Track Videos

[Dave 53]

I see a handful of track drivers posting videos. I thought I'd try and start a track video thread to have them in one place.

I'll start. 10/23/22 Buttonwillow 13 CW. Best 2:00:83

[EZ$]

Nice job Dave!

[Matt Ries]

Ok, see if this works https://youtu.be/Lq4-q6N0KTw

[Rob T]

Here's an oldie, but not quite a goody....Buttonwillow in 2018 before I had my oil system sorted and me with a lot less seat time.

https://youtu.be/g5MtaMindA0

[Rob T]

Here's a recent from Carolina Motorsports Park with things a little better sorted.

https://youtu.be/SW08BtCMO6c

[Hoooper]

I see a handful of track drivers posting videos. I thought I'd try and start a track video thread to have them in one place.

I'll start. 10/23/22 Buttonwillow 13 CW. Best 2:00:83

What are you using for equipment on that camera setup?

[J R Jones]

This is the most aggressive vintage racing I have seen and by organization, the cars are competitive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPlEnu5SBio

PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL RACE COMPLEX is not a track that I am familiar with.
This is not as intense as SCCA club racing back in the day, especially Nationals. Now SCCA combines classes beyond AP, BP, AS.
jim

[Dave 53]

What are you using for equipment on that camera setup?

GoPro 5 that I bought used on Ebay and a generic Amazon roll bar mount. Microphone behind the passenger seat.

I really like this picture, so it's a bit of showing off, but it does show the camera position pretty well.Buttonwillow 7-31-22.jpg

[RoadRacer]

All of you posting youtube links, you can paste them into the video button and they'll get posted inline

This was last year's Track Night in America at Harris Hill (south Austin) - the car was on narrow wheels and very old tires back then so it was slow but fun!

[RoadRacer]

Not sure if autocross counts, but this was one I captured in the summer. I have so much fun at autox, and just got slicks for the next one on 11/5

[Hoooper]

GoPro 5 that I bought used on Ebay and a generic Amazon roll bar mount. Microphone behind the passenger seat.

I really like this picture, so it's a bit of showing off, but it does show the camera position pretty well.Buttonwillow 7-31-22.jpg

Thanks. Microphone location seems to work well.

[J R Jones]

This 2022 GT40 video came up on Hemmings. More aggressive driving than I expect in vintage cars in a six hour race. Lots of oversteer in the rain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBz3V-U-LAQ

No mistaking the SBF.
Spa is in Belgium and I tour-ran the course on a business trip years ago.
jim

[Dave 53]

Sonoma 11-28-22 A couple of laps, a PB 1:54.44 and a spin.

[john42]

Well if we're counting autocross!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBR92tfQzHI&t=7s

[Dave 53]

Thunderhill East on 12-18-22. HPDE with OnGrid. Got only one session. On the first lap of the second session, the tranny started making some unpleasant noises. It worked fine, but something was obviously wrong, so I called it a day. I'm worried that I did something wrong after I installed the LSD, but it ran fine for a track day at Sonoma and about 500 street miles...

[jamminj]

jealousy will get me nowhere

[Dave 53]

Was at Thunderhill Friday and Saturday.

Friday, Thunderhill East backwards CW (Llihrednuht) it was pouring raining except when it was snowing! Snow in California - good day to go to the track. It was like driving on ice. Even the Miata's said they had to feather their throttle. No video because I don't have a waterproof GoPro case. I dressed like I was going snow boarding, stayed dry and warm and wanted more. I wasn't the only idiot in an open top car. There was a Miata also without a roof.

Saturday West course normal CCW. Clear weather, but the track was still wet for the first session. Grip came in after that. Forth session was going great - until it didn't. Remarkably, zero body damage to my car. The GT4 didn't fare as well. My tire imprinted on his door which absorbed almost all of the impact. My right rear suspension was knocked out of alignment. If I had to get hit, it was by the right guy - a real gentleman. He took full responsibility and is paying for repairs. Hopefully just an alignment and new rear tires after scrubbing them for 140 miles home.

[EZ$]

Dave, hope there's no serious damage. Fortunate that it happened, if it had to, with someone who stepped up to take responsibility. But man, you're a glutton for punishment going racing in those conditions! I've been so cold that I haven't even been able to talk myself into working on the car in the garage!

[Dave 53]

HPDE at Thunderhill East on 3-10-23. Video of a drive through the pits, an easy first lap then a red flag. (my first ever red flag). We did the West track on Saturday, but it rained most of the day, so I have no video.

After the last session on Saturday, I pulled into my pit spot with a big smile and loaded my car for the drive home. I said my goodbyes and as I pulled out there was a horrific noise coming from the left front when I made a turn that sounded like the wheel was rubbing something. No noise going straight. After taking the wheel off for inspection, me and 5 others couldn't visually see anything wrong, so we suspected it was the wheel bearing. Home is 140 miles from the track. My plan was to keep my fingers crossed and drive until I was 100 miles from home and my 100 mile AAA towing kicked in. No noise going straight on the freeway, so I decided to just keep going and I made it home. This morning after a tear down, it's defiantly the wheel bearing. I feel lucky the bearing waited until JUST after I finished my last session before it started to fail, but before I got home. Otherwise, it might have failed on my drive to or during my next track day which is next weekend.

[Dave 53]

I invite any and all track videos to be posted on this thread.

I didn't have any interesting video from Thunderhill last weekend, but I just found this... An M3 chasing me in several of the sessions if you care to hunt around the over 1.5 hour video. We were having fun together most of the day. At 59:10, you can see a drone filming me. Unfortunately, the footage wasn't for sale - the event promotor (On Grid) hired the drone. The next day, the drone was following me about 6 feet off the ground. I hit my brakes and it overshot me and turn right in front of me for a split second. It startled me and I spun out! It was raining a bit, so I didn't have my GoPro mounted to capture it. Skip to 1:30:00 for an end of the day chase.

[Dave 53]

Fun times at Sonoma Raceway until my transmission blew up for the third time (see me switching on the hazard lights and windshield wipers for good measure). Going to a 6 speed.

There was a flock of Lotus 2 Elevens. They were just a couple of seconds faster. They all had full aero and R compound tires. Would have been interesting if I did too.

Not sure what failed in the transmission. The Lotus guys said 3rd gear failure is the Achilles heel of the 2 Eleven's.

[Dave 53]

[Dave 53]

I'm 4 for 4. Four track days in a row, 4 tow truck rides home. This was the first day on the new engine and pretty much the first day on the new transmission. Last track day was literal first day for the tranny, but if you're following along, I immediately blew up the engine last time.

Rough day at Laguna. This was my second time here. And last year, I was having MAF issues so it kinda doesn't count. A Speed Density tune solved the MAF issues.

On the first session today, I was super slow and just trying to figure out shift points. I started in the back, but by the time I got on track, the fast guys that started first caught up. As I was trying to figure out my gears, I was inundated by the faster cars and was also trying to give them space. Couldn't find any rhythm, but made it to the checkered flag.

Second session, started to blow a turbo hose on the first lap. Easy fix, but missed the rest of the session.

Third session, my plan was to just follow my friend and his K24 swapped Elise. Then this happened on the warmup lap... Theories as to what failed welcomed. Hoping it's just the clutch. New engine - new tranny - old clutch.



Update: Broken CV joint due to axle nut comming off.

[Dave 53]

I had a great day at Thunderhill West yesterday. But the trip up and back was not without drama!

I washed my car including the engine compartment for my Friday morning C&C. Got packed up to leave for the 2 hour drive in the evening for a hotel near the track. By 3:00, I was bored and anxious waiting to go. I finally left and stopped to fill up before getting on the freeway. I noticed the battery and brake dash light came on, but went off after a tap on the throttle. I decided to go back home to Google the symptoms. The internet said 99% chance of a bad alternator, but the warning lights didn't stay on... Anxious to get moving and against my better judgement, I tossed a spare alternator I have in a bin and hoped the warning lights would fix itself on the drive up. The engine ran fine, but the headlights just kept getting dimmer and I finally pulled into a gas station and swapped out alternators. Problem fixed. I think I must have gotten a little too aggressive with the water when I cleaned the engine compartment.

This was my first event put on by Track Time and I'm looking forward to more. 8 20 minutes sessions and done by 3:00. The norm is 5 sessions done by 5:00. Love the track time, but no time to do anything to the car or socialize between runs, but we are there to drive, not talk! Drive, get out, check tire pressure, drink some water, take a leak, repeat. Not even enough time to run into town for cheaper gas every 3 sessions. I only timed and filmed one session which made the day more relaxing. No drama or personal best - just clean fun!

You might notice two corners that I coast through. Both are left turns with an immediate right turn apex curb. Both are fast and unforgiving for a mistake. With big enough balls, these corners can be taken WOT in 5th gear! I don't want to get better at braking for them because they are no brakes turns. I want to work on coasting less.


When I took the track wheels off, I noticed a bit of grease on the inside of one of the rear wheels and found a tiny cut on one of the brand new The Driveshaft Shop CV boots at the band clamp crimp. Anxious to see what The Driveshaft Shop has to say about how we are going to deal with it.

I also noticed damage to my rear Falcon RT660 tire. Second track day on them. The 25 Hours of Thunderhill was running on the East track and Toyo had a tent. A couple of their guys said it looks like a manufacturing defect and usually Tire Rack will make good. Well see...
tire damage.jpg

Drive home drama... As it got dark and I turned on the lights, my running lights didn't work - no tail or dash lights. The sun was setting and I wanted to get as close to home as I could in case I ended up having to tow it home. Keep going and hope I make it home or pull over? I final pulled over and found a blown fuse and I determined the fuse blew because something shorted to ground under my dash. I unplugged the dash and I had my lights back. It's a spiderweb of wires under my dash.
dash wires.jpg

Today, there was a coffee and cars at a race simulator shop near me, so I thought it would be fun to check it out and drive the same track on the sim. I've never done a race sim before and my expectations were high. I chose a Lotus Elise thinking it was close to my 818. It had horrible understeer and I got motion sick. I am hesitant to give a bad review after one try, but it wasn't anywhere close to the real thing. Much easier to try WOT through those two turns when there is no real penalty for a mistake. Nor did it give me any confidence to try WOT for real next time. It felt like any other video game, so I left feeling sick and disappointed. There was a hard core race car guy getting ready for a Lucky Dog race, so I get there is value to it. How hard core? This Areil Atom is his daily driver (so he says)! I'll give the sim another try some day.
atom.jpg

Hoping for my CV boot to be fixed, tire repalced and for good weather for Sonoma Raceway in two weeks.