teamking

Hey all,

I'm going to be doing the FATT at Summit Point in a couple of weeks and am trying to learn the line (haven't been there before).

Does anyone have, or know where to point me to, a good video of Summit Point on street tires? I'd prefer a 951, but other cars of similar speed would be fine as well. Also, anything with a data overlay would be great!

I've come across this:
but his line through 1/2 seems completely different than anyone else I've seen, and am not sure if it is the wrong line or it is justified in his case due to gearing and the fact that he's giving up exit speed at the end of 2 because the normal line would put him on the rev limiter for too long before turn 3 (yet too short for a shift).

Thanks!

Larry Herman

That is an absolutely horrible line for 1/2. If ya gotta upshift and then downshift, that is what you do.

Here is a video of a well driven Lotus Elise at Summit. It has data too. I was the 964 that passed him on the 2nd lap. BTW he drives 1/2 the right way.

APKhaos

^ +1
The Elise is driving nice tidy lines, and you should watch it a few times to get familiar. There's been quite a bit of resurfacing work recently, and the track is quicker now that its been in may years.
Try to un-remember the first video. T1/2 is about the slowest way around, he feathers throttle just to make it to T3 is 3rd, then stays in 3rd all the way to track out of T9!! Not exactly an optimal approach!!

teamking

Larry,

Thanks for the link. Definitely better through 1/2. I wonder if you (or anyone reading this) would comment on the Lotus's line through 7/8. Seems to me that he would be faster if he took 7 a little slower and got on the throttle earlier in 8, rather than needing to touch the brake to slow up for 8 and not getting on the throttle until the apex.

Also, I found this link as well-- any comments?

APKhaos

Turns 6 thru 9 are linked, and its on throttle all the way, with maybe a little modulation but not much more than that. The Elise is not braking. The BRAKE indicator is Traqmate's best guess at when the brake is being used. In this case, he's feathering throttle a bit and Traqmate is reading that as braking. Ignore it.

Larry Herman

Could also be a little bit of left foot braking. Just touch them to get the car to point itself a little more into the turn while staying at full throttle. If it is going to be of benefit anywhere, it would be there.

sbelles

Could be but the Elise has such little mass that a small feather gives you more acceleration then most cars.

ProCoach

You mean more deceleration...

ProCoach

Tony, the Traqmate registers acceleration-maintain (feather)-deceleration (coast or brake) consistently and reliably, so I wouldn't ignore it. The indication of feathering is Traqmate's logging of deceleration above .1g (on the default setup). That's slowing in my book. The accelerometers certainly don't guess! It this case, it's pretty clear. He's tapping the brake.

To the OP, the Lotus driver on his first clean lap(s) DOES brake at 8:24 and 9:51. You can see the nose dive, hear the engine note drop abruptly and and see the cursor in the friction circle spike upwards in the transistion between the end of the left (T8) and the turn-in for the right (T9) as well as the red light coming on.

It's pretty apparent that he gets earlier as he tries to hustle the car in most places, The first clear lap, he's entering T6 from the center of the road and has to turn again, then he never goes all the way out for the T6/T7 split (middle of the Carousel), then he's early for T7 which spits him out into the middle of the road, screwing him for a good rhythm for the rest of the complex. He does better the next clean lap because he's more disciplined and tidy at T7.

I would not think that you need to brake in that transition that and the "building" that Larry and Tony talk about is the most desirable approach to that series of bends from T6-T9. That's what I've been teaching for twenty-five years and that's what gets me around there in 1:15 with 125 bhp!

Paul 996

Teamking,

The video you have of the S2000 by Rob is being very well driven. As Tony K said, Turns 6-9 are linked and in a 944 it should be a straight away. Nobody should be dabbing on the brakes in T8 or approaching T9.

I would stick to 2011 video if you can as a lot has changed on the track. Particularly T1,3,5,10 with regards to the curbing heights and change in friction surface (removal of the high grip asphalt patch).

FWIW I am one of the FATT instructors. There are tons of "good" video out there of Summit Point and the line is the line with only a few variations on the entry to T1 and for T5 but both of those are arguable, but lets not open that can of worms.

You are driving a 944 which is a momentum car but then again so is a GT2 in the right hands

sbelles

Acceleration in the negative sense, yes.

ProCoach

Sounds painful!

I see what you mean. I thought "feather=deceleration," which is the same as "feather=negative acceleration"

The S2000 lap was really nice. He's got that car handling very, very well. T5 and the Carousel are sweet!

teamking

Thanks to everyone who weighed in!

I realized as I'm reading this that I need some help cleaning up my nomenclature with regard to corner numbering. I was using this:
http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Turn_..._Raceway_track

But it sound like what I was calling 7/8 is what everyone else is calling 8/9. Is the main difference here that 6(a and b) is being split out to 6 and 7?

So to be correct:
5 is a left
6 is a right
7 is a right
8 is a left
9 is a right

Is this correct?

Potomac-Greg

Correct. And 10 is a right that puts you on the front straight.

ProCoach

+1