NJMP Thunderbolt Member Day - April 7, 2012

[Croc]

I had the car out on track on Saturday at NJMP. I gave a work colleague an experience as a passenger on track. He is a big boy - bigger than me! So there was 500 pound of driver and passenger loaded up in a 1300 pound car. Luckily my Ford Ranger engine...errrrr....Cosworth 2.3 Duratec has plenty of torque to keep up. Still cost me 15 mph in top speed on the front straight and maybe 10mph on the back straight. Track was cold - temps in the 40s and the grip was not great as you can see I run wide of the apex twice. I can also see I fell into bad habits - my steering hands are acting like I am in a road racing car instead of a Seven.

 

I was getting pad knock-off and so was pumping brakes well before the corner to make sure I could stop. I would normally use braking marker 3 but on the day I was using marker 5 plus the gears to slow me down to give me some margin for a problem.

 

 

Camera was a Go Pro HD 2 with a little powered ATR Technica mic mounted in the boot under the tonneau. I also was experimenting with a polarising filter on the camera to get better colors. It is in full 1080 HD on Youtube if you want to watch the quality. The sound is the best I have ever had on a track day yet - so turn up that volume. Data came from the Racechrono and only begins (and stops at the start finish line where there was a full lap.

 

Edited December 12, 2012 by Croc
fixed broken youtube link

[Kitcat]

Nice lines, really using all the track, climbing the curbs, etc. We do the Octopus totally differently (and you have seen where that got me:)), otherwise we have the identical approach.

[S1Steve]

Hi Mike,

Very nice driving when you had some open track. The vid sound is better than last time. Good boy for keeping your cool with the track sweeper, Uh I mean Caddy.. LOL

[Croc]

We do the Octopus totally differently (and you have seen where that got me:))

 

THe Octopus or Jersey Devil is a real problem. I have tried the wide line for a slingshot out and I have tried my inside run line. The higher horsepower cars take the wide line as they can try to put the power down with a wider radius corner. The Elise/Exige/Miata brigade all believe in the inside lines. Not convinced it works really well either way also although the lap timer shows me quicker in that segment if I use the inside line - so I use the inside line.

[KiwiBirkin]

Nice driving Croc the 2.3L Duratec sounds great with the new mic setup on the GoPro 2, I must try out a external mike setup soon.