Project Trackday

Turn 10 at Putnam park

I don’t know where I got this target benchmark of 1:30.x for my time at Putnam Park.  I believe it was a time I read off James’ laptimer when he did some chase-cam footage for me last time I was there.  So with that in mind, my goal for the weekend on the new wheels and tires was to beat a 1:30.x lap.  I have to apologize for the lack of photos/video from this weekend as my camera battery died early on in the day, resulting in only half a session being recorded.

With it being the first time out on new wheels and tires I was back to square one in terms of setup.  I started out with 34psi (cold) all around and set off to my first session at 9:30am, ambient temperature in the high 60s.  Immediately it was clear that the Star Spec tires had a lot more grip than the Azenis they replaced, as I could comfortably carry more speed in the corners.

I had an instructor ride along in the second session to give me some pointers around the track and to pick up some speed.  Gained lots of useful advice on how to approach some of the tricky corners, especially corner 2, 4, 8 and 9 (thanks Aaron!), then jumped in a spec suspension’d Miata for a ridealong to watch and learn.  I experimented with allowing the car to slide out towards the track out kerb instead of driving towards them.  This allowed for much higher corner exit speeds.  Lowering the tire pressure resulted in better cornering, allowing me to turn the wheel less and scrubbing less speed off in the corners (especially turn 2).  I can still go faster through some of the corners if I trail brake into them to start the car rotating, something I will need to keep practicing.

For the 3rd session I lowered the tire pressures to 32psi in each corner and set off.  The turn in and cornering grip felt even better and I was able to further reduce the steering angles to accomplish the desired line.  Marla was on board and timing my laps with a stopwatch and clocked several laps ranging between 1:29.7 and 1:30.4 in a row, only interrupted when I approached traffic.  Onboard footage for the first half of the session below:

I had beaten the previous benchmark of 1:30.x, but only barely. I also started to experiment with carrying more speed into the corners and minimizing braking.  During the 5th session I missed the turn in for corner 4 by a split second but decided to just ride out out without lifting the throttle anyways, ended up dropping the rear right wheel beyond the track out kerb and spun it around, across the track, ending up on the inside of turn 4 after a full 360.  Surprisingly calm feeling after spinning the car, just wish I had it on video to review…

On the subject of video review…  I was a bit displeased with my lap times as I felt I was going much faster but only managed high 1:28s, but after reviewing the old footage from Putnam (on the Azenis and old wheels) I realized that I was running 1:34s before, so a 5-6second/lap improvement is definitely something I am happy with!  There is still much more room for improvement but I’m sure it will come with more seat time.

Putnam is notoriously hard on tires but the Star Specs do extremely well...

Just a few other observations on the new tires… When I tried out running lower tire pressures (lower than 32psi cold) the car would have a tendency to hop in the corners a bit.  Although this was the only way to use the entire contact patch (based on visual inspection of the tread wear), it resulted in less than ideal feel and worse grip than when I had higher tire pressures.  I will need to get more negative camber in the alignment to use the tires properly!  Overall, I think 32-33psi cold felt just about right.  The tire squeal is a much lower pitched than the Azenis, instead of a high-pitched squeal it is more of a low howl.

New wheels got plenty dirty and picked up lots of rubber bits

Just playing a bit of catch up on the posts for the blog.  A couple of weeks ago I ran in Tom’s ’99 Miata Sport for the IndySCCA points event #2 and came in 3rd again, though I am struggling to come to grips (no pun intended!) with the way the slicks behave in the dry.  The car feels less responsive than my NA partly due to the suspension setup and additional weight, but mostly the width of the tires that Tom runs on the car (225 tread width).  I will have to adjust my driving style to compensate for that in following rounds.  I may have to try and force myself to turn earlier than I think I need to in order for the car to transition correctly when I actually want it to.  For those keeping track of season entry fee costs, the auto-x adds another $20 to the tally.   Adding in the cost of running the trackday at Putnam Park ($245), the season cost so far is already at $355.

IndySCCA Points Event #2 in Tom's '99 Sport

I also found someone to trade turn signals with on my car, opting to go back to a stock look.  The turn signal inlets are gone, replaced with some stock indicators from a 94M Miata, with the daytime running lights modification.

New turn signal indicators replacing the turn signal inlets

As for upcoming events:  The next one will be a trackday at Autobahn Country Club (Joliet, IL) with 10/10ths Motorsports on 6/19/10.  The daytime will be run on the North course (1.50mi), with evening running on the full 3.51mi track.  I will need to finish up some work on the brakes and remove the A/C system before then.

Aerial view of Autobahn Country Club

Just some pictures of car spotted around the paddock at the 10/10ths Motorsports trackday @ Putnam Park 5/8/10, enjoy!

I’ll get some on-board footage online once I get some time to view and edit it. Here’s a teaser in the meantime…

Chase camera footage (courtesy of James Ackerman):

Note: I don't have any pictures from Sunday on track so all the pictures in the post are ones that were taken Saturday...

Back early on day 2 to prepare for another day I arrived around 7:20am just as the sun was coming up.  It was still pretty cold but the forecast was a dry and sunny day for the entire day.  First thing I did was to check the brake pad wear, especially in the fronts.  Being this was the first time I had asked so much of them I wanted to make sure that there was still plenty of pad material on there because I knew I was going to ask more of them on the second day.  Surprisingly there wasn’t much brake wear at all, so all I can say is that I am extremely pleased with the performance and durability of the Yellowstuff pads.  (This was again verified at the end of Sunday, and I’m confident these pads have plenty more track time left in them)

The morning started as usual with a class session, and then back on track where for the first time we tried yet less braking between turns 3-4 and holding 4th gear all the way through from the exit of 2 through hard braking for turn 7.  This was a vast improvement from staying in 3rd all the way through 4, upshifting on the exit and then back down to 3rd on the entry to turn 5 as I was forced to keep the momentum in the car to prevent it falling out of the power band.

Something clicked in this first session early on going into turn 7 and it made a world of difference.  I experimented with braking late and turning in just the same time I was starting to release the brake (before the front could decompress) and the turn in was so sharp that I had to turn the wheel back a bit.  The following lap Mike told me  to treat turn 1 like “an autocross sweeper” and I did the same late brake and turn in before the front decompressed, and ended up coming in to turn 2 so fast that I had to really adjust my braking into the corner.  Finally I was starting to use the load transfer characteristics of the car instead of trying to fight it…  The remainder of the lap I focused on hitting the points at the higher speeds I was now achieving and using the load transfer to my advantage.  Mike was very happy with the progress and mentioned that I had now “opened a whole other door” and was “on another level now”.  He mentioned that he had wanted me to get to that point at the end of day 2, and was happy that I was already there so we could keep on moving the yardstick further.

We discussed staying in 4th gear all the way from midway down the main straight until turn 7 and then I took a ride with him to see how it was done.  The goal was ‘Momentum Driving’, and it was extremely important since the Miata was so down on power compared to the rest of the field.  I noticed that exiting turn 2 Mike was able to keep his car at 4300+rpm and therefore had good power out of the corner.  My goal was to exit the same corner at enough speed not to get bogged down in 4th coming out of the corner.

Session 2 we worked on momentum driving and I focused on looking for a visual cue for turn 8 (which had been the corner I was still early apexing a bit because I couldn’t see the apex or exit until 3/4 ways through the turn due to the rise.  Finally I found a good reference point and was able to start consistently hitting the apex.

Coming into turn 1 I was braking late, using the load transfer to turn in and then just a light push on the brake to get more front bite into turn 2.  Going through 3 I lined up for 4 and then braked not to slow down but to settle the front end before turning into 4.  Braking into 5 to get front turn in and then flooring it to hard braking for turn 7, turning in early to clip the apex and flooring it to the entry of 8, taken in the outside middle of the seam on the track, turning in and waiting for my visual cue before getting on the gas.  On the brakes into 9 towards the outside middle of the seam, crossing over to the inside of the seam through 9 (not using the inside curbing) to look for the curb to the right of the pit entry, getting my rear left on that and then the front right over the apex of 10 to do it all over again.

In session 3 I was held up late in the session in the turns for a few laps by a 996 Turbo and Mike told me to stay behind it, testing my ability to follow and on my lines (not watching the car in front’s lines).  I had hit all of the cues and was not letting another car in front get me distracted or off my line even though I was having to brake 150ft earlier into 1 due to the car ahead.  Once we ended the session we stopped in the pit to discuss the session and Mike gave me the go-ahead to do the final session solo.

Cleared for solo in session 4

The final session of the weekend was a combined session with both Green and Yellow groups running together, and was 35 minutes instead of the usual 25 minutes.  Having watched a Yellow only session I was a bit concerned about the number of cars on track synchronously (28 cars on track for the yellow group alone), but as they pulled into the paddock several cars packed it in and called it a day.  Start of the 4th session I was just going to go out and do my own pace but making sure I kept an eye on faster cars coming up, and I felt once I got into a rhythm it really wasn’t a problem at all.

Mike suggested I get a feel for how the car feels different through the turns without the extra weight of an instructor in the car, especially on the left handed turns where there was no long that extra mass on the inside of the corner.  It was definitely different not having the extra weight, the car was accelerating faster (no surprise), and was quicker through the left turns (4 and 8 ) but it felt more on edge on the right turns (as I was going quicker and also because the CG of the car had been shifted).  At one point I peeked down and saw I was hitting 100mph into braking for turn 1…

Late into session 4 (maybe 5-10 minutes until the end) my fuel gauge was starting to creep towards empty and I was following a 944 around the track.  I wasn’t much slower or faster, and over an entire lap I felt I was maybe about on parity with it even though it had the go in the straights to pull away.  I contemplated on pulling into the pits and calling it a day but I was confident that there was enough gas to run out the session.  A lap or two later as I was exiting 10 the 944 spun in front of me, and in hesitation I lifted off the throttle too quickly, inducing a big oversteer moment.  In my lack of experience I instinctively tried to countersteer to catch the slide and got into a huge tankslapper.  Once that happened I knew I was in for the ride, put both feet in (brake + clutch) and hoped for the best…

I hit the exit hay bails on 10 hard going backwards, but I already knew what I had done wrong..  Getting off the gas in panic was the first mistake, but secondly I should have been more conscious of the track layout and known that 10 was the only corner with a guardrail to hit, so I shouldn’t have even tried to save the slide.  Shortly after the track crew, ambulance and Mike were alongside, and I was asked if I was hurt in any way (no.).  Mike mentioned the damage was minimal but I really didn’t want to see what damage I had done..  I drove the car back to the pitlane, sat for a minute and then came out to see the damage.  The rear finish panel and the passenger tail light was cracked, but other than that no other parts would need replacing.  Mike mentioned that if that damage had happened early on Saturday we would have just duct taped the broken plastic parts and kept on going all weekend.  No mechanical damage whatsoever.  How lucky was that!?

Assessing the damage once I got home...

Headed up to the tower for a debrief/report of the accident and then I headed back down to pack my things for the long trip home.  Plenty of time to think over what had happened.  I came to the conclusion that it was a rookie mistake to get spooked at an incident happening right in front of me, but other than that I had made huge strides over the weekend.  I can’t wait until summer ’10 rolls around so I can do it all over again!  This will be the last event for the 2009 season for Project Trackday and all I can say is this has been such a blast so I would highly recommend to anyone who has the interest and means to get into this sport to not be scared away by how much it can cost.  I pulled it off for under $4000 even though at times it seemed like it was improbable, and I had the best summer/autumn ever getting to drive this car around.  I competed in 5 autocrosses and completed 1 weekend trackday (with over 200 minutes of track time).

During the offseason I will be doing some repairs to the car, and depending on the budget I may be upgrading the suspension (shocks and springs) or wheels/tires (going to a 15″ rim to open up my tire compound options).  As for Project Trackday 1.0, I completed my goal so this portion of the project is complete.  Next season I will be keeping track of how much running a season (entry fees, repairs, etc) costs to give people an idea of how much it costs to run a car through these events…

’09 has been a blast, see you in ’10…

What a weekend!

I set out earlier this year to attempt to buy and prepare a car to take to the track for under $4,000 and now I can finally say that I have completed the goal that I set.  Spent all weekend at Putnam Park Road Course in Mount Meridian, IN learning the track and the behavior of the car and it really has put a lot of things in perspective for me personally.  I’ll try to sum up the weekend over this and the following post…

Left to head out to Putnam early Saturday morning, arriving about 7:20am and got the car in queue for on-track tech inspection.  Everything went fine and I was back in grid awaiting registration by 7:50.  The event was broken down to 5 run groups; Instructors, Blue, Red, Yellow and Green (in order of experience).  Met my instructor for the weekend (Mike, who by my luck happened to be the most knowledgeable person in the Miata community I have ever come across) at the drivers meeting  and then headed up to take the first session of class for the Green group.

After the class session I met up with Mike and prepared to head out for our first session on track.  It was cold and damp conditions so we decided to try out a wet line so I could get a feel for it.

Car #17 in the cold pits awaiting the session start...

The amount of grip in those conditions on the wet line was amazing and judging by the rest of the cars on track for that session it was apparent that they were trying to learn the course on the dry line, so it was relatively straightforward to pass several cars in that session.  The session lasted 25 minutes but they were extremely useful as I had never experienced the difference in grip levels in the wet between a dry and wet line.

Setting up for turn 9 on the wet line

By then the misting rain had stopped and the track began to start drying slowly.  I took a ride with Mike during the instructor group in his car and he planned on showing me the race (dry) line and talking me through the points on the track (turn in, apex, exit) that I should be going for in the next session.  Another Miata came up and then the two instructors decided to have a little fun while I watched from on board.  First thing that struck me as impressive was how these guys were able to go into the braking zone less than half a car length apart and trust that they would brake at the same time…

Mike's car in the paddock

During the second run we worked on a dry race line and my goal was to hit all of the turn ins, apexes and exits.  We also adjusted some shifting points on the track to increase the speeds through the corners.

Getting ready to head back out for session 2

Late in the session I was starting to feel that the car was really down on power in the straights, and then one lap later going down the straight I could barely get the car into 4th before going into the braking zone for turn 1.  One turn later I saw the black flag and steam started pouring out of the hood…  We immediately pulled off track and the session was red flagged with only a few minutes remaining in the session.  A hose somewhere had clearly blown and all that steam was coolant spraying onto the hot exhaust pipes.  After a quick inspection, I got a tow back to the pitlane to assess the damage.

Getting towed back

After checking carefully it was evident the coolant loss was coming from near the back of the engine, and after a bit more probing I found the bad heater hose that had cracked.  Luckily Mike just so happened to have a spare on hand (not to mention a trailer of Miata parts!) so I was able to replace the faulty hose during lunch and not miss any track time.  Topped off all the fluids and the car was ready to hit the track again.

Busy at work during lunch to get the car ready for session 3

After lunch I headed back up to the classroom for the second classroom session, and then just as soon we were back on track for session 3.  Finally the sun had decided to peek through a bit and the track was completely dry and finally warming up.  The lunchtime repairs worked perfectly and the car ran well for the remainder of the weekend.  In session 3 we focused on consistency in hitting the key track points and tweaking the line as to suit my car in particular.  By this point it was clear that all of the times I had been complaining in the past about the car understeering/etc was not really that important.  What was much more important was how to set up turns to avoid getting those problems in the first place!  If the car was understeering in a particular corner and I had been doing exactly the same thing as the previous lap when it was just fine, it wasn’t because the tires were getting greasy or the pressures were changing.  I was simply coming into the corner faster because I had gotten a better line through the previous corner, and needed to realize and adjust my inputs accordingly.

Here we go again... Session 3 is about to start

Back to the paddock I was left with a lot of things to think about.  The first session I may have hit 80mph into braking for turn 1, but now I was easily hitting 90 and braking later and harder for the turn, focusing on setting for turn 2 that came immediately afterwards.  I was able to hang if not pass most of the cars in the group between turns 1 and 10, but as soon as I got on the main straight they were gone, right until the braking into turn 1 where I was back on the tail end of the cars.  The main point was still consistency lap after lap, especially through turns 5 and turn 8.  I could hit all the points at a bit lower speeds when I was stuck behind following, but when I was in the open road I was still early apexing and missing apexes on occasion.  Mike said I had hit every single track in, apex and out on the track quite a few times, but I had not done every single one on a complete lap yet…  The only corner I was consistent and hitting the cues every time was turn 9 and 10 because the course is very flat around that section and it is very easy to see where the car needs to be well before getting there.  During the break the course was closed temporarily due to a large shunt by a Porsche GT2 coming out of turn 10, causing significant damage to the rear end.

GT2 at turn 10 into the hay bails and guard rail at high speed

Quite a bit of damage

It was a stern reminder of what can happen at the only corner on track without significant runoff.  I had been very comfortable at turn 9 and 10 since session 2 and was very consistent through it so I made sure a crash there didn’t phase me and affect my driving through the corner.  The final session of the day I was finally able to string together a handful of laps where I hit every cue on the track.  Some real progress and I was able to leave day 1 of the 2009 Pumpkin Run with some good things to build upon for day 2.  Already 100 minutes of track time and I was ready to get some R&R before doing it all over again.

Turned out to be a beautiful day to be on a track

Down the main straight

It’s been almost a month of downtime between events, but things will be picking up again this weekend starting with another IndySCCA points event auto-x in Indianapolis, followed by another one at Grissom AFB during the first week of October.  I am also now registered for my first trackday, the KYPCA Pumpkin Run DE at Putnam Park, which is to take place on 10/24-10/25.

Putnam park track map

The goal this weekend is to get a good baseline on tire pressures and to work on driving technique.  During the break I rotated the tires (RL -> FL, RR -> FR and vice versa), checked the brake pads and also lubed up the brake caliper pins with some high temp grease.

Updates to come after the event…

On Saturday we got to spend a day out at Putnam Park with the Mid-Ohio Region Porsche Club of America (MORPCA) at their DE trackday as part of their ‘Taste of the track’ program.

Porsche GT2 and GT3 at Putnam Park

The program consists of a day at Putnam where we were allowed to ride along in instructors vehicles for familiarization laps and also in two sessions on track at speed.  Included was also the opportunity to complete a few low speed touring laps in the Project Trackday Miata and to sit in on all of the classroom sessions that were offered to the students taking the DE.

We arrived at Putnam Park around 7:20am and walked around the paddock for a bit looking at all of the various vehicles that had been brought for the event, including a Porsche GT2, several GT3s, a whole variety of 911s, Caymans, Turbos as well as some classics like the 928, 944 and a couple of Radical RS3s and a few Miatas.  All in all quite an impressive collection of vehicles…

The Radical has a 1.3L engine from the Suzuki Hayabusa motorbike

Unfortunately the weather was not to cooperate throughout the entire day, and the entire day was riddled with non-stop rain of varying magnitudes.  The track remained wet throughout the day, severely limiting the pace of the vehicles on track.

During lunchtime we were given the opportunity to take some low speed touring laps around the track in our own vehicles.  Driving around an open track at these speeds really makes you want to open the taps and have a few hot laps on a race track, however I’ll save that opportunity for when I’m actually registered to take the HPDE.  Next time!

In the afternoon we got our rides in the instructors vehicles at speed.  First up was a Porsche 911 (I think it was a 930), and even with the soaking wet track conditions it was a nice thrill.  Later on in the afternoon I got the opportunity to ride in a NB Miata with a wet (but not as soaking wet as earlier) track on DOT-R tires.  The braking capability of the vehicle and its ability to keep momentum throughout the corners in the wet was impressive, so I can only imagine how much fun the car would be on a hot and dry track!

Later on during the day I took the opportunity to have the Miata tech inspected to see if there were any further modifications required to run a trackday event, and it looks like the car in its current spec with the rollbar installed is ready for a trackday already.