u/bradshawwwty

Excited about a very long weekend at one of my favorite places in the country. I’ll be unloading tomorrow night for 10/10th Thursday then NASA all weekend. I am a little bummed that NASA seems to be running all Pro Course, but other than that I’m stoked. Looking at some data, the main thing I need to work on is turn 1. I feel like I am braking too late and over-slowing. On average, I’m entering at 91-95 mph and I should be able to easily be entering at 105-110. My plan is to attack it with no brakes coming off the front straight, just letting off throttle later each time, to train myself to trust the speed through it. I would love more opinions on how to tackle not being slow as shit in that turn. Also, hope to see a lot of you there.

I have so much respect for people who can just jump in any car and be fast instantly. I spend a lot of real life hours on Mid-Ohio in my GT3RS. Since I am considering switching to a 718 gt4rs Clubsport, I jumped in one in Mid-Ohio last night on the sim thinking I’d immediately be on pace. I wasn’t. I’m so accustomed to that rear engine pendulum effect to rotate the car that I was a slow understeering mess. If it would have been real life, I would have went through 3 sets of front slicks lol

Did it take you a while to adjust to the fact that you have to sacrifice a lot on entry compared to a 911 but you gain it back on exit?

I currently track a 992 GT3RS and am about to start doing time trials in it. However, I need to pick a path for wheel to wheel and I’m considering a GT4RS Clubsport, even though the new GT4 Clubsport will be a 911. Anyone had experience tracking both a 911 GT car and a GT4RS Clubsport?

Very underrated grassroots track. I had a blast. Dan killed it when he built this little oasis in the middle of nowhere. He’s a solid dude, too.

Ran a bunch of 1:35’s after the couple sessions it took me to fully grasp 7-8-9. It shouldn’t have taken me 40 minutes to get that series down, but it did. More importantly, I continued to meet so many amazing drivers and just flat out solid people.

I am extremely competitive and I know that sometimes I come off in way that rubs people the wrong way in this sport, but I’m truly just stoked to be around such a cool community of people who love to fuckin’ drive the piss out of things. Thanks to everyone in here who has given me tips along the way to help.

I’ve become a big fan of this community, so I’m looking for some honest feedback from people who’ve been through the NASA ladder.

I started with NASA Great Lakes this season. I skipped HPDE1 and started in HPDE2. I’ve only completed one HPDE2 weekend so far, and it was almost entirely in the rain at Mid-Ohio. This weekend I’m at Gingerman, and my first session is an instructor ride-along that’s intended to evaluate me for HPDE3 and move me for session 2.

I’ve put a bit of sim time into Gingerman and absolutely love the flow of the track, especially Turns 4-5 and 8-9. Obviously I know sim isn’t real life, but I’m stoked to see how fast 9 feels in real life.

After Gingerman, I’m back at Mid-Ohio in August for NASA again. Last week I was running consistent 1:32s on the Club Course in my GT3 RS with tires and brake pads that were both at the end of their life and only getting a few traffic free laps per sessions. Before the August event I’ll have fresh tires, fresh pads, a proper track alignment, and a corner balance. I am very confident I can easily run 1:30’s.

Looking at past NASA Great Lakes TT1 results, it seems like getting into the 1:30s would put me in the neighborhood of the front of TT1 at Mid-Ohio. Probably the winner most of the time. But I’ll probably lose .5 by locking out active aero.

My question is this: assuming the pace continues to come, is it realistic to go from essentially one HPDE2 weekend to HPDE4 and Time Trial eligibility in a single season? Or is that something that’s extremely uncommon regardless of demonstrating safety, awareness, and pace in DE?

I’m less interested in “anything is possible” answers and more interested in hearing from instructors, TT drivers, or people who’ve seen someone progress that quickly. Have you actually seen drivers only spend two weekends in DE3 and get moved to DE4?

When I transitioned from sim racing to the track a few months ago, my only goal for the first season, on top of improving, was to sit atop the leader board on the Porsche Track Precision app. I accomplished that today with a 1:32.50. I still have a long way to go, because I’m sure there are plenty of GT3RS and GT4RS drivers who don’t use that app, but I learned a valuable lesson today. I was on Trofeo RS’s that were certainly at the end of their life and I could probably say the same for my stock brake pads. It was also scorching outside. I was much slower into the turns because of it and, by proxy, always prioritizing exit. Because I had no choice. And, by god, it produced my fastest lap yet. I’m very confident after a track alignment, new Trofeos, and switching to steels and track pads, that I can touch 1:29 this season. We’ll see. After Gingerman this month, I’m back at Mid Ohio in August and praying for good conditions. Anyways, thank you to everyone on this subreddit who has steered me in the right direction and been helpful. Such a cool fucking community.

One thing I’ve noticed about myself is that my pace is much more consistent in real life that it is on iRacing. But, of course, my hero laps are probably quicker on iRacing (no way to really know, even running the same tracks).

The reason for this is that I have a tendency to overdrive the car on iRacing. Psychologically, I’m sure that is because there is really no consequences other than an off track penalty and the occasional out of body experience where I’m both sitting in my car in the pit while also being towed to the pit. The result is driving much riskier which results in some great laps but also inconsistent pace (never at the expense of another person’s race, of course.) Anyone else struggle with this? Any advice?

Is pulling the fuse that controls the aero hydraulic pump and unplugging the actuator connectors sufficient? Should I have a shop fabricate pins or brackets? What’s the path here?

One of the instructors at the PCA event at Mid Ohio told me that I should change my line and cheat right towards the flag station after the exit in Keyhole because it shortens the track by a few feet and therefore is quicker. I’ve always stayed left until approaching the kink. I ran this by my buddy who used to race F1 and is probably one of the fastest ever at Mid Ohio and he said, and I quote,

“Some people do that line There is no difference in time and in a racing situation it would be easier to get passed. Also if you were racing in a pro race you would definitely stand out 🏁As you would be the only one on that line 😂”

I’m assuming the instructor was wrong based on the pedigree comparisons of both drivers. But what do you guys think?

I’ve never drove with the Porsche guys before, was just curious about if that typically goes like I imagine it does in my head.

Every time I finish a weekend track session, I get so mad that my parents had me playing baseball, football, etc instead of putting me in a kart at 7 years old. I’m so delusional that I genuinely feel like I would have been racing in Detroit this weekend if they would have just put me in a kart when I was young. 😂