Just a short clip of my fastest lap from yesterday. Still a slow street car, but she sure is fun!

ChaseCam mount on the hood - unfortunately some wire has gone loose in the camera, so it only records in black and white now I should talk to Randy about that and see what I can do. Panasonic DMC-LZ7 mounted to an IO/Port mount on the roll bar pointing at me - way overkill in resolution at the moment for filming my steering wheel, but technology sure has changed since I started recording a few years ago - this records at 848x480 to SD cards. A 2GB card (which is its max) will just handle a session. 1/4 the size and less than that in weight than my chasecam recording gear (old Sony Digital 8), no moving parts, and I can dump the contents to the laptop in 4 minutes. Sooo much better. If only it took video in as well =)

Hood camera is mounted on the right side, so video is offset. If it looks like I'm missing a left apex, I probably am, but not by as much as you think Chasing down an Evo that's on mild R-compound tires. A couple clear mess ups on my part, so I have the potential of a 2:11, I think (he brakes way earlier than I do, and that was messing up some of my corner entries).

Enjoy! I'll put up a nicer video with text sometime within the next few days - it's been a long time since I put effort into my vids!

Thunderhill CCW Bypass 2:13

D

Dan - Nice video! I especially like the hands view. Really helps the critique.

Some tips:

0:02 Never, ever take both hands off the wheel! If something happens with the car you need to be on top of it immediately
0:07 You can take a line that carries you closer to the end of the pit wall - it gets you out to track right earlier and lets you get the car straightened out before the (somewhat bumpy) braking zone.
0:11 turn in to T1 is early - quite early. I go about halfway to the #1 brake marker. Slow down more, turn in later and a little more abrupt, so...
0:14 T1 apex - should have a lot more rotation done earlier and start unwinding the wheel here. Where you roll on the gas is somewhat tire and diff dependent, but at the limit you need to unwind and roll on the gas simultaneously.
0:15 Screech from the front tires from pinching the exit - still trying to turn the car.
0:24 into T2 a little tight - I stay out about 3/4track (just inside the marbles) till almost 1/2way around, then repoint the car to the inside for very late apex and gas it out. The car does look to hook up good coming out - you've got that exit berm if you need it.
0:35 Once again a little tight right after turn in - I would be about a car width wider here, tippy toe over the edge of the offcamber and gradually bring the car inside to an apex at 0:41. You got inside a little early so are getting some chirps from the fronts trying to get to the apex.
0:45 looks like you missed the apex of T4 - not so important for the bypass but it is to go over the top of T5
0:49 damn I hate the bypass - always get the urge to shut my eyes. Wider is faster, pitch it just a moment before cresting the rise and losing steerage, roll the gas on gently and do not lift
0:52 you got sucked in a little early (tho not nearly as bad as the Evo)and
0:55 you are fighting it back to track right. Get over the crest of the bypass a little wider and you can make a larger radius (usually defined by the edge of the marbles) and be pointed more towards track right at this point to set up for T6.
1:01 Nicely committed! I always push here too.
1:13 Are you driving over the flat inside berm here? If not, try it. Some times of the year it's bumpy there, other times it's smooth. 2' more inside get you 2' more outside, which means more speed can be carried in, and that extra track at track out can be used if needed. The track tips up at the apex and visually foreshortens the distance, looks tighter than it is.
1:21 ah, T9 - I've stood right where the car is and told a group of folks that T9 is not blind - just whats after it is blind. The exit berm is visible on the horizon. Needs an early turn in, yours is close, and unwind at the apex like you are doing 1:23 to 1:24 But look at how much room there is to the exit berm - you can turn in even earlier, unwind even earlier, and let it drift right over top of the berm - and that lets you carry more speed down the hill. More time is left here than anywhere else at Thill. The Evo boffs it - he's on the outhouse line. Good job not following him.
1:27 steep downhill - as you carry more speed, be very gentle coaxing the car into the right kink. Let the car settle before giving much steering input. In the Camaro on a fast lap it's all I can do to keep from running off track left.
1:35 take the CD's out of your console ;-) Mebbe a little late turning in to T10 - it is flat and downhill going in but turns into a bowl at the apex so you can give up some stability early and count on it catching you in the bowl.
1:41 good turnin to the esses
1:43 probably could release the steering a bit here and scare that barrel a bit. Even SCCA is no longer black flagging for 4 wheels in the yellow.
1:49 Are your left tires on the apex berm? - should hear a burp as they cross.
2:04 Are your right tires on the flat berm of T14? This is long corner, need to be patient: turn in, turn in some more, then some more. Just like you did.
2:07 In the short, short chute between 14 and 15 - it used to be tighter here, you are keeping the wheel turned just a bit to keep it set in a right hander. Good job.
2:11 Good job keeping it off the big berms at apex and track out. This is the spot at Thill that can catch a novice - clip the berm at the apex, push wide into the exit berm, launch and oversteer onto the gravel and then overcorrect across the track into the pit wall. A GTA car put his nose under the tirewall here at our last ARC event.

Sign up for coaching at our July event and I can do this in real time.

edit - cleaned up typos

Awesome analysis, Alan! Thanks! Re: the both hands removal... I don't even remember doing that. I left that in the video so that I would be forced to remember that I did it, so that I hopefully don't do it again (I think I was cracking my knuckles....).

Why are NCRC days always on a weekday? I'll look into whether I can take off for the July event...

Sorry for the delayed thorough response. yay work and all.

0:02 I know! I was shocked when I saw that. I left that in so that people would yell at me (thanks!) and so that I'd remember that I cracked my knuckles. I still can't believe it. Hopefully seeing it so many times will help remind me that.

0:15 Very interesting analysis of T1. That makes a lot of sense - I go through T1 much faster than other people in my group, but I rarely seem to be able to capitalize on it for the straight between 1 and 2. I think my exit speed is suffering from my input speed (and early apex).

0:35 T3 scares me. More than once I've late braked into it and had the car rotate too much... so I take it rather cautiously (inside more and slower). I should try moving more outwards.

0:45 Yes, I miss that apex by a mile sometimes. My technique - finish 3, flick the car left, watch it understeer like a pig, and instead of fighting it, just nail the throttle. It drifts nicely through the corner and out to the berm. Definitely not the quickest, but keeping it from understeering requires settling the car before turn in, and that felt slower to me overall.

0:49 I hate pitching it over the bypass!

0:55 But I guess I need to pitch it so I have a better entrance to 6...

1:01 I love 6!

1:13 Yeah, I'm trying to drive over the berm. Sometimes I miss it a little. For 8, I generally take a set and then let the car carry itself through - it's going to fast for me try things, and the entrance always upsets the car a bit (that nice concrete patch they have there...).

1:21 Yeah, the evo's line through T9 was freaking me out =) I generally carry it a little bit further out to the berm, but he brakes much harder for 9 than I do, so the car didn't slide out as much as I expected.

1:27 Yeah, I'm pinching this exit. Mea culpa.

1:35 No CD's - I think that's the camera in the console ;-) I forgot to bring the shirt I normally stuff in there with it. We should fab up a mount, or something ;-)

1:43 The barrels are scaring me! I tried this time - I've never driven on the yellow before this.

1:49 Sometimes. Not this lap, though. I'm not consistent here.

2:04 Yeah, I'm hitting the apex here. I could swear I can feel it dip down a little bit...

2:11 This is one of the scarier parts of the track for me - the car was often getting loose coming out of 15, and I've seen people spin to the wall. But as the day went on, despite the car getting looser elsewhere, this turn mellowed out. I wasn't taking it slower, I think just better...

I have off of work on 7/20, I'll be signing up shortly

D

Spent a few hours writing a quick little plugin for Final Cut Pro. Ain't nothing quite like drawing numbers by pixel! I need to learn GL so I can write a decent plugin....

Video in the first post has been updated with timing... ooo... first 9.1 seconds have a buggy time, and the timer doesn't stop when I cross the line the second time, but how often do you see a personal video with a lap time counter?

Hopefully I'll get some more time at some point to make it a bit better.