997gt3north

Greatest track day of my life

Mosport – crazy rain in the morning, dry line but still not 100% grip in the afternoon

Morning (monsoon driving)
- 220kms driving my decently track prepped 2002 Audi S4 with decent rain tires
- My single goal of the morning was to drift every single corner, every single time
- Traction was so bad, I would never get another time like this to break the car lose at such a low G load (not even ½ a G) and just practice over and over and over riding the slip angle
- I have set this car up (ohlin suspension different sways) to be absolutely neutral on 4 wheel drift
- Turns 2 (all the way down at 20 to at one point 90 degree slip angle) – crazy
- Turn 3 and turn 8 drifting the entire very long track out section more gas, less gas, counter, etc)
- 220kms on low speed drifting practice at Mosport (almost never saw another car) – except a very well driven (ex racer - after market suspension Mercedes C63)
- He was just if not more crazy (except I couldn’t help but notice he wasn’t smooth – later learned he couldn’t disable the traction control and it kept doing crazy things to his car from behind as I watched)

Afternoon (stopped raining at 1pm)
- did another session in the S4 and then waited for the track to dry a little more before I jumped in the gt3 with Hoosier R6s (third time ever on these tires)
- did a ½ hour session, started at 1:44 ended at 1:375 (the morning we were doing 2:20 in the rain)
- did another session 1:375 to 1:385 when track was clear

New GT3 rear Ducts
- posted this already, but just installed the right rear as left rear didn’t arrive
- after cool down lap, duct = 375f, no duct = above 500f (no reading)
- and this was on the outside of the rotor
- CAN YOU IMAGINE THE INSIDE TEMP DIFFERENCE?


PSA - IF YOU TRACK YOUR CERAMIC ROTOR GT3 – GET THESE ASAP


Major, Major bonus of the day
- just so happens that a friend had pro David Empringham helping him set up his new 997cup for the PCA race this week at Mosport
- noticed David just standing there, called him over and asked him to drive my car and give his opinion of the setup
- posted this about 2 months ago, but David drove my car at Shannonville when the same friend first took deliver of his cupcar
- David’s opinion at that time was the car was dangerously loose – too slow
- On arriving home, I found out that the R888s were corded
- I have since purchased new Hoosier R6s AND softened the gt2 bar to the softest setting (was in the middle of three holes before)
- David drove the car 5 laps
- Each lap was faster than the last (this is Mosport remember)
- Last two laps were “extremely” fast and yet he was still playing with the car (more gas, less gas, more / less steering trying to figure out what he had) – this guy has serious talent
- I WAS BLOWN AWAY AT HIS ENTRY SPEED
- For those that know the track, he was trail braking all the way to the first apex in #2, he trail braked way way over the hill in #4 (wow) and get this, he took #8 as a double apex, crested the hill at WOT only started braking way into the braking zone and (TRAIL BRAKED TO THE FIRST APEX )
- When the ride was over, I thanked him profusely and he had two comments, car was perfectly predictable (he really like it – not crazy loose like the last time) and the brakes on this car are phenomenal – way better than the cup brakes!!!
- 997cup apparently has a poor master cylinder that they can’t change
- He said again, I can’t believe the brakes on this car – even on his 5th lap he said he was braking too early
- He asked what had I done to them - I told him Motorsport Ceramics pads called P50 - he said he didn’t know the car had ceramics
- He got out of the car and he said great brakes on this car

After resting for 30 minutes
- decided to go out there and try his technique
- as mentioned earlier, the weather was crazy today and just before going out I noticed a group of birds in the sky just circling what was corner #2
- everyone there knew David had given me a drive, so I said hey look, the vultures are circling #2, not a good sign – please tell my wife I love her as I try to trail brake like David
- for anyone out there looking to improve, you have to get a pro to show you what is possible
- this is not new to me as I have had many pro drives but in order to take that next step (there is always a next step) you have to get a drive when you are ready to see what is possible
- also, I was lucky that I had over 200kms that morning of constant correcting the car – if I wasn’t ready today it wasn’t ever going to happen
- as I said earlier, fastest lap up to that point for me at Mosport was 1:375 that day – have done a little lower last day out on the hooiers when track conditions were perfect
- did about 8 laps, trail braking that I saw David do (revelation x 100), trying to be on the gas like he was – came in feeling I wasn’t even trying
- friend was timing me – best was 1:35.8 – 2 seconds better

best track day of my life

paul

fc-racer

Hey Paul, congrats on the time, that's an awesome lap time. Hopefully, I get the chance to come out there again and can try and learn from you what Dave taught you. Take care and see you soon!

TeamDrugMoney

Sounds like a really great day for you. Sure would have been cool to see a video of you drifting around and a video of him double apexing 8! Out of curiosity, what were his times around Mosport? You are lucky to have gotten in the car with him doing all that. Trail braking into 2 would be interesting also, real interesting.

997gt3north

- didn't have a camera mount in my s4
- stupid me, even had an mpg4 sony camera in my bag
- plus my passenger (old friend first time at the track - he drove the audi s4 to the track) was so scared when we went 70 degree angle down #2 (even i thought this was way past saveable) that the video would have been not of good quality
- probably the only good view of it would have been from a following car - and most of the cars were parked except the c63 and a guy who brought a rental mazda

- my guess on his times were 3 seconds faster than my best - so 1:33 range - and based on what i saw he could have gone another few seconds faster if he wanted to

997gt3north

David's entry speed trail braking techniques at Mosport for #2, #4 and #8

- have been thinking about this all night
- for anyone who has attended the 3day skip barber race school at limerock, think about the repeated trail braking exercise you had to do (at least we did) practising the entry into corner 1 of bigben - start braking at the 2 1/2 marker, brake very hard for a moment in a straight line and then release 'some' brakes and begin the very long turnin under braking until you are actually past the apex (entry speed corner)
- this technique also works very well at Tremblant turn 8 (carousel) for entry

I have always thought that turn #2 at Mosport was like this but never in my wildest dreams think given the downhill off camber nature of the corner was it possible to do this type of entry - well it is. David brakes later but quite hard initailly and then releases lets say 40% (guess?) of the brakes and then perfectly calmly balances the front and rear contact patches for good grip and then proceeds to brake all the way until 2a apex at which point he without even the hint of unbalancing the car is on the gas (you wouldn't even know it) to some maint throttle and then halfway down the hill he is full wot and the grip was unreal. This is almost exactly how he did #4 and #8 - brake later very hard initially and then release a good amount of brakes and carry it over the hill in #4 (perfect front rear contact patch managment / steering) until full throttle (crazy grip / crazy fast) and again in #8 - fully crest the hill, let car settle, hard brakes, release 'some' brakes and then make a bee line to the first turtles (double apex technique for #8 - i had never ever been close to these curbs before) and then again almost full throttle around the corner (again i couldn't believe the grip or that the car was holding)

Just thought I would pass on what I learned

Z06

Paul Thanks for the tips...going to try it this weekend.

Which dealer did you get the ducts from?

rodjac

gt3north thanks for doing the testing on rear ducts and posting results. I am definitely going to see if they will fit on my GT2.

Terry L

Paul, that was an awesome report (and that is not a word I use lightly.) I hope that I see you at an event this year and can take a ride with you to see what you've learned (and how I can bootstrap it for myself!)