panamericano Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Time for your rain tires. Ha. Is it going to last long enough to just console with a cold beer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted August 14, 2020 Author Share Posted August 14, 2020 It’s stopped raining and dried out on track but my sessions passed and so I am done for the day. Shower time and head to the tavern for a cold drink or five. Very successful day. A short list of problem items to fix but nothing bad. The biggest job is to drop the front uprights and remove a degree of camber. Here is to the weather cooperating tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 So, which ran faster, the BMW or the monster Caterham? I like the BMW's chances, esp at VIR, based on its aero advantage over the Caterham's barn door approach. What was you speed thru the climbing "S's"? Yes, VIR is a great track, maybe my all time favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SENC Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Great pictures, thanks for sharing, and sounds like a great day. Hope you get a full day in tomorrow and look forward to seeing more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted August 15, 2020 Author Share Posted August 15, 2020 So, which ran faster, the BMW or the monster Caterham? I like the BMW's chances, esp at VIR, based on its aero advantage over the Caterham's barn door approach. What was you speed thru the climbing "S's"? Yes, VIR is a great track, maybe my all time favorite. Thats not really a fair comparison. When you start testing a car you take things carefully and probe the edges of its capabilities and work carefully towards expanding them. So neither driver yesterday pushed the throttle fully to the floor. The negative camber made it very lively into turn 1 so pushing it was just going to lead to an off. I suspect weather will prevent me from running the BMW today as I do not have wet tires. We agreed beforehand we should not be running it in the wet at this stage as setting it up for dry is more meaningful. I never push hard on a new track - I have a routine for learning every new track when driving it for the first time. I memorize the map. Then I spend hours watching video until I can drive it in my mind mentally. Then I walk the track or walk the perimeter. Then back to videos to study. Then I go out at the back of an intermediate group, using only 5th gear and just focus on lines and braking markers. I rarely if ever use full throttle. Speed comes later once I have the lines sorted. VIR is going to be like Spa-Francorchamps or Portimao circuits in that it will take 2 days for me to get to grips with it. Its very technical and so it takes time to finesse the lines - particularly in the turns 1-2-3-4-5 section as messing up just one corner messes up all the ones following. The Caterham was also an interesting lesson. First session was on 13 inch slicks and I discovered that certain kerbs were not to be used, e.g. climbing esses, as they severely upset the car. The rear end would step out at the middle ess needing quick wheel work. Staying off the kerbs kept the car far more settled although required more steering precision to smoothly thread the needle. I switched to the 15 inch Avon ZZRs for the rest of the day as it threatened rain, kept off the kerbs that were problematic and the car was far happier plus I could rotate the car better with some slide. I was getting up the climbing esses fairly slowly at around 100mph - roughly same speed at top as bottom which is how it should be driven. I should be able to add 10-20mph on top of that. No idea of top speed on the back straight as I was not monitoring and my speedo does not register over 100mph. The big cars (Corvettes, Porkers, McLaren) really do come past you so much quicker, I expect they are doing a good 30-40mph faster than me. But then I can hang on the back of those cars down through Rollercoaster/Hog Pen section before losing them on the pit straight where they just boogie off again. Its a magnificent track. Its old school design. Great elevation changes. Its likely to make my top 5 race tracks I have driven. I think I will have to work out how to come back when there is better weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anker Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 You should try learning tracks using sim racing software. It works really well. A couple of weekends ago I took a Skip Barber racing course at Lime Rock, which I have driven extensively on my simulator. It drove exactly the same virtually and in reality! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 Mike, glad to see you ran VIR....it is a great venue. And the car looks awesome. Would love to go back and let the Stalker give it another go. Not much around VIR. Did you end up at Aunt Millie's?:cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 Fascinating Croc. Your approach to learning new tracks makes tons of sense (my approach is to do 2 slow/feeler laps then balls-out after that and see what happens-I know you are shocked:))! I think the sim racer approach is also a way to break thru the "plateau" we sometimes hit at tracks where we simply can not improve our best time, so are stuck in the not-bad, not-great level. One of my promises to myself a while back when I was at VIR was if I pushed it too hard at the uphill "S's" and went off, I'd sell my car (then an Evo XIII). So of course, I went off at around 115 mph, scared myself to death, and sold the car when I got home and avoided tracks for 2 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted August 15, 2020 Author Share Posted August 15, 2020 my approach is to do 2 slow/feeler laps then balls-out after that and see what happens-I know you are shocked:)). I’m shocked I tell you, shocked!!!! I would never have guessed that’s why you spray off into the scenery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted August 15, 2020 Author Share Posted August 15, 2020 Sadly today has been a weather shocker. Monsoonal at points this morning. So as everyone has disappeared or started drinking I signed up for the Touring Lites group and followed the pace car to learn wet lines. Only two of us out there so it has been great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted August 15, 2020 Author Share Posted August 15, 2020 Update - so I switched myself back to open session without the pace car. Then as a dry line on the track was developing, I went out straight after lunch.... ....and then the rain started. Was not bad initially. But I noticed it was getting worse and cars started heading into the pits. So I was left out there with just one other car But then he puckered his seat fabric with a very wild aquaplaning moment. And that just left me. It was wild. The car was aquaplaning all over the place. Standing water anywhere near track edges. A river ran through the track edges. So I decided I should give it away and call it a day. I was soaked - trail of soggy clothes on the way to the shower. Still it was an enjoyable two days at VIR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SENC Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 Great pictures, sorry the weather didn't hold out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panamericano Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 "... I was soaked - trail of soggy clothes on the way to the shower." Does that mean the path to the showers did not stop[ by the beer cooler? Seems a bit out of character. Surely there is place to set the beer down while rinsing off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Your day is very similar to one I had with an FFR Cobra replica in the late 90's at Pocono, chance of rain 5%, which means as soon as I unloaded the car off the open trailer, the skies opened and did not let up. No top, but a giant golf style umbrella to keep the drivers seat dry (well, sort of, it did not squish as much as later in the day).......Left the street tires on, went out and did about 20 combined laps in the AM/PM sessions....No students wanted to ride with me, I don't understand why . Only other thing I remember from that day is borrowing a rather large pry bar and knocking two drain holes in the floorboards. Who knew I ever needed them when I was building the car.... Bill S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 LOL Bill. I had standing water in my footwells - about an inch. One of the track workers asked if I wanted to borrow his shotgun to create some drainage holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 Does that mean the path to the showers did not stop by the beer cooler? Seems a bit out of character. Surely there is place to set the beer down while rinsing off. Alas, no it did not. The new Covid Croc is on a strict diet. He has lost 10% of his weight and can see his feet and his little tinkle for the first time in a decade or two. So he is also faster.... :-p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 Who is interested in Watkins Glen for September 4-5-6? Need a good Seven contingent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 If only it were closer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wemtd Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Are you bringing the Storker up in October? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 Cars are loaded and heading home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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