The magic of TC3000 was coming straight from TC1000 over to TC2000 for the afternoon. What a feeling... We were up for 3 x 20 minute sessions from 3pm to 5pm. The rain was holding off so it was looking good to break under the 1'10 barrier.
The first decision was what to do with my suspension. I usually use 3F/5R for TC2000 which is a harder setting than TC1000. After playing with the suspension in the morning, I decided to try a setting of 4F/5R for the first session. The main aim for today was to concentrate on corner entry (braking softer and earlier and coming off easier) and I was thinking that by doing this I'd naturally get a 1'09 without working too hard. Not a chance. My car worked very nicely going into the corners but I had a lot of under-steer on the exit in particular on the 2nd hairpin and the last corner. I managed a 1'10.9 late in the session but it was hard fought. Hmmmm.
One of the pro-drivers brought me out next. I forget his name but the last time out he got a 1'09 in my car two up. I'd left the car with the same setting as I had used for the first session to see what he thought. Funnily enough he also had major under-steer issues in the same places and could only manage a 1'11 after just 3 laps before we had to go in. Still I did notice that he was turning the wheel a lot more than I was turning it so I thought maybe I'd try that.
Before my 2nd session I set my dampers to 4F/6R and headed back out hoping for better behaviour. The difference was immediately noticeable and it seems like a good ratio for my current driving style at TC2000. Half way through, I noticed the turning the wheel more really helped to get rid of some of the under-steer mid-corner and towards the end of the session, I was beginning to feel that I was braking too much into the corners and could take them harder. This is hard to do though because your brain is used to you slowing to a certain speed you previously thought was the limit. I ended the session on a series of 1'10 times the best being 1'10.456. One more session I thought, and I'd have my 1'09!
It started to rain. Oh well... I was actually happy in a way as driving in the rain is great for learning more about how smooth you are being. My objective was just to build up speed in the rain and feel for grip but not lose it. I even trail braked the corners in the wet ever so softly to keep practicing. I only really lost grip the once, although I didn't always turn where I wanted to... It would be good to have a whole day of just rain to practice on. I'm guessing that I should lose 2sec per km in the rain so my rain lap time should be 1'14. Best I got in the rain was a 1'17.885 but I guess the rain had stopped also at that point and it wasn't at its worst. The best rain lap in my session was a 1'15.303 so some people were obviously going for it :-)
Anyway, while I still didn't break into the 1'09s I feel its a certainty now if I can build up my entry speed. I think the first 2 sectors should be enough and I can probably improve on the last sector too.
Top 5 times for the record were:
1. 1'10.456 - 28.862 28.792 12.802 - 149.938 km/h
2. 1'10.535 - 28.562 29.113 12.860 - 150.943 km/h
3. 1'10.791 - 28.853 29.135 12.803 - 150.104 km/h
4. 1'10.809 - 28.901 29.155 12.753 - 150.523 km/h
5. 1'10.876 - 29.081 29.116 12.679 - 151.261 km/h
Wet for comparison was:
1. 1'17.885 - 31.651 31.723 14.511 - 146.045 km/h
Ok, now that all the boring details are out of the way, here is a video clip of 3 laps which include the 2 fast laps and one in the middle where I stuck her in 4th instead of 2nd! Opps.
I wonder if you notice any difference in driving styles between this video and the one from my previous run at TC2000! I certainly do.
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