Finally finished up my first HPDE last Friday at Mid-Ohio! Caught 2 wet sessions in the AM and 2 dry sessions in the PM. The wet was an interesting experience, little to no traction certainly sums it up. But it was good experience. There are plenty of areas to work on, obviously. China Beach, Madness, The Esses is a pretty tricky section to get it right. I was being a baby braking into China Beach...the first session I hit oil into the braking zone and it was not a fun experience. Kept it straight and all...just had the o-shi moment. It was still a little cold and the track wasn't completely dried up, so threshold braking wasn't really worked on at all Overall though, It was really fun. I'm amazing at what type of grip is out there. Here's my last session. Critique if you want.
Did they have you driving the esses in other sessions? That one, they had you all running the pro course, straight out of turn one up to the keyhole. Good job with the smoothness and line for your first time - your exit of 7/madness entry was getting better by the end of the clip. The way you ran it the first time is a defensive racing line, but slower, and no need to run that line in a driver's school. If you come to a Buckeye or Northern Ohio chapter BMWCCA school, you'll find we do all passing on the left, ie, drivers pass to the left of the car that's given the proper passing signal. In rain/wet/damp there's traction to be had off-line (typically), as the dry line tends to get polished and thus is slippery. With caution though, and better explored not-in-proximity to other drivers who likely are following the slicker dry line.
Nope, it was all pro/championship course this weekend. Last NASA event IIRC they ran the club course. So going that wide and sticking inside on Madness is not the prime line? Interesting. I can't provide any insight but that's what my instructor was telling me. He was okay I guess, but he drove a lower HP car which would make sense of why he would make me take that line. The morning sessions it was wet line (AKA 2 wheels on the outside of the polished/sealed surface and 2 wheels inside). I'll probably do a driving school next year with NEO BMWCCA. For NASA, passing was on left past the pits, and all other straights on the right (off-line).
If you exit 7 all the way to left edge of the track before 8 (Madness), or early-apex 7 and that's where you end up, and hug the curbing up and around the top of the hill, you can't really start to accelerate until you're past the apex going down the hill. Not enough mechanical grip; dedicated race cars like Daytona prototypes and such have enough mechanical grip (tires/downforce) to carry speed uphill and across the top of the hill to counter the g's that could lead to spinning out - street cars, not so much. As you brake into the base of Madness, if you're positioned more center, or center right, and then turn in, the car is pointed straighter as you hit the apex and crest the hill, and you can be on the gas earlier and not just modulating the throttle until the car's settled after the crest of 8. One might quibble about the differences and I don't have timing data to compare through-7 to through-8 for different lines, but my feeling is the max-speed-thru-7 line costs more time getting around 8 than you gain carrying more speed after the apex of 7, for a typical streetable car at a driver's school.
