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I just realized that I never posted a update from Road America. I have a new favorite track. I was there for a saturday/sunday event. it rained all saturday and the first half of sunday was really hard rain. I did get two sessions in the dry though at the end of sunday. I learned so much about driving in the rain on a race track. I had no idea what a "rain line" was before that event and I am in no position to say that I mastered it but there was only 3 vehicles that I was not passing in the rain. part skill part superior vehicle (given the conditions of course) Audi S4 quicker in the straights and exiting corners, EVO same story, and a Nissan GTR. I could out brake, out turn and power on before he could. his car was sliding all over the place. This is no surprise because he is running monster tires compared to my 245's. I got a nick name of rain man. It was really entertaining to me to pass vetts, camaro's mustangs, neon's, mazdaspeed 3. The track is extremely well cared for and flows very nicely. once the track dried up I really got to drive the car as hard as I could.
one of the most entertaining parts for me was the carousel. I was able to maintain a higher speed than most of the vehicles out there which really surprised me. I guess that is a advantage of FWD is also when I could put power down about half way between 9 and 10 the rear end would begin to slide out and this is corrected by increasing throttle. By the beginning of 10 I would be full throttle and the next time I would lift was at turn 12. The map does not show it well but 11 is a nasty high speed turn that would have the tires roaring. By turn 11 I would have 92-94mph keep in mind I would never lift for this turn. coming into 12 there is a slight left That I have to start braking in and that upsets the rear end so there is a **** of a lot of me trying to keep the car going in a straight line while killing enough speed to make the 50mph right hander. 13A would be taken without lifting which is hair raising because it is a blind corner with elevation change.
oddly the highest speed section of the track was between 11 and 12 for me. You would think between 14-1 would be but it is up hill and my car does not have very much power. The Hawk HT-10 pads worked amazing on this track. I have cracked front rotors now but fade was minimal and was only at turn 8 when i was really pushing super hard trying to out run 89CRX's S4. I pull him in the corners and i can out brake him a tad but in the straights he could rip by me. One of the corner workers came over at the end of sunday and gave me props for pushing so hard and keeping it on the track for three days. I said 3 days? she said oh yeah i was at black hawk on wed when you were running. She also said you really need to fix the hood and fender it makes us corner workers think that you are not afraid to put it in a wall haha and she drove away.
To my surprise the mazdaspeed 3 had nothing on the SHO. a tad quicker in the straight. maybe pull 3 or 4 cars then i had batter grip and brakes. I always thought they would be killer on a track.
I definitely want to go in the spring if anyone is adventurous enough to join. track was awesome, super cool group of people. even was 225 per day i think. tech was lax.
fun fun fun
