Juha G

Had my 3rd DE yesterday at Moroso (my 2nd time there). This was a PBOC event and well organized as usual.

My instructor was my friend Petu "Flying Finn" Kummala. He is a very good instructor (probably cause he knows the fastest way around the track...lol)
Petu also gave me a hot lap in his car in the last session and all I can say is that I have a looooong way to go to even dream about driving a Porsche like that!!

My GT3 faired well, no problems at all. I'm still running street tires (and will be doing that at least untill I get used to this car, who knows how long that will take)
This was the 3rd DE and at 18k miles still no signs of PCCB rotor cracking. Allthough the tracking does take it's toll on the pads. I had just replaced them before Sebring and now I already noticed a lot of wear on them.
I need to swap the CUP toe links and do an alignment on the car before the next DE and I'm hoping I will find a feasible solution for making my exhaust note a tad bit noisier. (didn't like the straight pipes so I put the stock mufflers back on).


I had a lot of fun at the track and learned a great deal more about driving fast around the corners, thanks to Petu.
I also had my first spin with the Porsche. Luckily this was a 2nd gear spin and I was able to keep the car on the paved track. (I was mostly lucky I guess).
It was a pure 360 and I ended up my nose pointing in the right direction so I just continued and pitted for a short chat with my instructor. We discussed what had just happened and how I could have avoided it. Then continued with a little slower pace for the rest of the session.
I have been watching the video afterwards and analyzing it a bit more. What happened was that first of all I was going at 11/10s, which my instructor was actually just about to comment me on. It was in the middle the last session of the day and I got a little carried away.
I came into the braking zone a little hot and had to take the first left hander while still partially on the brakes. I was also carrying too much speed over the kink and was not able to stabilize the car between the left hander and the right hander, hence creating a sling effect. On top of that the car was a little unbalanced already in the left hander as I let off the brakes a bit too fast. This caused the tail to break loose just a tiny bit on the left hander. Followed by the “rough” steering input to the right, I got the car to sling around the kink and completely break the rear loose.
After this I was mostly a passenger with not a lot of time behind the wheel of a GT3 (or any rear engine car at that). I tried to save it but my initial correction was too light, there was a fraction of a second pause and I realized that the front tires were still pointing in the wrong direction and corrected more. At this point the car was already so much sideways that I had to swap my hand position on the steering wheel to compensate. This correction was a bit too late and a bit too much. Bang to the other side and it got worse. Then I realized I could not save it anymore and just focused on keeping the car on the paved track, hitting the brakes fully, clutch in and allowing it to spin freely.
Ended up nose pointing in the right direction and continued into the pits…

What I learned from the spin was three things:

1. As my instructor put it: “The DE is not a F1 race”, there’s absolutely no reson to drive at 11/10s (or even 10/10s) and I should always stay within my limits. I’m most certain that when I dropped my driving to 8/10s after the spin, my lap times were probably a lot better than at 11/10s because when driving over my limits I was making so many mistakes.
2. I need to focus on learning smoother driving (to avoid those “sling” situations). This will be the main focus on my next DE.
3. Car control in oversteer situation. I’m gonna go practice with my friends at the skidpad. I need to learn to correct the car from oversteer situations. I was able to control my M3 pretty well but this rear engine car is something totally different. I think the skidpad is the safest place to practice this.

That said, I had a blast and can’t wait for the next DE!!

Here’s the video (you can see the spin at the kink in the end of the video)

http://m3supercar.1g.fi/Videos/DE/Mo...2007-small.wmv

Have fun and be safe!!!

Juha

tkerrmd

I see more guys in GT3's do this than ANYBODY else at a DE.
Glad you had fun, I will be at Sebring the next two weekends if you are there come say Hi.
tom

Juha G

What can I say... a very fast and a VERY demanding car + inexperienced driver + "too much trying" = something's bound to go wrong!

Just gotta keep that in mind and play it safe!!

I'm gonna be über busy the next four-five weeks (and weekends) with work so I doubt I can make it to Sebring but I will definately make it there in August/september after my vacation! Would be nice to meet you Tom!!!

A.Wayne

DID your Instructor carry a cane (which he uses on bad students) and a bottle of "Finlanda " what a strange language, damn, he sounds like Mika after he had crunched his nut sack at Monza back in 99 , jumping from the car crying Hmmm i think i might know this Petu , this Flying Finn He owes me a bottle

kgorman

I like the choice of Rage as music.., "F-you I wont do what you tell me.."

-kg

mitch236

Good job! You looked very smooth up to that point (and even had the spin caught but overcorrected). Unfortunately, the video doesn't allow for rewind so I only watched it once. Petu is a great instructor and I'm glad you had fun and remained safe. Don't listen to what Tom said about GT-3's. I am the CTI of GCR (the event you were at) and I can tell you, it happens all the time to all different kinds of cars.

Welcome to the addiction.

Flying Finn

Hey Wayne, what can you tell me about my comments during the video? Juha speaks the same language so he's as strange as I am.

I had my cane with me, accidentally hit the camera when I tried to hit Juha after the spin, that's why the fild ends like Sopranos.

I put the bottle in to the freezer already... Although we both might have to send our bottles to Hamilton...

A.Wayne

Well hamilton might or might not get his, but if Kimi still get's his handed to him by massa , I need to taste Mine

Flying Finn

He did pretty good until that point.

I made a mistake of letting him drive little too fast to his talent, we were consentrating on braking and especially that spot is a good place to do so (since there's room to go straight if needed).
Turning left was little too much "on the limit" and he didn't realyze it and tried too hard even when turning right.
He was able to correct it but then did what you said and so often novices do: overcorrect. Good thing he was quick enough to still fix that and overcorrect one more time since that meant we didn't end up at the dirt wall left side!

mitch236

Not much room on the left there! You would be swimming with the gators!!!

Flying Finn

I was already climbing out the window at that point!

mitch236

BTW, why don't you run in supersolo?

Erik

Gotta be the instructor, never spun with me...

mitch236

Of course Erik, you never let him get out of 3rd gear!!!

TR6

It'd be nice to hear it without the mosh pit soundtrack so you could concentrate on what the instructor is saying...