M758

That spot Racer 63 mentions at PIR is the worst spot on the track. In my 944-spec car I exit the turn 4 of the oval full throttle at about 90 to 95 MPH. There is slight banking and lot of g-load you feel. The inside transition off the banking is marked with a dashed line, but as Racer 63 said you sometimes get sent down there in traffic. Not fun since the tire loading changes as you go from the slight bank to flat. The car then typically wants to rotate there. Also its very dirty off-line and that can take away the remaining traction. If you are not careful you can spin and of course there is maybe 50 to 60 ft before the concrete wall. Typically not enough time to slow down before making contact.

racer63

A lot of people also have trouble with turn 1 for a similar reason. Once you come down off the banking onto the road course, there is a very abrupt transition. If you do not stay on the throttle, the back end will rotate and often you end up contacting the inside wall... many a spec 7 has been lost there.

M758

Yeah you are right about 1. Too me turn 1 does not bug me too much. I can go through the transition farily quick and put the car as close to the wall as possible. I figure (maybe wrongly) that if I do screw-up I won't hit the wall very hard since won't have time to turn the car towards it. I would be more of a glancing blow. Also there is ALOT of room on the outside of one that allows for errors. You are fine as long as you the the momentum of the car take you there.

Turn 4 of the oval is not bad if stay out of the transition, but still spooky because you are going so fast, feel so much G load and the wall is so close. You know any hit is going to be BIG.

Honestly Big Willow Springs is less spooky since there is so much run off.
I have been driving PIR for 4 years and always get a little concerned in the oval. It is mostly if anything goes wrong routine. I hate that darn wall!

Of course having driven that track so much I actully did pretty well in my first ever race at the PCA club race in 2002. I held my own in the oval and could even catch much facter cars cause they were more scared than me!

ColorChange

Hats off to you guys (Racer 63 and M758). I am not a big fan of walls and don't think I would like doing 100 mph at the limit within inches of the wall. (yeah I know within inches means a glancing blow but still a lot of damage).

I am much more concerned about places like the kink at Road America where you have little run out room at well over 130 mph. I dial it back at places like that and leave a little more room. A combination of self preservation (fear) and I have tow little daughters. This is the same reason I quit ski jumping a few years ago.

I also promised my wife no wheel to wheel racing until the kids graduate high school.

GreggT

Aaahhh.....yep....actually Kink to Canada.........it gets exiting back there.........just a little grass, not that much pavement, and alot of steel & concrete
Surprisingly however, not that many incidents.
Both Kink and Canada have to be at the top of the list however for things happening .

pig4bill

There's a video on the net of a Viper biting the wall there. Hard on the brakes and next thing you know is he's in the wall.

Have you ever seen the old road course that ran outside of the oval into the desert? It's very cool and pretty big. There's a helluva long straight that leads back to the oval.

M758

pig4bill,
I have seen the viper video. Looks like he did an improper downshift and the back end broke loose. Rumor was he went to 2nd gear which is crazy since I take it in 4th or 5th with no downshift ( Have not driven there since Feb so I have forgoten exactly what I do there, but I know it is fast, Gotta check my in-car video before I go out again ). Basicly a novice driving error done in a place were there is little room for that.

I never saw the old road course. I have seen some track layouts and it looks really crazy. Fast and from what I have heard one heck of off camber transition back into the oval from the road course.

racer63

Speaking of novice driver mistakes, I let my dad drive my old Spec RX7 at an open track event last year. In the second session, he spun in turn four at PIR - on the warmup lap! He tried to carry to tight a line exiting the corner and the rear end didn't like where the front end was pointing...

P.S. Where's that Viper video? Wouldn't mind seeing it.

Sam Lin

I'd have to find the video host site again, but I ran into the instructor who was riding along in the car when it happened at a local restaurant - apparently the driver for some reason downshifted, didn't rev match, and let the clutch out - the rest is history.

Sam

racer63

Hey Sam -

Good to see you on this board too. If you find that video please send it my way.

-Donn