Made my Front Left Tire a slick and other musings...

Discussion in 'Track Days & HPDE's' started by cct1, Jul 13, 2010.

  1. cct1

    cct1 Well-Known Member
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    May 5, 2009
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    HPDE at Blackhawk yesterday--hot and humid, but a great day. Car was setup a bit different--powerflex bushings (Control Arm, engine, front sway bar) courtesy of Way--wish I would have done that sooner...

    Took over a second off my best lap times, was the second fastest in my group (There was a Porsche RS America, good driver, I kept it interesting, but in the end he was faster).

    Over the course of the day (we ran a total of 4 sessions, 30 minutes a pop), I turned my left front into a slick (Nitto-01's). Most of the high speed turns are right handers. I got on the shoulder of the tire, but despite that, the wear is pretty much even across the entire tire. It's not corded or anything, but it's almost a slick now--just a little bit of the center groove is still visible.
    Guess it's time for a good pyrometer. I was driving solo, but an instructor thought it was from hitting turn in pretty close to threshold, not sure about that though. Current setup is -2.0 up front, no toe, -1.5 rear, 1/16 toe in.
    I was thinking of going more negative up front--I wore the triangles off yesterday--but like I said, the entire left front wore down, not just the outside edge. Any thoughts?

    Brakes held up great for three sessions, but the fourth, I was getting more brake pedal travel, making downshifting a bit hairy, probably should have come in early. Went through half of a carbotech XP12 up front, rotors looked great (Way's ducts appear to have helped, in combo with the BDM newer heat treated rotors). On the other hand, this track is notorious on brakes, and the sessions were relatively long--most places run 20-25 minute sessions here; that probably would have kept things cooler. May switch from ATE to Motul, that may be the sweet spot.

    Some guy wrecked an EVO pretty darned good--but the driver was ok, and he was able to drive the car off the track.
     
  2. mini_racer

    mini_racer Well-Known Member

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    #2 mini_racer, Jul 13, 2010
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2010
    Sounds like a good day to me!

    If you are wearing the fronts evenly then it sounds like you have the alignment and pressure dialed-in pretty close.

    That being said, I also run -2.0 up front, but some of the more serious track regulars will run closer to -2.5 or even more. As everything is a trade-off, the issue here is that you will really start to compromise normal street use wear characteristics.
     
  3. BThayer23

    BThayer23 Well-Known Member

    Jun 12, 2009
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    Perfect front camber really depends on the track, if driving style is held constant. Tracks with big flowing turns need less negative camber (Roebling Road is my favorite example), while shorter tracks with sharper turns encourage more negative camber (rovals like NHMS tend to fit this profile, along with smaller loops within a larger track like VIR North).

    But it sounds like you had a good time out there. Just rotate that slick to the back and keep fighting those p-cars.
     
  4. cct1

    cct1 Well-Known Member
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    Definitely a blast, it was a combined PCA/BMWCCA event, about half Porsche's, half BMW's, and one MINI...:D
     
  5. countryboyshane

    countryboyshane New Member

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    Stories about this make me glad I own a MINI. A whole lot of fun without the Porsche entrance fee.
     
  6. Alan

    Alan Active Member

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    loosen the car up. Go to zero toe at the rear.

    Stiffer rear bar setting / stiffer springs in the rear.
     

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