Regional #10 Smokies Stuff

[Challenger]

Definitely a lot of fun! I just couldn't get a run without making a mistake somewhere different each time. I'm still amazed that the Bridgestones still have the grip they do being as bald as they are. Glad to see the F street class as big as it was again.

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[PolishFury]

We had some amazing competition in STM with the top six drivers separated by only 0.955 seconds! I think that was the closest event this season. Those same drivers were in the top 18 for raw time. Our class has some fast drivers! This all makes me want to stay on street tires for next season and not go back to the dark side of R compounds.

It was nice not having to walk a course or drive through goose shit.

[dewittpayne]

Definitely a lot of fun! I just couldn't get a run without making a mistake somewhere different each time. I'm still amazed that the Bridgestones still have the grip they do being as bald as they are. Glad to see the F street class as big as it was again.

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Tread decreases grip in the dry. Bald tires, assuming they aren't heat cycled out or are worn to the cord and are still mostly flat across the contact surface, should have maximum grip. JB has new tires shaved to 3/32. IIRC, he says that's worth 0.5 seconds.

[dewittpayne]

I hope Jon Coatney's kids are better soon. It would have been interesting to run against him on that course, but I'm not turning down the season championship.

[Challenger]

Tread decreases grip in the dry. Bald tires, assuming they aren't heat cycled out or are worn to the cord and are still mostly flat across the contact surface, should have maximum grip. JB has new tires shaved to 3/32. IIRC, he says that's worth 0.5 seconds.

I figured they would be heat cycled out by now.

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[dewittpayne]

Tread decreases grip in the dry. Bald tires, assuming they aren't heat cycled out or are worn to the cord and are still mostly flat across the contact surface, should have maximum grip. JB has new tires shaved to 3/32. IIRC, he says that's worth 0.5 seconds.

I figured they would be heat cycled out by now.

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Obviously not. Less tread also means the tires don't get as hot, which would help with the heat cycling.

[thewelder]

I run VP T2. It's leaded 104 octane premixed 40:1. Its pricey but worth it since I don't have to mix anything. Bees like it also. Every time I fire it up a few come around.

[JohnSmith]

I would like to have courses at Smokies that avoid certain turns that get close pointing to a curb. Some cross overs may be inevitable, but things like the first right hand corner after the slalom I really really do not like. As it happens at this event my car started out with very bad handling for whatever reason (I'm looking at you, Kuhmo) and the brakes and turn in were not as expected for that turn, which was the first brake and real turnin on the course. Had some really bad unexpected lockup, understeer to snap oversteer onto the loose stuff, got wide and don't know how I didn't take out the wall on my first run. There just isn't enough runoff there.

If we use the top section in the future, can we please use a cross over that is 1 earlier? Take a cone out of the slalom, it will remerge below almost the same etc. The last event I went to at Smokie's had that same scenario on the upper section and I really didn't like it then either.

There were a lot of good things about this course, but cars on curbs aren't fun. About 2-3 years ago at an evo school a vette got onto that same island as the mx5, was also a section with a left hander through the dip where some more power could be used. It is probably not the best element at the site for future use either.

[thrdeye]

Unfortunately there is a pavement seam where some drainage grates are that prevent us from crossing through the islands earlier. Cars would bottom out through there if we tried it.

For obvious reasons, I agree with your assessment of the dip. Although I based my placement of that element on the 2014 SeDiv course, which was incident free. Cars probably were not going through there as quickly at the SeDiv though.

Best solution IMO is to take the show to Bristol as much as possible. 3 curbs in 2 events is a wake up call I think.

[90civichb]

Loved it, had a stupid amount of fun. STM is really a great class to be in right now. The diversity is great and the comradery really makes it what it is. I wish we could have gotten more runs but, I wish that no matter how many I get. Looking forward to Adesa and putting up a fight to the finish. I am going to need better suspension if we run more at Smokies. These Bilsteins just don't have enough damping for me to keep in the power.

Kristo checked out this event.

Edit: Here is my run, sorry for the language. The turn around at the finish just murdered me on my fastest run. I know my car could put down some quick laps with a competent driver.

https://youtu.be/gj4GU--aDaY

[dewittpayne]

Reviewing my video, I was still pulling about 1.2 g lateral at the bump but it didn't upset the car. https://youtu.be/jGKpwxAfTSI

I wonder if the cause was the suspension bottoming causing snap oversteer.

[thrdeye]

Reviewing my video, I was still pulling about 1.2 g lateral at the bump but it didn't upset the car. https://youtu.be/jGKpwxAfTSI

I wonder if the cause was the suspension bottoming causing snap oversteer.

That's part of it.

Vehicle speed is another part, steering angle is yet another (and probably most important). I'm not picking on Ryan at all, but we have discussed several times as to how much steering wheel he uses to turn the car, and mostly, it's too much. I thought the bump was pretty drama free when I went through there, but I could certainly see how too much steering in that area could be a problem.

Tons of other contributing factors though - wheelbase, car wight, etc.

[jcox07]

Yeah run 2 for me almost resulted in me going over the curb as I hit that bump at a high high rate of speed and went into ice mode and had no brakes going to the right turn going down the hill and just lucky the hoosiers gripped good and the car did turn but behind the cones almost on the curb, I will take the dnf and not hit the curb. Still a very fun course but I am like Chris and we should take the show to BMS for 1 day events on a national sized lot with no curbs.

[SKLR]

Had so much fun. Though I was still around a second slower than the usual leaders in STM, this was the closest I have been to them all year. I think I am too conservative on my first runs and it takes me 5 or 6 runs to get up to speed. Will try to work on that at Adesa.

This turned out to be my fastest lap, but I butchered the last sweeper on this one. Probably should have stayed in second like I did in my previous runs. I think I also braked too early after the slalom going into the sweeper in the middle section.

https://youtu.be/rI3yaNjX4eY

On another note, the school helped a lot and I wish it was earlier in the season.

[Challenger]

My third and best run of the day, 50.984. Unfortunately I don't have any data to overlay on it, my cell phone holder busted at the start of the first run.

https://youtu.be/ED18-SbTQh0

I didn't realize how bad the bump actually was until watching the video, it upset the car more than I realized. Really enjoyed the sweeper going down the hill the first pass. The car just felt like it rotated perfectly going through there.