Double Header - TnT and First Win of 2019...in the wet!
I'm a bit exhausted now but it's been quite a weekend with an NNJR SCCA double header starting with a test and tune on Saturday and a race on Sunday. We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather for a test n tune. It was sunny and perfect temperature (mostly in the 60s with a high of around 72F) making it possible to do almost 20 runs without having to spray the tires much.
Getting ready for the TnT - 3-30-2019
NNJR SCCA - Meadowlands, NJ
I started off the day by increasing my rear bar. After reviewing my notes from the MSNE event last week, I didn't feel I had the right balance so I moved the bar to the 3rd hole from full soft (one notch up from last time). As a note for myself, it's a 15mm and 17mm socket/wrench Steve, stop fumbling around! I really wish this bar was easier/faster to adjust like the famous Karcepts bars I have on Bumblestook but if these are good enough for a GT3, then these are good enough for a lowly Cayman.
Rear bar increased to 3rd hole
The next order of business was to do a full sweep of the damper settings to see how the car would behave. I already knew the car was underdamped just driving around on the street but until you do proper testing subjecting the car to different kinds of transitional elements, you'll never really know what the knobs should be set to. Turns out I had to crank the shocks up quite a bit to achieve the right balance of compliance with undulating surfaces and fast transition speeds. She's finally no longer sluggish in slaloms and has pretty good balance coming out of corners so I can get on the throttle and put the power down. The final settings for my notes are:
I'm sure i'll be refining this further in the upcoming months but now I think we're really at a good starting point. While the car was feeling pretty great, my driving was pretty "meh". I'm not the kind of driver that can just hop into a new car setup and be comfortable to push hard. I need to know what the car is going to do before I provide the input. Now that I've found a good setting that matches my driving style, I'm hoping to focus on improving my driving quickly. The TnT ended with my times being about 0.7 seconds off pace with Wally who I'm using a benchmark since he's been prepping and driving his 350Z in STU trim for years now and I felt if I could be within 1 second of his time, the car would be within the ballpark of being competitive once I figure out how to drive her properly.
Today was race day and there was a threat of rain but you couldn't tell in the morning since the sun was up and it was pretty comfortable. First heat got away running in the dry but as my run group (2nd heat) started, the skies opened up and it was very slick conditions. Although I'm not a big fan of rain events especially in the cooler months, I figured this could at least be a good day for me to practice good car control and get comfortable driving Kay past the limit of grip.
Rain and wind getting stronger
I left PSM (traction control) off as usual to let the OSGiken diff work and first started with Sports mode on for maximum performance. After the first run it was clear that Sports mode needs to stay off in low grip conditions such as rain. The throttle is just too sensitive and I found it hard to modulate the power to get smooth power delivery out of corners. By my next run I was able to put in a fast time that was good enough for the win in STU. With worsening conditions, it was hard to find more time so while I'll take this win as a win, in the dry I've got an uphill battle ahead. I'm really happy though that Kay's working really well. I may refresh her brakes since I feel that she could slow down a bit quicker but I'm leaving that as a question mark for now while I do research. Also happy that finally all my cameras and solo storm are working as they should so I at least captured my fast lap today. I'm really loving the visor camera (Cambox Mkv3). It's a bit dizzying to watch by itself but overlaid to other in-car video, I can really tell if I'm moving head is moving around as much as I should to look ahead.
NNJR SCCA - 3-31-2019
STU Results - 3-31-2019
She came out of this weekend pretty filthy so I'll have to get her washed next week but this weekend turned out to be very productive and vital to doing well at the NJ ProSolo in a month. I still haven't figured out how to launch her yet though. At lower RPMs you just get a bunch of wheel hop which is very bad for the transmission so I've just been leaving the line "normally" so I don't break anything.
