03/05/06 The first trackday for the year, Alfa club event at PIR. Since at the moment the Box is my only four-wheeled vehicle the choice of what to run was pretty easy. I did consider getting the tires remounted inside-out to even out the wear but somehow got sidetracked from that - a decision I'd come to regret later. At least in part my failure to deal with the tires was due to the forecast. Rain, basically. Won't stress the tires in the wet, right? Well... It never rains on Alfa day. And this one was no exception. It was rather chilly and there were some wet spots on the track for the very first session but that dried out quickly and the whole day ended up being run on dry pavement. Maybe it was raining on the Internet at weather.com but it certainly wasn't raining at the track. Which is great, but... The tires. After a couple sessions I looked at the left front (the hardest-worked tire at PIR due to the fact that most turns are to the right) and found this:

Yep, chunks missing from the tread and cords flashing shamelessly through the openings all along the edge. This will not do of course but I wasn't quite ready to quit. Also, Tracy co-drove for the day, running in the intermediate group (I ran in advanced) so quitting at this point would mean the day is over for both of us. After some contemplation I decided to swap tires cross-corner, so that the most-used and least-used tires would change places. Then I wouldn't worry about the cords showing and just ignore the reversed direction of rotation. With a borrowed jack and torque wrench the swap went easily and the rest of the day was without incident (unless you count Tracy's minor adventure in the chicane but that had nothing to do with tires). I actually left early to attend a glassblowing class I've been taking so she finished the day on her own. Did pretty well, too - laps in the 1:50-1:51 range which is good for the first time on this track and the first time in the car. This is what newbies do in M Coupes, so pulling that off in the Scion is a bit of a feat actually. According to the GPS my times were in the 1:45-1:46 range, consistent with last year's pace but not quite up to the best of it (0.40 sec short on best lap). It was entertaining although I must say I'm ready for the Mini to show up. It's in California right now having just made the ocean crossing. The limited slip diff will be a welcome change - the Box cannot even put down the meager power that it has due to inside wheel spinning helplessly in most corners, no matter the speed. Tracy's new GTI should be arriving about the same time as my Mini, 2-3 weeks from now. I'm looking forward to running those cars back to back - something to be learned there, I'm certain.

In the meantime, I'm left wondering what to do about the tires. I must say I'm quite impressed with the KDW2s. They lasted some 9,000 miles including 6 track days. For me that's a loooong time. I'm used to getting 3K miles out of a set. The tires do great in the dry and very well in the wet. I really like them. So I'll probably get another set. The problem is that I'm going to sell the Box as soon as the new Mini shows up. But before then I've got an instructor clinic to run on the 12th and a Lotus club day (where I'm also instructing) on the 13th. Yes, it's supposed to rain for both but... Anyway, I'll probably put the OEM wheels and tires on the Box when it's sold so that part I'm not worried about. The alloy wheels should fit the Mini the only drawback being the fact that they're heavy. I can get another set of KDW2s and together with the alloys they can be the 'regular' Mini tires. Then I can get a set of track shoes for it, probably 16" SSR Comps with 048s or some such. And these will also fit on the Atom later. So do I get those now and try to see how much difference R tires and light wheels will make to Scion lap times? Or do I just get the KDWs and run the Box and the Mini with those for a while on the heavy wheels, then deal with the Atom when the time comes? I'm curious and it's quite tempting to just get the track set now but of course it's not the most practical thing to do... So I don't know. Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and it will all be clear. Right now, not so much.

03/07/06 After looking at the GPS data from Sunday I decided it might be educational to post some analysis and look at what makes up the 5-second difference between Tracy's lap times and my own. A bit of background: Tracy is an advanced street driver - she's smooth, deliberate and rev-matches downshifts better than I do. She's driven on a track a few times in the past but not in the last couple of years. I of course am more on the track junkie end of the scale, not at pro level by any means but at an average trackday I've got more experience than most. It is therefore interesting to see the data from same car, same track, back-to-back sessions (so the conditions are pretty much identical) and be able to look at exactly where time is being gained and lost. The plots look like this, with Tracy's in red and mine in black:

Her lap is 1:50:35, mine is 1:45:34 so exactly 5 seconds difference. A total novice in the Scion would probably run a fair bit over 2:00. One thing that jumps out above is that the lateral g plots (the middle of the three traces) are very closely matched. I do carry a bit more lateral load (and corner speed, by 3 mph) in turns 4-5 (between M3 and M4), and I transition quicker from left to right immediately after M6, but overall the steady-state cornering is fairly similar. Corner speed is the first stage of learning on the track as a driver progresses from novice to intermediate. Tracy slides the Box around just like I do so she's got that part down. While I might still gain some time through the corners it's not a whole lot. The biggest difference is in braking and it illustrates the point I often like to make, that the transition from an intermediate track driver to advanced track driver comes when one learns to use the brakes. The next step, from advanced to pro, comes from learning to maximize acceleration at every point on the track - that's something I'm still working on myself.

Anyway, the most dramatic difference in braking can be seen at the end of the front straight, Marker 2. You can see how much later and harder I brake, decelerating at 0.84g vs. Tracy's 0.59g. Consequently, between M1 and the apex of turn 2 (lefthander in the chicane) I gain 2.1 seconds in just 500 feet of track. This is because I'm going roughly 30 mph faster over that entire distance. I then get an ever so slightly better drive out of the chicane by using more of the track on exit (the Box has an open diff so traction out of a turn is precious, even at speed). I arrive at M3 2.5 seconds ahead. Here again you can see the difference in braking - mine is later but here I don't brake as hard and carry more entry speed into the turn, maintaining about 3-4 mph more throughout. This puts me 3.25 sec ahead at M4 and 3.75 sec ahead at M5.

Coming out of the lefthander just before M5 you can see where Tracy loses traction to wheelspin (she's actually doing 52 mph at that spot to my 51) and that costs her the drive onto the straight and 2 mph difference for the whole length of it, slipping another 0.35 sec by the time she gets on the brakes. Turn 10 is a tricky one and that's where I usually gain a lot of time on most people, even those with a lot of experience, because the turn can be taken a lot faster than it looks. In this particular instance I was being somewhat conservative and only carried 73 mph through it. I've gone 78 there in the Box last year and that's why that lap time was 1:44.7 solo and 1:44.9 with a passenger (both laps here were two up). Which goes to show that even having driven here as much as I have it's still a tough corner to take at full speed. It's all psychological, the car can do it no problem. Tracy takes it at 66.6 mph which is actually quite a bit better than most people who are new to the track. I've seen intermediate students take it at 60 or less in high-performance cars. On entrance to the final turn I'm 4.8 sec ahead and gain the last 0.2 sec by braking later and carrying a bit more corner speed. Our drive out of the corner and onto the front straight is virtually identical.

So, from a 1:50 lap, nearly 3.5 seconds can be cut by using the brakes better in just three braking zones, amounting to maybe 900 feet out of 2 miles of track. A good chunk of the rest is made up by the speed difference in turns 10-11 and maybe half a second is due to getting better drives out of several corners.

What would have been really cool is to get a pro-level driver to run my car for a few laps so we could all see what the next stage of progress looks like in detail. I'm pretty sure that the Box can do 1:44 flat and maybe even a bit better than that. Since the box is going away soon that might not happen, but I'm hoping that later in the year the opportunity will arise to do the comparison in one of my future cars.

03/13/06 Lotus club day at PIR. Actually, yesterday could theoretically be classed as a trackday also - a joint Porsche/BMW club instructor clinic - but the only driving I did was part of the instruction. Last year I had done it as an instructor candidate, this year I was a 'mentor' helping teach new instructors... Today was when I got to play. And instruct (more on that later). Many thanks go out to the PIR weather gods once again - after actual snow storms just two days prior and with solid rain in the forecast for the next 10 days, we got a single beautiful day of sun and dry track. The promised rain held off until 5 pm, after we were done. Sweet.

This was the first Lotus day run by Motocorsa, the local Lotus/Ducati dealer. The fact that a dealer would directly run a trackday is commendable enough in itself, but the fact that they did a great job of it is even more so. A good variety of machinery showed up. The Box looked rather odd among the other participants...

Of course the fact that the Box could keep up with most of them in the corners was the subject of much comment. I gave a few rides and the passengers were invariably amused, some to the point of giggling uncontrollably :)

Early on in the day I got a ride in the Ford GT driven by an experienced racer. Neat car but I wouldn't want one. Feels just like the M5 did except you sit a lot lower and the helmet bangs on the roof. The car has way too little tire for the power (the driver promptly spun it in turn 6 which was quite entertaining). Actually, I'd say I prefer the feel of the bimmer and I think it could have turned an identical if not better lap time. Just a reminder of how much of a bargain the M5 really is, at roughly half the price of the Ford. Of course this is just a passenger's impression of the GT so take it as such - perhaps I'd feel differently if I drove one. I also almost got a ride in the Gallardo. Unfortunately, right as I got in, the car died and refused to restart despite numerous attempts. It left under its own power later so I don't know what the deal was. Maybe it just didn't like me. Turns out I didn't miss much because David did get a ride in it and was deeply disappointed - it's a fairly mundane experience as far as cars go. Basically an Audi that happens to look exotic and costs $200K. And doesn't always run. Like the Marilyn Manson lyric I often quote goes - "when all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed". Sigh... :) Late in the day I rode with David in his M Coupe (see also his site) and then drove it myself for a couple laps. Now THIS is a fun car. His Coupe has coilover suspension and R compound tires so it's a good deal more capable than either of mine were but still driving it felt like restarting a former relationship, at once comfortable, exciting and weird. Also got to drive an Elise with sport pack and it was more of the same - fun, familiar and a little odd.

I ran GPS datalogger on the Box and managed a 1:44.35 - so yes a 1:44 flat is possible, I just didn't feel like trying that hard (according to the software a 'theoretical best' lap is 1:43.88). Tracy didn't make it to this event, unfortunately. I would have liked to see if we could improve her lap times a bit by working on the braking. David ran a 1:31.10 in his M Coupe which illustrates how much faster that car is. He is using it well, too, being right on the edge pretty much the entire time. It's been gratifying to watch him progress from novice to expert over the last four years. I hadn't ridden with David probably since he started running in the same groups as I and he is much more capable behind the wheel now. Cool. I meant to get more GPS data from various other cars and drivers but it didn't happen. Maybe later in the season.

In all, I only ended up putting 40 track miles on the Box but the day ended up being very busy and quite entertaining. I spent most of it in various cars including those of my student... Who was the most challenging student I've ever had. It was very odd. He had a good attitude, listened and understood well, but had lots of trouble translating words into practice. For some reason he kept carrying too much speed into turns, not using the brakes and getting himself all flustered. He had no good explanation for why that was happening. His Esprit turbo was admittedly a difficult car to drive (I drove it for a few laps and it was not a car I'd recommend to a track novice). So after spinning it twice he decided it would be better to go home and get his BMW 535 instead. This was a good idea and while the next session was still quite problematic, in the fourth one everything finally seemed to click and he made good progress. Whew. I was very glad to no longer have to constantly shout "BRAKE! BRAKE!". All part of the instructor experience, I guess, and the good part is that we finally got it sorted at the end. I definitely feel I earned my keep today. Hopefully the lessons will stick and he'll have more fun at subsequent track outings.

All in all, a great day. I got to drive 5 different cars, sat through 3 spins as a passenger and got some entertaining rides. Later, sitting in a bar with David filling up on appetizers and wine, the concensus was that life is good :) This was likely the last trackday for the Box since the Mini is nearly here.... But if I don't get it broken in by the time the BMW day on the 24th comes around the Box may get to do one more. We'll see.