Race video from TC2000.

This may bore you to tears :-) The visibility was quite bad as you can see. I spun my wheels too much at the start. If you only watch a bit, fast forward to 16:20 and watch my first pass along with one hell of a spin coming out of the last corner.

Wet Race - TC2000 08/01/12

Arrived in Tsukuba TC2000 all dry. No rain. Whippee! Or at least not until about 8am anyway. We could do the preparation in the dry. That counts for a lot. I decided not to worry too much about car setup etc. for the race as it only adds tension. I expected to come last so nothing to worry about. I started with all tires at 230 thinking they would get hotter after a while. I left the suspension settings on 6F/8R which is basically my street settings as in rain I believe softer is
better.

I also decided to leave DSC off. I've been running with it off for over a year now. You turn it on once and you always have to wonder how much its really doing for you. I spin a lot so it would probably do a lot for me short term, but long term - nothing. It would have made the race and the rain simpler but you gotta learn somehow. It's easy to get a faster time with it on but definitely more educational to leave it off. DSC all Off then.

First qualification session was 8 minutes. But it involved the safety car for the first lap so unexpectedly we only had two laps. I managed to make a bit of room for myself on the first lap and then got a 1'20 on the second lap. I'm not sure if I could have gone faster though as the
grip just wasn't there and my rain skills are mostly untested. I know driving like I'm on rails is slow but Tsukuba is not exacly a place to practice drifting for the first time in the rain. I got 5th out of 6 in the GP1 group. GP1 group cars have more tuned parts than GP2 cars. There were 14 cars altogether.

Second qualification session was also 8 minutes. It was raining harder and I had some big moments going through Dunlop so I couldn't improve my time. This time we had 3 laps. But now I was 6 out of 6 in GP1 group. 11th on the grid to start. We really gonna race in this? Lol...

The start was pretty cool although I messed it up. I could only watch as two cars overtook me on the start as I got myself into a wheel spin. I guess other guys were either using DSC or were way better on the throttle than me. Still that puts less pressure on me I thought as there
is only one car behind now.

I spent most of the race following around another yellow car. Grip felt terrible though. Either its the tire pressure or the grip was that bad. I'm betting there is more car setup I could do to make the driving easier, but not sure how without lots of trial and error.

Dunlop just felt like sliding on ice after turn in. The final corner was also pretty hairy. Each time I made the same mistake and took the same tight line through it and each time I got closer to an error.

About half way through the race though I started poking my head around close to the car in front of me. It was quite interesting to think about how to pass without screwing myself in the process. Finally though the guy in front of me passed another 8 and I tried to go through too on the first corner. I didn't know that this was the last lap. I felt I could pass but didn't know how. Finally, I managed to hook up right on his tail coming out of the second hairpin and on to the back straight. Slammed it into 3rd, 4th and I crept up beside him. I had the inside
line beside him on the last corner... He naturally braked first, I braked. I was through! My first pass!

The exit of the corner didn't go as planned though. I squeezed on the slightest bit of power too early. The back flew around. I probably added to it by letting off too much throttle making the back even lighter). I remember thinking hmmm. Wonder where I'll end up. The pit wall is close. I hit the brakes, Now heading backwards, looked around me to check where the walls were, eased
off the brakes, car flung around again, hit the brakes again and stopped facing straight. Safe. Chucked it into first, saw the guys had passed me safely and headed up to the checkered flag. What a rush!

So I only barely managed my goal of being last but goal achieved none-the-less. Actually the goal was just to complete the race :-) It was a great experience even in the wet. I shall be back for more...

I have to upload the video of the race now. Will post again when I have it ready.

Tsukuba TC2000 07/12/22 (wet)

I checked the weather in the morning for Tsukuba. Cloudy. Great - I thought. The weather is perfect for few fast laps. It started raining around 9am though. We had three sessions. I asked one of the RX-7 guys what he got after he came back from his laps. A 1'15. Damn. That's at least 10 seconds off his normal pace and he said it was slippy out there.

First session arrived, Still raining. DSC all off, I headed out. A 7 spun on the first corner (on the yellow flag lap!). I floored the accelerator to see how much the wheels would spin. Nice. Down into the first hairpin and a little counter steer was required. Dunlop, the post was waving 2 yellow flags. Another 7 spun out. 2nd hair pin, back straight and into the last corner. Nice and cautious. Coming out of the last corner, the back went out and a quick counter got it back. Whew... This is slippy! That was the first lap and the remaining 9 laps were much the same. The track side was littered with 7s who found the going pretty hairy. Not a lap passed with out a yellow flag somwhere.

Second session. The rain had stopped but the track was still very wet. I started to speed up a little in the corners as the track was more clear. Back went out again past Dunlop but I managed to keep it straight. Still tippy-toeing around.

Last session, the line was drying up but on the second lap a car spun out past Dunlop. Hmmm. Still slippy so I played it cautious and just upped the speed gradually lap after lap feeling around slowly for more grip. Turns out though 2 of the boys were right back on pace and they both scored 1'08s! I was still lapping 1'11s.

One thing I learned from Saturday was you can still take a corner pretty fast in the wet although I'm not sure how fast yet. Most of the issues seem to be accelerating too aggressively out of a corner. The rain definitely makes all your senses tingle in excitement as you try to anticipate everything including your own mistakes.

My tire pressure for the first 2 sessions was 275. I let some air out for the third session but forgot to check the pressure afterwards. I was aiming for 260 hot. I think 250 is pretty decent in the dry though. Still not sure what to do in the wet regarding pressures.

More Mazda Speed Cup Trial Footage

I finally pulled my lap times out of my lap timer. No segment times unfortunately. Pretty happy with the times though. I got 5 x 1'09 times and 5 x 1'10 times with a mix of other laps in between. I'm pretty sure I should have got a 1'08 on the second lap in this video as I had to slow down going through Dunlop and just after it as another car was in my line. Oh well. that happens :-) Next time I'll try leave a little more space to play with. The lap times shown in this video are 1'09.425, 1'09.96 and 1'10.46.

Lucky Number 13!

This is footage from the 2nd session of the Mazda Speed Cup Circuit Trial at TC2000. I made a mistake by coming on the power too heavy too early into the first corner and ended up heading for the barrier. Lucky I stopped just in time and headed right back out into the action. If you don't spin - you're not trying!

Mazda Speed Circuit Trial

Woke up at 3:35, showered, shoved 2 contacts into 2 sleepy eyes and hit the road at 4am. Arrived at Tsukuba at around 5:30 and began my preparations in the still darkness with a torch. By 6:20 I had eaten some breakfast and was ready to register. Got the numbers and official lap timer, stuck them on and headed to my parking allocation inside the track. Ran over to the control tower and got a form signed off to say that I could capture my run on video. Back to the car by 7am so that the officials could review my car and mark it as track ready. The only uncertainty was what pressure to start out with on my tires. I chose 200 except the front left which I set to 195. It was bitterly cold so good times were expected. Drivers meeting from 7:50, out on the track at 8:35 for first run. What a schedule!

Someone spun on the first lap on the last corner into the pit lane wall. Not a good place to spin. Luckily he stopped so that he only tapped the wall head on leaving a big dent in his bumper but not much other damage. Red flag was out so back to the pit lane. Not nervous at all. I just wanted to go faster and I felt the time was right. Green light so back out on the track. A blue car passed by on the straight on the out lap - the nerve! I took him on the first corner and continued going to set a blazing 1'09.425 on my first lap. I was flying. I wanted to go faster. I was chasing that 1'08 I wanted so badly. A couple more 1'09s mixed in with some traffic laps I could do no better as the grip got less and I started sliding more. Still - not one to give up, I battled on and sadly missed seeing the checked flag as I was distracted looking at where I could pass the next car in front of me into the first corner. I noticed all the cars had slowed down and it dawned on me that the session was over. So cooled the car down back to the car park.

"Number 13" was wanted by the control tower... Drat. I knew exactly why too which is good, I guess. So off I headed for my telling off. It was my first event so it was all new. Its good to get called in sooner than later as its tells you were you stand. Sure enough, they'd spotted that I'd ignored the checkered flag and I assured them I wouldn't do it again. They didn't make a big deal out of it so off I went smiling at my good fortune that I didn't have my quickest lap taken from me as some sort of penalty. Whew! I'll try harder from now on! Honest!

We had some time until the second session so I put in some petrol to bring me back up to half a tank. That 20 litre gas tank I bought is too big! Oh well, at least I have spare gas now at reasonable Tsukuba prices (about 10 difference from Tokyo). They didn't do a car exam (shaken) before the second run. We had a drivers meeting and then was back on the track again at 12:40.

The temperature had risen since the morning. I'd left my tires as is. They probably could have done with more pressure as they'd been 240 when I checked them after the first session. Oh well. In the second session I didn't seem to have as much grip as the first session although I was still trying to go in with more speed into all the corners. Finally after only a few laps, I unbalanced the car by throttling too hard mid corner and headed for the inside of the first corner. First thing I noticed was there was no padding where I was headed. I was pretty sure I could stop initially but the brakes just didn't work once I hit the grass and I kept sliding inwards. Here comes the wall. I stopped. Whew! Only inches away but that is far enough for me. An inch is a mile when you didn't hit something. Game on! Lets get back out there. I still haven't got a 1'08!

About 2 or 3 laps later, I unbalanced the car again mid corner on the 2nd hairpin and spun inwards. Damn. After considering reversing out for a bit, I decided to just try going across the grass and driving out the exit instead as it seemed safer for all parties. All I could think of was what a waste of time that was and how I only had perhaps 1 lap left to try something special so I got back up to speed. The rest was uneventful though as there was a car in front of me and some others going slow on the outside of corners etc. Best I managed manage was a 1'09.625 on the 2nd session. As it turned out though everyone was about 0.200 or so slower on the second session so it wasn't just me.

So, 1'09.425 is my best time at TC2000. I was really happy with that. I'd gone all out to get it. Unfortunately, everyone else was spectacular also and that time was only good enough for 9th place out of the 17 entrants in the RX-8 More Class. Half way up the field is not bad I guess. Everyone a head of my was a member of RTE! Such domination!

I think I need a new tactic now to go faster. I need to ignore fast laps for a while and try improve on sections by trying different things and concentrating on single corners every lap. To avoid boredom, I think I'll still try 2 attack laps followed by only attacking the 2nd hairpin to start off with. There is probably still time to get with a fast entry/exit on that corner as the back straight follows. I feel I'm also weak at the 1st hairin - well most corners to be honest but I hate it when I go too slow through there with over braking. I find I don't have a proper entry plan in my head or at least I never stick with one for that corner. Hopefully targeting specific corners should help get me the 1'08 that I seek - although I'm really after a 1'07 :-)

TC2000 with RE-01Rs and new alignment

Today was my first time trying out my new RE-01R (225/45R18) tires along with the new alignment. Car started without problems this morning. I'd been a bit worried after it failed to start on Saturday. Problems seem resolved today on that front.

The shuto expressway is a good test of a cars settings as its twisty enough and the speed is just right. Traveling up to Tsukuba the car felt a little different than before. I wasn't too sure why. Tires seemed comfy enough but something felt strange. Sorted this out at the gas station. Turns out the pressures were uneven. I'd asked Super Autobacs to put 220 kpa in each tire but they were sitting on 250 and 230 on different wheels. Can't those guys get anything right? Anyway set them all at 240 with the garage guage and hit the track. At the circuit I decided to start my front left at 225 and the others at 230 on my gauge to see where they'd go.

First session I took it easy enough for the first bit exploring the tires. They felt really solid in terms of grip. I really felt the back sliding very nicely into turns in a very controlled manner. I didn't really look at lap times but got a 1'10.699 on the 2nd last lap. I was dying to explore more. After coming back in front right was 280, back left and front right were 270 and the rear right was 260. I set all tires to 260.

Second session I started to have problems changing gears :-( During a shift up from 2nd to 3rd it would grind. It would grid also dropping gears. Even 4th to 3rd became hap-hazzard. Hmmm. Syncro? I tried to change as carefully as possible but it wasn't possible. Sometimes the gear would not engage. This seemed to happen only at high revs and only after the car had heated up. I was thinking my gear oil is not right for the car or something. I'd just added some new Speed Master Pro Super Gear Oil SAE:75W-90, so this was a little upsetting. This made getting a decent lap time quite hard as missing 3rd to 2nd coming into a hairpin can really throw the car off the line/speed not to mention balance.

I decided to do the last session to see what way gear changes would behave during the first few laps. Sure enough, problem seemed resolved only for it to resurface after about 4 laps. Gear oil seems to be the culprit. Hope I didn't destroy my synchros too much today or cause any other damage. I think I was as gentle as I could be.

Anyway - back to the tires and alignment. I can't really tell you much about the tires alone except that they are as good as the ADVANs. Braking is better with the RE01Rs. With the ADVANS its very easy to lock the wheels where as the RE01Rs really did a good job of stopping me. This is not just a recent thing about the ADVANs either. They were like that from the start. The tires also looked a lot better after 3 hard sessions today than I remember the ADVANs looking which is a positive sign. The sidewalls didn't get quite as eaten as they did on the ADVANs.

Alignment was amazing. Felt excellent. Turning into the corners the back would come around very gradually. Great sense of security in how the car moved. Never felt it was going to go into wild over-steer like my older setting would sometimes send me. Todays best time was on the 4th lap of the 3rd session. Each session I got faster apart from the last few laps where I was nursing the gears.

Weather wise it was quite hot today. 19 degrees!
Including all sessions, top 5 times for the record were:
1. 1'10.254 - 28.520 28.868 12.866 - 152.392 km/h
2. 1'10.422 - 28.413 29.350 12.659 - 153.562 km/h
3. 1'10.493 - 28.854 28.839 12.800 - 153.061 km/h
4. 1'10.699 - 28.643 28.979 13.077 - 150.880 km/h
5. 1'10.787 - 28.699 29.179 12.909 - 150.670 km/h

My best sector times give me a best virtual lap of 1'09.801. So at least that's still on the cars. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't do a faster time today but the gear issues mad driving fast quite difficult. Oh well - take heart and look forward to the next one.

As a side note: I was in the A group today. Its pretty interesting when there are a lot of fast cars around. It made things pretty fun. I didn't really have to wait up at all. The other side of that is though, most people seem to just attack one lap and then sleep until their cars recovered. That was painful at times as there was always someone to watch out for. I like to just go-go-go all the time.

I didn't notice an appreciable difference in the plugs. Its hard to tell though as I was concentrating mostly on my tires and alignment.

1'09 - the video

Right so, here are 5 laps of my 3rd session at Tsukuba. I tried pretty different lines than my usual particularly on the last corner. Things I noticed: Still steering too late. Still doing far too many steering inputs (although sometimes required). Way too slow on the 1st hairpin. Under-steering like a dog through Dunlop (although its worse in later laps). If I can clean some of these things up, I should be able to do 1'09 pretty consistently and perhaps attack 1'08.

Lap times are: 1'10.857, 1'10.354, 1'09.774, 1'10.006 and 1'11.781

I left the 5th lap in for a mate who was driving his NSX. I caught up to him when he was taking it easy. Great looking machine. Pity I didn't capture it roaring.

Enjoy!