:. Racing .:. 2005/06/26 - Time Trials #2
Results: HERE
Sixties!
Ah, finally back to Second Creek. After doing 2 test days earlier in the year to get a feel for where the car was, and how I was driving, it was fun to be back!
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I had a goal of running a 1:08 going into this weekend, unfortunately, it looks like it wasn't to be. Just not enough driver, it would appear. However, it was still a tremendous lot of fun. Great weather, not a huge amount of cars, and generally a fantastic fun time. Finally, after waiting for 3 years, I got to run competitively at Second Creek. What fun!
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I had made a few changes to the car from previously autocrossing and road racing it. This time, the car was wearing 300#/400# springs, in a dual effort to increase the transitional quickness, and also see if I could keep the splitter off the ground at the ride heights I've been trying to run. Even with that, I kept the car high to help the splitter die a slower death. However, as you can tell from the pictures, the car still nosedove and rolled enough to grind that splitter, so I decided to move up to 350# or 400# springs to see if that would help.
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Qualifying was an incredible riot. Slightly cold tires and not getting any practice on the track beforehand is an exciting combination! For the first time, I felt some oversteer in the car on turn-in. I had to do an ever-so-slight catch, which, being a n00b, made me slightly nervous, so I decided to soften the rear bar just a bit. This had basically zero effect - the bar seems to be largely useless on the Radical, or at least, a verrrrry subtle trim-tab.
Despite the slight turn-in issue (which really wasn't an issue at all), I nearly matched my previous best in Qualy, with a 1:10.54. Super!
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Running turned out to be a blast as well, as traffic wasn't anywhere near as bad as it had been at Mead on event #1. In fact, I stayed out the entire 40 minute session, and got the unofficial Iron Man award for running the most laps at the event. Hurrah! During the entire session, I had no issues with overheating, brakes, anything. Mostly I just had to keep my arm restraints on my arms, and that was about it!
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Handling-wise, the car was definitely better than before, but still settled into a steady-state push. However, this was safe enough for me to really start pushing through Kamikazee. I started the day going through at about 69MPH, and finished the day with a best of about 76MPH, just by braking a bit less on entry. There is more time there - I am sure of it! I'm sure as I get more confident in the car, I'll start using all the track the same way Steve does. For now, I'm a weeeee bit more conservative!
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So, despite shooting for 1:08's, the best I could do was a high 1:09 - that is, 1:09.70. However, that means I'm in the 6x second range at SCR, and that is not too bad. Apparently the best drivers in the best cars are doing 1:05's, so we'll see if I can get anywhere near that before it's all over.
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One other change worth mentioning - the 15T front sprocket, and the 50T rear sprocket. This turned out to help acceleration immensely, and I'm doing one extra gearchange on both of the straights. Not sure what the top speeds are, as they come up frightfully fast!
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In summary, once again, I got to race with no problems whatsoever, and had a fantastic time doing it. Open-car racing is turning out to be an incredible joy!
NEW CHANGES:
- 300/400 springs
- 15T/50T sprockets
- Fiddled-with ride heights
Media:
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