VB997

Some shots of the cage fabrication from last night. The car goes to the paint shop later on today.

ScottL

Safe as in your mothers womb in there!

VB997

That was the goal. I don't know if it's just me but I always find myself being tentative when I don't have the bars around me. I'm not even big on having a student that doesn't have a roll bar and harnesses...I wish that would become a DE requirement.

...some video from three weeks ago, I'm definitely tentative in places I would hammer with the cup car or charge passes with more confidence...that's going to change!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5VxV6BMIyU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ_X0X8SIIk

TraqGear

Holy downshift batman! Seriously, please describe what you are doing when you are downshifting. It looks like you foot is coming totally off of the brake. Help educate us newbies! (we wanna go fast too)

VB997

Remember...we learn in driving 101 that we never sacrifice braking for shifting...you've got to get the car stopped before you worry about what gear you're in. Trust me, I'm on the brakes and hard as I'm over 150 on the straights.

The sequence is...brake, clutch, down shift, blip, clutch out (and have it out before the revs drop off, I'm sloppy in this video)...when you get the hang of it you will be shifting and blipping at the same time...and do not lift off the brake while blipping...that is unless you are going into a trail brake type situation. Additionally, as I go through each gear in the box, I'm letting the clutch out each time.

...my shifting is lazy and sloppy in this video, I did a down shift video for a student one time, I'll see if I can find it and send it to you if you PM me...I don't want to bore the board with my video as I'm sure there are much better drivers here.

997gt3north

John,

Have you or are you planning to re-gear the car / change the r&p.
I was watching the video of the back straight at VIR and remembering my trip there, it sounded like / felt like stock gearing but i'mnot totally sure as your 2:07 pace is faster than my first visit 2:17 pace.
Also, I found myself downshifting from 4th to 3rd, likely because i'm too slow, after the uphill esses to take the downhill lefthander (9?) but you stay in 4th - i also listened to your revs and it would seem like you could use more tq at that moment - do you ever take this corner in 3rd at that lap pace or is 4th and smoothness with full trackout the goal

thanks

Paul

roberga

That video was great. It was nice of Dell to let you by :-)

VB997

Yes, the car is geared way too tall at present, but I want my money's worth out of this gear box and as you can tell my priority has been to make the car safe and hook up. When I do the gears, I'll do a race clutch, LWF and RSR diff at the same time. I'll probably do it this winter when nothing else is going on.

South Bend (T10)…is 4th gear for me in my current car (in my cup car it was 5th). In the cup car I played with the five-four down shift where you are shifting and also in the brake zone at eleven. In my Grand Am GS car I would do the down shift from fifth to fourth in the "brake zone" just before turn in at South Bend. Fourth gear in the 997 GT3 is pretty fast up the esses as tall as these gears are and fifth gear up the esses was a short shift that didn’t provide much benefit. Who knows, I might just need bigger man parts and not new car parts!

If you do your down shift before South Bend it better be a clean rev match shift or you will loop it there. As for the Video…obviously this is not a stellar performance, I originally posted it on YT for my buddy Mike (that’s not Dell) in the SY GT3. My data shows the lap at a 2:06:8 (not exactly sure where it had the start finish line but you're close enough) and I figure after T3 I'm off my pace by a few seconds as I'm just not going to run up hard on someone at a DE… so I was probably off the pace and over geared going through south bend as you said. On a normal pace you can carry fourth gear through there without any bogging. Scrub enough speed to get the car to turn in, then start rolling on the throttle until full throttle on exit. My data shows anywhere between 110-115 coming out depending on how well South Bend went going in. Again, I'm sure there are better drivers on this board that might offer a different perspective.

TraqGear

Thanks for the advice John. I'll also PM you. I've been going straight from 5th to 3rd after the straight at RRR, rather than go through all of the gears. (I even ocassionally match my revs when I H/T) The reason I've took this approach is that the neutral position of the gearshift if between 3rd and 4th, so it makes it seem pretty safe to skip gears. I'm I asking for trouble? I usually do hit 4th in between to make sure I'm in line, but without letting out the clutch.

grussell

Mine is not looking so well right now......

mooty

question:

i go through all the gears to make sure i dont money shift but i dont let my clutch out, though i blip (no reason to for intermediate gears)...

i am wondering why do you let the clutch out? to help you better rev match as a habit?

i ask b/c if you let the clutch out and didn't match rev well, you will upset car. if you matched well, the engine will not slow down and all braking is done by the brakes (and i presume you are still on brakes until you reached your final desired gear?)...

i know ppl do this many ways, but i like to understand why.

if i am really going for a flyer, i will drop say from 4th to 2nd stright, and i can rev match it no prob. but if i am just lapping, i do 4 to 3 to 2 and blip each gear, though never let off clutch.

grussell

Several of us Cup racers met with Craig Stanton on this same issue. Some would go from 5th to 2nd and others through each gear. I was one of the drivers going from 5th to 2nd or 5th to 3rd. I did not row through the gates, just straight to the desired gear. I never missed a shift and my rev matching is pretty good.

Craig goes through every gear and lets the clutch out each time. He had many good reasons for this and I have now changed to this same technique.

1. If the clutch is depressed you are coasting and cannot react to changes in the situation. For example you cannot get back on the gas in a competitive situation nor can you transfer weight to the rear.

2. If you are really hauling the mail you will overrev by skipping the gears unless you coast.

3. The 997 Cup requires that you go through each gear so you should get used to it if you ever plan on driving a 997 Cup.

All good points and I chose to listen to Craig. Now that I am used to it, I must agree it is better for me.

mooty

thanx for the exp., garret.
i shall aim to remember to let the clutch out.

roberga

I always rock the box. When i was starting out I would go right from 5-3 but my coach got me on the other way. Of course one can always make a mistake. We had a guy up here that thought he was going from 3rd to 4th under full throttle..... 2nd instead. It was a bad day. Although only sheared the pin on the pulley. This motor is a champ

VB997

and…

If you can get the muscle memory of the "pedal dance" mentally programmed as second nature, the consistency of your down shift blips (how hard to "hit" the gas pedal to create the rev required) between gears will always be the same regardless of how many gears you are going through. Wow, what the hell does that mean right? let's say you are in fifth gear and coming into a turn that will be a second gear exit and you do a fifth to second downshift going through each gear. In that scenario somewhere there will be a third gear to second gear blip right? of course! well if you do the five, four, three, two dance you will be creating consistency for the next time you have a third gear turn with a second gear exit or a four to three etc. With the skip gear approach sometimes drivers inadvertently over slow the car to blip the proper amount to go from fifth gear straight to second gear fearing the money shift…or they make a huge blip to cover their ***, which never seems consistent.