That's why many of us consider Ridge as the home track instead of the more local tracks.

I previously asked you guys about how often your changing fluids, thanks for all the replies.

After two years of track events, notes as follow:

First year, after 3 track days, engine oil was slightly dark.
Second year, after 3 track days, including cooking my oil to 120-130C on one or two laps, the oil was straight up black.

Swapped other fluids before this years track days:
Trans fluid was clean, almost good as new in color. (Car had 24,000kms)
Rear diff was underfilled from factory, 2L, refilled with 3L, seems to be a common issue based by C7 forums. Fluid was a shiny/dark grey, seems to be normal.
Brake fluid, no change in color.

Other notes, 3 track days each year:
I ran powerstop track day pads (front only)130$, on year 1, went through about 50%. (Noob track driver)
I ran XP12 front 350$ + rear 350$ on year 2, went through about 60%F/20%R. (Less noob track driver, WAY more aggressive braking)

Lastly, improvement numbers:
Mission:
1:21.5> 1:17.1
Ridge:
2:02.7 > 1.57.7
Vimc and A27 only have one track day.

My biggest issues driving a C7 on tracks:
1. Front tires simply cant keep up around corners, understeer, probably user error. I find alot of 200hp cars, even newer drivers, easily keep up with me, even gain time around corners, where as all my time is made up on straights / long curved straights. as expect with 2x the HP...
2. Driving a 5k shitbox, you dont really care if you put it into a wall, cant say the same when 70k is on the line.
3. Goes with the above, i have a hard time keeping the gas pedal down around certain corners at high speeds, for the fear of wiping out.

Now i want to take a 5k shitbox to the track, and see how my times would compare.

Fuel economy:
Turns out my gauge maxes out at 39.9L/100km. My actual fuel economy at mission was 50L/100km, and i think 40-45L/100 at ridge/A27

My bank account hurts, the car kept up, another great summer.

Ridge:
https://youtu.be/YhsXGGoGfWI?si=OZGwjWCnCS90xINx

I think you need a set of 200TWs, the PS3/PS4S aren't keeping up IMO.

Your lip wasn't an issue? :troll: In all seriousness, #3 is smart imo. You gotta drive your car back home so don't go full send but just partial send :lol

Here's one of my sessions at Ridge on August 6th

donk - If there is a next mod to consider, invest in a good set of tires.

As much as people love the Michelin Pilot Sport 3S/4, they are a good "do it all" tire, but by no means great for a high HP/torque like your C7. Given your consistency in track days, a set should last you an entire season, and then some.

Don't listen to me, though. I don't chase personal bests or fast lap times. I know I just can't compete with GT3 and GT4s. I chase consistency of the dry and wet lines of my home track, then later try to keep up with the higher powered cars in my assigned run group.

#1 How much front negative camber do you have?
From what i've seen of c7's at autox, they understeer a lot. 200tw tires help, but you'll probably want a combination of front negative camber and more front tire.
#2 this is somewhat true
#3 with a big ol v8, i dont think you'd be pinned at many of the high speed corners anyways. start with building finer foot control, from ppl i've worked with in the past at autox, I've suggested squeezing a tennis ball with their foot at a desk. Squeeze on and ease off, not on off. Easing into power specially on throttle tip in, rather than stabbing it and being able to feed in throttle till slight slip happens and being able to stay at that amount of throttle or just easing back just a tiny bit rather than full lifts will make the car more stable and predictable.

The lip now belongs somewhere in the dirt of Ridge :fullofwin:

+
You guys are probably correct, but the bank account disagrees. I dont really care about the extra 1-2 seconds, moreso why a 3.5 cylinder miata is gaining on me around every "sharp" corner.
Again probably user inexperience.


Manual states to change the camber, mine is stock from factory. Note taken tho.
This ties in with the whole tire swapping thing, my car is my daily. The fluid changes, pad changes, is probably as far as i will go for the time being. Its a slippery slope of mods to shave 1 second

I dont think a c7 belongs on auto-x, like... at all..... Compared to a del sol, prelude, miata, that i have driven on auto-x years ago.
I took my c7 for auto-x once, never again, theres no point, your in 1-2nd gear, its not even fun to drive.

Throttle control is a funny one, i think i had the reverse of what you are mentioning. I never had the on/off issue, moreso i was hesitant to give gradual throttle if anything. I did have poor brake on/off last year tho. Learned the gradual weight shift.

This year i have found the edge between sliding, and having maximum grip, around "most" corners. Hence the 4-5 second gains vs last year. Im sure theres plenty of "seconds" to improve with finer control.
I will say tho, weight transfer, depending on each corner, angle, etc, is something that will take years to fully understand.
I went down a deep rabbit hole of how your car reacts depending what gear/rpm your in, where/when your braking, shifting pre/post corner, holding throttle, etc, i can see why some guys spin out. (And i have the pussy controls on my car, i run track>sport1 for limited slip)

Appreciate the comments :thumbs:

Im probably out for next year anyways, got some big purchases coming up. Maybe BicBaws will send me some more deal days and il fold as per usual monkaS

Tires. That's it. He can carry way more speed into the corner because of stick.

Esp when it comes to (lateral) grip, don't look at it as something you do to shave a second or two. Instead, look at it as how much additional lateral g's you'd be able to pull around corners, and how much more fun that'll be when your car just grips around a turn, and you almost get thrown off your seat to the side while you brace yourself down and hang on for dear life. IMO, the acceleration -- lateral or longitudinal -- is what makes it so much fun. Lap times are just the icing on the cake.

I am not familiar with Corvettes, so I don't know how tires will wear on one. But in my experience with other cars, having -2º front camber on a RWD car is not going to affect the daily drivability at all, but it'll make for a HUGE difference in lap times compared to having nearly none or even as much as -1º camber. On a FWD car, I started noticing a little less longitudinal grip when I had more than ~ -2.5º front camber.

Having more caster will also help, but it'll make your steering feel heavier.

If you are understeering constantly and scrubbing the tires hard, you could benefit from a set of 200tw specifically to help with wear if you can drive within the confines of the tire.

If you are carrying more speed and scrubbing less with a 200tw, you might end up seeing LESS tire wear on the front while on a stickier front tire.

I destroyed the PSS on my M3 because I was understeering so much, granted I have more camber now as well, but my AD09 has been wearing evenly across the tire. You can stop harder, accelerate harder, and setup the car better when your threshold is higher. It does sound like you are beyond what a summer street tire can offer you.

Miata corner speed is physics assuming no aero: its extremely low weight and nicely designed suspension geometry.

Assuming miata is 2200lbs and using only 205 width tires and using 80% front weight transfer, the miata has to support 4.3lbs per 1mm of front tire on entry. or 2.7lbs per 1mm of tire when equally loaded.

C7 assuming 3500lbs stock tire sizes 245 F/ 285 R and 80% front weight transfer. The front tires needs to support 5.7lbs per 1mm of front tire on entry, or 3.3lbs per 1mm of tire when equally loaded.

Front camber - more important thank you think, for example on my s2000 i run -4 front -3.5 rear. i don't street drive though with it.

Jesus Christ. Imagine street'ing a car with -4 camber. :lol

Camber (and alignment settings in general) is really a dirty secret that all frequent track rats know about. Having it set properly will save you $$$ (by not prematurely killing your tires), get you more grip, and get you better handling without sacrificing very much. Again, I am not familiar with Corvettes, but I believe GM did their suspension homework well enough, and allowed for a good range of camber adjustments on the C7 (and C8).

I think my car is roughly -2.3 and sometimes I question my sanity on the street lol. But M3 is macstrut, which is terrible.

its actually totally fine except in the rain can be a little sketchy, but this is more due to how stiff the car is.

I'm -1.65 front. I tried -2.5 and it was too crazy on street and track.

Yeah I'm at -3 front -2.5 rear and it's a huge improvement over the stock max of -1.5 front, plus I can run more tire haha.

That said with 200TW and with that camber, highway driving can get a little interesting on non smooth pavement.

When's your next track day Donk?

It used to be "because racecar brrrrr" :troll:

Now it's like this sucks to drive on the highway :fuuuuu: :okay:

Hopefully 2026 :okay:

But i will see you on the second annual sea to sky cruise, and hopefully many more off RS :fullofwin:

PCA UCR DE weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Parked with the Quebec Rennsport guys. A few takeaways from this weekend.

1. Beautiful weather (albeit hot AF)
2. Good amount of newbies got bumped up to Yellow run group, making it more interesting for traffic and cars for me to chase.
3. Got assigned an amazing instructor who had a 986 Boxster S and currently tracking a 996 GT3.

He helped me correct a lot of techniques going into the corners I struggled with and taught me trail braking techniques which helped me take advantage of the momentum and maintain speeds. I used to brake way too early. I'm braking later and also applying threshold braking to help with entering corners. Feels like a relaxing Sunday drive now.

Key Highlights
1. Gearing - I used to run the track mostly in third gear. While it helped with overall speed, it was killing my smoothness.

We introduced some shifting points to run most of the track in 4th gear. I'm now diving into the downhill hairpin turn at half throttle into Corner 5A (uphill hairpin turn) going into Corner 5B and 6 (downhill hairpin turn.)

2. Suspension - I'm getting used to the switchover from the Koni Special Active shocks on H&R springs to the MCS two-way coilovers. Car is much more planted and responsive. I'm not sliding around anymore, but could benefit from some proper seats. Something to consider in the future.

Biggest improvements
Going down Corners 2A and 2B is no longer an issue. I now know where to shift into 4th before the downhill turn, and turning into the blind apex earlier, maintaining the momentum, then applying throttle into 2b flat out to shift the weight to the rear wheels to maintain traction and to straighten out going into Turn 3. This corner used to give me nightmares because I wiped out in my previous season because I carried too much speed, and didn't shift the weight of the car to the front, and spun out.

Shift points on the flat straight. There are hills that you cannot visually see, but can feel from the car itself. I would shift too early and lose speed and momentum. I'm now bringing the shift point on the flats and hitting redline, then shifting into 4th gear. This has helped me improve my speed going into Turn 8.

Bullshit/Bragging Time :D
Passed the following cars throughout the weekend: Track-prepped E46 M3 (not the one pictured) / 2 x 718 Cayman 4.0 / 987 Cayman S x 3 / 996 x 2 / 997 x 2

It used to be me who was always passed :okay: Looking forward to September's DE weekend! :)

Slow car vs. Very Fast Cars
https://i.imgur.com/Zq7gvFG.jpeg

Annual tradition of making espresso at the track
https://i.imgur.com/FqsFjux.jpeg

That suspension upgrade is huge. H&R springs are show suspension, not useful on track.

There's a $200 VIMC day on Sept 21. If you come, I'll take the Group A spot and get bullied by P Cars/Emiras and you can take my Group B spot lol.

MCS!! :ahwow:

Any of you guys running a full HANS or hybrid HANS device?