T(h)or's GT86 hammer (Europe) - essential track setup

[Roth]

Originally Posted by Tor

Two laps in a row on the Nordschleife...

Both my best so far. The first lap is the fastest with 8:35.

The second lap was 8:38. Besides from the many things I can improve, like the line (too early turn-in in some corners), corners that I haven't quite figured out yet (driving too slow). It has a few driving mistakes on top as well, like a major miss-shift at the end of Foxhole.

Overall, I think the second lap is better though (had a short stretch with yellow as well, so I think without it would have been the fastest too).

I'm so jealous of you right now
8,35 is impressive. Hope to meet you on my next Ring-tour next spring

[Tor]

Hope this is not getting too repetitive...

Fastest lap today with 8:28:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMplvoJNkw8[/ame]


Some corners I drove faster on other laps and in some corners, I push too hard on the entry and can't get on the throttle and lose momentum.

So theoretical it can be faster, but it's difficult to get all things right in one single lap (and not have traffic or yellow flags interfering too). I guess this is why people keep returning to the Nürburgring - for that elusive "perfect lap".

I think this lap was actually slower than those posted above but without the traffic. Anyway, no excuses... it's the time that counts.

[Tor]

Had an extremely lucky escape from what could have been a bad crash:


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nCJxEzh57s[/ame]


Several factors in this...

Quite a bit earlier than what I clipped in the video, the BMW almost caught up with me at the end of the long uphill almost straight section called Kesselchen (where the 86 is struggling compared to more powerful cars - 5:20 in the video in the previous post).

Kesselchen is followed by Mutkurve, and I drove that faster than him leaving still maybe 50-100 meters down to him. Thereafter there are a section of corners where you either stay your line or brake quite a lot if you want to let someone pass. I chose to stay my line and as a consequence held him up a bit. Being blocked myself in the Carousel, and coming out I let him pass...

I suppose that some psychological effect kicks in with "the need to prove that you rightfully kept him up". What better way to do this than to keep up with them!! I'm not a BMW expert, but given the wing, I'm pretty sure it's not the model with one of their weakest of engines. The driver seemed pretty fast too... So in retrospect, it was probably not the best idea.

Nevertheless, I drove the fastest I could to keep up with him. Which included driving extremely aggressively over the curbs, which is not the best idea as the curbs are quite high. If not just for the risk of losing control, then the wear on the car.

I did keep control, however, and this wasn't the cause of the accident. In fact, it all felt very much under control until the accident. But driving this aggressively, of course, lowers the margins. And there was no longer mental capacity to deal with a phone dropping onto my lap...

The rest is described in the video.


Things to take away from this for anyone driving the NBR:

- Obviously, as stated in the video make sure you don't have objects that can become a distraction in the heat of the moment.

- If you keep someone up, it's their problem!! (unless you are an obvious roadblock, then better move over!). You paid for the lap as well. Just like the guy in black Clio had every right to keep me up in the Carousel (and which by the way didn't bother me either).

- Once you let them pass - forget about them! Don't let them become your focus let alone feel the need to prove anything. If they can be a motivational factor to be faster fine. But within reason (a 500 hp BMW vs. 200 hp 86 is not reasonable).


Another thing I realized from this is, I don't use markings on the track for braking and turning in at all. In fact, I never did that on other tracks either. I sort of drive by looking at where the track is going, where my car is and the rest "by the seat of the pants"... or the biological computer doing complex calculations involving such things as speed vectors, braking forces, and steering angles. Not much distraction required to interfere in such a process. Especially when operating at an elevated stress level.

I can certainly see the benefit now in having fixed markings (signs, trees whatever) to bypass your brain and reduce the process to eyes -> hands/feet type of pathway. Though I suppose a driver that only worked this way, wouldn't be a good rally driver tasked with driving an unknown course.

Anyway, I'll see if I can incorporate fixed markings into my scan in the future as well... For sure, I will be looking for markings for the turnin point for Youtube corner.

[MCTeeJ]

Glad everything worked out relatively ok!

[jflogerzi]

Wow that was so close. It's clear you are a very good driver. I don't think I would have the balls to take my car and drive like that on the ring.

[ermax]

Markers can move, change or vanish over time. For example a sign could be from a sponsor and then vanish one day or an imperfection on the track could vanish after a resurface. I tend to use your method and not rely on markers.

Man you lucked out big time. From the video I was expecting the whole side of the car to be smashed. I bet as soon as you turned in you knew it was wrong and started shaving speed as fast as possible.

[Tor]

Originally Posted by ermax

Markers can move, change or vanish over time. For example a sign could be from a sponsor and then vanish one day or an imperfection on the track could vanish after a resurface. I tend to use your method and not rely on markers.

It's not that I don't know where the markers are. For this corner, the turn-in point is after the left curb and rumble strip ends (rumble strip extends maybe 10 meters after the curb). Where I should still have been left, I'm already in the middle of the track. Obviously, I wasn't paying attention to that. I can never know for sure exactly what happened, but I suppose after looking down for the phone and looking back up, I would probably have been worried about not missing the turn-in point. Looking down for a split second at that speed and you completely lose track of how far you are/how much distance you traveled. I suppose I turned just to follow the car ahead (not taking into account how much further ahead he was).

Man you lucked out big time. From the video I was expecting the whole side of the car to be smashed. I bet as soon as you turned in you knew it was wrong and started shaving speed as fast as possible.

I made a lot of mistakes, and it's not because I'm not aware of them (or won't admit it) that I didn't include them in the video. I wanted to keep the video short, and on focus on the main distraction because this is where other may be able to take something away from the video (otherwise, there wouldn't have been much point to uploading it just to make a fool out of myself). Having stuff flying around is not ideal. I didn't care about to phone as such, but I was worried about it falling down and ending up interfering with the pedals. The other mistakes are specific either to me or to the track.

Besides from what I already wrote, after tuning in, I had no idea something was wrong as you can't see the exit due to the elevation changes. I actually made it a lot worse by going full throttle, before I could see the exit (as I usually do in that corner). But I wasn't where I was supposed to be! If I had just coasted through the corner, perhaps I would have made it. I was full throttle for a full second before I saw I was running out of track and started to brake. I leave the track with 84 kph (52 mph) and it touches the barrier with 39 kph (24 mph).

Though it's possible to go full throttle without seeing the exit (if being on the correct line), I probably won't do that again. Even if I'm "sure" I'm on the correct line.

Yes, I was surprised to get out and see not seeing any damage. I thought the rear quarter panel would have been all mangled up. The angle it hit must have been extremely lucky for only the wheel to have touched.