Track Day 46 -- Oregon Raceway Park with Skip Day

Finally, back to ORP! This is in my opinion the most fun and simultaneously challenging track on the west coast. Blind corners and crests are everywhere. Off camber? It has it! Camber cut all the way into a hillside? It has three of them back to back called "The halfpipe". It's an epic track, and in that regard it's also a proper equalizer. Many tracks you can show up with a bunch of power and just put down a good lap time, but not at the Ridge. At this event I'd out run a C8 Corvette and Porsche GT3RS, whereas at other tracks I may out corner them but you hit that big long straight away and they time travel away. Come to think of it, the best example I have of how crazy this track is, is that it's the only place I hear of drivers all the time getting motion sick.

I had my hands pretty full leading up to the event. While the last event had gone well enough, I had a bunch of "small" stuff to do for this event. Namely, I had to change out two hubs, and on those hubs I had to first press in ARP wheel studs. Then I had to change the oil, and wire in the new Firelaps AI based lap data acquisition system. I also spent some time faffing around with a DIY cool shirt setup, which I fortunately didn't need as the weather was a very agreeable 79 degrees, overcast, and breezy. For mid July, it doesn't get better than that.

While out taking a track wal the night before (which I highly recommend) I tired to grab some pictures to capture just how much elevation the track has. Off in the distance you can see two sections of the track pop into view and dissappear again. I honestly thing as far as elevation gained/lost no track rivals this, even Laguna Seca.

Here's the halfpipe I was talking out, with my friend Dave standing in it to help give you some perspective about just how much banking is in there. It's truly a one of a kind track.

I thought this was a fun little picture of the back of my Corvette lit at night while camping. Used a headlamp and a one gallon jug of water as a lamp since camp fires were note allowed. Worked out!

Speaking of camping... I tried out a new setup! I've generally stayed at Airbnb's for events, but the cost and crappy service of Airbnb itself really just has turned me off to dealing with them anymore. Plus, the convenience of being right at the track and already unloaded come morning is pretty nice. So I picked up this truckbed tent. It's inflatable and goes up pretty fast, though not as effortlessly as one might hope. Still, with modest faffing it goes up quick. Then once it's inflated I fill it with my gear and a cot, then deflate it and put my tonneau cover down over it. I can bring all my tools to the track and be in business no problem! It worked out pretty good, though it is still a tent so all the usual problems apply like... it has zero soundproofing, it flaps around in the wind... etc etc. Still, it's already paid for itself in savings, and with a 12v cooler setup I just picked up it should be pretty darn killer!

How the Track Day Actually Went

So this particular event was just a wide open event. Come and go as you please. Only stipulations were point by only (fair) and don't be a dick. Standard stuff really!

Getting out on track I was a bit rusty, but within 20-40 minutes I was able to run some laps equal to my previous PB of 1:54.999, and then finally put down a few about a half second faster. Things were shaping up pretty good, and I was getting a bit more of a feel for the Vitour P1 tires. I also learned just how much time they like to have to cool off, so more lessons learned there.

After those initial good times, my times started to stabilize and a few flying laps let me drop down to a best of 1:54.66. From there though, times picked back up again, likely a combination of me personally getting a bit more worn, traffic being encountered on my best tire temp laps, and in general raising track temps.

I putted, and checked out the data I had from Firelaps. I faffed around with navigating the interface some more and got a few pointers from the AI coach. The wording didn't always make sense and was quite "mechanical" in descriptin, but with a bit of pondering I wrapped my head aroudn it, took 1-2 pointers and went back out on track.

That's when I was able to put down my new PB and best lap of the day as well. a 1:53.53. That's 1.4 seconds faster than my previous best so I was definitely scooting!

Things I thought went good about the event:

• The Vitour P1 tires, once figured out pressure wise and cooling time wise, treated me quite well. Getting a feel for them. Rumor has it they get faster as they wear down as well, so we shall see.
• I got my front bump stops finally dialed in reasonably. No more belly flopping at the bottom of the hill at ORP. Phew.
• Cage is awesome and I forgot it was there. Chassis is quite rigid.
• Chatted with a C8 fellow, he was only running 1:56 in his car.
• Chased down and beat a GT3RS, that guy thought he'd spent enough he didn't have to check his mirrors. Wrong bro!

Here's my best laps as captured in Racebox Mini and Firelaps:

After Event Care State & Plans

So there were definiitely a few takeaways from the event to focus on:

• The trans tunnel is cooking my leg. I don't know exactly what the story is, and I've added a bunch of insulation to the trans tunnel, but my leg is getting proper cooked. I'm going to drop the exhaust and tunnel plate, insulate all of it more, and add some rubber padding along the firewall to hopefully help keep the car comfortable enough I don't roast.
• I can get away without a cool suit, but I'd be happier with one. In general my car has worked to this point without a cool suit, but at times I get light headed if I go too long and am pushing too hard while overheating. Thus far I've just identified it in myself and backed off, and incidentally it happens right around 20 minutes so my sessions are over. With an open track though and the limit being just myself... I can find it for sure without a cool suit.
• Vitour P1 tires are getting more predictable as they wear in. They are a bit vague cool, and they like more of a cool down than I am giving them, but those laps 2-4 on a decently cooled set of tires will yield some great times. The tire does also need to have the pressures checked as they sky rocked from 26psi to 36psi. I'm not used to that level of jump! I settled on 32 hot and was in business. My old tires I could just start at 25 and know i'd get to the right temperature in no time. Not so lucky on these.
• I blew up yet another QA1 Coilover. I've now blown 4 coilovers. 2 I think were possibly the fault of my original alignment guy, but this one... but the last two definitely blew at events just from general use. I'm keeping the car on track as well... so... these just must not be up to the job? Damn shame as they work great right up until the time that they blow...