danegrey's 370Z Journal

danegrey

Review of SCCA Track Night on 6/20/22

Warm day/night, with the constant chance of Thunderstorms, which never happened.
I was in the advance group again.

Session one, set tire pressure to start 33 front / 32 rear. Still learning about tire pressure as to wear to start. So I started on the high size.
This session ran 8 laps, lap times were from 1.40.16 (session best) to 1.47.62. A couple laps were of letting other cars by, my first session I try to get comfortable and find my braking / apex points. I use the Garmin Catalyst for video and in car coaching.
So an the end my best sequence of laps difference was 1.08%. This to me is an indication of consistency from lap to lap. This is what I am working towards. Going for consistency.

Now tire pressures after the session were to high 39 front / 38 back. Was looking for 36 front / 34 back. So next session need a big change. Oil Temp was about 225 after the session and water temps in the middle. (I make this note because I am running water and redline water wetter.

Session 2, tire pressures were 31 front / 29 rear. This session I decided to wait a bit and be more to the rear. Reason was to let the cars that were passing me were in front of me. This actually did work out. The second session is usually my best, tire pressure is set, feel comfortable and finding a spot to run. Times were 1.37.00 to 1.57.82 (this one was do to a car in trouble following it till it found a safe place) 6 of my 8 laps were under 1.40. This time my So an the end my best sequence of laps difference was 1.11%, all good still working there. It just all felt good. Oil and water temps were like last session, Tires pressure were 34 front / 32 rear. a bit below where I wanted them. z

Notes: After I turned the 1.37.00 my best (Video), I felt a bit exhausted. Not surprising but the amount of concentration in order to get to that time. The last couple of laps were off by second and half.

Session 3 Tire pressures, should have taken the time to inflate the tires, because they were down a bit fronts 31 / rear 29.5. (lesson learned).
this session was way off.. Initial lap was a 1.38.73. on the second lap I bottom out at turn 11, cut the turn too sharp and a big bottom out. made note of this, but then started having fuel starvation. Which in the end, ended the session. Tank was half fuel. But lots of twist and turns. More on the right hand turns. New enough simply to call it quit.

Notes: Asked if they sell gas, they do, found where the pumps were for next time. After 2 sessions get gas. Now this was the first time I had it happen. Normal habit, fill the tank with gas before I leave for AMP, I am about an hour away, 50 miles. So figuring the problem was running harder, more fuel.

Had a driver who started following me, before I had problems, with a comment about my lines

During the session notice the fuel gauge was acting a bit funny, but I have seen that before and did not pay much attention to it. Came in and got ready to go and then check engine light, that sometimes happen and then it said I was running low on gas. WHAT.. I know I had a least half tank. I did, filled it up and only took 10 gallons. Cleared the code, that did not work.. Made it back to my GF house and back to knoxville no problem. So guess I figure out what is wrong and keep it full.

Next is a trip to cleveland OH, and a track night at Nelson Ledges, where I first learn how to drive my Formula Ford in 1985. Just want to do it. Doing novice there, because do not know the track and want NOW to take it easy..

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Lotus type 7, following me, let him pass, but just the size difference

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__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

danegrey

Nelson Ledges 6/22/2022

Was in the novice group, because I did not remember the track. Last time at the track was 1986.

Pace Laps, was nothing but pace lap, getting familiar with the track.

First session, just trying to figure out the lines, Carousal and last turn are a b$$$h. Lap times were all over the place, because of the different cars and drivers. There was a Ford Edge SUV, a Subaru Outback and a person in a Fox body Mustang who was really trying. Interesting mix of people. So the lap times reflective that. With a best of 1.28.73. But it was fun. No problems.

Second session, well this turn into a disaster, fuel starvation. By the fifth lap, it really surprised me. So, there must be more damage in the tank, then I thought. Got gas, only took about 5 ½ gallons I tried to manage it, but I had to go really slow to finish the session. I thought about just quitting, but you do not learn anything by quitting. P0463 - how to fix or what to do

Third session, once I had a full fuel tank and now familiar with the track, I could start attacking speed. Once I got around slower traffic, I started last, I had about 4 clear laps. Went from 1.30.69 down to a 1.24.93 and then found traffic again. It was fun and amazing, once I got the fuel starvation.

The carousel and the last turn were problems for me. The carousel had like 2-3 apexes, so I just tried different lines to figure it out. The last exit just needs to be taken slower. If you going to Nelson Ledges, check out the videos by Lap of the World. This track is on the rebound, working on upgrading it's facility. It has changed very little over the years, but track has been repaved and they are working on it

Best Lap: Video

No Track pics yet, but took one at the entrance
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__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

danegrey

SCCA TRACK Night Atlanta Motorsport Park 7/6/2022

I think this has been hottest day that I track since I started... It was 93 with a heat index of 103, really was thinking why I was there....

First Session: This was going to be a slow night, slow in the area of times. Seems, I was traffic all the session. Which produced slower than expected times, but I was getting point byes. Towards the end session I started to notice that my water and oil temperatures were getting a bit high.
Checked my tire pressures and they were off quite a bit. So adjusted them for the next session.

Second Session, kept watching the Oil and Water Temps, Oil got to 260 and stated there. Water Temp, was a bit more concerning, go to the 13/14 dot on the gauge, which meant it was very hot. So I went slower to get the temps down and then tried a hot lap, it just wasn't working. Then the session got blacked flag. Lighting in the area, that pretty much ended the night.

It was a good night for learning new things, like how to drive with temperature problems, and just working on the driving lines. I was paying attention from turn 1 to turn 6. Trying to remember what my sim coach had said. So it made the night still fun.

If you want to know what I am doing or thinking about my temperatures here is the link oil and water Temp, WOW

A few pics

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Best Lap: [/QUOTE]

__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

ZontheRocks

Great stuff! I enjoy the ride along videos posted to YouTube.

__________________
'16 Pearl White Sport | Stillen Gen. 3 | Motordyne ART | Motordyne Shockwave | ZSpeed | Powertrix | EVO-R | Aeroworkz | Nismo | Z1 | EcuTek | Tuned by Seb @ SpecialtyZ

Spooler

Here is how you embed your video.

danegrey

Thanks Spooler ---

__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

danegrey

well, it's close to going to ZCON, (monday - thursday) only reason I am going is to be able to do Barber Motorsports Park. The rest will be interesting...

Got the car all ready and prep, changed the oil (Mobil1 0x40), and coolant (Engine Cool), based on Rusty suggestion (thanks again). New alignment, because of SPL Front upper Control Arms (thanks to husam2012), Steering feels really different, tight. New set of Carbotech XP10-Front / XP8-Rear. Z1-Fuel Starvation kit, (Thanks fryzia23)

My shop Eurospec, has been great, if looking for work to be done in Knoxville area, give them a shout.

The only disappointment, is they did not have enough instructors, so I got bumped up to intermediate and there will be a process of lead and follow. I hope they turn us on our own for a bit.

That's it for now, get this event out of the way and then decide on the rest of the year...

__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

danegrey

getting ready to come back to TN from Atlanta, and some lady, stopped rolled down her window and said nice car...

Always surprised at the comments, one of the reason that I will not get rid of the Z

__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

danegrey

My Barber Motorsport Park Track day

It was an interesting track day, I say interesting because of the vast variety and skill levels.

I got a message that they were moving me up to intermediate, because of a lack of instructors and having done track days. I wanted an instructor only because I had not done Barber. So I did get an instructor, but it was going to be lead - follow, there were only 2 of us and the instructor. So it was not too bad. The first car, got released in 2 laps, I got released to run on my own by the 8th lap, partly do to so much traffic.

Let me explain, there were, Datsun 510s, 240Z/260Z/280Z/300ZX. Skill level all over the place. Car prep all over the place. So I just had to flow and get the point by's and have fun.

The entire day was like that, got some clean laps and worked on my lines and enjoyed the flow of Barber.

Interesting notes:

• Every little straight, hit at least 100 mph
• Instructor, asked how the SIM compare to the actually course, I found this funny.
• I can say for sure that the Z1 Fuel Starvation kit works great. No problems constant flow of fuel, until I ran out of gas on the track.
• Feedback from the instructor was all good on my lines.
• total time laps ended up being 54 laps, not a bad day
• with a 19.x gallon tank ran out fuel after about 151 miles, or 54 laps. Calculated fuel mpg was about 8, sure likes to eat at speed

Best lap of the day was a 1.49.47

__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

danegrey

Forgot to mention another thing happen at ZCON..
So they provide a program to all the events/activities/etc for the week
"Z Club Life 35th Anniversary Event July 25-30, 2022"
Which had a page called ZCON Community Stories, to my surprise, the little information I said about me, made the page

community_page.jpg

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Just laughed and said WOW...

__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

danegrey

Had an interesting session with my Sim Racing Instructor the other night. I have been working with him for over 18 months. We reviewed the last session from where I was working on turns 1 to 5 at AMP. I actually was hitting my marks that he suggested and was impressed. He was a bit funny, about passing another Z and a BMW on fast I had caught up with them. 10 year old car, and your catching the BMW in a couple of turns.

He also took time to look at my Barber Motorsport Track and said it was very tightly.


To me it is finally paying off, the effort and the work.

__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

danegrey

SCCA Track Night - August 24, 2022

Tracks nights are getting interesting, only from the way that I keep improving.
But also trying to get more consistence. Which seemed to work this last time out.

With the cooling and fuel issues resolved for now, the car is running well, going to inspect the front tires and brakes today. Before the trip to Rusty and the next Track day.

I have three more events for this year, an SCCA Track Night and 2 Track days all at AMP.

As to the track night, -- Tire pressures, found the sweet spot on the 2nd session, 36 front 34 rear, and they cooled down to the right pressure for the start of the third session. I always go a bit high for the first session.

Steady improvement through the night, to last session, A bit funny, my personal best was the last lap of the last session. Turned a 1.36.46, after that session when I got out of the car I was done/spent. Finding out the faster I go, the more mental work it is.

Learned a couple of new things, which are a bit different then my sim driving, turn 15 the Garmin, wanted me to track out further, and it seem to help, in that my time across the start/finish line was up a couple of miles per hour.

Also Turn 6, seemed to work better with a later apex, with the ability to put the power down, showed a drop in times.

Funny thing, is in my last session, there were areas I was doing great in the 2nd session, but lost how I did it in the 3rd session. Turn 4-5 was one of them. Guess thinking too much.

Since my last session last year, there has been an improvement of 7.88 seconds per lap and an increase of top speed over the start finish line of 9.8 mph. (from 106.1 to 115.9) I find this all interesting...

Just talking, but it allows me to reflect on how the night went and think about how to improve.

What also will be interesting is the next Track Day, I am going to have an instructor, maybe, its always maybe, thou I sure would like one, just to get some different input.

pics from that night
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Best Lap
Best Lap: [/QUOTE]

__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

ZontheRocks

Love these updates and your self assessment breakdowns. Cool reads always.

__________________
'16 Pearl White Sport | Stillen Gen. 3 | Motordyne ART | Motordyne Shockwave | ZSpeed | Powertrix | EVO-R | Aeroworkz | Nismo | Z1 | EcuTek | Tuned by Seb @ SpecialtyZ

danegrey

Well I did a full track day on Friday at AMP, got in 54 laps. (more on the day to come)

Took the car in for a track inspection for the next date in Oct. Well had a bit of bad news, the front tires on the inside are cored. I talked to the alignment person and we agreed on a couple of things.

• too much camber -2.6
• did not rotate the tires

So new tires will be here this week and going to take some camber out.

Faster you go the more it costs... and lessons you learn...

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Hunting 911s
This is from my instructor, and yes, caught and passed the 911


Well this was fun for a couple of laps until traffic.


interesting note on this the instructor told me to let the Vette by and then he started to slow me down a bit, and said why did I do that.

__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it

danegrey

Atlanta Driving Society - Atlanta Motorsports Park 9/9/2022
ok, this was my first all track day in about a year. The fun part I had an instructor.
Since I never have driven with this group, they wanted me in Novice-Instructor.
It's just there rules. Which is ok with me.

The Instructor was great, good communication skills, knowledge. He had called me two days before and then showed up early so that we could talk.
Which I appreciated, since I have about 17 track events in 2 years. We were basically getting to know each other and how to work together.
Asked a lot of questions. Told him I wanted to work on being consistent

First session - was a throw away, because of getting tire pressures right and just getting a feel for the track.
He watch and had several comments after.
Played well with others, which was not running up on drivers and making them nervous
He actually rated me 7.5 out of 10.
Pointed out several changes
Turn 12, turn at the edge of the curbs,
Turns 3/4/5 go a bit wider. Make it a smooth arc
He also said I was anticpating my turns and upsetting the car, he wanted smooth hands.

Second Session
Worked on what was mentioned in session one, not anticpating turns made me try to figure out what to do.
Well the good part was it seemed to come natural, after it was pointed out.
He was quite excited about it, it was flowing.
Also had some fun in catching and passing a 911. Just fun in having run.
His comment was 9/10 but needed some improvement in braking to turn 1.
I also asked him not to tell me where to break, for I was starting to listen for his clue.

Third session
Working on putting it all together, braking, smooth hands , hitting my marks.(Consistency)
It all worked, was a good session. Fun times, in this session, was a bit funny, he said to
point by a Vet, which the person appreciated. But in the end it was always about catching up
with it, but not enough to get a point by. Then ran into traffic.
Not much, but he did mention Turn 6, this does remain a problem.


Fourth Session
Just pure fun and working on what was learned for the day.
The instructor said that I was his best student for turns 9/10/11, no hesitation and just went.
He also liked through out the day, that I was on it all the time.

consistency, yes, I am a bit closer, but the lap times do not show if because of traffic.
At the end, his only comment was needed to improve on Turn 6.

Best Lap of the day

__________________
Lots of Changes
the Z needs to be driven and driven hard for the car lives for it