COM NHIS in July

[Jimmy Pet]

Howdy Y'all,
Due Friday's recent 12" of snow we got dumped here in the hills of Northeast PA, I watched about,,, I dunno,,, "hours" of NHIS videos today from various sources.
None of Steve Ayers were Chicane-Chicane,,, but his were by far the best quality and a good look at North chicane, South Oval (I think).

It really does look like the Chicane-Chicane setup is a little herky jerky.
After really studying it, for what seemed like hours,,, I felt its for certain not sthe smoothest flowing track layout I have ever seen.
Kind of makes the Jefferson circuit look like the Glen.

However,,, I am in for the full shot, I am going to try and get into the two day July COM "and" probably sign up for the following day with SCDA, just to really extract the full NHIS experience. If I'm gonna tow 360 miles north,,,, may as well go for the gold eh?

I do retract my earlier post in that I now do believe (only from videos) that North chicane-South oval looks like the much smoother flowing setup. That is contrary to my home track Pocono,,, where the more oval you use in any of the possible configurations the more boring it gets.
The south "chicane" looks very "autocrossy" )not sure if thats a word....

Thanks for all the input guys.
Cheers
jimmy p.

[chaos4NH]

Steve Ayers video from NHIS 8/2004 was chicane to chicane. Those vids really show my reason for preferring other tracks, i.e. the VERY noticeable bumps in 3 and 10. Other than the bumps, I like the challenge of the track.

[Jimmy Pet]

Steve Ayers video from NHIS 8/2004 was chicane to chicane. Those vids really show my reason for preferring other tracks, i.e. the VERY noticeable bumps in 3 and 10. Other than the bumps, I like the challenge of the track.

That was the only one that would not load for me,,, figures...

Yeah, it does look a bit bumpy. Sadly,,, that week,,, there is not alot of choice of venues in the Northeast. COM NHIS is pretty much the only game in about a 400 mile radius from my home in Northeast PA (unless someone takes some of the avails Pocono has during that week).

Cheers
jimmy

[deimos]

Steve Ayers video from NHIS 8/2004 was chicane to chicane. Those vids really show my reason for preferring other tracks, i.e. the VERY noticeable bumps in 3 and 10. Other than the bumps, I like the challenge of the track.

You can avoid most of the bumps in 3 if you stay one tire width to the right of the normal "line".

As for 10, there's no way to avoid the transition. Well, if you miss the turn at 9 and go off track, you can avoid the transition at 10. However, offroad through 9 is really bumpy.

[chaos4NH]

Thanks for the info on turn 3! I think I'll leave the off roading stuff at 9 to the 4WD guys - Raj are you up to that?

[rajito]

Oh sure. Been there, done that, hope not to do it again.

Raj

[enjoythemusic]

...As for 10, there's no way to avoid the transition. Well, if you miss the turn at 9 and go off track, you can avoid the transition at 10. However, offroad through 9 is really bumpy.

Been there, done that, DNF'ed the timed laps due to it.

[StephanAlfa]

Oh sure. Been there, done that, hope not to do it again.

Raj

Raj ... get some "real" brakes installed in your car will ya!
I am stumped with this: all Subie owners gather together at the garage to bleed brakes every session .. why is that? Some kind of Subie cult thing?
roll:

[RyanC]

Oh sure. Been there, done that, hope not to do it again.

Raj

Raj ... get some "real" brakes installed in your car will ya!
I am stumped with this: all Subie owners gather together at the garage to bleed brakes every session .. why is that? Some kind of Subie cult thing?
roll:

I'm sure your kidding, but we only bled brakes between every *other* session.

3300lb cars that set fast laps generate a lot of heat in the brakes; the stock rotors, which we were all limited to last year in ST, are not that adept at shedding heat, and available ducting options were of marginal help. This year you'll probably see Raj and Joe bleeding every third session, since I think better rotors will be used.

[rajito]

Stephan, I usually am not bleeding brakes on track. I do that before I get to track. However, since I do not trailer my car in, I have a bit of work to do when I get to the track.

A normal start for me would go like this:
- Registration
- Unload everything (clothes, tires, spare tire, tools, dead bodies, bombs)
- Tech inspection
- Jack car up
- Change brakes
- Put wheels on, torquey torquey

Sometimes I slap on brake pads that have 2 or 3 sessions left, which would then require me to put fresher ones on. Same with tires - sometimes I bring tires that are just about dead, run them for a day, and replace them for the next.

Raj

[tmak26b]

Since we are on the topic of brakes, I have a question. My pedal goes to the floor after 3 hard laps, is that because of the caliper overheating or is it the fluid boiling? The car drives and runs fine after I cool it down for one lap.

Oh sure. Been there, done that, hope not to do it again.

Raj

Raj ... get some "real" brakes installed in your car will ya!
I am stumped with this: all Subie owners gather together at the garage to bleed brakes every session .. why is that? Some kind of Subie cult thing?
roll:

I'm sure your kidding, but we only bled brakes between every *other* session.

3300lb cars that set fast laps generate a lot of heat in the brakes; the stock rotors, which we were all limited to last year in ST, are not that adept at shedding heat, and available ducting options were of marginal help. This year you'll probably see Raj and Joe bleeding every third session, since I think better rotors will be used.

[Dave_G]

Since we are on the topic of brakes, I have a question. My pedal goes to the floor after 3 hard laps, is that because of the caliper overheating or is it the fluid boiling? The car drives and runs fine after I cool it down for one lap.

That sounds like fluid boiling to me. If the pads fade, the brake pedal is firm but the pads don't stop like they should. If the fluid boils, the fluid becomes compressible, resulting in the brake-pedal-to-the-floor thing.

What fluid are you using, and how fresh is it? There are quite a few DOT 4 brake fluids that have high boiling points and don't require a bank loan to purchase. I use ATE Super Blue and ATE Typ 200, which are popular choices.

[tmak26b]

Since we are on the topic of brakes, I have a question. My pedal goes to the floor after 3 hard laps, is that because of the caliper overheating or is it the fluid boiling? The car drives and runs fine after I cool it down for one lap.

That sounds like fluid boiling to me. If the pads fade, the brake pedal is firm but the pads don't stop like they should. If the fluid boils, the fluid becomes compressible, resulting in the brake-pedal-to-the-floor thing.

What fluid are you using, and how fresh is it? There are quite a few DOT 4 brake fluids that have high boiling points and don't require a bank loan to purchase. I use ATE Super Blue and ATE Typ 200, which are popular choices.

That's what the Carbotech was telling me. I have always thought fluid will lose their effectiveness after they boil, but my car always stop fine after a cool down lap. I bleed them after each track event anyway, so that's what I am dealing with. I have used Valvoline, the regular Castro, Nissan OEM and Motul. THey all had the same problem after the same amount of time, I couldnt buy any extra time with any of them. Matter of fact, all fluids turned black after one track event except the factory Nissan ones. I have been using them because of it. I am stepping up to heavier duty pads, wonder if that will help. I doubt it as my brakes are still tiny for how and what i drive

[brucesallen]

It ain't the pads. Pedal to the loor is boiling fluid. I use Motul racing 600. You MUST bleed after every day on track. You only need to bleed a little out of each caliper- until it runs clean. Dirt will cause boiling at a lower temperature.

An alternative is don't brake as much; go into corners faster.

Raj should lose some weight to be easier on the brakes.

[tmak26b]

I do bleed the brakes after each event. If I use the Castro SRT fluid, would I sitll have to bleed it every time? They are kinda pricey to keep bleeding them after each event. I am tough on brakes and my car's brakes are too small anyway, so I dont know if anything is going to help. It's like another $80 down the drain there.

If I dont use the brakes, I will plow straight into the wall..

It ain't the pads. Pedal to the loor is boiling fluid. I use Motul racing 600. You MUST bleed after every day on track. You only need to bleed a little out of each caliper- until it runs clean. Dirt will cause boiling at a lower temperature.

An alternative is don't brake as much; go into corners faster.

Raj should lose some weight to be easier on the brakes.