I finally got everything hooked up: GoPro Camera, Traqmate, and TraqStudio software. Here's a video from this past weekend. The camera was mounted on the windshield. I tried it on the rollbar, but you get too much interior and not enough track. The fish-eye lens makes the track seem longer and cars further away.

I am taking the wife of the guy in the silver 997 GT3 that passes us for a ride. She's pretty enthusiastic. He and I were running pretty much nose-to-tail all weekend. His car handles better than mine, and he was on Hoosiers. Mine is heavier with more hp, running on Pilot Sport cups. Fun!

Jon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xol3GFOKLY

 

That's very cool stuff! I need some track time!!!!

 

nice driving and vid, beautiful open track, plenty of runoff room just in case nothing like that near me

 

You do need to get that garage queen on track, Chad!

You're right. There is a wall near the track on the turn entering the straightaway. It used to be closer, but now if you set up that turn correctly, you never really even see it. That track is less than an hour from my house, so I've got a lot of miles on it...

Jon

 

lol it is becoming one - at least not at my garage!

 

Very nice ride Jon.The silver Porsche that passed by you it is a GT2 or your friend's GT3 or your friend's husband GT3 to be precise

 

Good ole Putnam Park...raced there once in a club race with BMW...nice fun little short track, tons of runoff...your laps are looking good. I was in My H-Preppared class race car we were clicking of 16's - 18's for the most part...the modified class cars were quicker by a couple of seconds...there is only one significant straight so big hp doesn't help at Putnam like it would at say Watkins Glen or Daytona... thanks for sharing...love the mph you were carrying into T1

 

Thanks Sunir. I've run 1:18's there, but in much cooler weather. Turbos just can't make the power on a hot day.

 

Nice vid. Man the speed that GT3 can achieve on the turns is sick. Looks like its handling on rails.

 

no doubt...you looked good out there, hitting all the marks and really getting some good exit speeds at track-out...with Putnam being such a short course mechanical grip and downforce are quite important...when I was racing we used a shorter gearset to compensate for the downforce aero settings/package we used for Putnam and Lime Rock Park... this really helped in practice and qualifying as we tweaked it in practice and ran the same trim during the competition with a set of 1 to 2 time heat cycled hoosiers, I ran in a Prepared class so we had restrictions on tires, suspension, drivetrain/engine etc...unlike a higher hp class like modified or unlimited...my car was in H-Prepared and NASA GTS-3 at the time.

 

Sounds like you do remember our little track very well! The guy in the 997 GT3 was on Hoosiers. I've tried them, and they are faster than the MPSC's, but they wear out so fast, and I had trouble keeping the rears from sliding on the rims. so I gave up on them. Oh well, only way to win a DE is to take your care home in one piece.

 

yeah the hoosier DOT-R tire is pretty quick...in prepared class and GTS Series we were allowed to run DOT-R compounds without penalty. Real racing slicks were not permitted in the rulebook for our class, only Modified and unlimited class race cars were allowed to run a true slick. I haven't had a lot of experience with MPSC tires, but I know a lot of Porsche students when I instruct at PCA DE events really like them, and use them...my race car is a '95 BMW M3 - E36 -LTW. Our hp restrictions NA engine, cams, tune, and exhaust only we were making a very modest 220 rwhp (it's a momentum car for the most part) with a manadtory post race weigh in of at least greater than or equal to 2900 Lbs.

 

Those E36's are fun cars. I rode with another instructor who was looking for tips on getting a little faster. I kept yelling at him to put the power down, and he kept yelling back "it IS all the way down!"

We started working on corner entry speed instead.

 

Yeah you have to drive the M3 a lot differently than say my GT2... there are very different dynamics in each car...and the charecteristics between trailing throttle and power-on oversteer is much different as is the way optimal throttle is to be applied. The M3 is full on almost all the time, it's a momentum car, but when driven well it's very fast, gotta use left foot braking in that car, it's critical to keep the revs up always. The GT2 is a slower-in throttle early and very fast out car... the car has a tremendous amount of mechanical grip and the goal is to really maximixe exit speed at track out as much as possible, it's a deadly fast machine but it requires a little more patience on the onset and smoothness with thottle and brake in that car is paramount...