agreed...especially the pro driving help...they really know where your 3 seconds are and know how to acutally let you ACCESS them...and to any who may be wondering...3 seconds on a roadcourse is HUUUUUGE!

 

Cant argue with that, Road Racing is much more risky, and costly as a habit. Especially if you have tons of hp, and with all the RWD conversions people really would be putting themselves at risk. More power will not neccessarily make you faster on the track either, the big hp cars are not the fastest on a circuit by any means.

I am with woodster here, I just want to go to the drag strip every now and then to see what it can do, like once every 4 or 5 months, and I'm good, but drag racing doesnt interest me that much any more.

All reliability concerns aside, a higher rev limit would help too. I drove Al Nortons car (700 hp) and it's a dream the way it goes to 8k rpms. I think I would be able to lap faster in his car than mine on same tires, depending on the track, of course even while taking several turns fast on the street, I could not duplicate a track environment to see how the car would do then, but his car is so smooth, it's crazy.

 

Where do you find out about open track days at Road Atlanta? I have been on their website and the schedule doesn't mention any open track days.

 

Its not quite skip barber and it was a gift from the GF so didnt cost me anything ...errr well not exactly she paid for it but I am sure I paid for it in many other ways.

 

Remember the higher the revs the more stress and wear on the engine.
the cup cars run a certain rpm to qualify, practice, and race. depending on the rpms they run is the number of hours they get out of the motor before a rebuild. just dropping the rpm limit by 500 give many more hours before a rebuild.

 

Yeah the schedule on the site sucks badly. You can go to trackschedule.com or search these clubs websites for information on their track days.

PCA
BMWCCA
Audiclub
Panoz Racing school
Nasa (national auto sport association)
SCCA (sports car club of america)


Then you can also call Kinetic Speed Shop (I think) they hold private days there every now and then.

Panoz was the leader of the open track days but skip barber took over now and doesnt offer the same type of open track day (and certainly not cost efficient) so we lost about 6 weekends a year right there. But hopefully after they see that no one is happy with that they'll reinstate the panoz days.

I think Chin Motorsports will be coming to RA in 08 as well, definitely a consideration as well.


BMW club will be running this weekend, PCA has one in a few weeks, Panoz has one in december as well. I'll be attending to spectate this weekend, feel free to come out on join. We have a few guys that track a bit, you can check us out at vmaxatl.com

 

Yeah, I know, but it sure would make the car faster. It's like the forbidden fruit, looking all fresh and tasty on the tree in the garden of eden. I just want to bite it and.......oh sorry.


I wish changing the gears wasnt so expensive in these cars, it's not worth the money IMO (10k is what I have been seeing). But that would help a ton.

 

Buddy
The range in H town is roll ons, we even have a competition every month, so for me I like this type of fun. Actually, I am to scared of damaging my car at a road coarse... but I loved your video.
Cheers
Robert

 

Tom, no question my car is too heavy to be the ultimate car track but it is also my daily driver in the summer, I like my stereo equipment and I like to go fast in a straight line. Throw that all together and the fact that only 2 cars out of 80 were faster than me at Grattan with one being a straight race car is pretty impressive.

If I want a pure track car I would get something like the 911 racecar that was at Grattan. 1850 lbs and 350 hp, now that is a power to weight ratio!

 

Heavy,

I know that 6speed is an anomaly where big hp is king. At Grattan of the 85 cars that were there 80 were Porsches!

 

Rob,

Depending on the track you usually have a lot of runoff room so it you do go off the track it is not a big deal.

 

Buddy, I will be straight up honest with ya

If I had my choice now, I would be driving a GT3RS

I have been in a few and there is nothing better than having that engine screaming 6/7/8k around The Ring (Nordschleife) with the track so narrow and not much run off area, you are doing silly speeds with trees and armco flashing past with a blink of the eye. These cars are on rails and there is no better feeling than doing a fast lap in a quick car especially at The Ring. I know most of you guys drag race, but seriously it's nowhere near the addrenaline rush you get on a good track.

 

To each their own. With that said...

Most...and I mean MOST drivers, not the factory driver or the ALMS/T1/GT1/2 drivers, cannot lap an American roadcourse faster in a car with over 500rwhp/awhp than a car with 300rwhp/awhp. The reason is traction...pure and simple. Whilst exiting a turn, if you put your foot down too much with such a high hp beast, traction very much tries to elude you and it is only the very,very,very gifted drivers who can ride that line of traction to good effect. What usually ends up happening is the driver becomes tentative of balancing on that line and either stays far short of it or goes enough over it to enter a "drifting" state...which is the slower way around a turn.

Many, even on this board, have said that a well prepped stock engined 996TT would afford a faster lap time than a heavily modded one. It takes an unGodly amount of skill to drive a car with 500/600/700rwhp faster than a 400rwhp car... even then it's all incrementally skill related.


What really blows my mind here is that I don't think I've ever read a post about autocrossing...probably the most available way to learn to drive one's car in a safe manner. Plenty of track,strip, and "roll-on" threads but never an autox one....

Be good,
TomK

 

100% Correct!

People say that Turbo is too heavy etc for the track etc etc.

Try the car at the Ring! Or imagine it. I just can't describe it.

There the car is in element. And everyone knows it, not the greatest car for a modern GP circuit but really one of the best for the ultimate track Nordschleife.

I'm eager to try a GT3 RS some day, must be awesome. But to this day no GT3 or GT2 has come pass this old Techart Turbo....And yeah I know there are a lot of guys which are much faster than me with a lot of crappier cars. I'm no pro driver at all! The point was that I know the GT models are awesome, but haven't seen any one pushing that kind of car. Owners and people in general just tell me they are awesome and as a matter of fact you are just tired of passing them

Turbos do need some mods for track (GT3 seats, 6-point harness / roll cage, brakes, tires, suspension..but power is good in the stock form..of course not many leave it to stock )

Btw. Stock 996 Turbo is 7.56 on the Nordschleife. Imagine what kind of difference only semislick tires would do. And then think what can be achieved with a better suspension. The GT3RS is 7.48 by the same driver. Everybody knows that the Turbo is faster with only those two mods. Oops...you need the brakes too

The outcome: 996 Turbo might not be the most enjoyable car at the track, but it sure is F**KING FAST!

 

And you are not about to find one passing you very soon. Depending on the track, a well sorted (street) turbo will have 4seconds+ over any very well driven 997GT3RS. After 20 laps it might be a different story though.