Video: slugging it out on Laguna Seca today...

**MattRobertson** · 05-28-2009, 02:56 AM

Spent the day at Laguna again today. Put on by TrackMasters Racing and I was in what they call the "Mixed" group, which consists of advanced drivers with a few upper intermediates who aren't quite cool with totally open passing (the intermediates get a big orange ball sticker stuck on the back of their car... not this kid).

Once you get to this level, the cars are all pretty hard core, and the drivers all pretty much know their ****. Traffic jams are at a minimum because everyone knows how to get out of the way of a faster driver if they've reached this point.

Or thats the way its supposed to work. Sometimes you have to get out a stick and start spanking.

The video opens a moment after I have entered the track. I roll straight up to a conga line made up of a slew of Porsches. Bringing up the rear is a red GT3 RS... one hot car and one jackass driver. You'll see me crawl right up his ass as he goes slow thru the corners and then refuses to let me pass by hauling ass in the straights. At one point I let an instructor by me in another Porsche so maybe that guy can lean on him and he promptly glues himself to the guy's bumper as well; having to fight his way by and I promptly fill his mirrors again. If you see corner workers waving blue flags with a yellow stripe, thats a signal to him to pull his ass over and let me by, which he ignores.

Eventually -- 3 laps later -- he went a little wide decelerating into Turn 3 and I took that opportunity to rip past him and brake hard at the last second to make the turn. Its a hair less than - or more than - something known as 'stealing an apex' and, if I crossed the line, that was a big no-no. But I didn't get black flagged for it and I think part of that was because the guy was being a butthead and everybody, track workers included, knew it. I'm *certain* he was pissed. Unfortunately you can't see my rear view mirror as he tried to keep up ... and failed. By the time the next straight came around it was all over but the laundry.

There's also a black Lamborghini that plays the same game until he leaves me an opening on the Turn 5 exit and I punch past him. This was my second time blowing past this guy and he did the same thing the first time, earlier in the day. Same result too. Ego + $200,000 car /= skill.

I made these videos hoping I could see the g-force readings on the meter I had on the dash. Looks like a failed experiment. But I did come away with some very good video running with some very fast, and feisty cars. This is just the first one.

BTW it ends with me mellowing out because I lost track of the flag station and couldn't tell if I was on the checkered lap. If I was, I couldn't pass the guy I was chasing down. So I exit early by accident and then, as I pull in, I see the checkered flag. You can hear me saying to myself "ha I only lost one lap".

Here's the video link. This is in widescreen format as usual.

I've got others. I also ran my last session on my NT-05's to give them a last chance to redeem themselves. I'll report on that in the NT-05 thread. And I recently learned something new about the durability of the BWoody sway links. That'll go into the sway link thread. Tomorrow. I'm beat. Same goes for more video. I'm sure I have at least one other good one.

**Big Boy** · 05-28-2009, 03:11 AM

Always great to hear your track adventures, but that video is a little too beefy for my machine to handle. I'll get it sooner or later.

**InferAl** · 05-28-2009, 08:46 AM

Another great video, thats awesome

**redinorange** · 05-28-2009, 10:11 AM

That was very entertaining, Matt. Encore, encore...

**Bud** · 05-28-2009, 12:37 PM

Nice laps Matt. I'm surprised we couldn't hear any swearing going on inside the car when the Porsche driver wouldn't let you pass...nice way to take it btw! I'm also surprised we couldn't hear the Lamborghini driver swearing over his exhaust when you passed him....cause you know he was! LOL

Couldn't pass a Miata? I know that had to be a slight blow to the ego!! Hehe

**Ron380** · 05-28-2009, 01:02 PM

Great video Matt! I was going to ask about the blue/white Miata, if you know any details about it... LS1 motor, maybe?!

(Although it kinda looked and sounded like you were on a cool-down lap anyway...)

**bryan_k47** · 05-28-2009, 01:06 PM

Hey just wondering what you a driving in the video? Your Magnum?

**done** · 05-28-2009, 01:51 PM

Passed a lot of rolling dollars there. Did you get lap times?

**Mighty Noid** · 05-28-2009, 02:02 PM

Matt... you have great will power...

I would have bumped that F'N RED Car out of my way.... he doesn't know how to drive at a track...

**Ron380** · 05-28-2009, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by bryan_k47

Hey just wondering what you a driving in the video? Your Magnum?

That's all Matt ever drives on a track!

Worth noting though, that he has extensive modifications to his Magnum, which allow him to run with/past Porsche's like that!

(Not to mention several years of experience, too!)

**need4speed2** · 05-28-2009, 02:13 PM

Absolutely awesome video. That is a great example of you being a better driver/car and having the Porsche blocking. He simply was inattentive. Hate when you know your faster but the other driver has no courtesy.

**Iguanaman** · 05-28-2009, 02:31 PM

Kick A$$ video! Thanks for sharing it!

Man, my boys are going to love it. We drive Laguna Seca on Grand Turismo 3 all the time...awesome to see it through the windshield for real. I agree with ^^^^^...that red Porsche was tickin' me off as well. I counted 3 or 4 times at least that you had him set up, and he'd cut you off apexing the corner. Nice job driving!!!

One note...about a third of the way through the vid, on the left turn before the uphill climb, sounds like you bottomed out pretty well...any damage, like maybe to the front fascia?

**MattRobertson** · 05-28-2009, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by Bud

Couldn't pass a Miata?

Bleaux me.

Originally Posted by Ron380

I was going to ask about the blue/white Miata, if you know any details about it...

There were two things going on there. First of all, you can see I caught the guy, but he didn't pull away. I backed off because I had lost track of time and didn't pay attention to the flag station at the overpass on Turn 1, where the checkered flag gets put out. I couldn't tell if the Miata was letting me by or backing off because we were on the checkered lap. Plus the cars behind me were spacing out and not bunching up... nobody was jockeying for a pass anymore -- You are not allowed to pass on the checkered lap... its a mandated cooldown and your ass is grass if you do. So I settled in and cruised.

And while that was going on I decided to pull in no matter what. The Mazda was far enough in front of me I could see he hadn't pulled in. I had plenty of time to avoid exiting. But with all that extra braking -- and some of it behind the red GT3 RS was *severe*... that jagoff was standing on his brakes in weird places for no reason -- I had cooked my brakes to the point where I decided to call it quits. I play that one conservatively ever since I came roaring into Turn 2 one day and found my pedal going thru the floor and nothing else happening. When fluid overheats it is progressive after the overheating event, so even if you don't use your brakes after cooking them they will slowly go away regardless of whether you use your brakes again - the unspent heat in the caliper continues to boil them... so if you say "my brakes are less than I'd like but I can go on" wait for two turns and then try them ... and you got NOTHING. So I pit when I push it to that point before its too late.

Originally Posted by done

Passed a lot of rolling dollars there. Did you get lap times?

Yes. With all the traffic, times were not stellar. Low 1:50's, 1:51's, 1:52's. Best was 1:50.06 early in the day (cold pavement!!) when I had some clear space so I could have lowered the LX best, and wanted to do just that ... I have the new W6A's up front and ... um... removed my interior behind the front seats to save about 135 lbs. BUT there's always another day, and at the advanced level traffic is *much* more fun to deal with.

Originally Posted by Mighty Noid

I would have bumped that F'N RED Car out of my way.... he doesn't know how to drive at a track...

Pretty much. A great example of a guy with money but no track ethics and mediocre ability at best. The way he was braking in the corners, he was just plain scared. No way did that car need the kind of slowdowns he was delivering, and he was putting brakes into scary places where he should have been leaning and accelerating (Turn 9 in particular). And speaking of bumping out of the way. A lot of us, me included, thought that Setina push bumper was ridiculous.... but now. :D

Originally Posted by need4speed2

He simply was inattentive.

Actually, he knew perfectly well I was back behind him. Something the video doesn't have the resolution to show is the driver up front eyeballing me in his rear view mirror. Turn 2 is big for that. And look at how I enter the Corkscrew using an entirely different line than almoost all of those guys, who swing wide right, then go wide left and have to come wide right again to set up for Turn 9. Me, I'm following the tire marks left by the race cars and taking an entirely different, straighter line. When they go wide right in an arc, and I am going into that corner in a straight line, I get thru it a LOT faster, which means when that guy is arcing all of a sudden he sees me coming straight into his passenger door. I'm sure its unsettling. No way do they not know I'm behind them after just one of those. And I especially like to see a car / driver that thinks "this is where I'm gonna lose that guy" and I corner inside of them.

Or not. I was pretty sloppy on this video. Lots of places where I am letting a lot of track go unused. A combination of being pissed because I can't get around and simple sloppiness. No substitute for seat time and its been a few months since I have run this track.

Originally Posted by Iguanaman

One note...about a third of the way through the vid, on the left turn before the uphill climb, sounds like you bottomed out pretty well...any damage, like maybe to the front fascia?

Sounds like you are describing Turn 6, which is actually halfway up the hill. No that wasn't a bottom-out. What is happening is I am hitting the blue-and-white "rumble strip" that lines the apex of the corner. Its similar to the rumble strips on the side of highways, but more severe in its construction (longer between bumps, but more squared off). Couple that to the fact that on Turn 6 (and you won't know this on Grand Turismo I think) the corner has a bank of course, but it also is sort of dished out, with the bottom of the dish at the apex itself. Your car plants *hard* right there as a result. Use that correctly and you can take Turn 6 WAY faster than you would think is possible. Thats a spot where you can punch thru the corner truly at WOT and track all the way out... to the other rumble strip on the right side up on that hill. But when you take 6, even though the car is planting its weight at that moment, the wheels contacting the rumble strip are on the inside... not bearing anywhere near the weight as the outer wheels. So you can get away with a lot. Try that on the outside wheels and you are screwed.