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Here, have some racing video since everything has been cancelled

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Rob how many hp has the Sonoma car? That was insane.
Ps. Hope you are doin well during this bad moment.
Ale


I think...but I could easily be wrong that the PWC, T1 and the GT car are all the same one, with different mods for each of the classes.
AJ needs to answer that one..that car has more lives than a cat
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Those are really cool numbers. Something to strive for!!! I must be about 200lbs more and maybe, with my new engine, I can get to 475rwhp...... Nice to have a target to shoot for. love watching those videos.The driving is top notch. and "most" of the time the track behavior is way more civilized then what we get down here.
 
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Great driver in a great car.
trying to get close to 45 this year. 3900lbs and 460 ... 😅😅

Thank you, Sonoma is a fun, but challenging track. Kinda funny to think about that those laps would have placed me like 30th in the Cup qualifying race last June on the full course. Setup is pretty tricky to deal with given the lack of grip but the high vertical loads. In hindsight I could have probably dialed back the power 20-30hp and not taken a hit in speed. 460-470 seems to be a sweet spot for these cars(or at least the S197). the 500 range seems to really start taxing the setup and you've got to make too many compromises.
 
On Sonoma. The pavement is really old. 2003 I think was the last it was paved, so its grip level is awful. You need to run the car softer to be able to generate that grip because otherwise you just overwork the tire and things go downhill from there. BUT its has some massive vertical loads so you need to keep the car from scraping the ground and bottoming out either the shocks or the chassis. That is where the voodoo magic in the setup comes in. With street based cars, your tires can only travel so far before things start to make contact as the suspension compresses. This lack of grip from the surface really highlights to me an issue with setup. For example in 2018 at the Runoffs the Mustang was great and took a couple laps to get the optimal out of it, and after a few hard qualifying laps the tires looked great. I also was driving a Corvette in another class and that car I could get the optimal out of it on lap one, but then it fell on its face, and the tires looked like they were hurt. It overworked the tire, and when the tire was too hot, it was done. I missed on the setup. Testing for the Runoffs in another Mustang in July of 18 netted similar results being too stiff however that car had to run a spec suspension so no option to change the setup.

On big horsepower. It starts to be almost too much for tire size, and the tuning options you have. This is also based on tracks. At Daytona you can never have too much power, but at Sonoma with its short straights there was probably more time to be found with a car that cornered better. Running un-restricted at the 500+ power level I dropped the rear spring rates about 50lbs to help with power down, but that also hurt the balance in the corners.So you started to use the throttle to rotate it and that is where things start to get compromised. Yes the power helps rotate the car but, you end up working even harder keeping the balance right. For the long run it uses a lot of energy from the tire.
 
Too true.... My heart says A7.... but my wallet says R7...

A properly setup car, and depending on track, temps and A's will last. I've run them at NJMP in 100 degree heat and they were still useable after a race. part of the curve of learning in driving and racing is being able to get to a level with your driving and your car setup that you can decide how fast you need or want to go. Now how to get there is a lot easier said than done.

Another video to enjoy. This time the Boss302 at VIR from the Runoffs. The first qualifying session was in the damp/rain/mixed conditions. Always fun to drop your times as the session goes, but usually one mis-step and your are going to be in a world of hurt with the track and conditions constantly changing. This is where you need to be absorbing every detail you can as you go around the track to judge what kind of grip you will have.
 
6,360
8,180
A properly setup car, and depending on track, temps and A's will last. I've run them at NJMP in 100 degree heat and they were still useable after a race. part of the curve of learning in driving and racing is being able to get to a level with your driving and your car setup that you can decide how fast you need or want to go. Now how to get there is a lot easier said than done.

Another video to enjoy. This time the Boss302 at VIR from the Runoffs. The first qualifying session was in the damp/rain/mixed conditions. Always fun to drop your times as the session goes, but usually one mis-step and your are going to be in a world of hurt with the track and conditions constantly changing. This is where you need to be absorbing every detail you can as you go around the track to judge what kind of grip you will have.

were those slicks or rains? I can't remember
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
A properly setup car, and depending on track, temps and A's will last. I've run them at NJMP in 100 degree heat and they were still useable after a race. part of the curve of learning in driving and racing is being able to get to a level with your driving and your car setup that you can decide how fast you need or want to go. Now how to get there is a lot easier said than done.

Another video to enjoy. This time the Boss302 at VIR from the Runoffs. The first qualifying session was in the damp/rain/mixed conditions. Always fun to drop your times as the session goes, but usually one mis-step and your are going to be in a world of hurt with the track and conditions constantly changing. This is where you need to be absorbing every detail you can as you go around the track to judge what kind of grip you will have.

I used to love racing in the rain... till I crashed my car good and proper!!! Now am not very keen to try it again. Who was that who said.... "Nothing good happens in the rain"??

Am keen to try the A7 one day, but my R7, with great care, are lasting me about 10 race days (about 30 heat cycles).... We sold my buddy some A7's and the were done at 5 race days... Am positive that the would last the whole race and give better times, its just that the R7 will have more cycles to give... This is not a cheap addiction!!!
 

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