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Ever been playing a round of golf and tell yourself "dagnabbit!" this is the last time I'll ever play this confounded game? Then on the last hole you hit a shot so sweet you just can't wait to get back on the course again. Well, that's how I feel lately. Andy and I spent our last 2003 race weekend at Summit Point in West Virginia early in October. Since neither of us had more than 5 DE sessions on the track I arrived at the track with little anticipation of any startling results and since I do better in the longer enduros, I didn't expect much for just a sprint race weekend. But like that last golf hole I surprised myself. Before I went to Summit Point I did two things to my car. First I put the rear spring rate back to what it started the year at and second I put my Hoosiers back on. The funny thing is that those changes not only made the car feel better but they made me feel better. For the past couple of races I have been fighting the car in the corners and beating myself up for not controlling the car the way I have in the past. But all it took was a couple of practice session to get back that control and confidence. I was back to driving the way I like to drive (not perfect but on the road). I have to also say that it-felt so-o-o-o good to get back on my Hoosiers. I had enjoyed the Michelins but the Hoosiers just felt so good. There is a couple of confusing things about the Michelins. 1. The manufacturer recommends less negative camber than the Hoosiers but I ran them with negative 3 in the front and negative 2.75 in the rear and I still scrubbed off the outside edge of the front tires more than I do on the Hoosiers. Yet whenever the Michelin reps were at a track I had them take pressures and temps in the hot pit and the heat progression across the tires indicated the camber was good. 2. Andy couldn't seem to get them to stick well in the colder temperatures that we had at Summit Point probably because of the mass they didn't seem to heat up well. The Hoosiers being thinner heat up nicely in the cooler temps. What have I learned from this and from asking around? Well, I think, it's not that they require less camber it's because they will work with less camber and because of this the 911 drivers may tend to like them more because they can't get the negative camber that a 944 can. Another thing is they don't slide the same way a Hoosier does. Most 944 drivers don't mind a little slide out of the rear while rotating the car where 911 guys already have a built-in slide and I think the Michelins stabilize that a bit by not sliding as much or differently. Again driving style and personal preference is the most important element. In the end everyone asks are they as fast as Hoosiers? Sure, but I really think it is the driver comfort and confidence that will determine that. Ultimately both tires will handle the speeds we go BUT it is the comfort and confidence of the driver that will make him push the car faster not the tire itself. I proved to myself at Summit Point that I am more comfortable on Hoosiers than Michelins. After 24 race format heat cycles on the Michelins I felt more comfortable on the Hoosiers after just 2 sessions. It is hard to beat the longevity of the Michelins though. I am waiting to see what Hoosier comes up with as a direct competition to the Pilot Cups, due out very soon. And there is also a chance of running Michelins again if they come out with the right sizes. It is tough to turn down 1 set of Michelins a year as opposed to 3 sets of Hoosiers. The other thing that I learned from the spring mishap is that I really like a car with a bit of understeer more than oversteer. This allows me to scrub off a little more speed at my turn in point that I didn't scrub off under braking. It also seems to keep the rear-end in place until I want to rotate it. But the big question now is how much or how little spring rate per track. Sure there is an optimum spring set-up that will work OK on all tracks but is it would seem to me that it would be perfect on some tracks and a compromise on the others. Take a look at the different track we drive around here. We have the short bumpy tracks like Lime Rock and Summit Point and we have the long smooth tracks like The Glen, VIR and lately Road America. The best spring set-up for Lime Rock is not the best spring set-up for Road America. I had my fastest lap at Lime Rock of a 1:01 with 400 lbs. springs in front and 600 lbs. in the rear with a slightly lighter car. Those springs would be too soft at Road America. So what do I do? I am thinking of having 3 sets of springs (as speed parts go they are among the cheapest) and change them for the individual races. For instance (and I haven't figured exact rates yet) I am thinking 450/600 for Lime Rock and Summit Point, then 550/600 or 600/650 for Mosport and Mid Ohio, and somewhere around 700-800 for the Glen and Road America. They are relatively easy to change in the rear and I think I have come up with a way of changing the fronts without changing the alignment. The only trick is to get the car at the same ride height to keep the corner balance close. It would get expensive to corner balance for every race. Too much work? Too much thinking? Maybe but there are some very serious racers in the PCA and I want to beat a few of them next year. I also have decided that the Racer's Edge solid suspension mounts are a must as well as the Kokeln sway bars. I need to be able to make slight changes with the bars that I can't make with the factory ones. If I decide to race with Hoosiers it would be nice to move to 18" wheels but that gets expensive. Apparently the stiffer sidewalls of the Michelins don't benefit as much to the 18" wheels over 17" wheels as the softer Hoosiers do. So, how did I do in the sprint race? Pretty good I think! The field was made up of 26 cars including GT5R & GT5S (very low, big winged cars), E-class (C2s and 944 Turbo Ss) and F-class (we were the slowest class). Within the field there were 4 GT5s, 8 E cars, and 14 F cars. Andy and I gridded 12th and 11th respectively. I was psyched I had the ever important inside and Andy was stuck on the outside. During qualifying Ronny Savenor, in an attempt to break the land speed record, had a connecting rod poke his little head out the side of the block. Because Ronny is the driver he is he immediately moved off line and the qualifying session suffered no slow-downs or interruptions. Sorry Ronny! Another unfortunate incident found Derek Teitjen in the tires off of turn 10. That was 2 drivers that wouldn't make the race so my inside position was still there. As we were watching the first race Andy informed me that I would be on the outside as he pointed to Jay Mazzola packed up and heading out of town. Great! I was to be gridded against a very fast 968 with all the right suspension parts and a good driver. Andy was right behind him. So I figure by the exit to turn 1 I will have dropped from 8th to 11th or 12th again. So as we followed the pace car around for our warm-up lap the 968 is giving me a show of how fast he can rocket forwards (those crazy head games). Well, I wasn't paying to much attention to him as we came onto the front straight. With one last burst of speed the 968 lurched forwards only to have the track go green as he had to brake to avoid hitting the car in front of him. What a break, I had a good head of steam going and crushed him into turn 1. Poor Andy got passed by a bunch of cars as the 968 tried to regain his composure. For the first time in my short race career I was running 2nd in a sprint race. The 968 couldn't catch me in too many places but he was much faster than me in the approach to turn 5. Once in the 6,7,8 complex I was fine but every time coming into 5 he was on my butt. He eventually got me there right before we started to hit lap traffic. Once that happened I had no chance of getting by him. You always seem to hit a slower car when it hurts your speed the most. So I was back in 3rd spot in class and 8th overall until a GT5 car spun between 5 and 6 and I moved up to 7th overall. At this point I backed it down a notch so I didn't screw-up. I also had a left front wheel bearing start to go and make a bunch of noise in the right-handers. Andy had his own problem behind me as he tried to keep another 911 behind him. That's tough racing when you are protecting for 21 laps. Andy was worn out at the end of the race. So that's how I ended the last race of the season with my first Sprint Race podium finish. I finished 7th out of the 26 cars and 3rd in class out of 14. That meant I beat 6 of the 8 E-class cars too. Andy held that guy off and finished right behind me. Perfect drive? No way, but better! Will I be back to play more golf next year? Absolutely! Now come the working on the car season. See you soon! |
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