# Pocono 5/10



## kieranlavin (May 6, 2002)

Going to the track on Saturday. Can't wait. Unfortunately, I won't have the Shigspeed suspension in for THIS track event so I'll basically be running on blown AGX's with worn out Eibachs :/

It'll be fun just to get out and play around and relearn the car a bit. And I'm going to bring my new pyrometer to try to better gauge and set my tire pressures. Unfortunately, the paddock is kind of far from the track and there's no room on the hot pit to stop and take temps  It'll be off but something's better than nothing I guess


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## kieranlavin (May 6, 2002)

kieranlavin said:


> *Going to the track on Saturday. *


For the past two or three weeks Ray has been bugging me about registering
for PDA. I kept putting it off because I was originally wanting to do
EMRA on the South Course because I really dislike the east course. It's
really bumpy. The more I thought about it though, I thought maybe it
wouldn't be so bad. The suspension is already blown and that banking at
south is kind of dangerous the way you *NORMALLY* get kicked out toward
the wall. Plus, I really hate the EMRA drivers... they *SUCK* So a few
days ago I thought 'let's do PDA'

Ray and I get there early (because the East Course paddock is all gravel
and dirt and sucks! The guy at the gate tells us that PDA has garages
1-16. We're like 'sweet' and get our ass over to the garage and get our
two spots. Now, if it rains or anything, we're all set. Plus, a nice,
confortable place to change tires and bleed brakes.

We get over to registration since we weren't pre-registered and were told
they're nearly booked and it depends on who Joe wants to take on extra.
Bottom line... we got in

I went out with the red group and Ray went out with the blue group. Of
course, after the driver's meeting they called red group to stage. Damn,
I forgot about that! That means from now on my car *MUST* be teched prior
to the driver's meeting. I tech the car real quick, don't even have time
for tire pressure checks and get my ass on the track.

There was a lot of sand in places on the track. That made the track a bit
slippery and the tires felt a bit greasy. Maybe just a film from the
winter. That session I just took it easy and learned my lines. I didn't
even worry about downshifting at times where I was bogging. I just wanted
to learn my line. I went most of the track in 3rd except for a 180 degree
turn that was like 30MPH. I didn't really get passed much but was doing
pretty crappy in terms of lap times. I got passed by this C4 vette (wow!)
and then later by a C5 (gee, they don't USUALLY give me problems  Whole
different class in the red group) The turn-in to the infield was really
hard to see and they had no cones out. I found a reference opint on the
wall for where to brake... no problem. That is till I started to catch a
Porsch Turbo on the straight. He broke *WAY* early and I caught him even
more under braking. I was glued to him and was so damned fixated on his
bumper that I kept looking at it as we went by the turn-in... oops. He
went a little further but I was JUST able to salvage it with about 5-10 feet of grass to go over. However, as I got my car to a near stop, a C5
that had been slowly catching up to me and (I guess) was anxious to catch
me flew by both of us. I swear he must've still been under throttle!
After that, they put cones out for a reference point.

I went out with Ray for his first session two laps and we did an
additional... no black flags either! Incidentally they didn't seem to
mind people taking passengers the entire session? Must be a new insurance
company they're using.

My second session out, I changed a few things. I learned two places where
I could use some downshifting... so I applied those heel-toe skillz and
found myself going quicker around the track. This session I was actually
around some other cars and able to dice it out a bit. There was one older
911 Turbo that I was *VERY* even with (blown suspension and all). He
slowly gained on me and I guess he really pushed to catch up because,
after I pointed him by, I was glued to his bumper (I have this on video!)
A few other cars came up in that timeframe. A sick-fast older (E30?) M3,
and two loco C5 drivers, along with an AMG SLK55 (?) *THAT* car was
incredible! There was also an Imprezza 2.5 that came up on me like
gang-busters and put me in my place! I have video (again) and he was
taking the turns *SO* much faster than me! I was screaming 'he's a
wildman!' The guy paddocked two over from me and told me the car was
entirely factory except for STB's, rims, and race rubber. Ray, did you
happen to look at that car? The one time I saw his hood open, I swear he
had a top-mount intercooler? It was a 2.5rs (one of the older ones) but
I'm sure you could turbo it. Anyway, he was definitely an experienced
driver though. Following some of the cars out there really helped me as
well. It gave me a datapoint to try to stick to - keeping up with others!

My third session out, I took Jen for a ride for the entire session. I was
doing pretty good but, again, not many people around me. Ray's run group
had 27. I counted 15 in my group! We came across the AMG again and I
pointed him by and kept up with him through... oh, about 1 turn! I think
all I came across that session was him, the older M3, and a C5. Toward
the end of the session, I started getting some serious vibration so I
pulled in. I had gotten some at the end of me second session but never
found anything. This time I pulled into the garage to find a cord on my right front tire showing. It is corded in a weird way though that it's
peeled away. I think it was a little from pushing them too hard. The
only incident I have on these tires (ok, incidents) was a flatspot from a
spin in front of me where I locked up, a near spin at the Glen, and the
two spions at Limerock. But this cord is *RIGHT* at the edge of the tire.
I dunno... I'll take pictures and send them. I'm going to just be
ordering one more tire because all the other tires (even this one with the
exception of the cord) have tons of tread left on them.


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## barnoun (May 7, 2002)

Post the vids when you can. You think the corded tire was because of too much weight on it when turning left?


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## kieranlavin (May 6, 2002)

barnoun said:


> *Post the vids when you can. You think the corded tire was because of too much weight on it when turning left? *


There's nothing all that interesting to post for videos (to take the videos, I'd have to do it off the tv with my digital camera so the quality's not that great anyway) I'll go back and relook at it to see if there's anything worth posting.

I think the corded tire might just be a freak occurence where it just happens... 'shit happens' Or, it could be from a spin previously  Something I'm thinking more and more though is that it might be that I was overworking the tires. Not that I was driving hard but since the suspension is blown, I might've been trying to get the tires to compensate for the lack of suspension.


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## barnoun (May 7, 2002)

Oh. So with your suspension, you still get even wear on the fronts(not more wear towards the outer edges)?


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## kieranlavin (May 6, 2002)

barnoun said:


> *Oh. So with your suspension, you still get even wear on the fronts(not more wear towards the outer edges)? *


The temps were a little higher but not outrageous


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## barnoun (May 7, 2002)

that's good to hear. This is with stock amount of camber, or with camber plates?


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## kieranlavin (May 6, 2002)

barnoun said:


> *that's good to hear. This is with stock amount of camber, or with camber plates? *


Stock. I think I may have a degree or so camber but that's from the Eibach/AGX combo (that's what I seem to remember from when I got the car aligned when the suspension was new) I'll soon be able to set it! Temps (once I find the sheet) were fairly close across the board I think


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## barnoun (May 7, 2002)

Cool. Good to know that it wears its tires evenly without resorting to aftermarket components, even though they help to really dial the car in. So you base your tire pressures on how the temp is across each tire?


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## kieranlavin (May 6, 2002)

barnoun said:


> *Cool. Good to know that it wears its tires evenly without resorting to aftermarket components, even though they help to really dial the car in. So you base your tire pressures on how the temp is across each tire? *


No, it was my first time taking tire temps. I was just pointing out that the tire temp was fairly even across the tire so there wasn't any outrageous wear due to camber. I took readings so that I have a baseline to figure out what I like best. Pressures I went from previous experience and what felt better as I went (I wound up adding some air since the tires weren't building too much pressure and seemed to be rolling a bit)


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## barnoun (May 7, 2002)

Oh.


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