AudiOn19s Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 I've "Bench Raced" TT times for years but have never thrown my heat in the ring and tried it out until this weekend. I've come away with a new found respect for the TT drivers who have mastered this skill set and can go out and quickly get heat in the tires and post a near perfect lap within the first 2-3 laps before they hit traffic and the rest of the session is a throw away. With our PCA DE stuff you go out and gradually put heat in the tires and wait for everything to come in for 2-3 laps before you really start to push, with TT your session is over by then. I also struggled with simply trying too hard, pushing and making stupid mistakes, over driving the car, too quick of inputs on the gas that would unsettle it and too much brake pressure trying to brake at the very last moment. When I finally settled down on Sunday things started to come together but it was too little too late. I set personal goals for myself both days (pro course Saturday and club course Sunday) and fell short of those goals. I had laps on both days where I could have met my target but as stated earlier they were either foiled by traffic, local yellow flags, or driving mistakes from me trying too hard. Final times I posted were 1:30.6 on the pro configuration and 1:33.0 on the club. I was secretly hoping to run a 1:29 and 1:32 respectively and again think I could have with a little more experience in the setting. I was screaming in the car when I was trending towards the 1:29 on Saturday and got held up in a really bad spot but that's part of the game with Time Trials. I did end up winning both days by a large margin but there were only 2 cars in class and not a ton of competition. I was 4th overall of all cars on Saturday and 3rd overall on Sunday. I believe my Sunday club lap is a new TT2 lap record but they haven't run a ton of events on the club course so we will see how long that record stands. If any of you have a competitive drive I highly suggest trying out Time Trials to see how you fair. I had an interpretation of NASA that it was all super competitive racers but came away with the real picture which is that it's a great community of like minded enthusiasts willing to help each other out whenever possible and out to have fun and help everyone else have fun as well. I met some really great new people, had a blast and will be back for more at some point. The best part of the weekend was chasing an unlimited classed factory BMW M4 in GT4 spec. He beat me by a small margin both days but we ran pretty much nose to tail every session on Sunday having a ball! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o0n8 Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 I'm hoping to eventually try the TT in the future. With only 1 track day under my belt I have a long way to go. The guy I bought my Miata from came in 7th it TT5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Good to see you out, glad you got the trophy. The frustrations of traffic and short sessions has turned me off TT, I've got enough rage in my life LOL. Surprised with some of the slow times people were putting up but you were moving for sure. Congrats on the win, and record. Quick- hurry up and list your car for $$$ as class winning record holder! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Bad ass, congratulations man. While I didn't drive, I too had an expectation of NASA that seemed to be untrue based on what I saw. I want to try it once or twice but like rymer, I'm not sure the desire for trophies outweighs the limited track time of TT. Maybe as a next step before w2w, who knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miller Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Well done Andy. Looks like you pretty well decimated your class competition. Nice lap times out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted April 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 The frustrations of traffic and short sessions has turned me off TT, I've got enough rage in my life LOL. I want to try it once or twice but like rymer, I'm not sure the desire for trophies outweighs the limited track time of TT It's absolutely NOT a good value for getting track time, nor is their HPDE program in my opinion. Lots of other groups to run with that offer more track time at a cheaper cost. BUT I've been doing lapping long enough that I wanted something more and a little bit of competition. Well done Andy. Looks like you pretty well decimated your class competition. Nice lap times out there. Thank you sir. Saw you ended up coming off the track on Sunday, something goofy going on with the car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miller Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 It's absolutely NOT a good value for getting track time, nor is their HPDE program in my opinion. Lots of other groups to run with that offer more track time at a cheaper cost. BUT I've been doing lapping long enough that I wanted something more and a little bit of competition. Thank you sir. Saw you ended up coming off the track on Sunday, something goofy going on with the car? Trans was clunking and whirling on my 4th lap. It started on the entrance of thunder valley and felt like flat spotted tires or something. It completely gave up back home, one final clunk and all the gears ceased to exist I'm glad I pulled off when I did and avoided an incident or slowing down the boys. I imagine it had another couple laps at race pace before it would have let go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeesammy Posted April 24, 2018 Report Share Posted April 24, 2018 (edited) Trans was clunking and whirling on my 4th lap. It started on the entrance of thunder valley and felt like flat spotted tires or something. It completely gave up back home, one final clunk and all the gears ceased to exist I'm glad I pulled off when I did and avoided an incident or slowing down the boys. I imagine it had another couple laps at race pace before it would have let go. That sucks. Those are a T56 variant right? just gonna go to a magnum? Edited April 24, 2018 by Geeesammy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miller Posted April 25, 2018 Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 That sucks. Those are a T56 variant right? just gonna go to a magnum? The viper's good. I was in the lightning race with my spec 944 class. Much cheaper transmission thankfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted April 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 video of me chasing the M4 GT4 spec car on Sunday. We ran pretty much every session like this on Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted April 25, 2018 Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 Man you really closed ground in the kink and through the keyhole! This instructor I know taught me that and it's my favorite part of the track. I tend to monster people there (kink not keyhole I still suck at that) even if they're faster than I am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robochan Posted April 25, 2018 Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 Man you really closed ground in the kink and through the keyhole! This instructor I know taught me that and it's my favorite part of the track. I tend to monster people there (kink not keyhole I still suck at that) even if they're faster than I am. Andy has that smoothness down. That BMW driver was over driving it for whatever my .02 is worth. Could find some time tidying it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted April 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2018 Andy has that smoothness down. That BMW driver was over driving it for whatever my .02 is worth. Could find some time tidying it up. He did that pretty much all day both days. He’s like the VP of infrastructure for Google and is a paying driver in Pirelli World Challenge...but he must be looking at IMSA or another series because he was running Hankook slicks not Pirelli. Second session Sunday morning we came to the green and he slid wide and I stuffed it up the inside in T1 and he had to follow me that session. He put together a solid flier in the thunder race (where he finished second) that started to show more of the car’s potential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robochan Posted April 26, 2018 Report Share Posted April 26, 2018 He did that pretty much all day both days. He’s like the VP of infrastructure for Google and is a paying driver in Pirelli World Challenge...but he must be looking at IMSA or another series because he was running Hankook slicks not Pirelli. Second session Sunday morning we came to the green and he slid wide and I stuffed it up the inside in T1 and he had to follow me that session. He put together a solid flier in the thunder race (where he finished second) that started to show more of the car’s potential. Good for him. Looks like you both had a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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