Redline Time Attack - Summit Point, WV September 29th-30th
Sep 30, 2007, 08:13 PM
#47
What a blast the past two days have been! This weekend -- the Redline Time Attack at Summit Point (Shenandoah Circuit) -- was my first experience with a competitive time trial and my third track event in the Evo. I've been doing autocross and track events for years in my Camaro, but this was like combining the best elements of both. I enjoy autocross because of the competitive element and the importance of getting things right in a handful of tries, but I also enjoy track time because you get so much more seat time and you get to really enjoy the capabilities of your car in all aspects -- handling, acceleration, braking, etc.
I had been planning to do this event in my Camaro since I first heard about it being planned. Prior to this weekend, I spent 5 total HPDE track days on the Shenandoah Circuit, so I figured that doing it on a timed basis would be fun. I had run the track in a different configuration, but estimated that my lap times on street tires would be competitive with last year's RWD street car entrants. When the event got closer, I toyed with the idea of doing the event in my Evo with the idea that I might be more competitive in that car, though the AWD classes tend to be among the fastest. It was just when I was thinking about this that the sponsorship by DTM worked out. They took an interest in me tracking my Evo and I decided that with their help and support that I would move forward with moving into road course driving with the Evo.
In the past month, I've done 2 days on Summit Point, 3 on VIR, and now 2 on Shenandoah Circuit with Redline. I've also got 2 more at VIR this coming weekend for GT Live/Redline. It's been exhausting but a great learning experience with the Evo. At this point, I'm an okay Evo road course driver, but I still have a ways to go to get my car really dialed-in to my driving style so that I can really "dance" with the car on track. I was at that point with my Camaro after several years in the same car, but the Evo is a really different animal. It is a fast animal though even with a so so driver!
This weekend I was planning to compete with my Aquamist kit spraying alcohol (car felt GREAT on the spray after the DTM retune), but unfortunately I had some sort of component/wiring failure in my last practice session on Saturday, which forced me to revert back to a pump tune on Sunday (thankfully, due to the Aquamist failsafe and a conservative DTM flash, the failure was uneventful to the health of my motor). I still picked a good amount of time during the competition sessions just through learning the track a bit better and ended the weekend with a 1:42.5 lap time in the Street (tire) AWD class. Had this been 2006, I would have been 0.5 seconds out of first place, but this year the competition in every class was a lot stiffer. Ivan C's car with a more experienced driver than I turned 1:39 in the time attack sessions. He was a good driver in a good car, both from a handling standpoint and a power standpoint, thanks to Ivan's formidable wrenching and power/suspension tuning knowledge. Unlike autocross, the road course does leave me yearning for more power. All of the Evos that trophied (other than my car) had at least a 50 trim and race gas.
The course was a hoot in the Evo even on my pump gas tune though. There are around 13 turns in about 1.6 miles, including two fairly long straights. You accelerate onto the front straight through a series of increasing radius turns and, in my car, hit 129-131 mph (per my peak-hold speedo) before getting on the brakes. There are a series of very challenging and unusual turns (some off-camber, some decreasing radius, etc.) which require a lot of patience and working the gear box. The front straight was so bumpy at the end that I really needed my CG Lock to keep me in the seat so that I could find the brake pedal when the time came. The back straight is really an eye opener also. You accelerate onto it from a fairly slow late apex turn and then accelerate up a hill to about 120-something MPH when you go over a sharp crest that actually gets the car airborne. While a lot of cars spin the tires as they crest the hill, you know that you are truly airborne when you feel the thunk/tire screech landing. As soon as you crest the hill, the track falls away to a big dip with a lot of grooves in the pavement from cars bottoming out. That's where you hit the brakes HARD before you jump into the carousel, which is a steeply banked bowl of a turn modeled after the "Karoussel" turn from the Ring in Germany. The CG Lock also came into play to hold me in the seat on this "Jump" on the back straight. Ivan mentioned to me that his driver (stock seatbelt w/o CG Lock) was having trouble hitting his helmet on the roof when he crested this hill.
It was a lot of fun to watch everyone run, especially the Unlimited cars. In the last time attack session, things got interesting when the fastest Unlimited Class car spun in the carousel and it appeared that the rapidly approaching AMS time attack car (which ran around 1:29.x or 1:30.x) didn't see him sitting across the track. Mark Daddio, who piloted the AMS car, can probably comment on that episode personally. I know the crowd was cringing there for a moment on the bridge while watching the action.
I'm so glad that I've got into tracking the Evo. As I told Nick and Mike from DTM today, I probably wouldn'have made it there in the Evo without their support. When I got into the sponsorship with them, I think I was expecting some free tuning and other miscellaneous help here and there, but they really have given me much more than that in the way of advice -- both from a car set-up standpoint as well as a driving standpoint. Also, and just as importantly, they have given me a lot of encouragement and support. It's nice being part of a team and that seems to be the way they work with their customers generally, especially those who are interested in track work.
I hope to see more local Evos out at the track soon. It was a bit disappointing that there weren't more local Evos participating in the time attack. Except for the half dozen or so DTM-affiliated cars, there were only a couple of other Evos. I hope local Evos make it out to the next one.
It's been a tiring weekend and time for me to go to sleep. Thanks for reading!
I had been planning to do this event in my Camaro since I first heard about it being planned. Prior to this weekend, I spent 5 total HPDE track days on the Shenandoah Circuit, so I figured that doing it on a timed basis would be fun. I had run the track in a different configuration, but estimated that my lap times on street tires would be competitive with last year's RWD street car entrants. When the event got closer, I toyed with the idea of doing the event in my Evo with the idea that I might be more competitive in that car, though the AWD classes tend to be among the fastest. It was just when I was thinking about this that the sponsorship by DTM worked out. They took an interest in me tracking my Evo and I decided that with their help and support that I would move forward with moving into road course driving with the Evo.
In the past month, I've done 2 days on Summit Point, 3 on VIR, and now 2 on Shenandoah Circuit with Redline. I've also got 2 more at VIR this coming weekend for GT Live/Redline. It's been exhausting but a great learning experience with the Evo. At this point, I'm an okay Evo road course driver, but I still have a ways to go to get my car really dialed-in to my driving style so that I can really "dance" with the car on track. I was at that point with my Camaro after several years in the same car, but the Evo is a really different animal. It is a fast animal though even with a so so driver!
This weekend I was planning to compete with my Aquamist kit spraying alcohol (car felt GREAT on the spray after the DTM retune), but unfortunately I had some sort of component/wiring failure in my last practice session on Saturday, which forced me to revert back to a pump tune on Sunday (thankfully, due to the Aquamist failsafe and a conservative DTM flash, the failure was uneventful to the health of my motor). I still picked a good amount of time during the competition sessions just through learning the track a bit better and ended the weekend with a 1:42.5 lap time in the Street (tire) AWD class. Had this been 2006, I would have been 0.5 seconds out of first place, but this year the competition in every class was a lot stiffer. Ivan C's car with a more experienced driver than I turned 1:39 in the time attack sessions. He was a good driver in a good car, both from a handling standpoint and a power standpoint, thanks to Ivan's formidable wrenching and power/suspension tuning knowledge. Unlike autocross, the road course does leave me yearning for more power. All of the Evos that trophied (other than my car) had at least a 50 trim and race gas.
The course was a hoot in the Evo even on my pump gas tune though. There are around 13 turns in about 1.6 miles, including two fairly long straights. You accelerate onto the front straight through a series of increasing radius turns and, in my car, hit 129-131 mph (per my peak-hold speedo) before getting on the brakes. There are a series of very challenging and unusual turns (some off-camber, some decreasing radius, etc.) which require a lot of patience and working the gear box. The front straight was so bumpy at the end that I really needed my CG Lock to keep me in the seat so that I could find the brake pedal when the time came. The back straight is really an eye opener also. You accelerate onto it from a fairly slow late apex turn and then accelerate up a hill to about 120-something MPH when you go over a sharp crest that actually gets the car airborne. While a lot of cars spin the tires as they crest the hill, you know that you are truly airborne when you feel the thunk/tire screech landing. As soon as you crest the hill, the track falls away to a big dip with a lot of grooves in the pavement from cars bottoming out. That's where you hit the brakes HARD before you jump into the carousel, which is a steeply banked bowl of a turn modeled after the "Karoussel" turn from the Ring in Germany. The CG Lock also came into play to hold me in the seat on this "Jump" on the back straight. Ivan mentioned to me that his driver (stock seatbelt w/o CG Lock) was having trouble hitting his helmet on the roof when he crested this hill.
It was a lot of fun to watch everyone run, especially the Unlimited cars. In the last time attack session, things got interesting when the fastest Unlimited Class car spun in the carousel and it appeared that the rapidly approaching AMS time attack car (which ran around 1:29.x or 1:30.x) didn't see him sitting across the track. Mark Daddio, who piloted the AMS car, can probably comment on that episode personally. I know the crowd was cringing there for a moment on the bridge while watching the action.
I'm so glad that I've got into tracking the Evo. As I told Nick and Mike from DTM today, I probably wouldn'have made it there in the Evo without their support. When I got into the sponsorship with them, I think I was expecting some free tuning and other miscellaneous help here and there, but they really have given me much more than that in the way of advice -- both from a car set-up standpoint as well as a driving standpoint. Also, and just as importantly, they have given me a lot of encouragement and support. It's nice being part of a team and that seems to be the way they work with their customers generally, especially those who are interested in track work.
I hope to see more local Evos out at the track soon. It was a bit disappointing that there weren't more local Evos participating in the time attack. Except for the half dozen or so DTM-affiliated cars, there were only a couple of other Evos. I hope local Evos make it out to the next one.
It's been a tiring weekend and time for me to go to sleep. Thanks for reading!
Oct 1, 2007, 03:35 AM
#49
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Congrats Rich..wish we could have gotten the alky fixed quick so you could have gotten that 2nd place plaque! You did an outstanding job and the driving skills will appreciate along with your car!
Oct 1, 2007, 05:04 AM
#50
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That is a good recap Rich, you did a great job getting 3rd. If I remember right the Hot Lap STI got second in street and us in 1st. We also took 1st in street overall by almost 1/2 a second over a M3. Our best run was a 1:39:066
My best friend Kevin drove the car, this was his first time on the track with it and besides a few auto-x, his only bit driving the car.
I'd like to thank my other friend Seth with some additional knowledge for some suspension adjustments. It was absolutely a team effort to get a green car on the track and run those times.
I have no secrets.
The winning setup was Bridgestone RE01/R in 245/45/17, Megan track coilovers, off the shelf Garrett BB50 trim in my setup. I can't forget the ECU+ for running and logging the car. Brakes were Hawk HP+, ATE superblue and Technafit lines on stock rotors. My tuning with 110 and 27-28 psi.
Ivan
My best friend Kevin drove the car, this was his first time on the track with it and besides a few auto-x, his only bit driving the car.
I'd like to thank my other friend Seth with some additional knowledge for some suspension adjustments. It was absolutely a team effort to get a green car on the track and run those times.
I have no secrets.
The winning setup was Bridgestone RE01/R in 245/45/17, Megan track coilovers, off the shelf Garrett BB50 trim in my setup. I can't forget the ECU+ for running and logging the car. Brakes were Hawk HP+, ATE superblue and Technafit lines on stock rotors. My tuning with 110 and 27-28 psi.
Ivan
Oct 1, 2007, 05:38 AM
#51
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Rich, nice recap! You did a great job and ran a very quick time. This was my first redline time attack as well and it was a blast. I really can't wait for GTLive!
Last edited by spt; Oct 1, 2007 at 05:45 AM.
Oct 1, 2007, 07:30 AM
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Here are some pics:
The 911 was freaking fast. I believe the fastest time it set was a 1.28. The car seemed like it was moving all over the place. The driver did a great job controlling it. AMS also pulled very fast times as well (last I heard, 1.29). The car sounded like a jet going through the back straight. Definitly an experience you have to see in person.
Our project car had some issues and I wasn't able to compete with it in the modified class. I decided at the last minute to take the I-Club project car which was mostly a stock STI (I know not an evo...) with Racecomp springs and stock shocks, APS turbo back exhaust, Cusco sway bars, and front camber plates. I ended up 4th in the AWD Street Class and 9th overall with a time of 1.44. It was a great experience and I will definitely do it again.
Overall Redline did a good job managing the event and keeping things under control. If you have ever concidered competing in time attack, I would suggest giving them a try. It was great meeting most of you in person and I hope to see more of you at GTLive.
The 911 was freaking fast. I believe the fastest time it set was a 1.28. The car seemed like it was moving all over the place. The driver did a great job controlling it. AMS also pulled very fast times as well (last I heard, 1.29). The car sounded like a jet going through the back straight. Definitly an experience you have to see in person.
Our project car had some issues and I wasn't able to compete with it in the modified class. I decided at the last minute to take the I-Club project car which was mostly a stock STI (I know not an evo...) with Racecomp springs and stock shocks, APS turbo back exhaust, Cusco sway bars, and front camber plates. I ended up 4th in the AWD Street Class and 9th overall with a time of 1.44. It was a great experience and I will definitely do it again.
Overall Redline did a good job managing the event and keeping things under control. If you have ever concidered competing in time attack, I would suggest giving them a try. It was great meeting most of you in person and I hope to see more of you at GTLive.
Oct 1, 2007, 08:30 AM
#53
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it was a great event overall. It reminded me of an option event held in japan. def one of the better events this year. I meet alot of cool people and some sick racers. If you have heart problems and can't handle last minute pressure... Redline Time attacks are not for you! LOL
Oct 1, 2007, 09:03 AM
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This was my first official Time Attack Event and the first time at Summit. This track was very difficult to navigate. Thanks for all the help and advice from the DTM crew, this was a confidence booster and I was able to shave several seconds off my time. Congrats to everyone on their wins. Chad, Rich great job. Mike, Nick, Greg.. Amazing Job fellas, way to overcome the odds. I truly admire the Dedication of this group of guys.
Rich I had an extra CG-Lock sorry man I would have lent it to you for the event.
Anyway, great weekend and looking forwart to GT live.
Rich I had an extra CG-Lock sorry man I would have lent it to you for the event.
Anyway, great weekend and looking forwart to GT live.
Oct 1, 2007, 01:05 PM
#55
Our project car had some issues and I wasn't able to compete with it in the modified class. I decided at the last minute to take the I-Club project car which was mostly a stock STI (I know not an evo...) with Racecomp springs and stock shocks, APS turbo back exhaust, Cusco sway bars, and front camber plates. I ended up 4th in the AWD Street Class and 9th overall with a time of 1.44. It was a great experience and I will definitely do it again.
Overall Redline did a good job managing the event and keeping things under control. If you have ever concidered competing in time attack, I would suggest giving them a try. It was great meeting most of you in person and I hope to see more of you at GTLive.
Overall Redline did a good job managing the event and keeping things under control. If you have ever concidered competing in time attack, I would suggest giving them a try. It was great meeting most of you in person and I hope to see more of you at GTLive.
Myles made it out there but I couldn't show unfortunately. Hopefully next event we'll have our own car ready. Summit is our "home" track and Myles has a ton of laps on Summit Main stretching back a couple of centuries (
) and good amount at Shenendoah as well, so we're looking forward to competing when we get the chance.- Andrew
Oct 1, 2007, 01:24 PM
#56
It was a lot of fun to watch everyone run, especially the Unlimited cars. In the last time attack session, things got interesting when the fastest Unlimited Class car spun in the carousel and it appeared that the rapidly approaching AMS time attack car (which ran around 1:29.x or 1:30.x) didn't see him sitting across the track. Mark Daddio, who piloted the AMS car, can probably comment on that episode personally. I know the crowd was cringing there for a moment on the bridge while watching the action.
Yeah, that was an interesting moment. I actually did see him just after I crested the hill at 130 plus mph, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do till I landed, and got on the brakes hard. I was kind of waiting to see where he would end up. Fortunately he rolled down out of the bowl before I had to commit to dropping in, and I continued without missing a beat. If he was still in there, I would have just aborted, and went around the outside of the bowl. It really wasn't too big of a deal from where I was sitting, but I could understand how it might have looked sketchy from the outside watching. By the way, do you think that I can get a pilots license now. I am hoping someone can post up some pictures of the air we were getting over that crest. I saw one that the D-sport photographer took that shows the AMS car a good foot plus in the air. A wild ride everytime to be sure.
Last edited by markdaddio; Oct 1, 2007 at 01:38 PM.
Oct 1, 2007, 01:36 PM
#57
Yes, the 911 was really fast. It was also really well driven. Tyler McQuarrie was most definitely pressing it to the edge. It ran a 1:28.8, which I believe is the quickest anything has gone around that track. We managed a 1:29.8, which we were pretty happy with as it is 1.6 seconds quicker than we ran last year here. I believe the 3rd quickest was Tanner Faust, or Kyle Germanton, they both were in the low 1:31's. Tanner actually did a fantastic job driving on a track that was new to him with minimal practice time. They were having issues with the s15 silvia, and really never had the opportunity to show what it could do. Tanner thought it had very low 1:30's if not dipping into the 1:29's. The 911 that Tyler was driving was crazy. 2400lbs, and something more than 600whp make for one quick porsche. We were actually pretty happy being within a second off that car considering that it was fairly cool out, and we were running on a road race compound tire, while the JIC cars were running autocross compound tires. Now we just need to convince BF Goodrich that they need to build an autocross compound for the new R1 for next year. 
Mark
Mark
Oct 1, 2007, 01:41 PM
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I can't wait to see the breakdown of the results! So the JIC S15 didn't do much, but their Porsche was fastest overall? The AMS Evo in 2nd? What was Tanner driving?
Oct 1, 2007, 02:00 PM
#59
Tanner Faust was driving the JIC s15. I wouldn't say that it didn't do much. It still ran the winning time from last years event there with Tanner only getting about 10 laps around the place. I am pretty sure that he would have been right down near my time had the car not had issues, and yes, the JIC porsche was fastest overall, and the AMS evo was 2nd fastest overall.