How many people have raced their cars? track racng
Discussion
Oh, and I forgot. Don't drive to close to the people in front of you. Last track day I was behind this stupid bitch in a 360 and between crunching the gears, she planted one of the rear wheels on the dirt and threw all these rocks and sand up in the air. Needless to say, I got this BIG scratch on the bonnet.
Kylie,
Hope you have a ball. I had my car on the track this past summer - 600 miles since a complete rebuild. Great fun.
Be sure to have the seat and mirrors properly adjusted. Remove anything loose from the cockpit or boot, tighten everything else including the tyre tools and battery. Make sure the tires are warmed up fully and increase the tire pressure to the high speed spec. (usually 33-35 PSI)
Start out with all fluids topped up, full fuel, don't know how expensive they are in NZ, but it's always nice to have fresh plugs.
Take it real easy into the corners as the brakes are a real weakness on these cars with respect to running them on the track, lack of proper cooling is the culprit. Be prepared for some strong olfactory signals that your brakes are fading before you go to the pedal and find little or nothing there. Try to 'stab' rather than 'ride' the brakes - they'll last a little longer before experiencing some fade. Otherwise, stay in other people's mirrors so they can see you, keep your head on a 'swivel' and have a ball...Jim '85TE
Hope you have a ball. I had my car on the track this past summer - 600 miles since a complete rebuild. Great fun.
Be sure to have the seat and mirrors properly adjusted. Remove anything loose from the cockpit or boot, tighten everything else including the tyre tools and battery. Make sure the tires are warmed up fully and increase the tire pressure to the high speed spec. (usually 33-35 PSI)
Start out with all fluids topped up, full fuel, don't know how expensive they are in NZ, but it's always nice to have fresh plugs.
Take it real easy into the corners as the brakes are a real weakness on these cars with respect to running them on the track, lack of proper cooling is the culprit. Be prepared for some strong olfactory signals that your brakes are fading before you go to the pedal and find little or nothing there. Try to 'stab' rather than 'ride' the brakes - they'll last a little longer before experiencing some fade. Otherwise, stay in other people's mirrors so they can see you, keep your head on a 'swivel' and have a ball...Jim '85TE
On your warm up laps, brake early and apply progressive power till the car front just starts to understeers. Get used to it and the possible brake fades as the time goes by. Last thing you want to do is get all nervous go in to fast, over shoot the turn, and have to brake late. If I had a choice of two it's better to brake too late early than late. Bad things happen when all the weight of car goes forward as in hard late braking while in a turn. This is of course unless you intend to brake hard to control the back end drift around the turn before reapplying power to straighten it up. Also watch the fuel levels in Esprit. Many people top up the gas tanks way too much and in hard turns the gas will slosh back up the filler neck, then fills up the charcoal canister that overflows. When his happens the engine compartment will burst in to flames. This is how many engine compartment fires start and what Marsala refers to as a common rookie Esprit driver mistake and applies to Esprits with low mounted charcoal canisters. The senario has happened to more than few road Esprit's on track days. When I track my car, I don't really run too much harder than I drive on the street during a spirited run. Just to be able to use the whole width of the road surface is so much fun without worrying about bashing into someone else going the opposite direction.
So go have some fun and don't break anything,
Calvin
So go have some fun and don't break anything,
Calvin
"Don't try anything brave until the tyres have warmed up - give it a couple of slower laps."
This is good advise. On my first time out with my car it was a cool fall day, and my instructor cautioned me on this concept. But I had no idea just how important this is until I turned a 270, and ended up sideways in the middle of the track. He (my instructor) just smiled and looked at me, and said “see what I mean”. No harm done…but a very humbling experience.
A lot of things probably contributed to this incident. My tires weren't the best. I am an amateur, and this was my first time out (ever) with a mid-engine car. But I can tell you, as the day went on (I had 4 heats that day) I could definitely feel the difference. This concept is real. On each time out the car had a much looser grip on the road on the first couple of laps.
Anyway, it's good practice to take it easy for the first couple of laps. The adrenaline is flowing. Your heart is pounding. A couple of spirited (but not all out) laps helps one settle down a bit.
I am green with envy. It's winter here, and I have at least two months before I can even think about doing such things. You're going to have a blast!
Walt...'91 SE.
This is good advise. On my first time out with my car it was a cool fall day, and my instructor cautioned me on this concept. But I had no idea just how important this is until I turned a 270, and ended up sideways in the middle of the track. He (my instructor) just smiled and looked at me, and said “see what I mean”. No harm done…but a very humbling experience.
A lot of things probably contributed to this incident. My tires weren't the best. I am an amateur, and this was my first time out (ever) with a mid-engine car. But I can tell you, as the day went on (I had 4 heats that day) I could definitely feel the difference. This concept is real. On each time out the car had a much looser grip on the road on the first couple of laps.
Anyway, it's good practice to take it easy for the first couple of laps. The adrenaline is flowing. Your heart is pounding. A couple of spirited (but not all out) laps helps one settle down a bit.
I am green with envy. It's winter here, and I have at least two months before I can even think about doing such things. You're going to have a blast!
Walt...'91 SE.
Johnny G said: Calvin,
You talk about trail-braking into the corner to set up a drift - how easy is that to control in these cars? I know it's much harder in a mid-engine car than a front engine.
J
Pretty easy on the Esprit once you get used to it. Just be comfortable with how the car behaves. My Esprit understeers while turning at higher speeds so as I start to brake harder with a very slight power the back end will start to come around just a tad. Then re-applying the correct power and it straightens up. Depending of the corner and speed sometimes all it takes is a short but forcefull brake pedal pressure and right back on the accelerator. Hard to describe as it all happens so fast. It's like riding a bike. Once you get the feel for it, it is almost automatic. If you should make a mistake and back end comes all the way around it would indeed take a skilled driver to get out of that one. I am fortunate that particular situation has not occured to me in the Esprit, I guess I am just lucky that when ever the back has swung around to far that I have been able to bring it back on line. My problem is that I know the proper line and entrance speed but I get so excitied, get caught up with the need to be fastest. Many times I enter the turn to fast, overshoot my corner line, have to brake hard, and too deep. Without the proper power on during the back end of the turn my exit speeds are mcuh lower, I'm way off the optimum line and if there is a series of turns I've blown the whole series. I just hate when I do that. Especially when one is supposed to know better. By the same token if you get on someones rear, blink your lights, make them get all nervous and blow their entrance speed you can take them out at the exit of the turn. As you pass by they should have this look on their face like Damm I blew that turn I should know better.
Calvin 90 SE
wcdeane said: Question. Is "understeer" the same as what some of us might call "Pushing" through a turn? The wheels turn, but the car wants to continue in a straight line.
That's it exactly - understeer is when the front wheels lost traction before the rear wheels, oversteer is the opposite. Or - oversteer is when the navigator is really scared, understeer is when the driver is really scared!
J
Johnny G said:
do you left-foot brake then?
J
Yes I do a lot of left foot braking. A lot of times I keep the right foot down a bit and modulate the brakes with the left foot for precise braking control to swing the back around as I steer around the turn at very high speeds. Of course the turbo helps a lot as when doing this it is kept spooled up. That way you get a very high exit speeds out of the corners on a road course. I even do a lot of left braking when driving an auto transmission car in just everyday traffic. Sometimes it makes my wife very nervous when I do this on the family car in traffic as she can not tell if I have brakes on when approaching an object as she still hears the motor noise till the last second.
Calvin
Many thanks, there is certainly a lot to take on board. But will certainly practice all good advice given.
Had a neat day today, took the car along to the biggest annual car show in Auckland NZ, over 30,000 people and all sorts of cars. Many people said nice Lamborghini, but funnily enough all the kids new what it was, I guess from PlayStation? By the way having a classic gets you in to shows for free, so was stoked.
Kylie
Had a neat day today, took the car along to the biggest annual car show in Auckland NZ, over 30,000 people and all sorts of cars. Many people said nice Lamborghini, but funnily enough all the kids new what it was, I guess from PlayStation? By the way having a classic gets you in to shows for free, so was stoked.
Kylie
Kylie,
One thing that I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned by this august group is to try to drive waay ahead of the car. In other words, look as far down the track as you possibly can. When travelling at high speeds, things happen very quickly, this lessens the time you have to analyze a given situation.
By looking way ahead, you increase the time you have to determine a course of action for a given situation. You'll be acting much more in sync with what the car is doing. If you don't, you'll be reacting to things which now seem suddenly upon you before you're ready or may have actually past missing opportunities to cheat the clock.
As an experienced driver enters a turn, they are already looking beyond it having already identified the Apex and chosen their line through it. This allows them to exit the turn much faster and get 'Back on it' quicker.
Also, a tip I was given personally by Paul Newman and Mario Andretti when I had the unbelieveable luck to attend and drive at a Newman/Haas testing session in 1992, try to select a gear which keeps the car in it's power range (no lower than 3,500, preferrably 4,000rpm) when entering a turn and keep your right foot planted on the accelerator. If you need to brake, use it with your left foot without lifting the gas pedal. This allows you to keep the engine in it's power range so you can exit the turn and get back up to speed so much sooner. After they explained this to me, I went back out on the track and took better than a second off my best lap time. I came back into the pits rather pleased with myself, when Mario came up and congratulated me on the improvement. Then he added "Now... try it in traffic..." this last bit really put me in my place. Anyway, try it, it works. Also, given the opportunity, try to walk the track at least once noting any irregularities or bumps, look for the best lines, run-off areas and braking points this also will pay dividends once you are racing the clock. Have a ball...Happy Motoring...Jim '85TE
One thing that I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned by this august group is to try to drive waay ahead of the car. In other words, look as far down the track as you possibly can. When travelling at high speeds, things happen very quickly, this lessens the time you have to analyze a given situation.
By looking way ahead, you increase the time you have to determine a course of action for a given situation. You'll be acting much more in sync with what the car is doing. If you don't, you'll be reacting to things which now seem suddenly upon you before you're ready or may have actually past missing opportunities to cheat the clock.
As an experienced driver enters a turn, they are already looking beyond it having already identified the Apex and chosen their line through it. This allows them to exit the turn much faster and get 'Back on it' quicker.
Also, a tip I was given personally by Paul Newman and Mario Andretti when I had the unbelieveable luck to attend and drive at a Newman/Haas testing session in 1992, try to select a gear which keeps the car in it's power range (no lower than 3,500, preferrably 4,000rpm) when entering a turn and keep your right foot planted on the accelerator. If you need to brake, use it with your left foot without lifting the gas pedal. This allows you to keep the engine in it's power range so you can exit the turn and get back up to speed so much sooner. After they explained this to me, I went back out on the track and took better than a second off my best lap time. I came back into the pits rather pleased with myself, when Mario came up and congratulated me on the improvement. Then he added "Now... try it in traffic..." this last bit really put me in my place. Anyway, try it, it works. Also, given the opportunity, try to walk the track at least once noting any irregularities or bumps, look for the best lines, run-off areas and braking points this also will pay dividends once you are racing the clock. Have a ball...Happy Motoring...Jim '85TE
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