Lime Rock T3

[Mick]

I was watching a video of LRP from last season and it looks like I may be squaring off the left hander (t3) too much.
http://www.mydig.com/auto/video/05.11.19_LRP.wmv

I was there last year watching the Rolex GT and noticed that some of the quicker cars were taking a slightly rounder, more inside line through 3, while others were opening it up like I am.

How do you take 3?

[xstar]

Were the cars protecting the inside to prevent an inside pass?

[boltonite]

From the video your line thru 3 looks like what I was taught in drivers school: aim for the right side (crossing from the left side exiting turn 2), brake hard and turn in late, place right-side wheels on the concrete patch and late apex. I think this is pretty fast if done correctly. However, it does force you to take a longer path and can make the corner even worse (radius-wise) if you don't get the car squared up on entry.

Depending on how well your car is setup, you may be able to brake less and pitch the car into T3 and use tire/turning scrub to slow you down to the optimal entry speed, but this may force you to take a different line into 3.
FWIW
Fred F

[brucesallen]

Not bad. I don't use all the track on the right--only go 2/3 out because track goes off camber way out. Most important thing-- that you did well, is to apex late enough to be able to go up the left side on exit and put power down from before the Left Hander apex all the way down No Name straight. If you have power this may require a later turn-in on the right hander, #5 so you don't go off the track at exit.

It is also fun to come into 3 too hot and brake hard after you turn-in for 3. My student in a C5 Z06 did this two years ago and I figured we were going spinning into the swamp but his computers took over, braked hard on the left two wheels only and saved our butts.

[L98Terror]

Not bad. I don't use all the track on the right--only go 2/3 out because track goes off camber way out. Most important thing-- that you did well, is to apex late enough to be able to go up the left side on exit and put power down from before the Left Hander apex all the way down No Name straight. If you have power this may require a later turn-in on the right hander, #5 so you don't go off the track at exit.

It is also fun to come into 3 too hot and brake hard after you turn-in for 3. My student in a C5 Z06 did this two years ago and I figured we were going spinning into the swamp but his computers took over, braked hard on the left two wheels only and saved our butts.

Why do you have to bad talk Glen, LOL He did say the active handling did save his ass.

[Mick]

Thanks for the feedback.
Alex, good call but it wasn't a defensive line. The fastest guys were rounding it out just a bit more that I was used to seeing, and doing it lap after lap.

Fred I see what you mean, I feel like my line is good and practical but not optimal. I'm going to try that next week and see how it feels. Easier said than done I'm sure.

Now if I can only find a trick that will get me more on the downhill I might be able to match the ST2 times.

[ctkag]

The ambient temperature may have a bit to do with it as well. I know I can't take 3 as deep/hard/fast in November as is possible in July or August (as evidenced by my spinning in TT the last two years. Same goes for the downhill - I'm sure a nice warm track would make a difference.

[jadams]

Last year I had the "real FTD" in the time trial. It was achieved in the first lap and only lap. My best time was 12 seconds! I made it to Big Bend, and my frozen tires took over from there. I spun, and the engine stalled, Lap complete! One of these days I would really like to run limerock in the summer without rain!

[WillM]

Last year I had the "real FTD"

FTD = Faultiest Turn of the Day?

I've had a few of those myself!

[brucesallen]

Mick,
the trick on the downhill is later apex. Hard to do because as you are hurtling down the hill there is an irresistable urge to early apex. But There is good camber where you turn-in so you can crank the Gs but after the apex the track flattens so too much speed means off-track or if you crank more steering at this point you spin down the straight (in a spin, two feet in or else you spin to the inside and hit the nice tires there).

[Mick]

Thanks Bruce. Experimenting with 3 is one thing, the downhill is on another level. I don't think I have a conscious turn in point, I just pucker up and the car goes right. It'll be hard to convince myself to go deeper there but I'll give it a go.

[jeffreystrong]

Mick,
Could you tell me a little bit about you video setup. Your video quality is excellent.

Thanks,
Jeffrey

[Mick]

Sure,
I/O Port camera mount attached to my roll bar.
http://www.driversupply.com/cgi-bin/sto ... Gift_Ideas

Canon ZR200 Mini DV camera.


The nice thing about the camera is that it has a wide screen (16:9) shooting mode and good image stabilization. Although, most any new camera will have those features as well.

I imported the video as uncompressed DV in AVI format then edited it in Adobe Premiere. You could edit it in Windows movie maker or iMovie as well. You just have to set the format to 16:9 in the preferences so that it retains the aspect ratio.

If I were to do it again I'd find a camera with a remote microphone input. The on board microphone picks up too much wind noise.
-M

[jeffreystrong]

Thanks, I own the same Canon but have not tried using it in car yet. Have you ever attempted to use an external bullet camera, or record to the SD memory card instead of the DV media with this camera?

The video quality of your files far exceed most I have viewed.

Thanks,
Jeffrey

[Mick]

Thanks,
I saw in the documentation that it will accept a remote camera but I haven't tried it yet. I would like to try it some point though

I haven't recorded to the SD card. I've assumed I would need at least > 2GB to record anything worthwhile. With flash memory so cheap these days it may be worth it.