Had a great time today at the Autobahn Country Club. Speed Trials Rented the North Track for the day. It was fairly well coordinated, but the time between sessions and the very long lunch break was a drag. Overall, I would do it again, in fact they are having another session at Gingerman next month.

The sedan performed well. I am obviously the weak link. I had an instructor to myself, Nick Wong. Although I have no detailed information about him, I have read about his car several times (GTR R32) in magazines. He was a great help. I learned alot and look forward to learning more.

I did discover a few things about the car that I would like to change. First, the tires suck. They squealed like a pig farm. I think a little fatter (245 or 255's) and stickier tires are my next purchase. Second, the brakes need a tad help. I did not experience any fade, but they did start to shudder on my last session. I think better pads, lines, rotors and fluid will cure this. Third, while the 05 coupe sport springs and the D-specs were great, the body roll was not. I have ordered the 350Evo sways a couple weeks back and am just waiting for them to get here. Fourth, the seats need better bolstering. My 03 coupe held me in very well, the sedan needs the same. I'm not quite sure how do rectify this one.

Other than these four items, the car did well. In fact, the gearing was perfect. I could leave it in 3rd and shift into fourth on the straight aways, shifting back into third for the turn. I did occaisionally use second for fun. The only cars able to pass me on the straights (I let them pass after seeing how they compared) were a Vortech C5, some FI S2K (saw the boost gauge) and a modded WRX. An EVO8, a Legacy GT, and an STI could not match me in speed, but they could take EVO and STI handled the turns better.

I did notice that most of the other cars had R compounds or some other performance oriented track tire. I wonder how the sedan would have faired with the same tire? The track was short, but fast. Only turn one required massive breaking. But the others were fast.

I hope to see some of you at the track soon.

 

Sounds like you had a really great experience and learned quite a lot in a very short time about your car.
The sways will be the best performance handling mod for the money that you will get.
But the tires are a huge factor too. Switching to DOT-R from street will save you on the order of a full four to five seconds per lap. That is huge.
Better brakes will buy you at least another three to five seconds as well, as you will be better able to carry the speed deeper into the turn...and the better grip tires will slow you down faster, and carry higher speed through the turn and get on throttle sooner, as a combined factor.

 

I have run both the North and South course at the Autobahn (with NASA in June and July this year.) The North Course is shorter but faster, the longer South Course is really demanding - there are three left-right-left combos that really test your lines and shifting/braking technique.

I like both of the Autobahn tracks for different reasons but I really hope I get to run the combined North-South Course one day! That would be fantastic and would only be a bit shorter than Road America (which is one of the three or four longest tracks in the country.) But it would also mean something like 23 or so turns per lap!!!!

I also have a lot still to learn in getting my coupe around a course - an experienced ridealong is invaluable.

Sounds like some aftermarket seats are in order. I am sure there is something out there that will fit the sedan. Brakes are crucial, even more so on a course like Road America - make sure you have new brake fluid and fresh pads (and a set of extras just in case.) I use Valvoline Synthetic fluid - it's rated high and doesn't cost as much as Motul or the other premium racing fluids. Make sure your rotors aren't cracked and be very observant of their appearance and feel while you're at RA. If the day is cool there should be little problems as long as you avoid overbraking (the bane of the rookie at RA!) Do NOT ride the brakes at RA - you will pay (literally) for it.

My coupe handles turns very well with its Tein Flex, bushing upgrades and corner weighting - my problem is shifting the manumatic and not lugging out of turns and my personal bogeyman is entering turns too fast and with an early apex. Even with the great handling of the car, I find myself stomping on the brakes or making an unscheduled chatter strip appearance when this happens!

About passing and being passed - I have passed Z06's and been passed by Escorts. I have smoked six-figure invoice supercars, and been toasted by low four-figure garage projects. It really doesn't matter in the end - what matters is how YOU are doing - are you learning? Are you having fun? Are you and your car safe and unhurt? If you can answer 'yes' to those questions you are really ahead of the game and the passing and being passed becomes a detail more than anything else. It's not a race anyway - it's about having fun.

Massive braking .... North Course Autobhan .... that can only be the nasty Turn Two! (Although Turn Six can be tricky as well.)

As to race rubber - it makes a huge difference - like Eagle1 says it can strip several seconds off your time. The only downside (and that's temporary) is that you have to get used to a different audible 'signal' that the tire is losing grip - an R-compound tends not to 'scream' louder as it approaches its' adhesion. It just squeals for a bit - and then lets go. The Ecsta MX's (excellent street tires at a great price for running HPDE's and AutoX) used to give me two levels of 'screaming', the first a lower yelp that told me that I was where I wanted to be on a turn (pushing it) and then a higher, more urgent wail that meant the rubber was about to break loose.

The Yoko race rubber I ran at the Autobahn sticks like glue, but they give me a different sound - a quick warble that I have to pay attention fairly quickly .... or else! But the limits are much higher, and you will learn the feel of race rubber quickly and know when to back off on turns.

I'm sure we'll see each other at Road America in just about a month!

- Riff