Driver Upgrades

[exhilR8]

I had track day #5 yesterday, including 2 hours of exclusive track use and individual instruction from a Formula driver who flew in to teach me ($600 for the whole day plus really cheap airfare from DFW).

What a blast! An amazing window into the practical analysis of driving lines, plus really good immediate feedback about my performance, without doing too much damage to my ego, and no damage at all to my car. This guy was extremely knowledgable about the inner workings of the R8, and did some demonstrations of the handling differences between traction control on vs. off. This guy really is a heck of a lot of fun, too.

He had driven this car once before, but that was during its break-in period, and now the car is fully up to spec. Although I was too much of a weenie to go full out without traction control, he did encourage me to take it up to the limits of what I could control with ESP on, and I was able to smooth things out well enough to spend quite a bit of time right at the friction limits, as long as the tires could hold. Which was not that much, since the track surface never got above about 55df, and the tires were losing a fair amount of tread. Nonetheless, we both thought that these were good conditions for practicing car control.

His summary was quite succinct, and was exactly what I needed: "Slow way down going in, and don't turn in early." He says everybody starts out with this problem. He didn't distract me when I clearly sucked at taking his advice, but he did take note when I did it well, which was also what I needed.

The whole experience of having a highly expert individual race driving instructor is highly recommended.

I posted a tiny bit of video of yesterday's fun at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ExhilR8n.../0/Jq8PZEQMQM8

and

http://www.youtube.com/user/ExhilR8n.../0/aiIp8V43IX4

The whole thing made me want to go back out to the track again ASAP.

[moldowan]

jason hart????

[moldowan]

also did you track align your suspension and add negative camber??
i have 3 track days on mine and the outside tires are being chewed quite fast

[exhilR8]

No, it's not Jason Hart, but it's someone very very good. If you're thinking of using him, Private Message me and I'll provide his contact info. I haven't gotten his permission to give out his identity yet. For now let's just call him Stig.

I did not adjust the suspension or camber angle, and I am also chewing up my tires, however, when I switch out wheels I have noticed that the tread on the inside shoulder of the tires is being chewed pretty much as fast as the outside shoulder. Measuring tire surface temperatures today, the outside shoulder was measuring up to 50 df cooler than the inside shoulder (outside = 145, inside = 195). Probably similar temperatures down deep though.

I'm not sure it's worth going away from stock camber since I'm not interested in actually competing, just in getting better and having fun. The differential in the tread wear certainly doesn't seem to justify camber adjustment, as far as I can tell. I'm open to other opinions, though.

[mngolfer]

Nice. Where did you mount the GoPro? You have some VERY tight corners. I don't know how you hang on with your hands crossing over in the top video. I was a little nervous for you in the bottom video with you letting go of the steering wheel. Everything else looked good.

[ADV.1 Matt]

That is awesome! I'd love to have that kind of personal attention to my driving from someone like that.

[R8Spyderman]

That is awesome! I'd love to have that kind of personal attention to my driving from someone like that.

Doesn't the Audi Pilot Program offer that?

[exhilR8]

The Audi Pilot program offers that, but I think you have to travel to Berlin at this point. This guy comes to you, and he'll study your track well before he gets there.

In the videos, the GoPro was mounted on the inside of the driver's window. Crossing over the hands is a bit unconventional, but this is a GT car, so the steerng ratio still requires it, unless you're loosey-goosey like me and let go to unwind sometimes.

In those videos we were much more concerned with finding the smoothest lines. I'll be working more on my form as time goes on. Thanks for the feedback.

I'd like to see some of your track learning too, if you want to put some of your own notes on this thread.

[exhilR8]

OK, I got permission from my instructor to post his contact info. His name is Rob Gibson, and he can be reached via email at Rob@chmgt.com

Very easy to deal with and highly highly highly recommended for individualized instruction.

[harrison]

I've always heard that crossing the arms was a no-no. Did you observe the instructor cross his arms ?? I think not. Have a look see at a video of mine...janerinsurance.com/r8. THIS is a tight course and I gave MnGolfer a jaunt through this same local canyon a little while back. I had NO track experience at the time of the videos' making...I was a NEWBEE just like you. I have plenty of track time under my belt now, so I guess it's time to make a PROPER CANYON TRASHING VIDEO. Take care fellow track-rat !! Always rent a transponder or use a GPS App. if you are serious about this getting "faster and smoother" lifestyle.(Otherwise how would you measure your progress?) Shaving a second off of a lap-time is VERY rewarding.(hitting the course with Race slicks on will most certainly shave 5-10 seconds off of your lap times---so BEWARE.(especiall with the V10) And wear a HELMET!! The guys I run with (Speedventures), require all the fire safety wear and that we run with our windows down. I have seen some pretty nasty crashes where the pilots were pulled from their cars. After a mean flip,the doors often will not operate correctly, thus you can be saved through the open window!! I don't know if Bodhii knows it, but, when he went into a wall once, (In his supercharged R8)(Spring-mountain,Pahrump Nevada) I heard track announcer say that his car may have caught fire. I ran my arsh off to get to him ASAP.Thank God NO fire, just radiator steam. I didn't even know the man, but I was ready to give assistance. I don't run that fast but I was the first on the scene. Cool stories?? I was right there to assist Desparado when he lost controll of his newly supercharged R8 right in front of me.(Buttonwillow,Bakersfield,Ca.) A horrendous mushroom cloud that surpassed all mushroom clouds. That's what I call GOING FOR IT. Kudos to these guys who have enlightened me to the MAX. On my first track day,first session of morning,Hi perf.street tires I was leading the Parade /tire warming lap.COLD Tires let loose and I did two full spins on the pavement with millions of dollars of exotics and race cars right behind me. Boy did I feel stupid. (Musta looked cool though!)