Group: Red
Tires: V730 stickers
Conditions: Track started out damp, but fully dry by the 3rd session
Setup changes/maintenance:
- waved goodbye to RE71RS for now...
- oil change
Big shakedown of the new tires. Had a passenger for all the sessions, so it was nice to just focus on learning the new compound and building consistency. Unfortunately, I had a big off on T3 entry which pretty much ended red group's 3rd session. Fortunately, we were okay, and the car was fine. Everyone kept saying V730s take a lap or 2 to get up to speed, but I didn't take that to heart. I could have saved the car with the right inputs, but I didn't have enough experience dealing with the car bent out of shape at that speed in that corner. I may need to sign up for another fastsideways class.
Some thoughts on the V730s:
They definitely last way longer than RE71RS where I'd get 3-ish good laps, but then peak grip falls off enough to make me sad. The V730s definitely don't have the same peak grip, but I didn't feel them fall off until towards the end of a session. However, the weather was cool, and I wasn't going all out. We'll have to see how they handle more heat and more aggression. My biggest complaint right now is that I'm sort of unable to brake the same way as I did before. Heavy car and CSG pads are a bit mismatched with the reduced braking grip the V730s provide. Another potential downside is that I think they are less responsive than the RE71RS, particularly on turn-in. Maybe all of these issues are due to added weight from my copilots though, so I should hold off on any conclusions until I'm back to flying solo.
Next up is a weekend at BW circuit in 3 weeks. I somehow got peer pressured to making the trip. I'm probably going to be the only one down there doing the new track who hasn't even done BW13. Track looks kinda boring, but at least it's new so it should still be fun.
3:26 cold curbs will be my undoing
10:40 bzzzzz
13:39 chasing Don in the E46
15:23 this made me lose some confidence in the braking
18:47 bro liked this one
28:30 this T1 gave me false confidence that the tires were ready
28:53 big off
31:28 "not yet" 🤣
35:33 probably my best T15 exit all day and yet I didn't even hit 130 down the front straight... passenger weight matters a lot
36:46 bonk
40:57 sliding into T9
43:34 Andrew keeping me in check
50:35 bro liked this one
54:05 SMs doing inappropriate things (one had an ASSMAN license plate)
55:55 smooth cpr
57:57 tires starting to give (I remember seeing 160-170F temps)
0:00 session 1 (damp)
9:27 session 2 (pretty much dry)
26:11 session 3
29:17 session 4 (w/ @Driver_407 )
44:01 session 5