pick up 5 seconds a lap with my slow-*** 993

Don Magee

Would you mind sharing your alignment specs? I'm always curious to see what others use.

Flying Finn

Don,

Sure, camber is -2 front, -3 rear. Little toe out in front and in in rear (don't have the numbers).
I wanted to have more - camber in front but the guy who did it said there was no space, I have to look into it better.

Car handles pretty neutral, I'd prefer it maybe slightly more oversteer and will look into it. I'm never completely happy with how it handles and I don't thing you never should be. There's always room for improvement, whether it's a driver or a car.

Mark in Baltimore

Wow, that seems like a ton of neg rear camber for a guy who likes the back to slide. Do you have any wear issues?