100 DoD 12/6/15 lessons learned

This “lessons learned” post is actually 2 events out from the last entry. Since then, of course, I’ve made a few major changes. Mainly, the conversion from hydroboost assisted brakes to full on manual brakes. The brakes went from over sensitive to max force required. On my first lap, I forgot and almost missed a corner.

Issues
The heat over the seasons did a number on the hydro and the PS pump. I started having issues where the steering would bind mid corner. I’ve never had great steering so I’ve developed a bad habit of man handling the steering wheel. This did nothing to fix that.

The brakes were also something to get used to. I never realized how much I used the regular brakes before. Summit Point has so many sharply decreasing radius corners. I didn’t have time to make a heat shield for the master so the brakes would ever so slightly come on when I did too many successive runs.

Highlight video

Throttle inputs are much smoother. The 3rd clip in on the video is my one and only run on Orange loop (pistol grip) and it’s much much more controlled than my last video. Otherwise, I’ve become more comfortable in 4th gear. It simply pushes the car faster and makes it harder to slow down for successive corners. I’d still like to work on throttle inputs but next time will mainly be about tire pressures.

I cold set my tires to 43psi to make it easier to slide. I never checked them again. Eventually, I did check when my tires started to wear badly. They were around 55psi. This made the car way too slick and too easy to slide. That with the PS issues likely caused all of my spins during the day. I need to cold set them, then check periodically to keep them at an even level.

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