01-25-2019, 09:48 PM
At my last track session at Driveway Austin, I was joined by a pair of monster Camaro 1LE's (the owner of one of which wasn't satisfied with the paltry 620 hp or so those beasts put out stock, so he had a large supercharger installed which he claims added 140 rwhp - so much for "650 hp, the new normal?"), an E46 M3, and these beauties:
I'd never seen a new NSX up close before - very nice, and surprisingly loud.
I passed (and later lapped) the M3 after a couple of laps. The Camaro's eventually caught and passed me, but it took longer than I had expected, since both drivers are regulars at the track. This gave me the opportunity to drive behind them for a few laps, and I was surprised to see that I was pretty much keeping up with them in the corners, and actually gaining on them a bit in some of them. The straights, of course, were a COMPLETELY different story, but Driveway Austin is a very technical track that doesn't reward horsepower all that much. I was also gaining ever so slightly on the NSX, and I think I might have caught him if the session had gone a little longer. The Cayman GT4 was a bit faster than me, though. The owner is a good driver who recently replaced his nicely prepped E36 M3 with the GT4. I used to pass him, but no more. Oh, well. It's still nice to see that I can hold my own against cars whose suspensions are designed on powerful computers in a car whose suspension was probably designed with a slide rule, lol. Fun stuff for sure.
My next step is to corner the track pro to do a few laps in my car so I can overlay my data (I have a pretty high end Aim data acquisition system) with his and see not only where I have opportunities to be faster, but exactly what he's doing differently from me in terms of brake and throttle application, and steering strategy.
I'd never seen a new NSX up close before - very nice, and surprisingly loud.
I passed (and later lapped) the M3 after a couple of laps. The Camaro's eventually caught and passed me, but it took longer than I had expected, since both drivers are regulars at the track. This gave me the opportunity to drive behind them for a few laps, and I was surprised to see that I was pretty much keeping up with them in the corners, and actually gaining on them a bit in some of them. The straights, of course, were a COMPLETELY different story, but Driveway Austin is a very technical track that doesn't reward horsepower all that much. I was also gaining ever so slightly on the NSX, and I think I might have caught him if the session had gone a little longer. The Cayman GT4 was a bit faster than me, though. The owner is a good driver who recently replaced his nicely prepped E36 M3 with the GT4. I used to pass him, but no more. Oh, well. It's still nice to see that I can hold my own against cars whose suspensions are designed on powerful computers in a car whose suspension was probably designed with a slide rule, lol. Fun stuff for sure.
My next step is to corner the track pro to do a few laps in my car so I can overlay my data (I have a pretty high end Aim data acquisition system) with his and see not only where I have opportunities to be faster, but exactly what he's doing differently from me in terms of brake and throttle application, and steering strategy.
(This post was last modified: 01-25-2019, 09:51 PM by Cloud9...68.)
