Who went to KPlayground at CT DDT today?

[wbradley]

Saw a few twins there today. Was a lot of fun doing my first lapping session. Gotta get an oil cooler, temps hit 120 C in 3 laps.

Next time, will do the pedal dance. Definitely lost some time in VSC Sport.

[86Tony]

Damn how do you find out your temp. I'm going to be lapping this weekend

[wbradley]

Originally Posted by 86Tony

Damn how do you find out your temp. I'm going to be lapping this weekend

No need to curse.
I have an ELM 327 BT adaptor on the OBD2 port. Running Torque on a dash mounted tablet. There's a plugin for oil temp for Torque. You can search about it in the Torque thread. The coolant stays stable no matter what on these cars, but the oil gets hot very fast when bouncing off the rev limiter. I suggest heavier oil if lapping, 5W30 or 0W40. My car is garaged in winter but you should run 0W20 during cold months. I will be adding a liquid cooled oil cooler like my WRX has soon. Seems essential for lapping this car. Oil pressure drops rapidly when the oil heats up and loses viscosity. Heavier/cooler oil is important. Otherwise you risk premature engine wear if tracking.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by wbradley

Next time, will do the pedal dance. Definitely lost some time in VSC Sport.

You can lap at pretty close to full speed with VSC on and it won't be hindering you. If this was your first track day, you're probably over driving and not driving smoothly if you're hitting VSC a lot. If you really want to turn it off, don't worry about the pedal dance until you're at the level where you're trail braking hard into corners. Just hold the TC button for ~5 seconds until both the TC and VSC lights come on.

First lap here is in VSC sport, second lap is with TC/VSC off (but not pedal dance):

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwuPPXm8Bsk"]2015 OTA School - Instructor lapping - YouTube[/ame]

I was going to stop by today, but ended up spending all day working on the yard. Perfect day to be out lapping!

[wbradley]

That was a good video. I could sort of mentally review the turns while watching your video and I definitely wasn't smooth at times. I screeched my tires a lot and probably scrubbed a fair bit of speed in the process. With the upgraded brake pads and fluid I wasn't afraid to trail brake but for sure a lot to learn and improve. Was kind of surprised some people were passing in the turns and in one case forced my friend to have to swerve to get out of the way. Incidentally my friend has done a fair bit of track time so it wasn't him being a noob. I found some more experienced people were passing me in cars that I wouldn't have thought were faster (Miata, Integra, for example) but again I think it had to do with smoothness in turns vs sliding and scrubbing speed.

[wparsons]

Until you're really comfortable, braking should be done in a straight line. Trail braking properly requires a different line and entry, otherwise you're not making use of the extra rotation.

Best way to learn is to focus on only a couple things at a time. You can drive the whole DDT in 3rd at a pretty quick pace which eliminates upshifts and downshifts, leaving you to just focus on key points... braking point, turn in, apex and track out. If you're not consistently hitting the same points lap after lap it's VERY hard to figure out what to change to improve.

Can you brake later? if you're not braking and turning in at the same point you have no way of knowing if you actually got on the brakes later or not, or if it was better or worse.

[1Cor10:23]

@wparsons I really appreciate all your videos - really helps to see someone experienced tackle the same track, same car to see lines, shifts, etc etc.

[wparsons]

I would suggest not shifting where I do in the 4-5 area (left hander), I'm not sure downshifting to 2nd is a huge help there and shifting mid corner can upset the balance of the car.

I'll try to remember to turn on the camera for some laps this weekend too. The number of times it just sits in the bag, or I forget to turn it on is ridiculous!

If I remember this weekend it'll have footage with the kink in the back straight, most places teach a different line than I like to run.

[1Cor10:23]

Originally Posted by wparsons

I'm not sure downshifting to 2nd is a huge help there and shifting mid corner can upset the balance of the car.

That's the one thing I noticed when I watched it - was thinking whether your 2-3 mid corner would upset the car.

Looking forward to the new vids

[n0thing]

Mods on car in video?

[drewbot]

Hmmm maybe SPDA will open up this configuration this weekend

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by n0thing

Mods on car in video?

Swift sport springs, alignment (-2* camber all around, 0 front toe, 1/16" rear toe in), 17x8 RPF1's with 225 RS3's, Perrin catted front pipe & resonated cat-back, OFT with 93 octane tune.

Originally Posted by drewbot

Hmmm maybe SPDA will open up this configuration this weekend

We talked about doing it last year in September, then it kinda fell off the radar on the day of. I'll try to keep it in mind this time. It'll definitely be with the kink in the morning in any case.

[that_guy]

Great chat. @wparsons is right. Worry about fixing the driver first, not the car. If you can drive the course without the nannies interfering, you can drive the course fast without the nannies on.

Love the video of the new track - I really need to get on it. Here's a video of mine before it changed - also with VSC off (not TC/VSC off).

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N05tR7fdBI"]2013 Scion FR-S - Mosport DDT - April 20, 2013 - YouTube[/ame]

Keep in mind it was 1*C that day too.

I'd suggest trying a school if I were you. KPlayground is known for their "careless" track behaviour. If you value your car, leave the nannies there as a glove to catch you, take a school, and avoid modding the car until you've really peaked it's capabilities...even to the point of changing oil grades (I race, DDT and big track combined, with 0W20, FYI).

[wparsons]

I would highly suggest a school as well, or at the very least a lapping day with instruction available.

The OTA school is great, I've heard good things about Ian Law and Hanson as well.

As a shameless plug, SPDA will also be holding another beginner friendly lapping day July 12th with instruction/coaching available. It's not a school, but there are many qualified instructors happy to help out (myself included )