In-car video of my modified G coupe at HPDE (High Performance Driver's Education) track days at RoadAmerica Oct. 16-17 is now up!!!

The video is on a fast site - but it's over 37 megs in size. It's probably better to right-click and 'Save Target As ...' for you Windoze types and then run the file from Windows Media Players or any other player that will run a WMV file.

http://www.g-owners.com/pictures_ima...rica1004_2.wmv

This video is hosted thanks to Matt's (Boones) fine g-owners.com site.

A long post with pics is on Freshalloy at:

http://forums.freshalloy.com/ubbthre...b=5&o=&fpart=1

For us G35 drivers who 'feel the need for speed' there is no course better than RoadAmerica! [img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]

- Riff

G35C 5AT BS/GR/PREM/PERF/NAV/AERO/XM
Tein Flex w/EDFC, Custom Intake, GReddy SP2, Stiffer Bushings, Kosei Racing K1 TS with OEM Brembos front and rear. More to come!

 

just finished watching the video, its simply awesome, i actually liked when the cam sweeping back and forth, like you said, you can really get the feel how fast you were going!...how fast were you going at some of the turns?

03 coupe 5AT DG/G premium,performance,
AVIC N1, Volk GT-7

374318-kickass.gif

 

Great vid and comments. Thanks brother.

 

Hilarious comments. Looks like a fun track. Very long laps though.

I actually had a similar issue with the camera occur in my 240sx years ago. Found out Panavise CCTV mounts are not exactly made for use in non-stationary environments. But tightening them down really tight has proven reliabile. The camera actually unscrewed itself from the mount and fell off in my case though.

I must comment on a few things:

Is there any reason you didn't use the "manumatic" mode? It's quite hard to get consistency when the car is hunting for gears at the exit of each turn. I noticed most of the time you were hitting full throttle after you straigthen out. Typically, you should progressively get to WOT from the apex on out(can vary based on the type of turn). Being in too low a gear also prevents you from using a healthy amount of throttlesteer which is very important. I think if you learn to use the manual mode, you might be able to smooth out the turns, and reach better consistency allowing you to hit those apexes correctly as well. It almost seemed like you were trying to adjust your lines to suit your tranny's behavior. The car should be responding to your inputs, not the other way around.

It was a bit hard to tell how you were using your brakes. Hell I can never tell how fast I am stopping when I play car racing games. In any case It seemed you may want to expiriment with taking the braking deeper into the turns. You have ABS. Use it. ABS is a wonderful tool on the track as it allows you trailbrake very effectively. Work up to it though. Take your braking too deep and you could be biting off more than you can chew. If you get good at it though, you'll find your lap ties will decrease significantly. For the most part, most people underbrake their cars at open track events. And make sure you're brakes are up to the task if you do decide to push it. Most OEM brakes are way undersized. I suspect the 6MT Brembos might even be as well, under the type of braking I am describing.

Lastly, I noticed a few times on hard rights, you crank the wheel with your left hand all the way over across your body, pretty much to the 5:00 position. Try to keep from crossing your arms. You're body will be in a much better position and you'll be more comfortable which is very important to controlling your car. I try to keep my hands from crossing over the 12:00 position. A good way to do this comfortably is to get in the habit of steering from the bottom of the wheel first. For example, when making a left turn, drop your right hand down to the 6:00 position and pull up. As yout right hand gets to 12, your left hand is there to meet it and then it pulls down to continue the turn. And if you need to crank the wheel more, you drop your right hand to 6:00 again as you're left hand gets there. This is actually something I read out of a stunt driver's book and found it to be effective, easy, and comfortable.

Hope this wasn't overly critical. Just trying to keep your movies rated G. =P

 

Great Vid thanks for posting!

 

First of all - thanks for the kind words everyone. The G coupe is a very cool car in which to learn how to performance drive. It is very capable, with some inherent limitations, but with a lot of very good qualities as well.

limeg35 - I recorded a 1.09 skidpad rating (through my accelerometer) through the Canada Corner and was going almost 70 at that time. I recorded a 1.01 in the Carousel and was at almost 85 through that long sweeper. I think I can exceed both easily with better technique. My top speeds on the Moraine Sweep straight were about 125 - the fastest cars are going 140 and above! The Kettle Bottoms and the Home Straight - maybe I was hitting 110 in those. Again, better driving technique will add 5-10 mph to those figures due to better exit speed and later braking.

CKwik - LOL! 'Movies rated G ...' (groan) Seriously, thanks so much for taking the time to look at my driving style (or lack thereof!) I appreciate it a lot. As to not using the manumatic - I have been reticent to do so at RA - it is a very unforgiving track. But I am now a 'veteran' of two trips up there and when I return in April I will be using the manumatic more often. I do know that the coupe has a big problem with exit speed from turns (due to its' Porky Pig weight and me!) so gearing down (and up) sooner would help greatly!

As to braking - I know I can go deeper, it's a question of doing it. I was still just a bit gun shy after shredding my pads at RA last April. (as those watching the video can tell - RoadAmerica eats brake pads for breakfast!) Since then I have changed to the Brembos and things went well so I 'trust' the car more. And you REALLY have to trust it on RA! Fortunately the G coupe is a worthy car! Turn 1 is a great example (as are the 5-6-7 combo) where you can really push the speed through the turn. The tendency for a noob (like me) on 1 is to ride the brakes coming off the home straight, instead of squeezing them briefly, keeping speed up and letting the coupe's long wheelbase and the Tein Flex's work their magic around the bend. Late apexing is a requirement on this track to run it fast and that's why my aggravation at early apexes became so ... verbal. [img]/w3timages/icons/blush.gif[/img]

As to steering style, my tuner has pushed for me to use a 'feed the wheel' technique. I reverted to bad habits in the video though - the adrenaline does that to me I guess. I know that the less required input the car receives - steering and speed transitions - the better for balance and overall lap times. 'Crossing over' is a no-no - I am trying to eliminate in my daily driving by keeping both my hands at the 3 and 9 positions and just rotating the wheel - either pushing or pulling with one hand only to achieve the turn. I actually have done this more successfully in AutoX than on a track (I guess I get too pumped up - it's such a rush!)

My best lap time in the video was 3:02, which is okay for a noob in a V6 AT that doesn't know how to drive! [img]/w3timages/icons/tongue.gif[/img] I got it down (after some instruction later) to a 2:54. I still have a long ways to go - my tuner feels that my coupe is capable of a time in the 2:30's if driven well! And that's a pretty fast time for RA - a good driver in a prepped STi had a best of a 2:40.7

- Riff

G35C 5AT BS/GR/PREM/PERF/NAV/AERO/XM
Tein Flex w/EDFC, Custom Intake, GReddy SP2, Stiffer Bushings, Kosei Racing K1 TS with OEM Brembos front and rear. More to come!

 

What you might want to do is start using the manumatic mode more often on the street so that you are comfortable with it. I heel-toe downshift all the time in my last 3 cars and the first time on the track, I didn't even have to think about it. The more you practice what you need to do on the street(not necessarily going ***** out of course), the easier it will be on the track. For thge most part, knowing whether to push or pull the shift **** to upshift and downshift should come naturally. Performing the wrong task or having to think about as you are approaching a turn can be catastrophic. The same way trying to heel-toe downshift can be while approaching a turn at high speed.

If you are running bigger brakes now, then you probably can push it a bit more. But hard braking off a fast straight is rather unnerving for almost anyone. Try braking slightly farther down the straight but get the ABS to activate. Get a feel for how fast the car can actually slow down. And then start adjusting your distance accordingly. With ABS, the braking distance will be considerably less. In some cases quite surprisingly so. I drove a S500 and the Mercedes Test Drive Event months ago and on their hazard course hit the brakes far into the brake test area. Keeping in mind they laid down quite a bit of sand on that portion of the course. They marked the braking point and visually it seemed quite short. The car actually stopped well short of the "obstacle" and even surprised me for being such a large, hefty and relatively clumsy feeling car. In any case, as you get more comfortable with braking deeper, you can probably start experimanting with some trailbraking as well. This can help you to actually get the tail around a bit quicker and get you turned in towards the apex better. This is particularly good for late apexes and taking the braking deeper into a turn actually has a natural tendency to make you apex later. Keep in mind that braking is considered one of the most important parts of racing. It's the first step in taking a turn in most cases and really sets the stage for the rest of the turn. And it's also the most underrated byt amateurs as the idea of slowing down a car tends to correlate with going slower.

For the most part, you looked at least mentally comfortable and had a pretty good idea of where you needed to be. Some practice should hone your skills nicely. =)

 

The link has changed for the video:

http://www.g-owners.com/article_read.asp?id=47

This takes you to Boones' site where you can read the article, browse pictures, and also download the video for watching in your Media Player (or any other player that supports WMV files.)

- Riff

G35C 5AT BS/GR/PREM/PERF/NAV/AERO/XM
Tein Flex w/EDFC, Custom Intake, GReddy SP2, Stiffer Bushings, Kosei Racing K1 TS with OEM Brembos front and rear. More to come!

 

Great Video.

Someone may have asked before but I was curious as to what kind of camera mount you used?

Any images of the mount available?

Thanks!

 

awesome write up man!

04 DG/G/6MT/Premium/Nav/Clear Bra/19x9.5(f)19x10.5(r) Volk SF Winnings/BFGoodrich 245/35(f)275/30(r)/Tein Flex Coilovers/Tein EDFC
Sponsored by BFGoodrich, Ai Design (www.aidesign.com)