A pretty quick time for your first visit to WSIR. How about that 8/9 combination?

 

It was definitely an eye-opener. You get lulled to sleep on that big wide turn 8 and then the radius tightens up on 9. I kept my eye on that dirt to the outside. ha

The combo that kicked my butt was 3/4.

 

lulled to sleep on 8???

You must be going to slow...the trick to 8 is not to lift or break and your marbles should be in your throat!

 

Maybe I'm not describing it well. If I'm not mistaken, turns 8 and 9 make up the big sweeping turn right before you get onto the straightaway. The first part (turn 8 I believe) is a wider arc and I agree, no braking there, just plow ahead. The tricky part was the tighter arc on the last part of the turn right before the straightaway (turn 9 I believe). If you are zipping along at a good speed for the wide arc turn, and then hit the tighter arc turn at the same speed . . . good times. As for the marbles in my throat, check. After one dude rolled his car and they had to close the track for a bit, and then a Corvette lost it directly in front of me (coming out of turn 9 in fact) and almost plowed into the wall by the bleachers before he regained control on pit row (I could see the guy's face and he was NOT happy), my pucker factor was definitely increased. Thanks for the tip though, I'm sure I left some unused track out there on turn 9. Next time.

 

got my time on big willow down to 1:37 this past weekend. still going waaaay slow through 8 & 9, but don't think I'll be pushing too hard through there until I get some seats, harnesses and a roll bar (I'm leaning on the door pretty hard through 8 as it is.

 

Buttonwillow #1 CW: 2:01.801 - 03/27/2011 - first time driving the car, first time on that config, and running on old tires/brakes (i had just bought the car). link to mylaps results.

Auto Club Speedway ROVAL CCW: 1:43.2 - 04/10/2011 - second time driving the car, qualifying Pirelli Cup race. can't find the data on mylaps, but it should be on the pirelli cup website somewhere.

Thunderhill w/ Turn 5 (Cylone, not bypass) CCW: 1:50.518 - 04/27/2011 - fourth time driving the car. test-day, so no official times but here's a link to a screenshot of my motec data of turn 8 i made for someone else. lap time is upper left corner.

Car: 2009 Porsche GT3 Cup w/ Michelin slicks (except for Auto Club, rules required Pirelli slicks).

-mike

 

Ok, got some safety equipment in the car, harnesses, recaros, hans device. No other mods to the car for performance, total weight difference was - 2lbs so insignificant. Got my best lap time so far down to a 1:35.8. The safety equipment and harness really helped hold me in on some of the faster sweepers, esp 8 and the 8-9 transition. Real fun weekend, still have a lot to learn but slowly getting there. Can't say enough about Hergesheimer in Lake Forest, they installed all the safety equipment and props to Lucas Fabrication for building an amazing roll bar for my car.

 

Just to keep the thread alive... got to run the roval for the first time earlier this year, same car on NT01, no new mods. 1:58.3 at Cal Speedway. Going back next month to try to improve my time there.

This past weekend, I got to go to Laguna Seca for the first time, holy sh*t awesome track and so fun but scary (first time driving off the corkscrew was like diving off a cliff in my car, no joke. I think I might've whimpered a little). I did a 1:45.7.

FYI, for Cayman owners, you will get popped for sound even if you are stock. I have no tune, stock headers, stock exhaust, not even sport chrono on my car and was getting popped for sound multiple times so be careful and pay attention to where the mobile sound stations are, they were setting up on the left side... sneaky.

 

New Buttonwillow time added.

* SoW CW
1:21.8 996 Turbo 2WD (w/o ABS) on Hankook street tires Ventus RS2 315 rear and Ventus RS3 245 front . Official Redline Time Attack timing.

Buttonwillow CW13 (incl "bus stop" config)
* 1:53.2 BMW 135i (with flash, KW V3, APR aero), NT01 (official NASA timing)
* 1:55.7 996 Turbo RWD (KW V3, Carbonetic diff, 473 crank hp), Hankook street tires Ventus RS2 315 rear and Ventus RS3 265 front (official Redline Time Attack Timing)
* 2:00.5 996 Turbo with PSS9 on skinny 225/40/18 & 285/30/18 Yokohama A048. (official Redline Time Attack Timing)

Cali Speedway Infield (Speed Ventures events)
* 1:11.5 996 Turbo with PSS9 on used Yokohama Advan Neova fronts and used R888 rears
* 1:19 2006 Nissan 350Z on OEM runflats and auto transmission

Cali Speedway Roval (oval and infield)
* 1:45.x Nissan 350Z Formula Drift car on Hankook C51 limited to 377hp by rulebook (RTA official timing)
* 1:47.x Nissan 350Z Formula Drift car on Hankook RS3 (RTA official timing)
* 1:49.2 996 Turbo with PSS9 on Hankook street tires Ventus RS2 315 rear and Ventus RS3 245 front (RTA official timing)

* Las Vegas Motor Speedway Outside Road Course (cw) with "sweeper" turn 1&2 instead of full length)
1:45.8 996 Turbo RWD (KW V3, Carbonetic diff, 473 crank hp), Hankook Ventus street tires (RTA official timing)

* Willow Springs Intl Speedway (Big Willow)
1:29.3 2003 Nissan 350Z TT drift car (9 psi boost = appr 415 crank) 3205 lbs incl driver, coilovers and aero, Hankook street tires Ventus RS3 265 front 285 rear (RTA official timing)

 

We need these times in the big lap times thread.

 

Curious if anyone has run Big Willow lately after they repaved? I'm unsure if lap times are faster or slower? I went out there this past weekend and managed a 1:35.7 in a little traffic. I "thought" I would be faster since it's been almost 6 months since I last went out, but hard to compare to my old lap times with the re-paving.

 

It was slower when they just did the pavement. But now it's pretty the same. I was only be able to do 1:35 on my stock M3 with RS3 after they just did the pavement back in May/June.
As comparison, I did 1:36 on stock 07 S2k on Hankook RS3 and same 1:36 on stock 7AT 370Z on stock RE050 last month. So I guess the pavement is fine now.

 

Big Willow - 1:35.100 - Supercharged E46 M3 on street tires.