I'm still learning how to use the RE-71RZ's. Sticky tires are a game changer for autocross but the learning curve is steep.
As usual for these courses my car is stuck between first and second gear. Decide when to downshift or not requires a little trial and error. With only five runs, I need to accelerate how fast I learn the course.
Toronto Motorsports Park TMP Cayuga. CSCS Time Attack Event 2. Production GT Competition Run.
I couldn't get around as quick as I wanted. If you look at the delta during the second fast lap you can see I'm picking up and then promptly losing it. The driver was the weakest link here... Any advice is welcome.
Rain is the great equalizer! 1st in GST, 5th Raw time, 2nd Pax. I got beat (in PAX) by an FRS! He was an amazing driver!
When you start driving your car on the limits the VDC System can be dangerous. When you just want the car to maintain throttle and understeer to the outside of the track this system will detect your steering input and attempt to point the car in. This means activating the ABS on individual wheels.
As a completely random example, if the car is travelling down a high speed downhill blind corner and you are full throttle to keep the car balanced, and you turn in to set the car on a nice controlled path to the outside curbing, the ABS will attempt to rotate the car in the direction the wheel is pointed. This means cutting your throttle, applying some front brake and shifting the much needed rear end weight forward leaving the rear tires without enough traction to keep the rear end from passing the front end.
The solution is to remember to press the traction control button before every session. I used to just press it once for "Track mode" but I found it can cut throttle and hurt lap times, so I press it for 5 seconds while stopped to completely defeat it.
The problem is that when the car is restarted, it resets the state, so you have to remember to do this every time you start the car. Race day stress can interfere with this ritual.
Now to the point. The system can be shutoff by removing the fuse. This is not a great solution as you lose ABS and the rear brake lights. What you can do is remove the connector on the steering wheel angle sensor. You maintain ABS, and brake lights but the VDC is disabled, and for some reason hill start assist. It takes about 3-4 minutes and all you need is a number 2 Philips screw driver.
The photos are pretty self-explanatory. The last picture shows the tab you have to squeeze to get the connector out. Don't force it. If you've pressed the tab it should pull out easily.
If you are handy you can splice in a switch on the ground/black wire to make it easy to enable/disable. (Pics coming soon for that).
When passing, keep an eye on the next corner! I can't believe I caught when it snapped back. Later in the day I learning to feed a little throttle to keep the rear end behind me.
This is at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Driver Development Track in a 2022 Subaru WRX.
First track day down. New suspension is amazing. I need more negative camber up front and for bumpy tracks I need to turn the shocks down a bit.
That's a full 1.2g corner and car rides almost flat.
The suspension is Track1 with the digressive valving option. Springs an aggressive at 14k front, 16k rear.
Canadian Tire Motorsports Park Driver Development Park.
I did not capture my best lap on video. There is a psychological effect where if the GoPro is running you feel the need to make it exciting. This is not conducive to good lap times, so I left the GoPro off for my competitive runs.
The car is a Subaru WRX VB (2022). Track 1 coilovers, digressive valving with 14k springs up front and 16k in the rear. I'm on brand new Bridgestone RE-71 RZ's. There are no other performance mods. During the competitive laps I managed a 1:40.2.
I'm doing CTMP (Mosport) "Big Track" at the end of the month. I can't wait!!!
Has anyone else got a chance to try out the new Bridgestone Potenza RE-71 RZ's?
My last track day really did in my brakes. Stock rotors with Hawk 5.0 HPS pads. I did a brake service less than 1000km ago and the pads looked good. I'm guessing I just asked a little too much from them and overheated them. Before the rust comments come, I'm in Southern Ontario. That's "normal". I would have cleaned things up a little more, but I was in a rush to get back on the road.
Replacements are DBA T2 rotors with Hawk HP+ pads. I'm going to go with a more aggressive pad but the current brakes failed on me without much notice so I bought what I could get in less than a week.
Thanks to https://trillitires.com/ for sourcing the parts quickly at a great price.
My last track day really did in my brakes. Stock rotors with Hawk 5.0 HPS pads.
Replacements are DBA T2 rotors with Hawk HP+ pads. I'm going to go with a more aggressive pad but the current brakes failed on me without much notice so I bought what I could get in less than a week.
Thanks to https://trillitires.com/ for sourcing the parts quickly at a great price.