AKADriver
06-23-2003, 09:37 AM
I had a great instructor who knew the course and the 240SX very well. I was one of only two 240SX drivers in the HPDE groups, the other guy is an instructor, he posts as jam149 on freshalloy. There was also an S14 240SX race car there, though. Great looking car... I'll post an action shot of it later (I hope it came out well). Our own Mark (Hipposleek) also showed up briefly, sans car.
I didn't break anything on the car, which is always good. Still in 95% stock trim, plus strut tower bars, subframe spacers, and tension rods. I also pitched the rear seat. My tires weren't behaving well, pressures were good but I was getting a vibration from a flat spot. It sucks, I've only got about 3000 miles on these tires. Also, the pillowball tension rods can make the bumpsteer a little more violent than I remember on the transitions between the asphalt and the concrete patches. It wouldn't be a problem on a glass-smooth track like VIR, though.
I learned a lot this time... Managing front-to-rear weight transfer (pitch) was where I had the most problems and where I think I made some of my biggest improvements. It's amazing how carrying braking just a little later before a sharp corner (like 1 or 5) will make the car turn in that much better... or how dialing in throttle in a fast corner (like 4) will nicely settle a shaky-feeling car. One thing I still need to improve is managing understeer... sensing it and fighting the urge to dial in more steering input. Yeah, we're driving FR cars, but a stock base model 240SX is a very conservatively tuned machine. I'm torn between putting my HICAS car swaybars on now, or waiting until after my next event so I can learn more with that stock understeer.
My only regret is that I just wasn't pushing it as hard as I know I can and have in the past. I guess my comfort level is down a bit... time to bring that back up!
I didn't break anything on the car, which is always good. Still in 95% stock trim, plus strut tower bars, subframe spacers, and tension rods. I also pitched the rear seat. My tires weren't behaving well, pressures were good but I was getting a vibration from a flat spot. It sucks, I've only got about 3000 miles on these tires. Also, the pillowball tension rods can make the bumpsteer a little more violent than I remember on the transitions between the asphalt and the concrete patches. It wouldn't be a problem on a glass-smooth track like VIR, though.
I learned a lot this time... Managing front-to-rear weight transfer (pitch) was where I had the most problems and where I think I made some of my biggest improvements. It's amazing how carrying braking just a little later before a sharp corner (like 1 or 5) will make the car turn in that much better... or how dialing in throttle in a fast corner (like 4) will nicely settle a shaky-feeling car. One thing I still need to improve is managing understeer... sensing it and fighting the urge to dial in more steering input. Yeah, we're driving FR cars, but a stock base model 240SX is a very conservatively tuned machine. I'm torn between putting my HICAS car swaybars on now, or waiting until after my next event so I can learn more with that stock understeer.
My only regret is that I just wasn't pushing it as hard as I know I can and have in the past. I guess my comfort level is down a bit... time to bring that back up!