What speeds were you typically able to carry through turn 10 in your Camaro? At my one and only event at Summit it took me awhile to muster the ***** to carry more than 70+ through that turn until I my second day I had BSR instructors who really pushed me hard to carry at least 80 through that turn. Until I was able to do that the most I was seeing down the straight was 115 or so. I don't know exactly how fast I was hitting but I know I never needed to shift but the motor was definately running out of breath. Once I learned to carry the momentum and trust the car I was at the point where I was topping out 4th gear. I think with the stroker and the big GT35, proper gear selection and carrying the momentum will be even more critical but I don't think 130+ will be a problem. Now, whether or not the brakes can deal with the faster pace is another story...

The Shendandoah course definately appears to be super tight and technical. If that were the only track I were to ever run on I would definately think about sticking with an optimized stock turbo configuration. But on the less technical tracks, even on a small track like BeaveRun a 3071 or BR440 would shine. In fact, in my limited experience, the stock turbo when tuned to the limit is almost too twitchy. I found I had a hard time modulating the throttle once my adrenaline was flowing and my legs were jittery.

 

I honestly don't know how fast I took Turn 10. I generally don't look at the speed in turns I do know that I generally was doing about 110 under the bridge between 9 and 10 and gave the brakes a pretty hard stab before 10. I've seen a lot of people go off in 10 and so I generally was fairly careful there. The speed that you take 10 is critical for the front straight. I hit 130-135 if I really wound it out on the straight, but a friend of mine who is a superior driver hit the same speeds in his stock motored Camaro (275 hp LT1). With your GT35 and stroker I have no doubt that you could easily hit 140+ but I wouldn't do it without brake ducting, serious race pads and working your way up slowly to make sure that the brakes are up to it. It took so much out of my brakes to come down from 130 to 45 for Turn 1 that I usually just lifted when I hit about 120 and maintained that speed. Big difference in braking effort for that additional 10 mph of "trap speed."

I remember when I did a school at VIR, I rode with my instructor in his 400 whp RX7TT. That was frickin scary. He hit 140 on the front straight and the slight bend on the straight suddenly felt like a real turn! I thought for sure that we were going to go off at the end of the straight, but I just wasn't used to a car with such good brakes and light weight. Come to think of it an RX7TT is a fantastic track car...if you can keep those apex seals intact.

Az3ar, a friend of mine 4 years or so ago bought an E30 track car from a place in, I think, North Carolina that sold E30s with E36 2.5L motors and track modifications like seats, cage, etc... If you are interested, I can try to find out the name of that shop.

Rich

 

True.

Very True. The miata is actually a very very good beginner track car. The car has superb balance, great handling RWD, 50:50 weight distr, great tranny, etc. The problem that many people usually complain about is the lack of power.

My view is that the lack of power on the miata is actually a great training element for beginner. Since the miata has so little torque, anything you did wrong i.e. break too much/late, running wide etc., you will immediately know because it will take forever to pick up speed again and really forces to think about your driving techniques instead of "masking" flaws of your driving.

What i mean by masking your driving flaws is that when you drive a powerful car (especially like the evo after several mods), people will develop the impression that they are driving faster, hence better because the car is more powerful and faster. When in fact, it just simply means that the car is faster. It certainly doesn't mean the person is driving better. Anyone who has money can make their car faster but that doesn't make the driver any better. But anyone who has great driving skills can almost drive any car very fast.
Almost all people fall into this infinte modding addiction including yours truly here when, instead, they should be improving themselves before anything. Alright enough ranting....have fun driving.

 

I agree with everything you're saying....but I still like modding my car to make it faster

One other thing to think about on choice of track car (and I'm thinking of Az3ar's thread on trading his Evo for an E30)...One of the things about doing "driving schools" rather than real door-to-door racing, is that you can't make up for the lack of power of a slower car like a Miata (or an E30 M3) by being fast in the turns because more often than not you are going to have to slow down in the corner for the less experienced driver in front of you, or the guy on street tires, or...simply because schools don't let you pass in turns. And if you are in that less powerful car, as soon as the track starts to straighten out, your Miata or '88 M3 isn't going to help you when that Z06 or Evo shoots out of the corner on sheer HP alone, especially given the loss of mid-corner speed that you've suffered by having to lift for them. Then as soon as you get into the next series of corners you are right on them again being slowed down and then the same thing happens as soon as the track straightens out.

In a way, you need a lot of HP to work your way through traffic in a typical driving school crowd, and if you are in a car without that power, you will be hopelessly frustrated by the routine that I'm describing above.

Just my $.02.

 

No, you are right.

But I would have a lot more respect for the guy driving the miata who catch up in the corners despite the lack of hp than the people who blows your doors off on the exit straightaway.

 

WOW that REALLY LOOKS FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How much money do you have to bring to the track to run?

 

Most schools run by the PCA and BMW CCA cost around $150-200 per day. That includes one-to-one instruction (in-car) plus classroom sessions, instructor rides, lunch, a t-shirt, etc.

Emre

 

Plus 2 tanks of gas minimum, plus gas to and from the event, plus what you eat, hotel if you stay overnight....I estimate that each track day I do costs me about 400.00, and I will have done 13 by the end of the year...so do the math, 5200.00, just for the track days. Not to mention a set of pads every 3 events (only because I have discovered the Evo-specific PF compound that works for me quite well), another 600.00, plus a set of rotors, another 200.00, plus 2 sets of race tires at 750.00 per set, plus, lets say 1200.00 in miscellaneous stuff=8700.00 MINIMUM in my case or 725.00 per month....A VERY expensive hobby, and addictive like crack.


Percy

 

All right all right enough of the BS talk, who is in with me for Watkins Glen?

Watkins Glen is one of the best tracks in the US and it’s a very very fast track. I was watching the track on speed channel today and it looked ton of fun. If I get 5 EVO guys I can get a discount... I don’t know how much yet but I am sure I can. This event will be $475 for 2 days. When I say 2 days I mean not many cars not crowded not total mess. PM and will go into details.

 

Only 13 track days per year? Pfff... amateur

I probably do 25-30. Yes, it does get expensive.

Emre