Home » Posts tagged 'Summit Point' (Page 3)
Tag Archives: Summit Point
NCC BMW CCA HPDE Jefferson Circuit, July 10
Here’s a video of the last few laps from this past weekend’s Driver’s School at the Jefferson Circuit at Summit Point. This is from the A Run Group, last session on Sunday. I was signed-off to solo so the only voices in my head this time were my own. Quite a different experience not having a passenger to balance (slow) the car.
NCC BMW CCA Fall HPDE, 2009
The GeorgeCo BMW powered by Beano put in a strong performance among higher horsepower cars this past weekend at Summit Point. The three-day school on the Jefferson Circuit was the last track weekend of the year for the National Capital Chapter.
We’re finally figuring out the skidpad and sustained oversteer. The key is to stay in second gear, dial in some mild understeer, as the front hooks up, wait, then blip the throttle. As the rear comes around, countersteer and hold the throttle steady.
Temperatures on the car were good all weekend. Tirewear has been fairly even. We’re getting some rubbing in the front on the new swaybar but that may be only an issue at full lock on the skidpad.
The biggest issue of the weekend is the ugly song the differential began singing on Saturday. We checked the fluid level and color and both were good. Temp was fine. It may just be in the last throws of death. Time to start checking craigslist.
Final Session, Part 1.
Final Session, Part 2.
Things to remember about this car on the Jeff counter-clockwise:
- Turn 1: max entry speed; stay on the crown; trailbrake; put in lots of steering input; carry speed up the hill; don’t worry so much about track position for turn 2, just be back on-line for turn 3.
- Turn 4: brake mid track; wait for the front to hook up; long apex; unwind the wheel on exit
- Turn 5: stay mid track to avoid dip on entry; trailbrake slightly; head for accessroad; lots of steering input at the apex; avoid the patch; full gas well before apex
- Turn 7: double apex. Brake late to carry speed up the hill, but don’t go deep; trailbrake; get on the throttle early; late second apex
Colonial Challenge Cup, Summit Point, 9.9.09
9/9/09 was a lucky day. I got to take the day off of work and spend it as an instructor at the Colonial Challenge Cup (CCC). The CCC is an annual charity event at Summit Point that benefits the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Boys & Girls Clubs. It includes track lapping, driver education, go-carting and charity rides. It’s a very low-key event with lots of track time if you want it. Instructors had two sessions to ourselves and could go out in any student session we wanted as well. I managed to instruct 5 sessions in an E36 M3 and run 5 sessions myself.
This wasn’t your usual BMW club HPDE. From the organizational structure (not) to the rules on the track (lax) to the overall schedule (relaxed), it was a good chance to get back to the main circuit and test out the changes to the car. There were some very good drivers in some very expensive cars and some rather scary drivers in some scary fast cars. Click here for some laps of the main circuit.
It was a good exercise in space management and situational awareness. That came in the form of both a Daytona Coupe spinning in front of me in Turn 1, as well as a Ford GT passing me on the front straight at 140+ MPH after the checkered flag. It’s not every event where I get to park near an Aston Martin Vantage.
The GeorgeCo BMW, powered by Beano, is really handling well. On Tuesday I added thicker front swaybar. The bar is only 10% thicker than the stock bar, but that difference virtually eliminated body-roll and still maintained neutral handling.
The non-adjustable bar from IE meets Spec E30 requirements, and included new reinforced mounting brackets and adjustable end links.
CDC Autocross Event Four, 5.9.09
On Saturday I finally made it to a CDC autocross event. This one was held at the Triple Skid Pad at Summit Point — same place as the BMW Club event, only this one wasn’t a sogfest. BSR has finally paved the aprons around the inside of each skid pad and cut-out, but the infield is still very soggy. The course was fairly simple, but because of the lack of grip, was actually quite challenging. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be wet so I took both the RA1s and the Hankook slicks. I ran the morning runs with the RA1s and then the slicks in the afternoon. Right off the bat, the slicks were 3 seconds faster and ended up being almost 5 seconds faster.
The video is from the last run. I still haven’t fixed the audio, so you want to turn down the volume.
The results aren’t posted yet, but I suspect the winner was in the low 47 second range. I’m hoping for a top ten finish. My best was in the high 48s. As a comparison, my best on the RA1s was in the low 53s. I probably should have heat-cycled the Hankooks before running them last month at the first SCCA event. They really had much more grip this time, even on the slick surface. I think they are going to work out well this year and seem to be wearing fairly evenly so far.
The only down side was the poor fellow driver in the Lotus Elise who went off into the mud only to turn up a 30-pound rock with his front splitter. With a large “whack”, bits of carbon-fiber were flying everywhere. I’ve been told the only way to make repairs is to buy a new clam shell for the front half of the car. That’s an expensive weekend.
NCC BMW CCA HPDE Summit Point 3.17.09
No, that’s not a vintage photo from 20 years ago. That’s from this past weekend at Summit Point. It was time for the annual Spring HPDE on the main circuit. It was a weekend of a number of firsts for me. First time out on R-comps; first time for this car; and first time on the track driving a rear-wheel drive car.
[The sound quality is poor. If you have a fast connection, click the HD button to get better picture quality once it starts playing.] The video doesn’t convey the sense of speed down the front straight. I was just touching on 120 before the braking zone. There may have been a bit more in the car, but since it’s more than 20 years old and has over 215,000 miles on it, I didn’t want to have to buy a new engine, so I didn’t push it. Since it’s so much quieter than the MINI, I often ran it out to 7,000 RPMs on the straight from turn 9 to 10 before I got my rhythm down.
The car was much more like the MINI than I thought it would be. They are similar in weight and braking characteristics, thought the MINI brakes have more bite. It is very neutral in handling like the MINI, but no where near the amount of torque. You have to get on the power much sooner in corners and are rewarded with trailing throttle oversteer. Toward the end of Sunday, I felt as comfortable diving it into an apex as I did the MINI.
Here are a couple of things to remember for next time on the main circuit in this car.
- Between 2 and 3 don’t follow the edge of the track. Line up in the middle toward the gap in the tire wall, wait for the dip after the access road to turn in and use the camber on the inside.
- Tap the brakes right after the crest before 4 to settle the car, turn in, and full gas through the apex. Brake straight into 5.
- As soon as possible, get back on the gas in 5 to counteract the understeer. Go wide to keep up speed into 6. Position in 6 isn’t as important as a good set up to apex 7.
- Between 7 and 8 starts steady throttle to max gas at apex of 9. Try to get the shift into 4th gear before 9. Don’t early apex 9. (See M3 photo below.)
- Move the brake point for 10 back a bit. Key off of power lines. Brake less, carry more speed into corner, full gas through the apex. There is plenty of room to track out. An extra 3 MPH at exit is worth 10 MPH at the end of the straight. Remember to adjust brake zone into 1 with that in mind.
- Try to separate end of braking from turn-in in your mind as you adjust. Work on one thing at a time. If you can get on the gas before the apex, then your speed at turn-in isn’t high enough.
