mav1178
09-09-2004, 03:54 PM
(posted on Freshalloy last week... but figured you guys would get a good read out of it)
***WARNING, SUPER LONG!!!***
More than two months ago, I was browsing the NASA Pro Racing website, and saw that they had a date for Sonoma for a HPDE event. It was scheduled for a week before Formula Drift @ Irwindale, so I was kind of skeptical about doing a track event so far away from home (400 miles, 6 hours) less than a week prior to Formula D... but I figured, my car has never let me down so far, it should be good to go.
Drove up to the track at ~7AM, was kind of late... went through the usual HPDE driver's meeting and got aquainted with our instructors. I chose to run in Group 3, as I was comfortable with learning the lines at the track by myself and didn't want to get stuck with any super-slow cars out on the track... turned out to be a good choice.
If you have never been to Sears Point (now called Infineon Raceway due to sponsorship), it is one of the best tracks in the world to race on. The combination of uphill/downhill turns, off-camber and blind corners... wow. It was quite the experience.... Upon first glance, the track seems to be very high speed and dangerous.... and it is, but the track layout is superb for almost any type of car, and due to the repaved surface the course was very smooth and easy to drive on. A few friends remarked to me afterwards that the old course design (with a much sharper back esses section) was more challenging, where you can find the "fast" spots on the course if you knew the secrets... I guess with track evolution, some of the older magic gets taken away...
My course rundown/impression in my car:
Turn 1 - full throttle uphill, 4th gear, under the bridge... I usually take a more direct line, not tracking as wide as some other higher HP/faster cars to keep my momentum going uphill.
Turn 2 - off-camber uphill right hand turn, slightly challenging even for such a low horsepower car as mine. Most ALMS/high HP cars I've seen usually run an outside line coming into turn 2, with a late apex so that power can be put down coming out of the turn. I tried that a couple of laps but came out of the corner losing too much speed... and I also experimented with 2nd gear exit versus 3rd gear... my best compromise was coming up from turn 1, using both brakes and gravity aid slow the car down, shift into 3rd gear, and early apex and accelerate out of turn 2. Results may vary.
Turn 3/3a - most of the cars that I've seen run, early apex turn 3 and set up for 3a, which is a difficult corner as the way you drive into it will determine how you end up running the next two corners. 3a is another off-camber, BLIND corner that goes over the crest of a hill. I early apex 3, and early apex 3a as well, then right when I get near to the top of 3a I am at full throttle and track the car out to the berms at the edge of the track. Unlike Laguna Seca's corkscrew (where you use trees as your reference point), 3a at Sears Point has nothing but grandstands. The flag station is on the inside corner of turn 3 and you can't use it as reference... so you literally have to drive it by feeling. the exit of 2 all the way through the exit of turn 4, I stay in 3rd gear. I experimented with shifting a few times before, but found that it only made me lose valuable seconds at corner exits.
Turn 4 - Turn 4 is relatively straightforward: brake in a straight line, clip the apex, track out... and full throttle going out. If you come out of turn 3a too hot or try to late-brake going into turn 4, you can easily overshoot the corner and end up in the dirt... I almost did that once and it scared the [censored] out of me.
Turn 5 - Turn 5 is kind of an extension of turn 4... you just drive it and most likely upshift in the middle of it, depending on your power level. For me, it is a setup turn for turn 6, the carosel.
Turn 6 - One of the best turns on the track, the carosel can be driven almost any way you want...almost. The general consensus is that by the time you hit the apex of the turn, you should be full throttle and shooting for the outside of the exit to maximize acceleration. My entry is somewhat conservative (as I wanted to be able to drive home by the end of the day), so I lift throttle out of turn 5 and use some minimal trailbraking into turn 6 to help the car rotate smoothly. I try to make the entry towards the apex as smooth as possible, without making the tires howl or upsetting the balance of the car. Then its full throttle on out to turn 7!!!
Turn 7 - Turn 7 is, for the most part, a double apex turn... but again, horsepower differences make each car's line different. I brake from 4th gear down to second, and double apex the turn on both inside berms. Surprisingly for my car, after I hit the first berm I am full throttle and already upshift to 3rd gear as I exit turn 7. This was also the same turn used for Formula D on 7/11, so it was an unique experience to say the least to drive it again...
Turn 8/8a - Coming out of 7, you usually end up upshifting to 4th before you hit turn 8, and my car is no different. I jab on the brakes slightly before entering turn 8, half-throttle coming out of 8 and going into 8a, and am full throttle on the exit of 8a. Our chief instructor noted to us that we should track out all the way to the left edge of the track at the exit of 8a, as any inside line would cause you to lose too much speed and momentum. My car's too slow... so it looks kind of dumb in the video.
Turn 9 - Long left hand sweeper, more of a setup turn for turn 10. I take a middle/inside line to avoid losing too much speed... and brake for turn 10.
Turn 10 - Turn 10 has its own club.... no matter what, do not early apex 10. If you do, when you come out of the turn you will find the amount of track runoff room to dissappear almost immediately, and end up in the tire barriers. The berms on the left side of the track going in is good as a reference point; turn-in for apex of 10 should start at the end of the berms, and late apex 10. Trailbrake slightly for the turn, then as you come out of the apex gradually bring it to full throttle. Again, my car is slow, so it feels like it is an easy turn.. when it isn't.
Turn 11 - Last turn, right before front straight. Nothing fancy, just downshift from 4th to 2nd, and depending on your power and/or car setup, early or late brake/apex.
A map of the course can be found here:
http://www.internetsoccer.com/images/2003-ALMS-Map.lg.gif
Calculating the lap times using reference points in the video and assuming the clock on the miniDV camera is real-time, my fastest lap time of the day was 2"11.04. In fact, my lap times were all pretty consistent... something I was happy about. Here are the times as calculated according to the capture program:
Session 2:
2.16.23
2.11.83
2.13.06
2.16.03
2.16.94
Session 3:
2.13.21
2.16.81
2.14.07
2.12.20
Session 4:
2.14.06
2.11.04
2.12.81
2.12.24
2.11.96
2.13.96
Overall it was a wonderful experience.... I mean, track events are something that not only help improve your skills as a driver, but give more meaning to owning such a good chassis as what we have. Go out and drive!
I should point out that the event was very good, no major incidents and smooth throughout the entire day. I would highly recommend HPDE events in the future for anyone wishing for a good time... you don't get a whole lot of seat time (4 sessions, 20 minutes each), but the instruction available was superb.
I got home from Sonoma at 4AM on Monday, tired and wired from 6 Red Bulls and 4 Starbucks Doubleshots... yet I still was stoked about it for a week afterwards. I still AM stoked now!
Video of fastest lap:
http://www.worldwidechang.com/Vid/SonomaClip1.mpeg (right click and save as - 23.1MB). Also please do not cut/paste the link onto other sites, I don't want my bandwidth to take a crap.
I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did driving the track!!!
-alex
I'll post my recap of Formula D later.
***WARNING, SUPER LONG!!!***
More than two months ago, I was browsing the NASA Pro Racing website, and saw that they had a date for Sonoma for a HPDE event. It was scheduled for a week before Formula Drift @ Irwindale, so I was kind of skeptical about doing a track event so far away from home (400 miles, 6 hours) less than a week prior to Formula D... but I figured, my car has never let me down so far, it should be good to go.
Drove up to the track at ~7AM, was kind of late... went through the usual HPDE driver's meeting and got aquainted with our instructors. I chose to run in Group 3, as I was comfortable with learning the lines at the track by myself and didn't want to get stuck with any super-slow cars out on the track... turned out to be a good choice.
If you have never been to Sears Point (now called Infineon Raceway due to sponsorship), it is one of the best tracks in the world to race on. The combination of uphill/downhill turns, off-camber and blind corners... wow. It was quite the experience.... Upon first glance, the track seems to be very high speed and dangerous.... and it is, but the track layout is superb for almost any type of car, and due to the repaved surface the course was very smooth and easy to drive on. A few friends remarked to me afterwards that the old course design (with a much sharper back esses section) was more challenging, where you can find the "fast" spots on the course if you knew the secrets... I guess with track evolution, some of the older magic gets taken away...
My course rundown/impression in my car:
Turn 1 - full throttle uphill, 4th gear, under the bridge... I usually take a more direct line, not tracking as wide as some other higher HP/faster cars to keep my momentum going uphill.
Turn 2 - off-camber uphill right hand turn, slightly challenging even for such a low horsepower car as mine. Most ALMS/high HP cars I've seen usually run an outside line coming into turn 2, with a late apex so that power can be put down coming out of the turn. I tried that a couple of laps but came out of the corner losing too much speed... and I also experimented with 2nd gear exit versus 3rd gear... my best compromise was coming up from turn 1, using both brakes and gravity aid slow the car down, shift into 3rd gear, and early apex and accelerate out of turn 2. Results may vary.
Turn 3/3a - most of the cars that I've seen run, early apex turn 3 and set up for 3a, which is a difficult corner as the way you drive into it will determine how you end up running the next two corners. 3a is another off-camber, BLIND corner that goes over the crest of a hill. I early apex 3, and early apex 3a as well, then right when I get near to the top of 3a I am at full throttle and track the car out to the berms at the edge of the track. Unlike Laguna Seca's corkscrew (where you use trees as your reference point), 3a at Sears Point has nothing but grandstands. The flag station is on the inside corner of turn 3 and you can't use it as reference... so you literally have to drive it by feeling. the exit of 2 all the way through the exit of turn 4, I stay in 3rd gear. I experimented with shifting a few times before, but found that it only made me lose valuable seconds at corner exits.
Turn 4 - Turn 4 is relatively straightforward: brake in a straight line, clip the apex, track out... and full throttle going out. If you come out of turn 3a too hot or try to late-brake going into turn 4, you can easily overshoot the corner and end up in the dirt... I almost did that once and it scared the [censored] out of me.
Turn 5 - Turn 5 is kind of an extension of turn 4... you just drive it and most likely upshift in the middle of it, depending on your power level. For me, it is a setup turn for turn 6, the carosel.
Turn 6 - One of the best turns on the track, the carosel can be driven almost any way you want...almost. The general consensus is that by the time you hit the apex of the turn, you should be full throttle and shooting for the outside of the exit to maximize acceleration. My entry is somewhat conservative (as I wanted to be able to drive home by the end of the day), so I lift throttle out of turn 5 and use some minimal trailbraking into turn 6 to help the car rotate smoothly. I try to make the entry towards the apex as smooth as possible, without making the tires howl or upsetting the balance of the car. Then its full throttle on out to turn 7!!!
Turn 7 - Turn 7 is, for the most part, a double apex turn... but again, horsepower differences make each car's line different. I brake from 4th gear down to second, and double apex the turn on both inside berms. Surprisingly for my car, after I hit the first berm I am full throttle and already upshift to 3rd gear as I exit turn 7. This was also the same turn used for Formula D on 7/11, so it was an unique experience to say the least to drive it again...
Turn 8/8a - Coming out of 7, you usually end up upshifting to 4th before you hit turn 8, and my car is no different. I jab on the brakes slightly before entering turn 8, half-throttle coming out of 8 and going into 8a, and am full throttle on the exit of 8a. Our chief instructor noted to us that we should track out all the way to the left edge of the track at the exit of 8a, as any inside line would cause you to lose too much speed and momentum. My car's too slow... so it looks kind of dumb in the video.
Turn 9 - Long left hand sweeper, more of a setup turn for turn 10. I take a middle/inside line to avoid losing too much speed... and brake for turn 10.
Turn 10 - Turn 10 has its own club.... no matter what, do not early apex 10. If you do, when you come out of the turn you will find the amount of track runoff room to dissappear almost immediately, and end up in the tire barriers. The berms on the left side of the track going in is good as a reference point; turn-in for apex of 10 should start at the end of the berms, and late apex 10. Trailbrake slightly for the turn, then as you come out of the apex gradually bring it to full throttle. Again, my car is slow, so it feels like it is an easy turn.. when it isn't.
Turn 11 - Last turn, right before front straight. Nothing fancy, just downshift from 4th to 2nd, and depending on your power and/or car setup, early or late brake/apex.
A map of the course can be found here:
http://www.internetsoccer.com/images/2003-ALMS-Map.lg.gif
Calculating the lap times using reference points in the video and assuming the clock on the miniDV camera is real-time, my fastest lap time of the day was 2"11.04. In fact, my lap times were all pretty consistent... something I was happy about. Here are the times as calculated according to the capture program:
Session 2:
2.16.23
2.11.83
2.13.06
2.16.03
2.16.94
Session 3:
2.13.21
2.16.81
2.14.07
2.12.20
Session 4:
2.14.06
2.11.04
2.12.81
2.12.24
2.11.96
2.13.96
Overall it was a wonderful experience.... I mean, track events are something that not only help improve your skills as a driver, but give more meaning to owning such a good chassis as what we have. Go out and drive!
I should point out that the event was very good, no major incidents and smooth throughout the entire day. I would highly recommend HPDE events in the future for anyone wishing for a good time... you don't get a whole lot of seat time (4 sessions, 20 minutes each), but the instruction available was superb.
I got home from Sonoma at 4AM on Monday, tired and wired from 6 Red Bulls and 4 Starbucks Doubleshots... yet I still was stoked about it for a week afterwards. I still AM stoked now!
Video of fastest lap:
http://www.worldwidechang.com/Vid/SonomaClip1.mpeg (right click and save as - 23.1MB). Also please do not cut/paste the link onto other sites, I don't want my bandwidth to take a crap.
I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did driving the track!!!
-alex
I'll post my recap of Formula D later.