Such a great car. 💚
It has so much more potential than I was asking from it.
I came down hard with the flu Wednesday morning, so I was already feeling bad with low energy most of the weekend. (PSA: Don't work on your car, and run two sets of tires and wheels to and from Discount while running a high fever. It sucks.) Having to load the car on the trailer and tow it an hour away on Thursday to get a track alignment with the new tires was brutal, too. I didn't think I was gonna make it because I had over-slept in my NyQuil coma, but the shop still took me in late, and the worst that happened was I wound up loading in close to 8pm at the track. (I had planned on getting there at 5pm.)
The 4th gear synchro went out my first session on Friday morning, so I had to double-clutch it all weekend - and it was always just coming out of a turn when it was required, which was annoying. I'm usually already shifted and on throttle before the car even settles, so the delay was causing me to lose momentum. It was a new technique for me, and a time-killer, but at least it worked in prolonging my seat time.
With some Motec map adjustments on Saturday to eliminate unnecessary fuel and boost cut, and finding new suspension and track limits with the new power band, my sessions this weekend quickly became more about development than just lap times. I wasn't as eager as I was expecting to be upon physically realizing all the new changes (plus, flu...), so throttle was seldom over 60-70% the first two days in particular. (If that alone doesn't tell you this car is freaking fast, I dunno what will.)
Finding a good pressure target on the Falken RT660s took me a couple days, too, landing at 26psi cold with 35-37psi hot in 40-degree sun as more optimal - that was when I set a new personal best. After input from the Texas track group on FB, I sized down to 255s after learning these ran wider than most 265s. The fitment worked out, but with still a narrower tread patch, it was rotating well beyond the tread wear indicators, especially in the rear. I was really impressed with how insanely sticky they got by lap 4, though, and it continued for every single session throughout the weekend: they kept bouncing back, it was awesome. They just absolutely DO NOT like rain. Friday turned out to be a prolonged Initial D session. (That, or I was just having way too much fun.)
Between 4th gear, recovering from illness, and my reluctance to fully send it, yet, I decided to hang back in HPDE4 and opted out of running time trial for the weekend - though, I did get my qualifying check-ride. 👍 Point-by was required (they ran HPDE3 with us), so a lot of additional time was lost in the back half of the track from traffic. But, it was still a great, fun group of people, and probably the most aware HPDE group I've ever ran with to date. I loved every bit of it.
I had just started getting comfortable and confident on Sunday, and felt more than ready to attempt a ≤1:45 since I was starting at #3 in grid (based on times) for a "TT style session," when I thought 4th gear decided it was not going to cooperate anymore: the car immediately lost power after the double-shift at the start of my third lap. After finding it was likely a boost leak or failed turbo, I later discovered that my wastegate arm had conveniently disengaged from a broken cotter pin at that moment - thankfully, a quick and easy (and free!) fix. Either way, the loss of power was enough of a concern to get me back to the pit, and I just called it a day.
All things considered, a 1:48.8 in heavy traffic wasn't half bad, but this car is absolutely a sub-1:45 beast - and it's pure wicked fun. Once I get the transmission sorted, I'll be returning to MSR Houston for an open track/open passing event to make that low-40 happen - even on these skinny RT660s.
Sadly, though, this means I will be missing Super Lap Battle at COTA, yet again. I will be working on getting all set up right and fully race-ready in time to run some Gridlife this year, though, as well as possibly setting up to drop from TT2 to TT3 with NASA for a chance to be competitive, so I'll post updates on all of that soon.
To end the weekend's adventure, something on hwy 6 ripped a hole in one of my BRAND NEW tires on the X5, so I limped it home on the spare. Hooray for wheel and tire package: I got it replaced the very next day.
Counting my blessings. 🙏
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Until next time…
Maintenance regularly; drive often.
All photos/videos by me, unless otherwise noted.
Life’s obstacles are more entertaining with a sports car.™