Difference south oval/south chicane

[M3E30]

Hi,

What's the difference (approximately, of course it depens on the car)

in laptime for taking the south chicane @ NHIS instead of taking the south oval??

(for a roadcar, like a 350Z, Porsche 911)

Thanks

In advance

[Lobo6]

If you are participating at a BMWCCA event your question is moot. 3 years ago a club racer died at NHIS in the south oval and BMWCCA no longer uses that configuration. I'm saying this based upon your screen name as it sounds like you drive a E30 M3 which is a very nice car.

I'm sure Tailwagger will chime in soon as he is the expert on all things NHIS. Including disrupting a track walk at NHIS last Saturday. (yes I heard about that buddy)

[Skeen]

He's probably trying to compare his lap time to an old one posted without the chicane. I can't help though, not much experience up there.

[TailWagger]

Oddly, while I've done thirty days there at least, I've never got a time on the oval. We were suppose to run it last Friday, but the track wouldn't allow it. My recollection from talking with my PCA/SCCA racer friends is the oval is worth around 3 seconds as its taken at around 80-90, so you enter much faster and by the time you reach the exit of 2B your probably going at least 30 mph faster so you get down to 3 much sooner. For reference my entry speed to 1 is around 55, exit speed at the apex of 2B is a couple of MPH above that, and it takes roughly 10.5 seconds to get through the 1, 2a, 2b complex. The speeds and time I quote are straight off the logger so they are accurate, not the bollix you get from a speedo, and the numbers are from a 1:19.1 lap on 225/245 BFGs with my engine missing above 5800 RPM (we suspect the actuator for the secondary air intake wasn't opening properly), so figure with full power, it was really closer to a 1:18. IIRC my fast ITE friends are running down into the high 1:12s with 3.8Ls and 275/335 Hoosiers, The same car was running a around a 1:16 at a spring event I was at, so I think somewhere be 2-4 seconds faster is a good ballpark estimate, again depending on the HP and tire setup.

As a further anecdotal data point I know the fastest spec miata guys do around a 1:18 with the oval, and I've yet to run across a Miata that I couldn't kill pretty easily in the chicane configuration.

[TailWagger]

Originally Posted by Lobo6

Including disrupting a track walk at NHIS last Saturday. (yes I heard about that buddy)

Contribution, not disruption. Actually Damon and I both were adding color commentary. BTW, I've been inducted into the moshpit club. Peter, Bob, Damon and I went out nose to tail in last session on Saturday. Stuck with them the whole session, despite the misfires. Started at the rear, crossed the finish line first. That was the most fun session I've ever had on track, we were passing three and four at a time... friggin exhilarating. The special thing was being trusted enough by my mentors to go out and hammer around with them as a full fledged member of the gang. My proudest moment on track to date. Quite the rush.

[M3E30]

Thanks Guys!

TW, you're pretty damn fast!

Keep up the good work.

Regards

[TailWagger]

Originally Posted by M3E30

Thanks Guys!

TW, you're pretty damn fast!

Keep up the good work.

Regards

Thanks, I try. As I alluded to above, it was a good couple of days up there despite the car not being 100%. A couple of the experienced instructors who I have a lot of respect for came up to me after the event and said, 'Man, you're driving the wheels off that car.' No plastic trophies, so thats what we live for eh?

[P.W. LeCain]

In an FA, my best time with oval is 0:58.2.

With esses is 1:02.9