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Just returned from a 3-day DE at the NCM Motorsports Park with 10/10ths. The track opened a few weeks ago - I think that we were the third DE. A very well run event, and a lot of fun learning a great track.
Nobody knows the track yet, so they ran the first sessions as touring to let people see it. It's a complicated and challenging track: 3.2 miles, 23 turns. Almost every turn has an apex or exit that you cannot see on the approach, which makes it especially difficult for inexperienced drivers. It's very tight, with a number of linked turn passages as well.
Friday saw all kinds of conditions, from dry to damp to wet to deluge (see photo below). Saturday was also very changeable, with both wet and dry conditions. That made it hard to trust the grip or to get a good handle on brake points. Sunday the weather was much better, but I could only run a half-day.
Nice!
I was there the weekend before you. Correct, you guys were the 3rd group out.
Next time at T1 let the whole right side of the car go over the rumble strip, its really smooth and the right side is fully unloaded, does not unsettle the car and straightens out the turn quite a bit.
I was also not double apexing before the pit entrance sweeper.... Interesting
I ran a handful of 2.30 laps; being conservative all around.. Lots of guard rails every where. Was on MPSS.
Nice!
I was there the weekend before you. Correct, you guys were the 3rd group out.
Next time at T1 let the whole right side of the car go over the rumble strip, its really smooth and the right side is fully unloaded, does not unsettle the car and straightens out the turn quite a bit.
I was also not double apexing before the pit entrance sweeper.... Interesting
I ran a handful of 2.30 laps; being conservative all around.. Lots of guard rails every where. Was on MPSS.
What tires are you running?
Thanks. I heard that same advice about T1 from someone I was there with, but after I was done for the day. Will definitely try it next time. I was being conservative too. There was a fair amount of carnage over the weekend. And I knew about a bad wreck the weekend before at the bottleneck in a car like mine, by a guy who is a better driver than I am.
Double apexing that sweeper lets you run pretty fast through that section.
I was on Nitto NT01's. They were new. The ones I ran at Road America still had a couple of days on them, but not in the wet. When it was wet, I had to throttle steer around the tighter turns.
Awesome video Jon... thanks for sharing! That would have been a bit scary with changeable conditions and all those guard rails
You're running smooth and fast just like your RA video. Not much room to run wide coming out of the final bend and onto the front straight huh?
Thanks. I could definitely have been faster in some spots, but I wanted to be safe and conservative.
Yeah, somebody smacked the tires at the end and cantilevered into the concrete. The key is to get all of the way to the end of the gray curbing on the left at #22, then turn back with slow hands and squeeze the throttle down. No drama that way. If you early apex #22, you come to #23 at the wrong angle, and you either wait to get the throttle down, or you have a high pucker factor at the trackout.
Thanks. I could definitely have been faster in some spots, but I wanted to be safe and conservative. Yeah, somebody smacked the tires at the end and cantilevered into the concrete. The key is to get all of the way to the end of the gray curbing on the left at #22, then turn back with slow hands and squeeze the throttle down. No drama that way. If you early apex #22, you come to #23 at the wrong angle, and you either wait to get the throttle down, or you have a high pucker factor at the trackout.
i was there two weekends ago. A fast driver in a high hp modded mustang was using a lot of the curb at 22. I tried it but it didnt feel right in my car. So like you said a late apex there was the thing.
I was amazed at how that pavement polished my tires...nt01's too.
Hi John, nice to see you. Smooth driving as usual. Here's a couple tips to grab the lowest lying fruit I see.
Use 2nd gear out of T2, it is much faster and lets you upshift right at track out.
Use 2nd gear out of T10, it is much faster, then short shift to 3rd heading into the T11/12 section
You want to stay more right on exit of T10, as it allows you to drive straighter through T11 (car is less loaded up to one side) and set the car up for T12, which you must be track left in order to apex it late enough, which then sets you up to run flat through T13.
Late, late apex T12, then keep the car slightly more to the right on exit, before apexing T13, this will allow you to stay flat (or very near it) without running out of track on exit. If you go left immediately on exit of T12, and dive toward the T13 curbing, you run out of track on the exit of T13 on full acceleration.
For T18, I drove it hard toward the first inside curbing, then let the car release off the tight line (off the second curb), trail brake a bit more, then get the car back to the entry curbing at the top of the sinkhole. Open the wheel, and drive it hard, straight down the hill, right towards the first inside curb at the bottom of the hill. Those two points of acceleration and driving it in hard, really gain you time.
Hi John, nice to see you. Smooth driving as usual. Here's a couple tips to grab the lowest lying fruit I see.
Use 2nd gear out of T2, it is much faster and lets you upshift right at track out.
Use 2nd gear out of T10, it is much faster, then short shift to 3rd heading into the T11/12 section
You want to stay more right on exit of T10, as it allows you to drive straighter through T11 (car is less loaded up to one side) and set the car up for T12, which you must be track left in order to apex it late enough, which then sets you up to run flat through T13.
Late, late apex T12, then keep the car slightly more to the right on exit, before apexing T13, this will allow you to stay flat (or very near it) without running out of track on exit. If you go left immediately on exit of T12, and dive toward the T13 curbing, you run out of track on the exit of T13 on full acceleration.
For T18, I drove it hard toward the first inside curbing, then let the car release off the tight line (off the second curb), trail brake a bit more, then get the car back to the entry curbing at the top of the sinkhole. Open the wheel, and drive it hard, straight down the hill, right towards the first inside curb at the bottom of the hill. Those two points of acceleration and driving it in hard, really gain you time.
Pervez - good to see you too. Sorry we didn't have more time to talk. I had to go ride with my student.
Thanks for the tips. For sure, going into 2nd in those turns would help. I was really low in the rpm range in 3rd. I knew that, but thought I'd just leave that for next time. Good advice on the 12-14 section. That can be a really fast section, but you have to be really patient - more than I was here - setting it up at 11. I pounded that into my student, who kept overcharging out of 10 and early apexing #11. Should've listened to myself more!
I tried the line you suggested at #18. My car was pushing really bad, so I started opening up the entries on several of the corners. It just wouldn't hold a tight line. I'm not sure what was going on. The car was perfect a couple of weeks ago at Road America. I was on old NT01's then, new ones here. I'm thinking that maybe it's just that RA has mostly high speed turns, and NCM has low speed tight ones. I had to throttle steer through the left hand carousels. If I had another session, I would have tightened up the rear bar - it was on full soft.
Cool- I went there for the ribbon cutting ceremony a month or so ago and got to take some lower speed laps around the track in the RS. Can't wait to return for a DE. Despite all the hype it has been getting as the new "IT" city, Nashville doesn't have a track so its nice that BG is only an hour away.
Cool- I went there for the ribbon cutting ceremony a month or so ago and got to take some lower speed laps around the track in the RS. Can't wait to return for a DE. Despite all the hype it has been getting as the new "IT" city, Nashville doesn't have a track so its nice that BG is only an hour away.
Lucky man! My home track is Putnam Park. Nice, but not nearly as challenging as NCM.
Hi John, nice to see you. Smooth driving as usual. Here's a couple tips to grab the lowest lying fruit I see.
Use 2nd gear out of T2, it is much faster and lets you upshift right at track out.
Use 2nd gear out of T10, it is much faster, then short shift to 3rd heading into the T11/12 section
You want to stay more right on exit of T10, as it allows you to drive straighter through T11 (car is less loaded up to one side) and set the car up for T12, which you must be track left in order to apex it late enough, which then sets you up to run flat through T13.
Late, late apex T12, then keep the car slightly more to the right on exit, before apexing T13, this will allow you to stay flat (or very near it) without running out of track on exit. If you go left immediately on exit of T12, and dive toward the T13 curbing, you run out of track on the exit of T13 on full acceleration.
For T18, I drove it hard toward the first inside curbing, then let the car release off the tight line (off the second curb), trail brake a bit more, then get the car back to the entry curbing at the top of the sinkhole. Open the wheel, and drive it hard, straight down the hill, right towards the first inside curb at the bottom of the hill. Those two points of acceleration and driving it in hard, really gain you time.
Yep to all that and I was even using 2nd at 6 and 8. I wish I would've tried third at 8 though...I was probably overslowing there.
^We had some nice conditions and some rainy or cool sessions, but I guess the track just has no rubber on it. There was not one black mark on my car after three days of running. Do you know of any more events there this year?
10-13-2014, 11:46 PM
DE at Corvette Museum Motorsports Park
