Track Day @ PIR

[Bino]

Well, it's been a week since I went to open track day @ PIR. But life's busy. Here's a link that shows some of the pics, I'm the GSX (Only two Mitsu's made a showing). Given that it was raining all day, AWD definitely had a huge advantage. Had a great time in a car that is 100% stock suspension wise (I bought some Kumho V700's... but it was raining so I didn't bother putting them on). I ran into a buddy of mine from college, he's driving the white STI. I'm rather pleased to say that the old 'X neither lost nor gained ground on the STI or the EVO on the front or back straights. I consider my vehicle largely stock, so at 20% the cost of those other vehicles... I was proud. It was a great time.

http://www.chrisjklein.com/

under "Motorsports", Alfa Romeo track day. You can see some pics of the 'X on pages 3 and 4 or thereabouts.

 

[Dauntless]

Congrats on getting to the track, Chris. I was particularly interested to read of your AWD experiences in the rain. As I inch towards getting my Talon track ready, I keep questioning if I need to switch to an AWD car, since my ultimate goal is to run the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, held here in NorCal each year over the first weekend in December. For all but one year there has been rain for at least half of the duration of the event (12 hours for the first several years, then 25 the past 2 years), with last year being the first year of no rainfall during the race.

I strongly suspect that over a 25 hour race with 14 hours of darkness that AWD can more than make up for its weight disadvantage, especially if there is rainfall for any extended time during the race. That having been said, I am also aware of the additional cost and reliability issues with AWD...

 

[pkieley]

Excellent! I'd love to drive in the rain.

Best shots are on page 8.

Do you have a link for PIR?

 

[Bino]

Ah yes, took me a minute to figure out why you called me Chris. That website is just a free-lance photographer that was there. He takes pictures of everybody's car and then gives you the option of purchasing them afterward.

Link to PIR:
http://www.portlandraceway.com/

Talking to some of the individuals at the track (this was my second appearance at an Alfa club day), the Alfa days are good to run with and the Lotus days are good to run with. One of my good friends in the Alfa club said that the BMW days are just plain scary, they really push their limits a lot. But that's just what he told me, I haven't run a BMW day.

My thoughts on AWD, if I had been running a 2WD car, I probably would have turned around and left. There was a guy that we ended up talking to who was driving an RX7 TT. Whenever he'd roll onto the throttle the rear end of the car would slide out and he'd have to pull over to let us by, he just couldn't put any power down. There were also two Porsche's that met the wall (Boxster and 944 Turbo). One very minor, and one left on a flatbed. The AWD cars were definitely the way to go. You can definitely push the limits a little bit and the car will still come back under control very predictably, in my experiences. There were a lot of corners I'd go in a little hot and end up breaking the rear or all four tires loose (I was surprised how little the GSX understeered under wet conditions).

Turn 12 (last turn onto front straight) was pretty interesting, the M3's, Miata's, RX7's, etc, got the rear end out really frequently. It just didn't happen with the STI's, EVO, and myself. Granted, when I'd roll onto the throttle coming onto the front straight I could feel myself doing a very subtle 4-wheel drift, but it was very predictable and controllable.

AWD's the way to go IMO, but don't forget to take into account the extra fuel consumption as well.

 

[Dauntless]

Yeah, you couldn't very well have taken your own photo, eh? D'uh!

Your comments about RWD cars having a difficult time are the same as I've seen repeatedly during the 25 Hours. The high powered RWD cars have to tip-toe around to avoid ending up in the wall or axle-deep in the infield mud. In fact, low powered econo-boxes are sometimes faster in the rain at Thunderhill than 600 hp GT-1 road racers. OTOH, I am confident that an AWD car can hang with much more powerful RWD cars in the rain.

Good stuff - thanks for sharing!

 

[Microrcdude]

Ive never seen anyone get the rear out in 12 exept for ken sutherland in the pro miata race earlier this year.

 

[Bino]

You should have been there for track day then. Pretty sure the last picture in the above posts shows a yellow 1G RX7 hangin' out on turn 12 (the photographer was inside turn 12, hence why all the shots are coming off the back straight or in turn 12).

 

[Greg Collier]

All I've got to say is it's so cool to see you guys out on the track really showing what your cars can do!!! It frigging brings tears to my eyes

Keep it up

Greg

 

[Microrcdude]

Bino, do you attend the SCCA races at PIR?

 

[Bino]

I unfortunately have to make special arrangements whenever I make a trip to PIR, otherwise I would be a more frequent competitor. I live in Southern Oregon, it's a 4.5-5 hr. drive to PIR from here. I end up having to take off at least a day of work to make the trip. Once I get myself a little better settled (OK, once I sell my truck so I can more easily afford my DSM), I will likely be making more frequent trips to Button Willow (~3.5 hr drive), for test days. I'll probably start doing some local autocrossing as well, there's a nice autocross course a few miles from where I live (Siskiyou Sports Car Club).