Tsukuba TC2000 08/06/21

Had a run at Tsukuba just over a week ago on the 21st. Was on new RE11 rubber so was taking it mostly easy. It was actually a very frustrating 2 sessions as there were fast cars that were slow on the bends taking part so it was hard to knit a lap together for the most part as there was always someone either on me in a corner or right in front of me slowing me down. Hmmm.

Used the two sessions mostly to try to get rid of under-steer around most of the corners by turning in earlier. I think it worked for the most part but it did mean I was corner more with the rear so the rear was a little nervous on the exit unless I timed it right. Very interesting how the behaviour changed.

I also tried a few different things on the last corner but nothing really worked. I have an image of how I want to take the last corner but putting the image into practice is scary. I know I can do it but making the jump is not so easy. I think I need more mental training on that one.

As well as new rubber I also go new wheels which are exactly the same ones that I already own. I also bought some Endless pads which I still have to put on the car to try out. I'm not happy with the Mazdaspeed pads at all on the car at the moment so I'm going to give the Endless pads a try and see if I want to go back to MS :-) Apparently the feel of the pad is not so good but at least they probably won't be prone to fade. I'm thinking to install them before the 9th when I have a Party Race practice session so I guess I'll install them next weekend.

Fuji Speedway 08/06/07

Ran two sessions at Fuji yesterday. The main idea was not to attack the course and get a new best lap but to actually not worry about lap times and just try a few things out. The track was also very crowded particularly in the second session so it would have been hard to get a clean lap anyway.

Yesterday I tried out left foot braking for the first time. I found the most difficult part of left foot braking is getting your left foot to actually come over to the brake peddle. It's so far away and not something you usually do so it took major effort to get it over. Once over, I found pressing the peddle also too major commitment and had to fight off imagines of spinning out and wondering how to stop the car with left or right foot etc.

Once I did brake though, I found it was easy enough to modulate the brake. People say the first time you try it you tend to slap on it like a clutch but I found it ok. I guess this is because I usually left foot brake in GT. The hardest thing was when to brake. I kept braking too early and defeating the purpose of the exercise of carrying more speed. As I would brake earlier, I'd slow earlier, then visually, I'd see I was going slower than my image of the corner so I wouldn't brake at the proper place an under-steer off as the car wouldn't rotate as it does when you get the braking just right. My main problems were at the hairpin.

Left foot braking seems to work well at Corner 13 though so will work on it more there in the future I think. I had about 5 different off track experiences while trying all this stuff out but Fuji is definitely a good place to practice this as the track runoff is so big.

Anyway, my next run seems to be in Tsukuba in 2 weeks. I'm a bit worried about the amount of thread on my left front shoulder though. Its pretty worn at this stage. Hmmm.

Also no video of these two sessions unfortunately as I switched the damn thing off by pressing the remote twice to turn it on/off :-( Oh well.

Fuji Speedway video from 08/05/30

Finally got some footage online from last Fridays session at Fuji. The video shows 4 laps altogether. The first two laps are from the 1st session. Although I managed to get a few 1'15s in the first session, I was under-steering quite a lot mostly because of turning in too late. The next 2 laps although on a damper track, show the same lap times but with improved turn in leading
to less under-steer. These laps are from the beginning of the 4th session before my video cut out. The tires are probably making a little too much noise so I probably have to work on silencing them a little perhaps. Hmmm. Can I find 3 more seconds? How many more seconds are in there I wonder. Going to be fun finding them! Enjoy the video!

Fuji Speedway 08/05/30

I love Fuji speedway. There is so much on offer. Every corner is a battle to get right not to mention all in the same lap. I'm not approaching the limit of the car yet but I am banging off my limit right now without thinking about things a little more. Every second from here is going to be pure joy.

So, its no surprise that I should desire to take Friday off even though it was a rather damp morning and head to the mountain. I had high hopes for a great day, rain or shine.

My R-34 GT-R buddy was already there when I arrived at Fuji's car park. He was easy to spot because of the bright blue color and the fact that the car park was nearly empty. The day was looking good. There were 6 x 30 minute sessions at available at Fuji on this particular day. I decided to do 3 or them.

First session was 9:45 and it was pretty dry. I managed a bunch of 2'15 times which I was pretty happy with as my best in the RX-8 was 2'14.81. Second session it started to rain a little but I still managed to keep most of my times
around 2'16 or so. The RE-11 tires were very inspiring.

Third session and my S2000 mate joined in the fun. The surface was pretty dry again, but it had been about 2 hours since I'd been on the track so the tires were cold. I gave it a little too much welly on the exit of the last corner and spun out on the first lap! Opps... It was totally savable too but I guess I hadn't got in the swing of things yet after that large curry I had for lunch... A good spin always wakes you up though and gets you in the mood so I got my best time of the day shortly after that with a 2'14.75 beating my RX-8 best time! Kewl!

Unfortunately, I also ran out of fuel about 4 laps later and had to head in for gas. What a waste as I had about 10 minutes left in the session. I thought I'd do a forth session to make up for this since the S2000 had only just arrived anyway.

It started raining lightly again in the 4th session and unfortunately my video cut out on me as the battery died. I did another 2'14 time again on the last lap in the rain. I think the rain helped because it was easier to turn the car on corner entry as the back was looser. The RE-11s were very progressive and confidence inspiring again. I'd really love to have had that extra footage though as I was obviously driving a lot better as my speed were down slightly in the 100R because of the rain.

Some lap times for the record:

1. 2'14.75
2. 2'14.91
3. 2'15.08
4. 2'15.27
5. 2'15.32

Wish I could have sector times for Fuji. I must check whether my lap timer can do this next time or I'll need to invest in a GPS data logger of some sort to figure things out.

Anyway, I'll try upload some footage at some stage. Stay tuned!