continued from above
In-car video of 1:55.250 lap, on hot lap 3, TT Session 1
Well that video lap above was just a big hot mess, but it ended up being my fastest lap of the weekend. I watch that and just laugh - that's the best I could do?! On this lap I ran out of brakes twice - first going into the downhill Turn 9 and almost went off mid-corner. Before that point the AIM Solo predictive timer is showing high 1:5
4 lap times, so I gathered it up while cursing traffic and pushed on. The predictive timer was still showing a 1:55.1 time, so I kept in it. Then in the very next braking zone I had brake fade
again, entering Turn 11. Barely kept it on track. I guess this should be expected, after 3 complete bonsai TT laps in a row - you simply cannot push a TT car 10/10ths every single lap and maintain the tires and brakes. I normally try to get my best lap in on my
very first lap of a session, or at worst on the 2nd lap. And the first lap on a set of sticker A6 tires are their best, too. But when you are held up behind a slower driver in front for 2+ laps that just wasn't possible. And with more fast TT drivers right behind me, I didn't dare back off and let them pass, to only get held up when I caught them (which always happens). By the 4th lap I'm usually catching the back of the field and the chances of getting a clear lap approach 0%, so I had to take that lap when I did.
So this double-brake faded
1:55.250 lap ended up being my best all day, was third fastest of the TT session, and it was enough for the new TT3 track record and class win. In that session the next quickest TT time was a solid 3 seconds back, in the 1:58s. Most racers went faster in the 2nd timed session, after I had handed the keys off to Amy.
Left: The grid for TT session 2 was a mess. Right: This looks more like it
Amy drove in TT sessions 2 and 3, and put in a
1:57.449 in session 2. She was still working up her nerve in both sessions (plus she put in an HPDE4 session) and looked to pick up time on Sunday. She stayed out of everyone's way while she got up to speed, waving others by on the first lap or moving herself down the grid beforehand - which a good racer should do. I wish every TT driver would be so courteous.
By day's end nobody was getting all that close in TT3, so I had Amy take the 4th session as well. My session 1 lap time of 1:55.250, even as compromised as it was, still compared very well with the
AI times that day, the quickest of which was about 5 seconds back. In one of the AI races that day there was a crash into Turn 11 when a Mustang racer lost his brakes, which I was the first on the scene to check out (I was standing at pit wall). Then Mike Patterson lost his brakes on his AI Camaro moments later and he went off in Turn 11, about 100 feet away. Crazy! One thing to point out was the
TT1 ZR1 of Corey Wells, one of our customers. This nearly stock, street driven 2010 ZR1 ran a 1:50.449 lap on Michelin slicks, winning TT1 and approaching the TT1 record. You should
watch this lap on youtube... its is amazing.
Another TT record fell that day, in TTB. Our friend/customer/tester
KenO beat the old TTB record handily with his E46 M3. He moved some TT points around in his build and made changes to his set-up and it paid off with a 1:57.955 lap on Saturday, beating the old TTB record of 01:58.678, which he had set in 2012. Ken dropped the record further to a 1:57.603 on Sunday. We ended up building a new exhaust system with a 3.5" in/out MagnaFlow muffler for Ken a couple of weeks later, which dropped his car's ear splitting 105 dB sound level to an amazing 85 dB while picking up flow, ground clearance and power. Custom exhaust work is one of the fabrication services we provide to a number of competitors.
For competitive reasons Ken asked us not to show any more of the exhaust than this. We made a new system from the headers-back
Amy put in some good laps in the Mustang, getting faster each session out and getting down to a 1:57.449, nearing her personal best at this track. But she felt like she could find more on Sunday, so we planned on doing the same strategy - letting me go out in the 1st session then she'd take the rest, unless I got into some traffic again and needed to take the 2nd session also, to try for the class win. I also wanted to get that 1:54 lap that the timer said was in the car, and which I felt was in the set-up with some clear track. Unfortunately, the TT1 car that had held me (and others on the grid) up in the earlier sessions Saturday was just fast enough to get ahead of me on grid final session on Saturday. Oh great.
Time Trial Results: for Nov 2nd: http://timingscoring.drivenasa.com/N...e%20Trials.pdf
I should have been happy with the 1:55.250 lap in TT3, as this was a new personal best at this track by over a second, plus beat the
old TTS and TT2 lap records (which were set in the same TT2 car in 2012). It says "TTA" below but that car should have said TTS, as I was there running in TTS that weekend and remember it all too well. Second place in class on Saturday was a solid 1.5 seconds back (Jeff Tan) and 3rd was 2.5 seconds back (Amy), so why should I worry? (ha! Wait until Sunday...)
The existing NASA Eagles Canyon Track Records before this weekend
TTU.....John Page..........Chevy Corvette.....01:55.879.....Oct-10
TT1.....Troy Messer........Chevy Corvette.....01:50.105.....Oct-12
TT2.....Josh Dunn..........Mitsubishi Evo.....01:55.326.....Oct-12
TTA.....Josh Dunn..........Mitsubishi Evo.....01:55.629.....Oct-12
TTB.....Ken Orgeron........BMW M3.............01:58.678.....Oct-12
TTC.....Eric Foss..........Mazdaspeed 3.......02:03.814.....Oct-12
TTD.....Zachary Parker.....BMW M3.............02:05.336.....Oct-12
TTE.....Josh Price.........Acura Integra......02:11.133.....Oct-09
TTF.....Ken Brewer.........Toyota MR2.........02:15.810.....Oct-10
continued below