Martin S.

Just back from a Test and Tune 1/2 day at Willow Springs, in Rosamond, CA To prep for the day, I watched Jack Olsen's instructional video the day before, and reviewed it once again at the track. This allowed me to reinforced some key points:

• Don't get sucked into over braking for Turn 1. I was initially doing the front straight in 4th...went back to my 993 driving style, exit 9 in 4th, shifted into 5th near the timing tower, this seemed to make it much easier to back off on the over braking and to get a good line through 1.
• Up the hill after Turn 2, still have a lot to learn here about keeping the power down, now running NT-01 VS my former Hoosiers, need to develop confidence in the Nittos. Jack Olsen runs NT-01 tires, turns 1:28, about 12 seconds faster than me, so I know they work. My personal best in the GT3 is a 1:39.XX, it was a 1:33.2 in the former 993,
• Stay wide to the right into 3 before heading up the hill, once headed up, focusing on the "B" in the Budweiser sign,
• No breaking at the top of the Omega....stay to the left around the top, rotate the car, then apex over the dirt apex headed down hill, make it a nice smooth arc,
• Do your braking early before 5, and get on the gas as soon as possible,
• Short shift before the rise on 6, or, back of a bit, then drop the hammer, shift into 4th, then 5th.
• Stay to the right through 8, no braking before the entering Turn 8, and stay on the gas, pedal to the metal,
• Re. 9, use the Ape Motorcycle Company building as a visual to get to the left side of the track, prepping for the turn in to 9,
• Use the water tower as the visual to turn in to hit the apex of 9,
• Exit speed should be 100 mph + if you do it right, I did it right a few times.
• As mentioned above, get into 5th at the appropriate moment, allowing you to downshift to 4th for turn 1 with moderate breaking.

As we all know, the toughest and most critical corner is 9 going, onto the long front straight, the second most critical is turn 5, allowing you to carry the most speed into Turn 8.

Irony, I have been doing faster times in the GT3 at Buttonwillow, about 4 seconds faster than the former 993, and am about 2 seconds quicker than the 993 at my first time with the GT3 at Laguna Seca. I have stock aero on the GT3, had a 60" Crawford wing on the 993 and 993 GT2 front splitters.

It is my perception, that Buttonwillow and Laguna Seca are not aero critical for non-race cars, top speeds justaren't that fast, not having the need for a shift into 5th gear is a key indicator to me. Willow Springs is just bloody has. I peeked at the speedo once, at a previous event and saw 145. before Turn 1. In the 993 125 was tops.

I am concerned that I am slower than the aero equipped 993 at Willow Springs. Is it the aero? The tires? My confidence and ability? I will crunch the Willow Springs data and look for inconsistencies in track segments. I would have done it at the track but Race Studio 3 still needs to be mastered.

The Predictive Lap feature on the AiM SOLO 2 DL can be very helpful when to one is "winning the battle", aka improving. Those Green LEDS are a welcome sight, but in contrast, when I was struggling at Willow, the Red LEDs were a constant reminder that I was on a plateau and not improving. Accepting my static situation, I then resolved to work on the most difficult corners and not worry about the time. Had I been at the track for more than 1/2 a day, 4 sessions, and with cooler weather, I am certain I would have improved my times....but regardless, there was victory, I kept the "shiny side up." Next time there, I will have looked at my AiM data and honed in on areas to focus upon that have the potential to deliver the biggest pay off, e.g. better times.