Day Series #5 Course

[mattschilds]

#3080

I really enjoyed the course yesterday.

Lots of cool detail in that course layout. It was obvious to me that the course designer really thought about every turn and how they fit together.

At the start it was challenging to get a good launch and get the car turned in for the first right turn. It was really important to get the first turn correct as it was followed by a left that you could use the loud pedal to get to. Now you had pretty good speed into a 180 turning left ( was just short of 45 mph). That turn had lots of room on entry and almost none on exit. I saw a ton of DNF’s where people just went too fast into that turn and couldn’t make the exit gate. Once you got your eyes up and looked for the exit it wasn’t all that hard but it still took a lot of touch on the brake pedal.

The next turn was technical in a different way. It had lots of room on the exit. If you dropped in to the cones and just floored it you went way too wide on the exit as the course bent to the right. For me the best way I found was to come in tight to the right side of the corner trailing the brake almost to the center of the turn getting a few feet deeper than the center cone in the turn, then getting on the gas and trying to stay tight on the exit. Think of a V instead of a U.

The third big turn to the left in the far corner was nothing like the first two. I was really close to redline at the end of the straight. You had a lot of room on both entry and exit. It was my third run before I figured out how much speed I could take though that corner and still keep it tight for the first of two offset gates. Over lunch I figured out I could stay tight to the inside and carry just about as much speed.

The next set of turns was tight and technical. Again, unlike any of the first four elements. For me getting out of the second offset and braking enough to keep it tight to the entry cones then getting back on the gas to push the car out a little for the tight left, right, left, combination where there was enough room to make it a single arc. Then I had to brake again for the tight double apex right.

When I walked the track the two turns at the finish looked like they would be really tight and slow. By my third run I was over slowing a little for the turn to the left then just flooring it around the right into the finish. If you turned early for that last right it allowed you to take a lot of speed to the finish.

This was a technically challenging track. Yes it was tight, yes there were a lot of turns that could catch you out if you weren’t looking up as much as you should be. I got a lot of practice trail braking. I had to make myself deal with every turn differently. I found it really interesting.

Anyway, getting a track that is close to 40 seconds, for the fastest car, on that lot and not having a crossover is pretty cool.

I appreciate all the thought that went into the track design.

• This topic was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by mattschilds. Reason: grammer

[Mike Burke]

#3083

Hello,

I agree with Matt’s comments about the Day Series #5 course. Additionally, the Day Series #4 course was also quite challenging and as enjoyable.

Curiously though, the DNF rate at Series #5 was an extraordinarily high 17% (48 of 283 runs), especially given the course had been outlined with flower Nope, it wasn’t Novices has they only had one DNF in 47 runs. Personally and not importantly, I have no idea where my three DNFs occurred.

Please keep those long, challenging, and safe course designs coming!!!

Mike Burke
CSP #55

[mattschilds]

#3084

Most of the DNF I saw were people coming out of the first sweeper to the left. They were going outside of the gate on the exit of the turn. There was a pointer cone on the inside and a single cone on the outside. You had to get your head around early to spot the pointer cone. At least one car missed that gate 4 times.

The second to last turn before the finish had a few people get in that turn too hot and just not make the gate.

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