Vid, open track day, HPR, Friday 9-30-11

byndbad914 · 10-02-2011, 11:25 AM

Took some video of an open track day this last Friday. There are three of my most consistent, fastest laps to date, all in the 1:55s. I ran one 1:55 the last time I went out with consistent 1:57s after I put some old radials I had laying around on the car from a couple years back, so I got the most out of them the last track day. This time they held on for about 4 laps in the morning, and then just got greasier and greasier as the track and the day warmed up.

So I have three clean laps back to back at the beginning, a slightly slower overall time lap as the fourth but there was some neat traffic so I left it in and it was my fastest shot down the bobsled to hell and sliding back up the hill, then some footage of traffic to see some cars, general bloopers and random chaos.

And then I realized upon editing that I left the camera on when I finished, so I got a bunch of footage of various folks coming up and asking questions, talking about the car when they thought I couldn't hear which is always funny, but I threw in one snippet of a corner worker that worked down in that area I would go sliding through and the open wheeler spins.

The springs are getting stiff enough that I know I have to get the right camber set on the car, some new radials, then monkey with tire pressures. I suspect that I am in the "1/2 psi makes a big difference" spring rate range.

9-30-11 HPR YouTube HD.avi - YouTube

cajun · cajun's Garage

You were hauling arse! Any pictures of your ride???

byndbad914 · 10-02-2011, 06:02 PM

if you click on the website in my signature, there are some pics there as well as a link to the whole tube chassis build, engine build, so forth. I haven't updated it in awhile, so since those picks and that chassis build I have converted the car to dual A front and rear suspension of my own design (don't know if that is good or bad

) but you will get the jist of the car. Paint scheme and overall look is the same as on that site.

winders · 10-02-2011, 11:23 PM

Tim,

Just because people are not as fast or as good a driver as you are does not mean you should be denigrating them. Everyone has to start somewhere.....and some never get very good. But they are out there having fun. Isn't that what this is all about?

Scott

Flieger · Flieger's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by winders

Tim,

Just because people are not as fast or as good a driver as you are does not mean you should be denigrating them. Everyone has to start somewhere.....and some never get very good. But they are out there having fun. Isn't that what this is all about?

Scott

Flieger · Flieger's Garage

Nice cat, Tim.

winders · 10-03-2011, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flieger

Did you watch the video and see all the nasty comments he makes about drivers that are either slower than him or not as good?

When I raced motorcycles I saw this stuff all the time. A subset of guys on faster bikes with more skill would make fun of the slower and less capable riders. These guys forgot that used to be slower and less skilled too.

Those kind of comments bothered me then and bother me now.

Scott

P.S. I was one of the faster guys on bikes....so the comments were not directed at me.

Flieger · Flieger's Garage

I watched the first few laps and saw a Jetta or something going in reverse, then I paused the video, came back and it didn't want to play so I quit since I thought the rest of the laps would look the same. I never heard him say anything, but I was wondering what the annoying message in the center of the screen was.

byndbad914 · 12:24 PM

Scott, I agree everyone has to start somewhere, and that is called the slow group. This was the FAST group, there is a big difference. When I started out racing, I wouldn't even move up a group until I was convinced I was one of, if not the fastest guy in my existing group - in fact, most times I was asked to move up v. assume I was able to move up.

Run groups are based on an honor system - but guidelines are set at the drivers' meeting in the AM. If you are being passed a lot, or are going slow or are the slowest guy, you are suggested to move down to the slower group. That is what is irritating. There were a ton of cars out there for the fast group, I only pointed out a couple people that were where they didn't belong out of probably 25 cars on the track at the peak, and by that, I mean really didn't belong. That Jetta and the Vette were both a complete joke.

Note I didn't say anything negative about the Suby for example that was running when I passed the ZR1- he is much slower than me for sure, but was courteous about that and let me by, and most importantly he was out there running faster times than the slow group and working on his driving which I am all for. The Vette would drag race me forcing me to a bad line into the next corner, dangerous for both of us, and neither him or the Jetta would point by - that is the disrespect I am pointing out here.

Being respectful goes both ways, so while I was more than respectful of say 20 other drivers and always passed with caution, never crowded them, etc, if you are out there just creating traffic, driving off the line, and/or going way slower than even the slow group, then I am going to call that out.

oh yeah, that annoying message in the middle, I have a GoPro and it didn't come with editing software, and since I have Windows, mpeg-4s won't go directly into say movie maker, so I either would convert to avi which took forever, or just grabbed an editor that works directly with mpeg-4 and uploads to YouTube, so since I use the base version, they put that message in there periodically to advertise their stuff.

harrisracing · harrisracing's Garage

I've seen your website before when I was considering LS1 914 project, but watching the video really shows how fast your car is. Impressive to say the least.

How you act on track and amongst peers is completely your business, and I won't add my POV there, BUT from a safety standpoint in a car as fast as yours you should be wearing complete safety gear at all times including gloves.

Hands take serious pain when on fire EVEN WHILE WEARING Nomex gloves - without them you may not be able to remove your harnesses from a bad wreck if you were engulfed. Grassrootsmotorsports writeup here if you don't want to take my word for it. Fighting Fire: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine Articles

I used to run lapping days per regular lapping safety rules (long pants, long sleeves, visor up, no gloves), but no longer do since an older, wiser one of my peers informed me that most of the tracks in the world don't staff up for a full on fireball accident on Lapping days. Our local track didn't even have an ambulance unless it was a "race" weekend.

So, I urge you to keep having fun going superfast, but please don't become a statistic. Safety gear is critical at all times.

Patrick

byndbad914 · 10-12-2011, 04:26 PM

funny - a few have noted this. I had a full set of gear that I "outgrew" and we'll leave it at that haha and gave it all to a kid starting out and bought all new stuff recently. My gloves ended up being on back order which they didn't tell me when I ordered everything

so I didn't have them here. I will have gloves for sure once I get them. What is even funnier is your timing in that I had just called them today to see what was up, and apparently they forgot to fill my B/O so they are on their way

What is amazing is how much nicer and lighter the Nomex suit is to my old school suit from before.

One nice thing is the track that I run at here actually has an ambulance on pit road and ready at all times on open lapping days. That too is a first for me for open track days - I watched an open-wheeler burn to the ground at the other track here on an open lap day as there was no form of safety squad there.