DrJupeman

Insane fast.

Jack667

Be careful when you are correlating lap times and the top speed in one section of a track. I have about 35 days at the Glen and I used to nail the section from turn one to the bus-stop. OK, sometimes I blew turn one, but usually I would get through there pretty quick and then drag race to the chicane. I was driving a 1990 C4 and was able to floor it for that entire section. Once I learned the line and grew some cojones, getting to the max speed was almost a no-brainer. I don't think I ever mastered the rest of the track. I often over-broke for the bus stop. When I had an instructor in the car, they would often say that I could go faster through there. I did pretty well from there and through the laces, but the gearing in my car always made it tough to pull out of the toe. I don't think that I ever mastered the heel, and I often thought there was more to gain through the off-camber. I did OK through the fast left (except for the time that I crashed) but I often left something on the table before coming onto the front straight.
My highest indicated speed was 138, AFAIK, and maybe my speedo was off, but who knows. I never checked the tach, but I'd be interested in looking at a gear chart.
Sorry for the long post, but my point is that for the same top speed at the bus-stop, I'll bet alot of better drivers would have lower overall lap times. Besides a better driver, the following mods would cause the same effect: better brakes, better suspension, better tires/wheels, etc.

DrJupeman

Jack, I fully understand your point that top speed doesn't equal great overall laptime, but a great laptime with a limited overall speed indicates that the person is probably taking turn 1 through the bus stop pretty quick. Therefore when these same folks post "reasonable" top speeds I tend to believe them more than the random "150mph" or "160 mph" quip. I have done a lot of gear charting and driven a bunch of cars at WG (I have 60 days there). Anything over 140 mph is very fast. Most casual DE drivers don't break 130, I reckon.

MJones

Rolex DP cars turn 1:47's
Rolex GT cars turn 1:57's
Rolex SGS cars turn 2:00's
GrandAm GS cars turn 2:08's

Professor Helmüt Tester

Whenever I hear "top speed" or "laptime" claims, I always deduct 10+mph and add 5+ seconds, unless I actually saw it on a qualifying sheet or saw the data from an "official" speed trap.

Believe nothing you hear, kiddies, except from the "Professor". BTW, 2:15's in a 100hp car that can barely crack 125mph on the back straight at the Glen.

And I can prove it.

Dbltime

Was that a C or D sports racer?

87turbo911

Didn't they announce at WGI that one of the DP cars pulled a 1:45?

I was there and heard the announcement but I don't remember which car it was, though.

ngoldrich

I believe Max Angelleli (sp?) in the Sun Trust car ran 1:45s several times during the race..

Norm

87turbo911

He's the one. He ran one "early" in the race and, towards the end, he ran several of them, I assume, in an attempt to catch the CompUSA 01 car.

Something that I heard when watching some of the footage that I taped off of Speed was that he said it was his first outing at WGI. If that's really the case, then I find that to be amazing how quickly drivers can acquaint themselves with a track- his first time there and he posted fastest lap!

Being that I've only done a few DE's there (and still a real novice working on trusting the car in the turns while, at the same time, wanting to be sure that I'll be driving my car home in one piece if not in the same condition I brought it there!), I was still very impressed from one of the threads where the guy (can't remember his name...sorry!) was at his first WGI event, posted 2:30s initially then, by then end, was posting 2:18s. Wow!

Those times, however, make me feel like I'm slow as dirt!

993944S2

If you have your head screwed on straight, have some idea of car dynamics, and have a capable car, going from 2:30 to 2:18 is possible.
I think the guy you are refering to had two DE days before the race. (Mark??)

I was doing 2:20-2:18 when I arrived and have lots of experience at the glen. This was all at DE. The "racing" helped me drop to mid 2:14's. (Some wise tire pressure advice may have been the biggest factor.) Now that I know the car and me have more in it, I think I could drop more...

Don

87turbo911

Darn...got me with the "head screwed on straight" thing.

J/K. I have SOME idea of car dynamics and I've been told that my head is screwed on straight...but maybe it hasn't been screwed on straight enough for me to trust that I won't crash and burn if I push some of the corners "a little harder" rather than backing off.

Eg: I've never gone full throttle up the Esses- I've gone 1/2-2/3 throttle through there because I have this fear that my tires won't hold and, since the armco is REALLY close there, I don't chance finding out the hard way.

I've only driven there in my "regular" DE car (the 1987 911 Turbo) for a total of five DE days. I dropped a bit of time (from high-2:50s to a best of ~2:32 although my "average" on the second DE was ~2:40) between my first time at the Glen (two days w/TracQuest) and my second time (w/NNJR-PCA) - actually, I think my "warm-up" laps at the end of my second time at the Glen were as fast if not faster than my "lapping" times from my first time there - but I also had some things changed in my car.

FWIW, this was my car's setup the last time I was there: GHL headers/exhaust, powerflow intake, 1-bar boost spring, adjustable swaybars, and Kumho Ecsta Supra 712s. My first time there, I didn't have the swaybars and I ran RE71s.

Does anyone with a similar (or, better yet, the same) setup and car have times that I can compare with? What SHOULD I be capable of with the street tires and setup I have on my car currently? If anything, it might give me more confidence with my car.

Thanks!

993944S2

The head screwed on straight thing was tounge in cheek.

My car only has 285 hp with a well set suspension so I can do the esses flat out. I would expect your 930 with 1 bar spring (300 HP??) and street tires may have a difficult time sticking in the esses at full tilt.

The glen has lots of fear factor. It's hard to overcome unless you totally trust your car and, more importantly, yourself. Everyone thinks, including me, we will do the right thing when the car gets loose, but we never truly know until the situation presents itself. Especially in your car you have to convince yourself to apply more power when the rear gets loose. It is totally counter intuitive, but the right thing to do.

Don

Mark in Baltimore

That would be me and My First Club Race Report. Thanks for being impressed but the fast guys know that 2' 18" is really not all that quick for a set up 993. I trundled along doing 2' 35" or so with Kevin O'Neill showing me the line and managed to do four solo sessions in the DE preceding the race on my nearly corded tires. I needed a damn GPS to tell me which way to turn. Switched over to brand new MPSC's for the club race and, incrementally, tried to shave off time at every corner.

Here's a recipe for 30 Minute Bondo Bouillabaisse, a procedure I tried to avoid: Start with a quarter stick of a first race at the Glen, add a pint of first time on the track with a new suspension, chop up a cup of first time ever racing and stir in two quarts of over aggressiveness. Heat for 30 minutes until you round all four corners of your car. Allow to cool and then cry.

JC in NY

I agree. But also remember there are going to be those rare instances when you cannot even control what happens. For example, in the group 6 enduro warmups at the Glen clubrace I hit the oil dumped by the 944 flat out in the esses and I took a nasty spin. I had just caught out of the corner of my eye the slip flag coming out when the **** just snapped around. I did feel good about punching the ABS cutoff switch to lock them up as I was free rolling backwards at 80 mph. Landing lightly on the guardrail with only an egg-sized dent in the front fender I was really lucky. I have seen others hit oil or anti-freeze and not be so lucky.

Jim Child

My co-driver in the enduro had never been to the Glen before and didn't get to drive until Sunday morning. He turned a 2:19 on his fifth lap of the practice session in my F-Stock 968. Later that morning he was comfortably into the 2:17's in the enduro.