Well, I wrapped up my track season on a high note today. I only drove the morning because a steady rain moved in over Mosport at lunch, and it was clear there was to be no more dry driving, or even damp driving. But I drove a ton this morning, and set a new personal best laptime of 1:42.22. I blew turn 5 on that lap pretty badly, though, so I know I can do better. I was really hoping to crack 1:40 today, and I felt really good, and found more confidence in myself than I ever have before, but between the cold and the lack of the afternoon, it just wasn't going to be. (temps were about 5 when we got there, 15 by the time we were driving, so the track never got really hot)

Anyway, I was home before the track even closed, which was really weird to say the least! But I felt really good, and happy with ending the season that way.

Youtube video of my best lap is uploading, if anyone cares to watch. Pardon the profanity in turn 5 - I knew I did a bad job and expressed so to Lucas who was in the passenger seat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2CYGHzHdPc (still processing as of 10:05pm)

 

Dude, I went down to the lower paddock and did some donuts after you guys left. I was testing PSM on, PSM off, sport on, sport off etc. It was fun.

Now I think about it, I feel dumb not to ask Lucas to take some photos while he was there. Well, there is always next time.

 

I don't see anything wrong with turn 5. That's how awd is.

 

nice video. did you mount the camera on the front windshield?

 

Nice vid Christien. Take jumper's word for it, he carries well into and out of 5.

 

I thought I went too deep and missed the apex. I had been getting better "launches" out of 5b most of the day by making a bit of a sharper turn and cutting closer to the 5b apex.

The camera is "mounted" to the passenger side sunvisor clip. I tie a couple zip-ties around the camera really tight, the hook that over the sunvisor clip (with the sunvisor pulled out). Then clip the sunvisor back in to hold it in, then stuff some rolled up paper towel between the camera and the roof and windshield to both get the angle I want and to hold it steady. Next year I'll probably spring for Phil's camera mount and webbie's camera. If you look at the videos he posted from Dunnville, they're amazingly clear. Though I think I compressed too much on this one - most of my other videos on youtube are better quality than this one.

 

I think you went too deep as well, looks like you missed the apex, still a very good lap time. Your mount works very well. Not sure if your windows were closed but it sounded like they were open.

 

Yeah, for a freebie mount, it's not bad! At least my window was open, I can't remember if the passenger window was open. But because it's mounted so close to the windshield, the wind noise from open windows isn't too bad.

I know I can get down below 1:40 on a perfect lap, the trouble is putting together that elusive perfect lap There was a lot of traffic yesterday, so it was even harder to get a fast lap. Especially when a couple of them weren't giving pass signals

 

I hate trying to figure things out from a cam... but you turned in late for 5a... which put you in the wrong place to turn in for 5b so you ended up turning in really late and missing the apex.

 

Well, I turned in late on purpose. At the rennlist day Klaus suggested trying that approach - keep outside of the chewed up pavement at the apex of 5a, and that way you can make the approach to 5b at less of a sharp angle. A lot of other people I've talked to are trying it this way too. Unfortunately I just went too deep and still had to make a sharp turn into 5b, so lost that advantage.

 

I'll preface this by saying I don't have a ton of track time so I won't even begin to critique the video. I have a difficult time hitting 5b consistently but found that there are other areas on Mosport that vastly improved my times:
a) getting on the gas earlier in 2 and
b) carrying a ton more speed right through 4.
Obviously it's tough to tell from your video what you're doing but I find those 2 corners are where I tend to gain on people.

YMMV.

 

where did you get the figure 1.42.13?

yes you were a little wide at 5b

glad to hear you had fun.
any off road excursions yesterday?

 

Geoff, you can carry more speed through 2 and 4 than most people realize, and that's the fun of them. If you nail it, the acceleration through the corner will actually draw the car in, particularly in 4. 4 is an amazingly high speed turn, but very intimidating! For some reason, I've never been scared of 2 like many people - in fact I love it. I found myself a few times yesterday with the loud pedal flat to the floor at the bottom of both 2 and 4 Now THAT'S fun!

Dan, oops - you found my mistake. .13 is actually 13 frames, so the lap time is actually 1:42.23. I get my times from the video camera - I play back the video in frame-by-frame until the 2nd starting line has disappeared under the front of the car and count that as the lap marker. So it could be off by a frame (or .3 of a second) but it's close enough for me. I always forget to convert from frames to seconds, though...

 

I know I can definitely pick up speed on the back straight and in turn 8. I'm still not used to driving north of 200 km/h and my nerve gives out around 210-215 (though I've seen speeds as high as 217 when I've had the ***** to look!). I've only been driving the 996 at the track this year, so I'm still used to my 72 911, which might hit 180 on the back straight if I nail 5b and there's a strong tailwind As for turn 8, I brake too much and too early (again, have to get used to the higher speeds) so I scrub off way more speed than necessary. Yesterday I improved that a lot, but there's still lots left on the table.

I had the Sport Cups chirping in 3, 5, 9 and 10 so I'm thinking I shouldn't push those corners any more!

 

I was also there in my Mini Cooper and had a great time....got almost 2 hours of wet track time in the afternoon and almost 4 total for the day. Back on Saturday with Dexter...

Gary