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      03-27-2022, 09:06 AM   #1
msendit
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Videos: M240 racing in NASA ST4

I finally took the plunge to race my M240. ST4 is a fairly competitive class in NASA NorCal, so it's gonna be a fun season learning to up my game.

I'll use this thread to dump footage from the races.

Saturday at Sonoma, 03/26, P8/14:

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      03-27-2022, 06:17 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msendit View Post
I finally took the plunge to race my M240. ST4 is a fairly competitive class in NASA NorCal, so it's gonna be a fun season learning to up my game.
That was great fun to watch - thanks for posting!

A question came to mind while watching: Do you know how the weight of your car compares to those of the other ST4 cars?
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      03-28-2022, 12:26 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dradernh View Post
Do you know how the weight of your car compares to those of the other ST4 cars?
Oh, that's easy! One land whale versus a bunch of racecars.

More seriously, most cars in the class are in the 2600-2800 range. I'm sitting at a good 3400 right now. It's a power-to-weight based classing system though (12:1 for this class, with a few tire compound modifiers), so there's some power to boot. And the rulebook has has a nice bump in allowed tire sizes at 3000+, which I'm making good use of.
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      03-28-2022, 06:53 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msendit View Post
Oh, that's easy! One land whale versus a bunch of racecars.

More seriously, most cars in the class are in the 2600-2800 range. I'm sitting at a good 3400 right now. It's a power-to-weight based classing system though (12:1 for this class, with a few tire compound modifiers), so there's some power to boot. And the rulebook has has a nice bump in allowed tire sizes at 3000+, which I'm making good use of.
Yeah, I'd looked up the power-to-weight limit and thought "I'll bet the cars running seconds faster per lap are quite a bit lighter than the F22." At least you've got tire width to help with that. And a huge torque advantage, too, I expect.

I found the most interesting part of your race to be when you guys were moving through the Miatas. The red Miata you first caught was a real moving chicane, and I thought you might not catch back up again. But then there were plenty more Miatas to come, and some of them were able to help you out.

I looked at the results, and I think I saw that you were the only driver to neither move up nor down compared to your start position. Did I read that correctly? If so, it strikes me that you were generally more consistent than the other racers.
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      03-29-2022, 12:47 PM   #5
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Sunday at Sonoma, 03/27, P8/13:

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      04-25-2022, 10:36 AM   #6
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More racing videos from this weekend at Thunderhill. Nursed some pretty severe power cuts, so not the most exciting or competitive, but still got a decent amount of dicing.

Saturday:


Sunday:
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      04-30-2022, 08:24 PM   #7
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Wow seems like you were really down on power. Could you move up to a class that would at least allow you to run a stock tune?
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      05-03-2022, 02:36 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yaboibooch View Post
Wow seems like you were really down on power. Could you move up to a class that would at least allow you to run a stock tune?
The down on power this time was a one-off. Presumably from a cooling issue. It's much better matched with the other cars when it works ok.

But either way, there's very little competition in NorCal in the higher classes. We had 17 cars in ST4 last time! Which is unheard of anything except a spec miata here.
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      05-16-2022, 12:39 AM   #9
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Technically not NASA racing, but a few of the local ST4 cars jumped in an SCCA race weekend at Laguna Seca to practice for the nationals race in September. The cars aren't exactly built for any SCCA class, so we were just lumped in ITE where the rules are pretty much "anything goes".

Eventful race Saturday, lots of position changes, and mistakes to capitalize on. And a 911 I couldn't quite get past, despite having lots more pace in clean air.

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      05-16-2022, 08:33 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msendit View Post
Technically not NASA racing, but a few of the local ST4 cars jumped in an SCCA race weekend at Laguna Seca to practice for the nationals race in September. The cars aren't exactly built for any SCCA class, so we were just lumped in ITE where the rules are pretty much "anything goes".

Eventful race Saturday, lots of position changes, and mistakes to capitalize on. And a 911 I couldn't quite get past, despite having lots more pace in clean air.
That looked like a lot of fun - thanks for posting!
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      05-22-2022, 02:53 PM   #11
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That care is fucking sexy
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      05-22-2022, 09:59 PM   #12
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Anoter Sonoma race from this Saturday.

Had a horrible quali and ended up at the back of the pack for the race. Made a couple of spots in the opening laps, then reeled in my good friend in the #87 E36, who made it pretty hard to pass. Both of us eventually caught up to the orange #38 E46 and had a good old 3-way tussle. I went by the last corner of the last lap.

Good times.

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      05-23-2022, 02:17 PM   #13
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Your lap times seem nicely consistent, esp. in the latter half of the race.
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      05-24-2022, 11:40 AM   #14
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Watching your hands and the throttle trace leads to a question: Is the car a little more loose off the corner than you would like?

Even if it requires giving up just a little steady-state balance, being able to be confident in rolling back into the throttle and being able to STAY there looks like it would be really helpful, especially in working through traffic and/or setting yourself up with a good run to take someone under braking.

Just my $0.02, obviously couldn't tell everything you were feeling from the video, etc. You're driving it really well, but there might be some tenths in setup.
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      05-24-2022, 12:08 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RacerBowie View Post
Watching your hands and the throttle trace leads to a question: Is the car a little more loose off the corner than you would like?

Even if it requires giving up just a little steady-state balance, being able to be confident in rolling back into the throttle and being able to STAY there looks like it would be really helpful, especially in working through traffic and/or setting yourself up with a good run to take someone under braking.

Just my $0.02, obviously couldn't tell everything you were feeling from the video, etc. You're driving it really well, but there might be some tenths in setup.
Funny you should mention, I actually did loop it around twice (!) during the Sunday race that weekend, on throttle at T7 (the first hairpin). Both times were in traffic, getting way too greedy on the throttle. No video through, camera died for that race.

The constant on-off throttle I keep doing is not as much of a setup thing, more of a driver thing -- I do it to multiple cars and many setups (both loose and pushy). I've been slowly working to fix it, but it's sometimes hard to break habits. Well spotted.
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      05-25-2022, 08:24 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msendit View Post
Funny you should mention, I actually did loop it around twice (!) during the Sunday race that weekend, on throttle at T7 (the first hairpin). Both times were in traffic, getting way too greedy on the throttle. No video through, camera died for that race.

The constant on-off throttle I keep doing is not as much of a setup thing, more of a driver thing -- I do it to multiple cars and many setups (both loose and pushy). I've been slowly working to fix it, but it's sometimes hard to break habits. Well spotted.
It's a pretty distinctive look, and I've lived it, so yeah!

As I'm sure you know (but maybe some of the folks reading here are newer and don't), fixing that issue is all about confidence in the car and what it will do under you. I spent 5+ years dealing with a car that just would NOT put power down properly and it's really a struggle to trust that it was just that car and not all cars, or me, or whatever.

Keep at it!
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      06-28-2022, 10:42 AM   #17
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Starting to go over the footage from this weekend's racing.

We did a qualifying race on Sunday. Mostly uneventful trying to keep up with the pack. Then there was lots of carnage and debris to deal with near the end.

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      06-28-2022, 03:09 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msendit View Post
Starting to go over the footage from this weekend's racing.

We did a qualifying race on Sunday. Mostly uneventful trying to keep up with the pack. Then there was lots of carnage and debris to deal with near the end.
Another enjoyable video – thanks for posting!

I'll qualify the following by mentioning again that I haven't driven Sears Point.

It looks like you're getting more out of the track in this video than I recall seeing in the earlier ones. Especially in the Carousel, your line appears to me to be a faster one (when driven at the limit on good tires) than the lines of the other drivers. I'd be interested in your thoughts about that.

The Carousel itself looks like the most fun-to-drive turn on the track. I love carousels!

OT...is that a crack in the lower right corner of your windshield?
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      06-28-2022, 04:21 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dradernh View Post
It looks like you're getting more out of the track in this video than I recall seeing in the earlier ones. Especially in the Carousel, your line appears to me to be a faster one (when driven at the limit on good tires) than the lines of the other drivers. I'd be interested in your thoughts about that.
Well, duh! Obviously everyone else is a horrible driver and the guy who can barely make the top 10 is da best

More seriously, I've actually regressed a bit over the last couple of races -- you can see the pack pulling away lap after lap, and my pace is actually significantly worse than before. There's always more things to work on.

I've been trying to be gentler to the fronts on entry (so they don't fall away near the end of the race), which is why things might look better / smoother. Data says it's not a significant change in pace though.

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OT...is that a crack in the lower right corner of your windshield?
Oh, sure. They're definitely a consumable. Will replace it again once it grows / when new ones come.
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      06-29-2022, 10:36 AM   #20
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More weekend racing.

Saturday:


Sunday:
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      07-25-2022, 09:13 AM   #21
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In the spirit of sharing both the great and the ... not so great ... bits of racing, here's what happened at the start of this weekend with SCCA.

Driver error, 30 mph impact with a concrete wall, and lots of damage to sort out now. I'm fine, the car needs at least two corners rebuilt, and new subframes -- still unclear about the frame.

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      07-25-2022, 01:50 PM   #22
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Damn that sucks man!
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