Track pirouette (to put it kindly)

On the one hand, you need to spin your 911 in order to find the limits of the car's handling, in a given situation.

You need to know, at a gut level, exactly where the pushed-too-far point lies when you're driving at speed.

On the other hand, you don't want to wipe out and screw up your car.

This video clip isn't a good example of my 911 at its limits. I'm not going very fast. I've just pulled out onto the track. My tires are cold. The track isn't. I'm not on my line. Etc., Etc... (Jeez, enough excuses; I've got more 'spin control' in this posting than I do on the track. )

But it's a cool 30-second clip of my first spin at the Streets of Willow.

It's a little under 2 megs in size. It's in Quicktime format.

And I think you get to see me blushing at the end of it.



Oh, and as a final note, I put the VW behind me on the next straight.



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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T sunroof coupe

There is a "downside" of having a big heavy 3.6 in the rear end of a light car. Your weight ratio is most likely more slanted to the back. Were you accelerating or caught in no where's land, (going to fast to accelerate and trying to avoid the brakes) around a turn?)

The 3.6 does weigh more than the 2.2 liter engine by about 90 pounds -- imagine a supermodel strapped to your rear bumper. But it's got more than twice the power of the old engine, so I have tough time finding a 'downside.'

If anything, it was more tail-happy with the old set-up. My most noticable problem since the addition of wider rear wheels and an improved suspension had been slight understeer. Suspension-meister Steve Alarcon countered that by stiffening up the rear sway bar and making some other adjustments.

The factors of this spin were really more driver- (that's me) than car-related. I had just fully let up on the gas after going near redline in third. So the car's weight was pushed forward -- driving up an incline -- and I was turning and braking simultaneously (which I shouldn't have been doing).

Also, right before this run I had reduced the tire pressures by 3 pounds on each of the front wheels. So my front was grabbing more, on a hot track, and I was turning hard to the right as the car was still actively decelerating, with the back rising up.

No surprise then, that -- whoosh -- the rear lost grip and swept around like a whip.

But the 3.6 has significantly improved the car's performance. Apples-to-apples lap times are not possible, since a new half-mile section was added to the Streets of Willow since I last drove it. It was a 1.5 mile course. Now it's a 2 mile course (and by the way the new section is great!). My lap times increased by only 7 seconds from old track to new -- with my average speed jumping from 58 mph to 72 mph.

I plan on doing 0-60 and quarter mile times with it soon, for some real side-by-side numbers. But the average speed increase on this track alone qualifies as a heck of an improvement.

Regarding the heavier engine: Yes there is more weight in the back, but for every pound put back there also adds more rear grip (normal force). The centifugal action and the rear grip exactly cancel each other out one to one. The problem is the rear suspension on early 911's not the weight, but that's another argument. Unfortunately the automotive press has almost made it cannon that the rear-weight bias contributed to the 911's twitchly handling over the past 35 years.

As for the clip. I have studied the forensics. Jack, it appears you are shifting after the turn-in. This would upset the smooth weight transfer and induce oversteer. Possible?

Jack was nice enough to take me for a ride during two sessions at Streets of Willow.

For those contemplating putting a 3.6 in your early car, I have one word of advice..Dont ride in one. If you do you'll spend the rest of the day figuring out what your gonna sell and how your gonna sneak it by the wife to do it. If your not restricted by race class limitations, the 3.6 has got to be the best bang for the buck you can get.

Jacks car is set-up very well and except for the sudden rush of accerlation you feel when you enter the straightaway you wouldnt know there was a 3.6 back there.

Jack, I didnt see the clip but I think what ORBMEDIA said might sound alittle familiar It was alot of fun and thanks again for the ride.

Jack,
Get yourself to a skid pad! Based on what I heard on your video, had you done a skid pad evolution, you wouuld have been able to modulate that amazing oversteer with throttle modulation.
Now, having said that, just who did you kill to to find that engine (I know, I followed your adventure on this web site) and the mechanic to install it for you? This adventure is going to be some kind of fun!
To wring every last erg out of this beast, go to a skid pad (Todd Serota, jump in here if you're on this site), learn how to deal with that monsterous power, and THEN, put all the correct coasters to shame! Please understand, this is not meant in any form to be any type of slam, just a guy who's an instructor who wants ALL Porsche owners to move to their maximum potential!

Jack,
If you were on the red in third, how fast were you going when you spun? Pretty good shot of adrenaline there?

Joe
'80 SC Targa

Orbmedia echoes the advice of MMarsh (who's also a driving instructor) which he made clear when he rode with me at the track. The next thing for me to learn is some decent heel-and-toe-ing, so that I'm not letting the thing lose its footing as second gear engages with the rest of the drive-train at a virtual standstill -- especially once the turn has started. The braking and the downshift should all be finished before the turn. Easy to say, but sometimes also easy to forget.

This particular clip shows an unusual situation, since I had just entered the track and wasn't at the speed I'd normally be at going into that turn. The rest of the day, tail-swapping-wise, was completely uneventful.

But I agree 100% with DonNewton about a skid pad. Streets of Willow has one, and I'd love to get some instruction on it when it's wet. I've only done three driving events (and one of those was with the old 2.2 liter engine). I have an enormous amount to learn about handling this car. I'll still have an enormous amount to learn five years from now, too. That's the fun part.

MMarsh is also very nice about my car, but I know that he races in classes that wouldn't allow this kind of modification. And I also know that he's got a really great car of his own. I got to see (and hear) his track-purpose Grand Prix white 72 as well, and it's awe-inspiring. Put me and my 3.6 on the track against him in a 3-cylinder Sprint and the smart money would go with the Chevy three-banger. No amount of hardware will ever make up for practice and time-honed skill.

DonNewton, the engine came from a guy in Germany when the dollar was conveniently strong against the Deutschemark. I found out about it over the internet, just like I did with the car itself. A lot of people on this site (and also the Rennlist group) were very helpful about getting the engine through customs without any bumps. My local mechanic here in Los Angeles (Bob Brumley at L.A. Meister) did the swap work. It was a complicated operation (and there were some long stretches spent waiting for parts), but it ultimately went off without a hitch. Brumley is both methodical and smart.

Joe, the car redlines in third at 90. I was braking pretty hard, though, before the spin started. But the momentum was sufficient for a full 360 degrees of spin. I think only one of the front wheels dipped off the track, though. The car held together well. The engine never missed a beat, and I took down that black GTI in short order.

Adrenaline did flow, definitely. About 15 seconds after this clip stops, you can see a point on the video where what happened finally seems to register, and I let loose with a very loud war whoop. I was charged up.

911s are awesome cars to drive. I'm thrilled with the one I've put together for myself, and hope to one day be its equal in the driving department. There's a lot of track time waiting for me between now and then.

Click here for a picture of me and MMarsh in the final turn on the track:



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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T sunroof coupe

[This message has been edited by JackOlsen (edited 11-12-2000).]

Jack,

Isn't it great to have a place where you can 'let it all hang out' without 'much danger to car or self! I'm quite sure it won't be long before you get all the early learning curve mistakes out of your system! Your video clip kind of reminds me of CART races at the Cleveland airport ... where many of the pro's make mistakes in full view of the cameras and yet, no damage to car or driver usually happens ... one of the best places in the world for viewing such antics, from the perspective of the TV audience!

I've done my share of 180's, 270's, and 360's at autocrosses in my car, but I have yet to ever come close to losing it and doing a spin on the street, so rest assured, every bit of track experience helps build skills for the street! I'm sure you can 'replay' that spin in your brain ... in slow motion! On the street, anticipation of what MIGHT happen if this driver or that one did something stupid, and what you might have to do to get out of the situation without damage to yourself or others, comes with experience! So, don't worry about anybody commenting about this incident ... it might have happened in any car you might have driven!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

[This message has been edited by Early_S_Man (edited 11-12-2000).]

Quicktime doesn't work for me. How about making the film available in mpeg or avi? Please....

Click here for the clip in AVI format.

I just put three laps up from my final session at Streets of Willow on Saturday. They're in Quicktime format. If you really want to see them, but need AVI files, email me.

I didn't put any music on, so you can hear the engine sing on the straights. Unfortunately, the little microphone on the video camera doesn't do the new sport exhaust justice. It rumbles and screams.

The laps.

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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T sunroof coupe

[This message has been edited by JackOlsen (edited 11-13-2000).]

Phrase for the day: "Trail braking"

Hi Jack & everybody else too,
Kinda off topic, but I will be in the market for a DV videocam next year and I'm wondering what rig you're using for these in-car shots? I forget if you're running a cage in the 3.6 monster or just a harness bar with a camera mount?
TIA,
Chris C.

Chris -

You can see the camera in the slightly larger version of the track still photo:

http://members.rennlist.com/jackolsen/trackphoto2.jpg

I got the Canon Elura, and the fact that I was considering in-car video was one of the reasons I chose it: it uses an optical image stabilizaiton scheme, which reviews I read said was better than the Sony's digital system. In practice, I think how you mount the camera makes more of a difference. I got a camera mount from (I think) OG Racing -- or some Racing outfit -- and it works with a harness bar. But the first videos I took had the rear-view mirror blocking too much, so I extended the links of the mount back so that the camera is positioned behind the bar, and lower, for the most recent attempt. The framing of the video is better, now, but the image is much less stable. The physics behind it explain why -- if you hold something at arm's length it's harder to keep it steady, and my extended-arm solution with the mount has the same shortcoming.

So, I love the camera, but don't love the mount. Something that actively dampens the vibration would probably be better.r

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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T sunroof coupe

Here's a page with the new laps in AVI format. They're bigger in AVI, and less clear.

But here they are.