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This 3rd-4th was the first "Club" track weekend at MSR Houston since opening on the 1st and I actually had the Camaro ready and inspected in the nick of time for it.
Picture of track:
Track Layout
First day was learning the track and by the second day I was actually making decent laps without mistakes. Hardest section for me is the technical turn 8-12 section....was just begining to actually get the idea how to properly take it on the last session of the first day. I had it absolutely nailed the third session of the second day...very fun once you can properly take it all in third gear....wooooweeee! The section I liked best was the turn 15-17 combo to the front straight...I just clicked with it right away.
That pit wall is very close though...and I almost met up with it on my last run session (session 3). I was experimenting with using 3rd gear around the whole 15-17 combo and it was going just as well as shift down to second for 16-17 then back to 3rd on the main straight. The close encounter came when I turned in just a tad too early on the last turn and started pushing wide. And since I was in third gear instead of second powering out was not as effective and I drifted still further out than normal, where there was loose rocks between 1-2 cars width from the wall. That actually wasn't too bad since it helped to rotated the rear enough to keep me a few feet off the wall. My instructor, Mark Wilson, was pretty calm and let out a sigh of relief once we were actually going straight down the main straight... Third gear actually works better than second for me in the 15-17 combo (I have upshifting difficulties from 2-3 on this corner only... a driver induced problem combined with a very notchy Hurst Competition shifter) but it's more critical to get perfectly right...corner entry has to be spot on for 17 or the wall will be an issue. That's the only concern a lot of guys have with this track... the close proximity of the pit wall to the corner exit.
Mark Wilson said if I wanted I could go solo on the third session of day two, but I didn't mind having him in the car if he wanted to be there. By my last session I was sticking onto a blue Z06 in the corners, not loosing any ground to him until the track opened up and his 400hp Corvette walked away from my 200hp Camaro. I was almost able to stay with the group of Elise's in the corners, but it was the same story as the Z06 once the track opened up - 1000+lbs less weight with about equal hp = walking away from me. I was also having issues with a particular mustang in being given the passing signal but not being able to pass because the signal was given once on the straight instead of just before coming onto the straight. Problem with the signal being given on the straight and not during corner exit was he wouldn't back off the gas enough...supercharged V8 verses stock V6 = not a chance of me passing unless he would get off the gas. So I had to ride his butt for a few laps until he finally got the idea that he had to really slow down to let me by safely. But wait, what's worse than a V8 supercharged mustang not letting you pass...how about a Ford Lightning that eats your lunch in the corners and absolutely obliterates you in the straights...that particular Lightning was ran in three run groups and was passing Ford Cobras down the straight... and even for the driver (same truck) in my run group it was let him pass and watch him get away. That is some truck!
My brother was clocking a GT3 Cup Porsche at a consistent 1:43...both with and without traffic. He seemed to be the fastest driver/car combination at the event and was a treat to watch and listen too. Only better car to listen to was a Ferrari F355 challenge car...gotta love those downshifting Ferrari engine sounds.... Well there was also this MSR member with a Lamborghini Gallardo...that sounded really nice on track too.
The Camaro held up fine until coming into the pits on the third session of the last day, when the power steering gave up...dumb chevrolet design of putting the pump right under the left header is notorious for failing from track/autocross use and finally did. So that was the end of my track time, no sense fighting on without power steering and with a small sparco Ring steering wheel and wide 275/40-17 DOT-R rubber. Brakes and tires were great the whole event..even with the 25 minute run sessions on the last day.
Videos from a session on the second day are here: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22MSR+houston%22 (the ones by Paul Vincent).
[ December 07, 2005, 01:39 AM: Message edited by: Vracer111 ]
Picture of track:
Track Layout
First day was learning the track and by the second day I was actually making decent laps without mistakes. Hardest section for me is the technical turn 8-12 section....was just begining to actually get the idea how to properly take it on the last session of the first day. I had it absolutely nailed the third session of the second day...very fun once you can properly take it all in third gear....wooooweeee! The section I liked best was the turn 15-17 combo to the front straight...I just clicked with it right away.
That pit wall is very close though...and I almost met up with it on my last run session (session 3). I was experimenting with using 3rd gear around the whole 15-17 combo and it was going just as well as shift down to second for 16-17 then back to 3rd on the main straight. The close encounter came when I turned in just a tad too early on the last turn and started pushing wide. And since I was in third gear instead of second powering out was not as effective and I drifted still further out than normal, where there was loose rocks between 1-2 cars width from the wall. That actually wasn't too bad since it helped to rotated the rear enough to keep me a few feet off the wall. My instructor, Mark Wilson, was pretty calm and let out a sigh of relief once we were actually going straight down the main straight... Third gear actually works better than second for me in the 15-17 combo (I have upshifting difficulties from 2-3 on this corner only... a driver induced problem combined with a very notchy Hurst Competition shifter) but it's more critical to get perfectly right...corner entry has to be spot on for 17 or the wall will be an issue. That's the only concern a lot of guys have with this track... the close proximity of the pit wall to the corner exit.
Mark Wilson said if I wanted I could go solo on the third session of day two, but I didn't mind having him in the car if he wanted to be there. By my last session I was sticking onto a blue Z06 in the corners, not loosing any ground to him until the track opened up and his 400hp Corvette walked away from my 200hp Camaro. I was almost able to stay with the group of Elise's in the corners, but it was the same story as the Z06 once the track opened up - 1000+lbs less weight with about equal hp = walking away from me. I was also having issues with a particular mustang in being given the passing signal but not being able to pass because the signal was given once on the straight instead of just before coming onto the straight. Problem with the signal being given on the straight and not during corner exit was he wouldn't back off the gas enough...supercharged V8 verses stock V6 = not a chance of me passing unless he would get off the gas. So I had to ride his butt for a few laps until he finally got the idea that he had to really slow down to let me by safely. But wait, what's worse than a V8 supercharged mustang not letting you pass...how about a Ford Lightning that eats your lunch in the corners and absolutely obliterates you in the straights...that particular Lightning was ran in three run groups and was passing Ford Cobras down the straight... and even for the driver (same truck) in my run group it was let him pass and watch him get away. That is some truck!
My brother was clocking a GT3 Cup Porsche at a consistent 1:43...both with and without traffic. He seemed to be the fastest driver/car combination at the event and was a treat to watch and listen too. Only better car to listen to was a Ferrari F355 challenge car...gotta love those downshifting Ferrari engine sounds.... Well there was also this MSR member with a Lamborghini Gallardo...that sounded really nice on track too.
The Camaro held up fine until coming into the pits on the third session of the last day, when the power steering gave up...dumb chevrolet design of putting the pump right under the left header is notorious for failing from track/autocross use and finally did. So that was the end of my track time, no sense fighting on without power steering and with a small sparco Ring steering wheel and wide 275/40-17 DOT-R rubber. Brakes and tires were great the whole event..even with the 25 minute run sessions on the last day.
Videos from a session on the second day are here: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22MSR+houston%22 (the ones by Paul Vincent).
[ December 07, 2005, 01:39 AM: Message edited by: Vracer111 ]
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