Solosprint School questions

[lordaccord]

Question #1: I've been told by some to drive the car I will be running at the events at the school, but I've also been told to drive a stock car with street tires to learn more about car control. What cars do most people drive at the school?

Question #2: If I end up driving my "race" car, should I run on my street tires, or run on my RA1's at the school?

Question #3: I have to remove my muffler to clear my rear sway bar (Mugen twin loop doesn't clear A-spec 32mm). I still have a cat though and also a resonator so the car isn't that loud even with the muffler off. Is that ok for the school? It's only about as loud as someone with a an aftermarket exhaust.

Question #4: My helmet has an M95 rating which I was told, via email from Dave Barker and Peter Clifford, is ok for the school even though I know this helmet is not regulation for the Solosprint events (I think it has to be M2000 or 2005 for the events). Is this correct or should I start looking for another helmet for this weekends school.

Thanx in advance for the information. :)

[MazdaMatt]

I'd say bring your event car with your RA1's. My personal experience is that street tires are not safe on the track. I learned that while leaving the track at 80km/h... uncool. Lucky the post fell over when I hit it and my car was okay.

Question from me: Does the DDT have sound restriction? I have a honda with straight pipe, is that fine or do i need to rush out and buy a muffler??

[Dave Barker]

Peter and I have agreed that M95 Helmuts are ok for the school.

The DDT does have some noise restrictions and you may want to contact them about those. Straight pipes, even on a Honda, are pretty noisy. I would recommend getting at least some form of muffler on that thing Matt.

[jason_alt]

Your learning curve will benefit greatly from using street tires so I highly recommend them. They are also perfectly safe on the DDT configuration, provided you perform within your vehicles' limits and your own driving skills.

Street tires will give you immense feedback and quickly point out to you where you can improve. R compounds and their higher grip factors can sometimes 'mask' driver error. The result with R compounds will typically be quicker lap times, but one may never discover the true limits and capabilities of these tires if the only gauge of performance improvement is a faster lap time. Once you get a feel for what your car can do with a street tire and how to take full advantage of them, you'll then have a better and quicker understanding of what you now have to do in order to get the most out of an R compound. Tires are just another tool. It's up to the driver to use them effectively.

I've driven the DDT track on snow tires, and the Mosport track on street tires. Why? To see what the tires/car could do, but most importantly, to help 'unmask' my mistakes that I suspected an R compound was hiding. It was definately a lot of fun and helped me work out some bugs. Sometimes the best instructor(s) are the four contact patches howling under your car.

P.S. Snow tires aren't such a good idea. :D

[Guillermo]

I agree with Jason, street tires are better for learning the limits of car control at a track school. Trying to learn limits with r-compounds greatly increases the chances of going agricultural.

[MazdaMatt]

I can say that if you are on street tires and you are new to this, you should absolutely not push the limits. Your tires will overheat and you will lose grip in unpredictable ways. I will never again use street tires on a race track. If you want to eliminate your driver issues with streets, go to autocross. Street tires are not safe at racing temperatures.

This is also highly dependant on your tires. My General Exclaim UHP's practically melted at mosport and were unsafe at DDT.

[CobraStang]

I agree with Jason and G. As I work up to speed on street tires, I have always found them to be predictable, with loads of feedback. Unlike R's where they grip, grip, grip..... then NO grip! Bye bye! I have sometimes used my street tires at schools(instructing) or lapping days(including the Mosport GP circuit at speeds >200kph) when I'd rather save my R's for competition. Learning to drive with less grip will definitely make you better at driving when you have good grip.

You could always bring the R's, and put them on for a session on Sunday to heat cycle them, with the help of your instructor! ;)

[sjd]

I am going to bring my R's and was planning to use them. I agree with what everyone has said about running street tires but I am worried about killing my street tires, they only have 4000km on them and are $300 a piece to replace.

[lordaccord]

Thanx for all the feed back everyone. I think I'm definitely gonna try the streets for the school and use the RA1's when I start the events. And on second thought, I'm just gonna leave my sway bars out for the school not only for the muffler issue, but also to learn more about my car with the body roll. Thanx again evryone. :)

[lordaccord]

32mm is a lot of bar!
It sure is! And I love it!!!
Here's a pic of it http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNzY1MDg2NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
It's not my car but it's the same bar.