I did Big Willow on 28th with Speedventures. I like running with these guys b/c they have AMB timing system and much more relaxed than, say NASA event, not that I have anything against NASA. They have a sort of time trials on Sunday event. Lots of track time too.
It was my second time on the track, and the first time with my E30 318is. Based on my previous performance (1:49.xxx with a M10-powered 318i on good street tires), I was hoping to do 1:42s with 30 more hp and a set of RA1s. I missed the target by miserable 0.1 second!
After I came home, I studied the line on Jack Olsen's video on YouTube. It was apparent I wasn't on the right line through T9 and at the entry of T2.
On a bright side, I got 3rd place (with $20 credit towards future SV event) in time trials. It's not like NASA TT where there are very specific rules/classing, so sometimes you'll end up competing against much more potent vehicles. I was in "2.0L and under normally-aspirated street" class, so I have to compete against Lotus'es (or Lotii?). Fortunately there were only two of them out there, one Elise and one Exige. They grabbed 1st and 2nd places.
When I took my old 318i, I realized my lap times were better with gas tank almost topped off. I thought it was due to varying temp and/or some other factors. The same thing happened again this time around. My educated guess is that the location of tank (behind passenger rear seat) changed corner balance to better suit the track layout (right hand sweeper dominant). It's something to try out if your car has gas tank in similar location.
One of the coolest things we saw was a German guy who happened to be in SoCal for business or something. He showed up in a rental Mustang. FTD went to a guy with a race-prepped 993. He did 1:27.xxx.
Sorry, no pic, video, or data, but you can see laptimes in the link below.
http://speedventures.com/event_resul...esults=OA&s=lt
Big Willow last weekend
Hybrid Mode
