270 replies to this topic

[Tom Hampton]

As I recall, ya need to get your butt left quickly from T13 to entry T14. Todd?

In the video, its 4 seconds from the exit of T13 to the entrance of T14.  It appears that todd relaxes the arc from T13 slightly and holds it for about 3 seconds before straightening the wheel for braking into T14.  From the in-car it doesn't look that agressive to get back left. 

[Todd Lamb]

1- Find some reference points on the way in.  

2- Use ALL of the exit if it's grippy.

3- Long straight = get flat early.

4- Corner going in isn't as important as coming out, so compromised entry is OK, as long as exit is good.

 

Induce a little oversteer on entry (left-loading under braking, maybe a tiny bit of trail braking to start rotating the car), slide it over the apex being careful not to hook a wheel on the inside and get flat as quick as you can, using all of the track at exit?

Lots of good answers and excellent thought processes above. This one gets bonus points for the slight oversteer on entry approach to get the car pointed to the apex.

 

I don't know speeds off the top of my head. I rarely pay attention to mph, other than to look at the area under the curve when comparing velocity data. Not that there's anything wrong with min (or max) speeds, but they don't tell the whole story any more than peak HP/tq numbers do.

 

There's really no rush at all to get back across the track between T13 and T14. The more of a rush you're in to get back to the left, the longer the distance you'll travel.

[Tom Hampton]

I hope everyone has reference points at every corner for braking and turn in.

Tune those points for better lap times.

J~

Are you just playing "things that make you go 'Hmmmmm...'" today, or what?

[Jamz14]

The NASA Mag I posted here and at NASAPRORACING has every turn MRLS.
Just saying.
J~

Yes Johnny, you are correct and it does. But not from a SM perspective and not from Todd. I was interested because it is the next race for me and I want an SM perspective on the corner including from a setup standpoint which the article did not address.

[Johnny D]

Are you just playing "things that make you go 'Hmmmmm...'" today, or what?

Is that good or not ?
J~

[Todd Lamb]

Yes Johnny, you are correct and it does. But not from a SM perspective and not from Todd. I was interested because it is the next race for me and I want an SM perspective on the corner including from a setup standpoint which the article did not address.

Turn 9, as in after the corkscrew?

[Tom Hampton]

Lots of good answers and excellent thought processes above. This one gets bonus points for the slight oversteer on entry approach to get the car pointed to the apex.

 

 

We do this a lot at TWS-CCW T1/T2, and MSRH-CW T12/13 (Diamond's Edge).  But, TWS T1 is a long bending turn entering into T2 and you really just don't have a choice.  MSRH-T13/14 is a 2nd gear hairpin turn at the end of a 4th gear straight. 

 

I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate here, because I was concerned with a high speed turn like this it could delay throttle application---which I assumed took precendence. 

[Tom Hampton]

Thanks, Todd.  Its an interesting mental exercise to consider the environment of a turn and try and describe how to approach it without being in the car. 

[Ron Alan]

Is that good or not ?
J~

Your avatar likes to hear himself talk...appearantly you like to hear the peck of typing.  Advise from Todd is what people want in this thread...not words of a pecker! 

[Ron Alan]

Oh...and we can live with Sy! The last few I had to yell at my computer

 

Yes Todd, 9 would be the left downhill after the corkscrew.

[Johnny D]

What were you yelling and why ?

J~

[Todd Lamb]

Laguna T9 - the NASA mag covers it pretty well. I don't really find the corner scary at all, and not even challenging relative to the others. It is pretty easy to overslow the entry and lose time there, and pretty easy to overcook the exit and drop wheels. It's an eyes-up corner, looking far down the track. Gentle with the throttle.

 

As far as car setup - T9 isn't a setup corner. The driver inputs will determine how the car reacts. I haven't ever made setup changes based on the handling in this corner. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 11 are the setup corners.

[mhiggins10]

My first HPDE was an Audi club event in 2002 at Laguna Seca (before it was Mazda raceway).  By the second day, the awe of driving the corkscrew had worn off (I obviously wasn't pushing very hard), and I found 9 to be one of my favorite corners on the track.  Tons of camber and in a C5, you could just get the pedal down and blow through that thing and out the other side.   Similar with 6, although the entry speeds always made me wary of it.

 

Interestingly enough, my instructor had a Spec Miata.  I was SURE it would be dog slow, but went for a ride anyway (100HP?  Shoot, I had 350...).  My helmet was left with marks on the front and right sides from my head banging the cage as he jammed the brakes into 2 and turned in hard.  That was the first time I'd ever felt a car rotate like that- I swore he was using some kind of black magic to make that happen.  Between that, and the fact that we were easily keeping pace with a 993 C2S, I was totally hooked on track days and racing.   He offered to sell me the car afterwards- $13k, with the trailer.   Man I should've bought that thing...

[Jamz14]

Thank you Todd. Having never driven MRLS I was concerned a bit with how the car would be behaving with the track falling away so rapidly while the car was loaded up from a setup perspective. Sounds like it isn't an issue at all. Was concerned that this could be a subtle corner were significant amounts of time could be lost. I know that there is much time to be lost say like at T6 , but that just seemed a bit more straight forward in what is happening with the car and what you need to do to counter it.

 

Thank you for your thoughts!

[Johnny D]

Going from never driven to the NASA West Coast Championships at MRLS this month. ^^
Good luck.
J~

[Tom Hampton]

Thank you Todd. Having never driven MRLS I was concerned a bit with how the car would be behaving with the track falling away so rapidly while the car was loaded up from a setup perspective. Sounds like it isn't an issue at all. Was concerned that this could be a subtle corner were significant amounts of time could be lost. I know that there is much time to be lost say like at T6 , but that just seemed a bit more straight forward in what is happening with the car and what you need to do to counter it.

 

Thank you for your thoughts!

I hope you have an iracing account and are getting some simulator time...

[Jamz14]

Driven a ton of sim laps at Mazda.

 

Johnny, thank you. But, I know I am not going to win. I am not going to podium. I will be lucky to place in the top 50% of the field. What I am hoping for is to avoid any drama at T2 L1 and then to learn and have some fun living out a dream and goal of mine. I have no concern over qualifying. I will be spending Friday and Saturday building slowly to speed. Though I asked about T9, my plan is to first concentrate on T6, and T11. Sacrifice learning to eek out every last bit of T2 as I think a great T11 and a moderate safe T2 is better for me in overall time. Too much risk if I screw T2 and not enough benefit if I get it perfect. After T6 and T11 I will work on T4 & T5. Hoping by Sunday that I have a bit of speed. Then from a driving perspective I have to continue working on my shuffle steering habit, consistent and better foot positioning when going to the brake pedal. I also have a tendency to downshift too early and it keeps me from releasing the clutch immediately because I would be bringing in too many revs. Which loses me some stopping power and car control without the help of the motor.

 

That's all. Nothing spectacular.

[Johnny D]

Lov u man and no disrespect.

 

I know you're not winning and hoping you're not a moving chicane every lap.

J~

[Jamz14]

Johnny,

 

No disrespect taken. I can assure you that I am not a moving chicane though. I am not a moving chicane because I am faster than that. I am also a courteous driver that has awareness of the cars around me. I have no issue letting cars go through that are faster. These were qualities my son had, they are qualities I have.

 

But even if I did not posses these qualities, I expect that anyone lapping me would have the skills to drive around the chicane. At about 4 sec delta in lap times to the leaders they will catch me in about 26 laps. At 7 sec delta they will catch me in 15 laps. I think I'll be ok   . And if I follow my plan about not caring about qualy and work on the things I need to, there won't be anyone behind me faster. I will be faster than those immediately in front of me as my qualifying position won't represent my speed by the time we get to Sunday. But if I do see you coming up behind me, I promise, I'll get out of your way.

[Johnny D]

Sounds like a plan, all the best.

J~