Great day of running the G at Laguna Seca. Five sessions of perfect conditions and weather of about 25 minutes each, this Wednesday the 30th. Turning laps in the mid 1 minute and forty seconds range in the Advanced Intermediates...got passed twice all day (an Evo and a turbo charged awd Porsche). Took corvettes, carreras, M5 bimmers, a Peter Brock custom, an STI Subie, you name it. The car just ran beautifully and the Nitto NT-01 tires provided lots of grip and braking adhesion, helping haul the car down from around 125-130mph in fifth gear going down hill into the Andretti Hairpin (Turn 2), trail braking slightly to drift the rear into the second apex of that turn. Had to dodge around a 914-6 Porsche that spun out at the top of the corkscrew, again braking and going to the left at the top of that Turn 8, then cutting around him below and to the right. He was only 25 feet in front of me when he lost it, and was looking head on to my front bumper with the engine stalled and drifting backwards, eyes wide like an owl as I was making the turn in to dip outside. Soggy underwear time for him. Fortunately they got the yellow flag out quick so the next person could slow down because he was invisible to a car coming into the turn by that time. Way cool.

Had dinner with the other drivers afterwards at a little Italian place called Joe Rombi's in Pacific Grove (Joe drives so when you go to town there do give him some business--the food was excellent), and half the drivers were Porschephiles. Nobody would be willing to give up the German car, but everybody wanted to know about the Infiniti that lapped the 911 on the third session. Then hit the sack, got up at 5am and rumbled down to LA to start work. Gave the car to the lads in the tower to clean her up and give her a coat of wax (they gave me 20% off just because they were excited about the car and I shared pics with them and spent some time talking about mods. I gave them a ten dollar tip in advance to make sure they would pick out the bugs embedded in the front bumper from smacking them on the track at very high speed), busy day of work and no hassle about showing up at 10am, and drove home in a gleaming car. Ah it feels good to be high on the real thing, a clean windshield and a full tank of gas.

Getting close to home the Pasadena Police pull up next to me, with both his windows down so the supercharger whine is definitely audible, and he motions to pull over. Rats. The car has no front license plate, is riding WAY TOO LOW on the race rubber, which has "not recommended for street" in raised lettering on the sidewall, I am strapped in with a Sparco four point harness, all the racing gauges are lit but I cannot reach over and shut the dash cover with the harness on to hide them (too tight) and the radar detector is blinking, the 03 number decal is still on the side quarter panel...as are my two little window decals for being a platinum contributor to the local police and firefighters associations. I get the light in the eyes, a look at the car.....and a big smile and he says..."man, that is the tightest G I have ever seen and I just had to get a closer look. Sorry to slow you down on your commute. Drive safely, now."

Does a day get any better than that, my friends?!!!

 

Nice!!!!!

Those guys who install TT's and run around with drag radials kill me.

It is all about the corners.....brake....turn in.....apex.....exit.

 

Nice, was that your car in the October Issue of Modified Mag? A friend of mines linked me to some of your pics off the fresh alloy site, and the first thing I noticed was your hood. I also read that youre going to go the TT route...congrats!

How do you like the NT01? I will be getting a set (245/45/17 and 275/40/17) in a couple of weeks. Have you compared them to something like the older Dunlop SP SuperSport Race and Toyo RA-1? I had a set of Dunlops for track days...they were 60 A/AA and I can't get another set because tirerack discontinued them. V710 are TOO soft, and Hoosiers are TOO expensive.

 

636 Racer:
Yes, that little dinky pic in Modified Mag with the reference to it as a "missle" was my car at the California Speedway. The Nitto lads invited me to come out as a track day enthusiast to test their NT-01 at their press release day. It was a very nice session and if you go to the Nitto Tires website and click on their NT-01 link there is a video with several action vid segments with my G35, many other cars, and a very nice (and beautiful) interviewer. (And in anticipation of your questions, a) yes she is just as good looking in person as on film, b) she is married so forget about it, and c) she is articulate and intelligent, not just pretty).

I was running 18" Nismo wheels, with 245/40 F and 275/35 R, which is about exactly the same overall diameter for front and back. The tires I took off the car were the Toyo RA-1....so yes I can give you a very definite driver impression of the tires.

Firstly, there is a significant difference in the compound, the Nitto being much stickier or gummier.

Second, the siping on the Nitto is more radical, delivering wider and bigger tread blocks, so closer to a slick. It is great for the dry, don't go out if it is wet!! Also, the road noise is noticeably higher for the Nitto than the Toyo.

Third, the sidewall modulation response or "rebound" off cornering is stiffer on the Nitto.

Fourth, I found that I was braking about FIVE FEET deeper on the same turns that I had been attacking with the RA-1 just a few weeks earlier. No question the Nitto had better grip and that is really saying something, because I like the Toyo offering a lot. (Since they are sister companies I expect and understand that the RA-1 is now going to go through some revamping, probably with some of this great new sticky compound they have developed).

The Toyo is still probably the premier racing tire for the wet for our type of car. But in the dry....that Nitto is a very nice tire indeed.

Cheers. Ed