First visit to VIR... 2:04.44

[kramard]

Had a great first visit to VIR. On Supercar 3Rs (305 all four corners) the car felt amazing. Throughout the course of the day I worked my way up to a 2:04.44 - and there's more to be had. Sorry for the dissertation... I'm pretty excited to have a (much needed) good day on track.

I spent about 200 hours in Asseto Corsa "learning" to drive VIR fast (started with a FRS and worked through a Stingray) and I can't tell you how true to life it all felt. I was rotating the car prior to apexing 12 and sorted my line through the upper esses etc. in the sim before ever getting to the track. It made a world of difference for me at VIR - I'm a firm believer in sim training and this experience really reaffirmed that perspective for me. The braking points where within perfect to 25ft... that's incredible.

Overall the Z/28 did great. 5 30 min sessions. No issues other than the off at the end of the second video (I didn't grab the brake pedal well and closed on Don faster than I would have liked so I just drove off instead of forcing the issue further into 1). I was a bit overzealous to catch him under braking... I wanted to close on him and make a run coming out of 5a; in hindsight I should have waited one more lap as his tires were starting to fall off fast and made a move without overdriving the car. It was a good learning experience if I ever go wheel to wheel.

To summarize... I couldn't be happier with the day and the SVT Cobra Club (great group and encourage folks to run with them - I had more track time than I knew what to do with). I had a tough outing at NJMP (5 seconds off of the pace) a couple of months ago and my confidence was shot. I went into the day hoping to run 2:08s and felt very lucky / humbled to leave with a 2:04. I also REALLY enjoyed the car... this thing continues to amaze me. I've been on a bit of a FWD kick lately but my faith is restored in high power, 7.0L front engine rear drive cars


2:04.4


Full GT350 battle - I'll get him next time.


Data

[MonroeZ28]

How did the Goodyear 3Rs compare to the Trofeos? Is 305 the largest size you were able to get onto the stock rims?(I assume thats what you were using) How did they wear thoughout all that track time. Oh and by the way Great driving!

[MrRaZ28]

I can't comment on the Goodyears, but I just put on Conti Extreme Contact Sport 325's on over the weekend. Drove on them last night and they were night and day over the Pole Positions... I felt so planted.

Back on topic, that was awesome! That's a nice track, and drive it must have been a blast!

[s.hammer]

Nice job reeling him back in.

[Foxrus14]

What app are you using on your phone?

[kramard]

Originally Posted by MonroeZ28

How did the Goodyear 3Rs compare to the Trofeos? Is 305 the largest size you were able to get onto the stock rims?(I assume thats what you were using) How did they wear thoughout all that track time. Oh and by the way Great driving!

Thanks. I just went with the 305s to compare to the Trofeos. I'd say the Goodyears are absolutely stickier than the Trofeos. I'd also say they break away in a more progressive manner and have a less "icey" slide. I was able to ABUSE the throttle to rotate the car prior to the apex of 12.

I def would say don't do a 305/325 setup... it would plow. Running 28PSI front, 27.5 PSI rear (both cold) gave the car near perfect balance - just enough understeer to loose the front before the rear in high speed corners but very easy to rotate in 4, 5 and 5b.

Wear was amazing. Other then heat cycling the surface tread depth didn't look much different from when the day started. I read someone got 6 days with a ZL1 1LE and I'd believe it.

Hope that helps!

[prd72]

Originally Posted by kramard

Thanks. I just went with the 305s to compare to the Trofeos. I'd say the Goodyears are absolutely stickier than the Trofeos. I'd also say they break away in a more progressive manner and have a less "icey" slide. I was able to ABUSE the throttle to rotate the car prior to the apex of 12.

I def would say don't do a 305/325 setup... it would plow. Running 28PSI front, 27.5 PSI rear (both cold) gave the car near perfect balance - just enough understeer to loose the front before the rear in high speed corners but very easy to rotate in 4, 5 and 5b.

Wear was amazing. Other then heat cycling the surface tread depth didn't look much different from when the day started. I read someone got 6 days with a ZL1 1LE and I'd believe it.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the info. Thinking of going to GoodYears this spring to replace the Trofeos.

Have you changed the Camber from Stock?

[skent]

Are the Goodyears available with a 102 rating or just 98?

[pat_t]

Is the displayed speed from your OBDII port or GPS-based?

Nice lap!

[kramard]

Originally Posted by Foxrus14

What app are you using on your phone?

It's Race Chrono Pro - it's great. Same level of analysis that you can do in Circuit Tools and VBOX. Refresh rate is 7hz to 8hz which is fairly good. App cost 20 and the external Garmin GLO was 60? I'm having a hard time justifying buying a VBOX sport.

Attached are some examples of the data analysis you can do. First attachment shows two different lines through 4 and 5. Second attachment shows a strong exit out of 12 led to fairly significant reduction of time down the back straight compared to my 2:05.1 lap.

Also, a lot easier to link videos to the overlay than harry's laptimer and offers a deeper analysis.

[kramard]

Originally Posted by prd72

Thanks for the info. Thinking of going to GoodYears this spring to replace the Trofeos.

Have you changed the Camber from Stock?

I'm running -1.8 upfront. Most I could get using stock suspension components.

Originally Posted by skent

Are the Goodyears available with a 102 rating or just 98?

I think it's just whatever comes on the ZL1 1LE. I did notice the 98 rating but didn't notice any adverse effects.

Originally Posted by pat_t

Is the displayed speed from your OBDII port or GPS-based?

Nice lap!

Thanks... External GPS recording at +/- 8hz

[MonroeZ28]

Originally Posted by kramard

It's Race Chrono Pro - it's great. Same level of analysis that you can do in Circuit Tools and VBOX. Refresh rate is 7hz to 8hz which is fairly good. App cost 20 and the external Garmin GLO was 60? I'm having a hard time justifying buying a VBOX sport.

Attached are some examples of the data analysis you can do. First attachment shows two different lines through 4 and 5. Second attachment shows a strong exit out of 12 led to fairly significant reduction of time down the back straight compared to my 2:05.1 lap.

Also, a lot easier to link videos to the overlay than harry's laptimer and offers a deeper analysis.

Pardon me for being a tech idiot but are you using your phone to record video along with the app you downloaded? The Garmin GLO is your GPS for the data overlay? Again, I appologize for being technically challenged.

[kramard]

Originally Posted by MonroeZ28

Pardon me for being a tech idiot but are you using your phone to record video along with the app you downloaded? The Garmin GLO is your GPS for the data overlay? Again, I appologize for being technically challenged.

Yup - Phone and GPS are mounted on front windshield. Phone is connected to GPS by bluetooth and then the phone (more or less) uses the GPS signal automatically and takes the phone from detecting GPS signals at a 10M accuracy / 1hz (1 refresh a second) to 3m accuracy / ~10hz (10 refreshes a second).

The app knows the GPS coordinates for the track's start / stop finish line and starts recording laps automatically. You have to manually start the video from within the application.

You can also create your own track if you want / need too.

Does that help?

[MonroeZ28]

Originally Posted by kramard

Yup - Phone and GPS are mounted on front windshield. Phone is connected to GPS by bluetooth and then the phone (more or less) uses the GPS signal automatically and takes the phone from detecting GPS signals at a 10M accuracy / 1hz (1 refresh a second) to 3m accuracy / ~10hz (10 refreshes a second).

The app knows the GPS coordinates for the track's start / stop finish line and starts recording laps automatically. You have to manually start the video from within the application.

You can also create your own track if you want / need too.

Does that help?

Yes it does. Thanks for the insight