Fast lap...

 

As I noted, this was my first time at Podium Club. Though it's a 'country club' track, the local track day orgs have been running events there for the last couple of years, but the dates just never worked for us. It was nice to finally try out the track... in person. Someone built the track for Assetto Corsa, so I downloaded it and have been getting laps in on my sim setup. This is the third track I've been able to practice on the sim before attending in person (the others were Chuckwall and High Plains Raceway). I'm completely sold on the process at this point. While there are definitely some slight differences between the digital and real tracks, being able to run laps before going in person made getting up to speed far easier. My best lap in the first session was only 1.8 seconds of my best lap in the 4th session... and that lap was 1.5 seconds behind a driver who's been on the track multiple times in a nearly identical car (more on that later). I've still got room for improvement, but the Sim is vastly reducing the time to get near my potential lap times.

The other driver I mentioned also has a K swapped Miata (NB) with similar aero, and power/weight nearly identical to mine. He was also on better rubber yesterday. I tried to grid up so I could follow him for a session, but it never really worked out. A certain Camaro SS 1LE that wouldn't point me by had something to do with it... Our lap times in the K Miatas were pretty comparable, but he pulled out a flyer that was a 1:45.45 to my best 1:47.03 (transponder times).

ETA: The other difference between our cars is I'm running a 6 speed, and he's running a 5 speed. This track is not ideal for a Miata 6 speed and 4.10 gearing... there are several places where I have to shift just before the braking zones to avoid being on the limiter, and then immediately downshift again. I watched one of the other guy's videos on this track and he makes 4 shifts in a lap with the 5 speed. I shift 12 times in a lap with the 6 speed.

He also snapped a nice pic of my car in the 4th session, which he skipped...



After downloading and looking at data... I don't have a lot to say about it... nothing to compare it to. Podium does have the fastest straight speeds I've achieved so far... 123 on the front straight, and 108 on the 'back' straight. Both of these lead into slow corners, 41 and 50 mph respectively, so this track is hard on the brakes. And brakes have become a problem for me. When I did the K swap, I changed brake compounds out of an abundance of caution, knowing the terminal speeds on the straights would have been higher. I went from G-Loc R10/R8 to R12/R10... and I don't like the R12. It just doesn't have any feel at all, compared to the R10, which was fantastic. It's killing my confidence on the brakes, and I know that's hurting lap times. I need to give G-Loc a call and see if they have any input, but I'm seriously considering going back to the R10/R8 and seeing if they hold up.

One other really enjoyable thing that happened in the 3rd session. I have a phone mount on the windshield header tube on the cage, where I would use my phone for data before I had the AiM gear. I didn't want to leave my phone in the trailer unattended, so I was putting it in the car even though it didn't need to be there. About halfway through the session, the phone decided it didn't like my driving halfway through the essess and went out the driver's window like a watermelon seed! ****! Once the track was cold for the day, they let me go out to look for it. Fortunately, a corner worker helped me out by calling the phone until we could hear it ringing. Took about a half hour to find it. Unbelievably, considering it went out the window at ~75mph (and 1.2g) and skidded off the track, apart from a dirt bath and a couple small scratches on the glass it was undamaged! Should have bought a lotto ticket!

Anyway, another track day successfully completed, and a new track driven. I'll close out with another pic taken by my fellow K Miata driver...

 

That’s hilarious about your phone dude, glad nothing worse happened to it, and glad your track day was mostly solid otherwise!

Interesting how lots of people seem to be disliking the R12 compound recently. I had no qualms with mine but they’re also the only pads I’ve ever run that were that aggressive. I ran two sets of R12s then swapped to R10/R10 to try and get more life out of my front rotors. At 270whp, the R10s up front would fade after about three to four laps. Not to an awful degree, but enough to have to squeeze the pedal notably harder.

I too feel like every time you meet a really compatible driver/car at the track, fate tries to get in the way of you two driving together. Usually just too many things going on while you’re at the track I guess haha.

 

Phones are pretty rugged these days, glad yours survived. A few years ago I was at Thunderhill 5mile, trying to diagnosis a misfire that would only show up under heavy load (WOT), we'd throw a coil in, go for a drive, repeat. One time I forgot my phone on the front of the splitter after replacing a coil or whatever, and my friend took off down Mexican Highway 162 at 100+mph, turned around, 100+mph back. My phone was amazingly still sitting on the splitter.

 

While they are pricey, I've used PFC's for the last few years and have no complaints. Great heat resistance, seem to come up to temp quickly, and no issues with feedback or pedal feel with them. Perhaps a little "softer" feeling then some other pads out there, but after a few laps you're pretty used to them.

 

PFC is my answer at 325whp on track. And ducts.

 

Nice update Roda. Glad to hear the car is reliable and putting down good times. Those are cool pictures! I got a good laugh out of the watermelon seed comment but glad the phone survived

 

Post event examination found nothing loose, and no drips. It seems those bolts that did need some attention at the start (exhaust, mostly) have finally taken a set.

I changed back to the R10/R8 brake pads... Just bedding them on the street they have better feel than the R12/R10 set. We'll see how they do on track next time out.

I've been wanting a cover to keep the dust off while the Miata is between events in the shop. After putting it off for a while, I finally ordered one. It's for a small SUV, but it fits an NA with aero pretty well, and only $36... Amazon - Budge Lite SUV cover Size U1

 

Cat provided for the car cover link. I'm 2 trials in on finding something that fit well for a full aero NA/NB and was dreading attempt #3 lol

 

Son of a bitch, I just bought a regular sized cover for my car forgetting that I have a wing on the way

Thanks for the link lol. Your car has the silhouette of the Batmobile with the cover on it!

 

New 6ULs finally arrived!

These are the 15x9.5s optimized for NAs to fit 245s under stock fenders. Looking forward to trying 245s... now I'm trying to decide if I should just order up a set of Falken RT660s, or wait until January for Nankang CR-S V2s. Want to use 200TW for classing purposes.

 

Some non-K swap content... took our NC to the local AutoX as an opportunity to evaluate the Xidas/alignment/new wheels/tires. I knew it wouldn't be competitive on 320TW tires, but it was a good opportunity to push it to the limit in a controlled environment. Weather was perfect!



As expected, it's not a race car, but it's not supposed to be. What was impressive is how good it was, even with soft spring rates and street tires. The Xidas are just exceptional and the car was incredibly easy to drive right up to and slightly past the limit. The conservative setup and open diff definitely held the car back, but I was still able to get within about 2 seconds of the fastest Miata (STR ND on RE71Rs) and was a little under 3 seconds off FTD (CAM-C Camaro). Not bad for the 'date night' car.

 

I'm obviously biased, but definitely don't mind the NC "thread derailment"! Only a couple seconds off of some really quick cars in the comfortable weekend toy is stellar.

The Xidas are borderline magic with all that travel. Mine ride as comfortable on the street with the 11/7k spring rates as my previous coilovers on 7/5k's. I'd imagine your car rides smooth as a Cadillac with the 5/4k setup!

 

Those 6ul's are SO HAWT. WANT TO TOUCH THE HINEY.

Love the NC too, sure is a classy looking ride. Glad you got to take it out and enjoy it. I've been meaning to take my NB to either a track day, or auto-x, or similar to see how the ole daily does.

 

​ Nice day yesterday at Podium Club in Casa Grande with PCA AZ. First time running the track CW, and my wife's first time there.



More later, but here's the fast lap of the day....

 

We couldn't have asked for better weather, and although in the high 30's when we rolled into the pits before dawn, it warmed up quick and the high for the day was ~70*F.



We've always enjoyed running with the Porsche Club, and although they can be a little a*al about some stuff, they run a good event. My wife runs in the DE2 group and I run in DE3 or 4 depending on the schedule so we can avoid back to back sessions. This time I was in DE3, and it was a big group, but it only turned out to be a problem in one session. I had been to Podium Club in November running CCW, but this was my first time running CW. IMHO the track flows better CW, and isn't quite as hard on the brakes as you come onto the straights from a slower turn and end them with faster turns. I also really like tracks where straights lead into fast, technical turns.



First things first: I swapped my brake pads back to R10/R8 and I'm happy with my brakes again. The R12/R10 combo just had zero feel and no bite. Maybe I just wasn't getting enough heat in them...?? Anyway, the R10/8 combo has great bite, great feel, easy modulation and no fade. Running this track CW is not as punishing on the brakes as CCW, but I had no issues so I'm sticking with R10/8 for now. One of these days I'll give G-Loc a call and see what they have to say about these two pad combos...

I started the day on Kumho V730s. The first session was pretty slidey with temps starting out in the low 50s. Best lap was a 1:47.5, which I considered a good start, with my goal being mid - 45s. Traffic wasn't bad, but there were several spins, and a bunch of dirt got strewn on the track in the esses. It became apparent pretty quickly that there were 3-4 of us that had considerably more pace than the rest of the group... me and 3 Caymans, 2 of them GT4s. The P cars had more on the straights, but I had the advantage in the corners. I also found out my Sim practice had my gearing expectations way off... I was going through most corners a gear higher than I had on the Sim. Sim practice is a good thing, but it's not always perfect.

Second session, the track was warming up, and once traffic sorted itself out I started working on making time. Everything was coming together and I came off with a best lap at 1:46.02... at least I thought I did. I was checking 'best lap' on my dash, and not downloading data between sessions. Apparently I didn't look after my last 'hot' lap, because I discovered I had run a 1:45.61 after I downloaded data at home. Still, I was happy with the :46 at the time, and the car was running great.

I swapped to Toyo RRs for the third session. I figured they should be good for a bit more than the V730s. Unfortunately, everything went to hell in the third session... traffic.



I noted above that PCA can be a bit a*al... one of those things is point-bys are required to pass in every group. It's not a problem, 'till you get 'that guy'. I got stuck behind a GT4 coming out of the grid, and he was 3-4 seconds slower, but of course faster on the straight. He would pull on the straight, and then I'd be on his bumper for the next corner.... MF'r would not point me by...

End of the back straight...


Top of the Esses...


I kept thinking of this...


After a few laps, we had a gap behind us, so I gave him almost the full length of the straight to try to get a lap without catching him. But we caught slow traffic, and it was a conga line from there so I pulled off. Best for the session was a 1:48. Normally I would pull through the hot pit in this situation, but they way they were set up, you had to come off track, go all they way back into grid, and then back out... no straight through hot pit, so I'd lose at least 2-3 minutes of the session. Fortunately, D-bag put his car on the trailer after that session...

I managed to grid up to be first out for the final session... and never saw anyone in my mirrors. Only had to pass one car, the NB in the video above, and he was courteous. The RRs definitely felt better, and inspired more confidence in several places on track. Came in with a best of 1:45.1... should have been ~ 44.8, but I screwed up the end of the esses. I pushed my braking point a little too far at the end of the straight on the next lap and ended up running off to avoid a spin and decided that was enough for the day.

All in all, a very good day. I'm happy with the results, and got some good data to compare the V730 and RRs. I really think I could have hit .44s if I'd had some clear laps in the 3rd session and that's a bit irritating, but what can you do?

Data download coming...

 

Nice lap! Track looks like a lot of fun, that's the longest sustained set of esses I've ever seen haha.

I've come to expect having traffic during every "crux" session where I think my PB will be had. Murphy's law or something like that. Super annoying when the traffic is faster in the straights and won't move over, though. I always question whether the driver ahead is riding on their ego or is just oblivious to what's happening in their mirrors, not that one is better than the other lol.

Glad to hear you're happy with your updated pad setup, too.

 

If they're that particular about point-bys, they need to be just as particular about blue flags and eventually escalating to black flags. I remember getting caught in a line of cars 6-8 deep at one track day behind an older guy in a Maserati. He got talked to after every session first by instructors, and eventually by the whole crowd speaking up one by one. The lesson never seemed to set in though, and he blasted off on every straight while occasionally giving the weakest possible point by for the first car behind him.

My (minor) complaint about the PCA track day I went to is the requirement for a "marque or race specific" shop do a tech inspection on my car. Thankfully I found a local Spec Miata guy that agreed to do it, and didn't charge me a dime. He also did little more than glance at the odometer and 6 point harness. My buddy and I joked about setting up LLCs so we could "inspect" each others cars. It was well worth it though and I intend to go to one again.

 

When we first started with PCA that was how the requirement was written. I contacted their track day coordinator and explained that I had built the car and did all the maintenance myself, and he OK'd me filling out the tech form myself. I noticed for this most recent event that they now allow self tech for the form if you feel you're 'qualified', but they don't advertise it. They still have tech at the event, but the first time we went I had to protect my car from a guy that was running around tech with a torque wrench and wanted to put Porsche torque on my lug nuts. They're pretty used to me now and give the car a quick look over and sign off.

I do understand where they are coming from, though. I have a friend that's a P-car guy, and a real doofus. His one and only trackday he sprung a coolant leak in his 996 Turbo and continued to lap, ignoring black flags until the car overheated and he had to get towed off. Then they spent over an hour cleaning the entire track... PCA gets a LOT of new drivers that aren't really car people and are only there because they joined PCA and found out they have an outlet to drive their P-car fast.

 

Going through data, and I'm not seeing much in the way of surprises. Temps and pressures are good all 'round. IATs are consistently right at ambient. I did note about a 3 mph drop in terminal speeds on the front straight as the temps rose throughout the day, with max speeds dropping from 122 to 119 over a 15*F rise in temps.

I was able to get a good look at comparing Kumho V730 to Toyo RR... The Toyos felt like they had a lot more grip, and inspired more confidence all they way through the corner. The objective difference in grip was actually pretty small, but noticeable on the data trace. The result was more speed in the corners, and a better lap time. This screen shot shows T3 with the red trace being Toyos (1:45.1) and the blue trace Kumhos (1:45.6). I actually screwed up the esses pretty significantly on the Toyo lap, which would likely have been ~1:44.6 if I'd got it right.



I'm just starting to get a handle on using data, and being able to correlate what I'm seeing with what I was doing and feeling on track. The next step is to start pulling data between sessions, and try to apply what I'm seeing to the next session.