dodint's Automotive Evolution

[dodint]

I was doing some deeper looking at that blue one I posted above, with the brown interior. The new tires they put on are SuperMax TM-1's; $36 each at Wal-Mart and they have terrible reviews, 600TW.

[George]

Look on the bright side - at $36 each, you can afford to replace them often.

[dodint]

Here is a guided walkthrough of my no good very bad evening at PittRace with TNiA.



I was working with Russ, Tyler, and Keith on figuring out the big spin at 6 minutes. The first off is still something of a mystery to me. I know, I think, how I could've gotten out of it but I'm not 100% sure how I specifically got into it.

The car was fine. Very lucky not to have torn the radiator out from the bottom.

[CudaMan]

As with many things in life, when we focus on outcome rather than the process or execution, things can get messy. Goals are great - but in driving, chasing a time isn't the right approach to goals. Make your goal something like "I'm going to really figure out this corner complex today" or "I'm going to focus on my braking points and figure out exactly the best spots." There are tons of variables to lap times - weather, track conditions, tire wear, etc.

I think the 1st and 3rd offs were preventable with being more "up on the wheel" as they say in NASCAR. Have you played sports? Done any reaction training? If you'll forgive the term, your reactions and inputs when oversteer starts look simply lazy in those moments. While smooth is fast, there is such a thing as too smooth. Also, one does want to have quick hands when oversteer is involved.

Glad you turned it around in the end! The track looks like a lot of fun.

[dodint]

Cuda, always appreciate the support and I understand the tone of what you're saying. Both in sim and real life hot lapping I've always been lazy/dainty on the controls. Part of it is trying to preserve momentum and the rest is just being timid. I've worked really hard this year on getting faster with my hands and I think I've made improvement, this session on Wednesday was largely me taking a completely obverse mindset than normal and not having a positive result.
Last month I went to Gingerman and picked Jon K's brain for a few hours about race driving. We compared drivers that build to speed, and drivers that fully send it and work backwards to stability. I'm very much in the former group; but for the session captured above I was trying the full send plan and it didn't bode well for me. I wasn't true to myself and let externalities dictate my motivation and I made mistakes.

I think my disappointment is amplified by the fact that I had such a good weekend at Gingerman. Really sync'd well with the car and was handling it with confidence. Part of this is I need to find a way to get on track more often than once a month.

The driver in this MX-5 was gridded in front of me. I found his video and was really impressed with his hands (silly gloves aside). He's responding and reacting with a quickness that I don't have, and in watching it I really began asking myself if I'll ever be there. Maybe; but it's pretty contrary to my current style.



I've been reading the Paradigm Shift Driver Development 'The Science of Speed' series. A theme of theirs is about getting from that plateau drivers find when they've reached their comfort zone, and how to break through that by making small changes at the limit to instinctively learn what the car is doing. Rather than building to the limit in my session and then playing with small changes, I went straight to blowing through the limit and well beyond my capability. Again, I went in with the wrong mindset and did the process backwards.

For the spin, I feel like I could have reacted upon detecting the initial rear slide when it occured and saved/used the slide. But as I said in the video, I specifically told myself not to lift and not to make changes to the steering input; I wanted to crest the hill at full throttle and in a straight line. It appeared lazy but what was happening was that I was following a script I had already committed to days before I got to the turn. Boy, that was dumb.

For the first off, I was ignoring the cue of the rear wheels sliding out thinking that I'd be okay and faster if I just let it slide a little. Fast hands would have saved it, but it was so early in the very first session that I just wasn't capable of expecting what was coming. Once the slide became too much I saw the wall coming on my left and 'froze' by correcting enough to drive straight off but not enough to risk additional oversteer that would've sent me into the wall. Again, I'm completely with you that getting ahead of the car and using that slide to my advantage earlier would've been a much more effective outcome.

I'm looking forward to TTN at NCM next month. They've given us an extra day of practice lapping sessions on Thursday with coaches and car control clinics. It's going to be awesome.

[CudaMan]

I see. Yeah. Part of driving at the limit or driving for time is being adaptable and driving the situation you've got - making the best of what's available in any given moment. You're early in the learning curve so mistakes will happen and there's still plenty to learn about yourself and your car.

The ND driver does have pretty quick hands. The other thing is, NDs have ridiculously fast steering ratios. So him moving his hands 15 degrees would probably be like you moving your hands 30 degrees in the same amount of time (this is a rough guess - I've only driven an M3 in the E46 world, and its steering ratio felt slow enough to me). Think about that when you watch his video. On the flip side, the ND has a much shorter wheelbase than the E46 so his car will step out faster than yours all else being equal.

Here's a video I ran across today that you might find useful in some way. The driver is a little sloppy/boisterous but this gives you a great idea of the steering inputs required when sliding a car around. You may notice sometimes he causes oversteer by his overly aggressive turn-in. In general though the car just looks slightly loose. This guy sure seems like a "top-down" driver who learns to reign himself in just the right amount to go faster later in the video. You may notice "top-down" drivers are all pretty active in the car. Constantly sliding it around, adjusting it, tons of inputs. They are the ones who need to hear Smooth Is Fast. "Bottom-up" drivers like yourself can benefit from learning how to become comfortable making the car go beyond its limits of adhesion (without going off), and then integrating that with your natural smoothness.

I found that for myself, not being very athletic and being a chill person in general, I had to amp up my brain and body before a race session to get the most out of the car and myself. The sooner I could start catching a slide, the smaller the correction needed to be and the time loss would be less. I'd do little warmups in the car on pre-grid, and on the tire warming lap I'd purposely work the car in a way that I could feel the tire limit without sliding it excessively while warming them up. Everyone is different - there are some drivers who need to calm themselves down before a session. There is a 'correct' range of mental/physical arousal that results in best performance, and part of your job as a driver is to find that space.

J Krolewicz? If you see him again tell him I said Hi!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9FxjV9qepA

[dodint]

Found my car, fam:

https://springfield.craigslist.org/c...956790401.html



If it's there in a few weeks, and if I can work around the sellers demand for cash payment.

[dodint]

Scratch that. No heated seats.

Absolutely love that color though.

I've been comparing Porsche 986 S's and BMW 3.0si's. Brain says BMW, heart says Porsche. It doesn't help that the best BMW candidates I'm finding are in Phoenix and Lincoln. Feels like there are Boxsters everywhere.

[dodint]

Tight...but satisfying.

Went and looked at a local 986 to get an idea about fit. Lots of headroom!

In all seriousness the biggest fit concern is the pedal box is closer than any other car I have considered. The knee space is about the same as the DMC but the pedals are closer. Steering wheel in the lap is about the same as the DMC so that isn't bothersome. There are some clean mods you can do it free up some space, like doing the lower center console delete from the GT3.

This is the one I am most interested in: https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/link/249893598

Good service history, optional hard top included, nice wheels, fun interior color. I plan to get in touch with them this week.

[dodint]

Both of the 986s that I was watching sold this weekend. Contacted a seller and was talking to him late last night, it was gone (as per the link above) when I woke up this morning.

I'm stuck between this car in NJ:
https://www.garymotors.com/details/u...xster/55778800



and this one in AZ:
https://www.buyazauto.com/pre-owned-...-BMW-Z4/356644


Both cars are equally compelling in their own way. The Z4 is 'safer' as it is in my comfort zone. With the long weekend coming up I'm thinking about taking Friday off and going to get one or the other. Just not sure which. The Porsche has an airbag light on, haven't looked to see if that's a big deal yet.