Here's a few bad laps at MSR-H CCW

[SirHustlerEsq]

I managed to pair data with vid with TrackVision.

I wand to go back on fresh tires.

[ken o]

Your G meter is showing the opposite of what is happening.

[SirHustlerEsq]

Your G meter is showing the opposite of what is happening.

I'm aware.

[miataspeedracer]

Your G meter is showing the opposite of what is happening.

Things are different on planet Trey.

[SirHustlerEsq]

Does anyone else ever get tired of this hobby? No matter what I do, I'm not fast enough and I don't know why. I've been doing this for 3 years now and I ran dog-shit, sad, pathetic time last weekend. My times were so pathetic that I'm a little scared to show my face at the next event. A guy in a TTC WRX with suspension and Hoosier A6 beat my TTB Miata by almost one second. I really have no excuse other than being a fucking retard. I wasn't even under the SM record, which is pathetic and sad. I'm functionally not a man.

Thoughts on when to give this shit up and save my money for bullshit hobbies like wearing spandex on a bicycle or sex with animals?

Even though I don't have the scratch, maybe I need to slap these spare Continentals on and go to the track for a day so I can feel like a man again. If not, I guess I'll sever my penis.

[ken o]

First you need to give it a shot at the same level your competition is giving it. I think you have the skills but lack in equipment and I am not talking about your junk. Don't bring a knife to a gun fight. You know the level they are bringing it, why go less?

Sack up and buy some tires for that beast. Eat Ramen or whore yourself out, but get fresh tires. I am almost willing to buy tires for it and drive it to show your bitchy little ass what it could do. Just let me know when I need to place the order.

[SirHustlerEsq]

First you need to give it a shot at the same level your competition is giving it. I think you have the skills but lack in equipment and I am not talking about your junk. Don't bring a knife to a gun fight. You know the level they are bringing it, why go less?

Sack up and buy some tires for that beast. Eat Ramen or whore yourself out, but get fresh tires. I am almost willing to buy tires for it and drive it to show your bitchy little ass what it could do. Just let me know when I need to place the order.

Thanks man, but I don't have the scratch to drop $1000 every two days on tires, especially when I'm looking at layoffs, and a student loan. I also don't have enough room in points to run R6s which sucks. There's always the option to run R6 and aero in TTA though.

[miataspeedracer]

So why not take it a little less seriously and try to enjoy the experience a bit more? After all, the serious $$$ that is being spent ultimately gets you what--temporary bragging rights and a small trophy?
Instead of trying to WIN, work on improving as a driver. Try to better your TTD, figure out how to become smoother or to optimize your set-up. Incremental improvements will add up to big changes after a while. I'm sure there's an appropriate quote out there about how playing the game well is just as important as winning. YMMV.

[SirHustlerEsq]

So why not take it a little less seriously and try to enjoy the experience a bit more? After all, the serious $$$ that is being spent ultimately gets you what--temporary bragging rights and a small trophy?
Instead of trying to WIN, work on improving as a driver. Try to better your TTD, figure out how to become smoother or to optimize your set-up. Incremental improvements will add up to big changes after a while. I'm sure there's an appropriate quote out there about how playing the game well is just as important as winning. YMMV.

I've worked on it long enough. I should be 5-10 seconds faster at every track I run. I should be running a 1:19 at MSRC, 1:42 at MSR-H, 1:24 at Hallett, 1:52 at TWS, and 1:24 at HHR. Until I run those times, I won't feel better.

I don't understand what you're saying about "win" vs "better driving". What do you think I'm doing out there all day? I'm working on line theory and managing the car on every corner of every lap of every session. I basically ran two laps at the end of the day where I thought I had done all I could do and needed to put it together. The essence of the competition and desire to win is rooted in driving the car properly.

[ckearns]

You'll pick up 1 second per mile of track when you're able to tow the car home. The TTC WRX is a dedicated track car, and I believe the driver is ok with binning it - your green car is dear to you, so that is holding you back.

You're capped on points, power, and weight, but how many of the zero point mods have you done? There's some no kidding go fast stuff in that list.

[miataspeedracer]

I've worked on it long enough. I should be 5-10 seconds faster at every track I run. I should be running a 1:19 at MSRC, 1:42 at MSR-H, 1:24 at Hallett, 1:52 at TWS, and 1:24 at HHR. Until I run those times, I won't feel better.

I don't understand what you're saying about "win" vs "better driving". What do you think I'm doing out there all day? I'm working on line theory and managing the car on every corner of every lap of every session. I basically ran two laps at the end of the day where I thought I had done all I could do and needed to put it together. The essence of the competition and desire to win is rooted in driving the car properly.

I'm saying if you're not having fun, you're there for the wrong reason.

Let someone who you respect as a quick driver (and someone you trust) drive your car back-to-back with you. Best way to find out if it's you or the car that's not performing at peak levels. Maybe your car WON'T do the times you think it should no matter who is behind the wheel. And that ckearns guy makes a good point: like me, you want to drive your car home at the end of the day. That comfort margin costs time. No shame in that.

[SirHustlerEsq]

I still have problems obsession over wheels breaking, ball joints breaking, overheating, or grenading the engine. This is a problem considering none of these failed in the last 3-years of tracking the car. I need anti-anxiety medication for the track.

[NC Eunos]

Even though I don't have the scratch, maybe I need to slap these spare Continentals on and go to the track for a day so I can feel like a man again. If not, I guess I'll sever my penis.

That might not be such a bad idea then that way you can't contaminate mankind with your offspring...yikes the thought Trey having kids!

[johnwag]

I've worked on it long enough. I should be 5-10 seconds faster at every track I run. I should be running a 1:19 at MSRC, 1:42 at MSR-H, 1:24 at Hallett, 1:52 at TWS, and 1:24 at HHR. Until I run those times, I won't feel better.

You're really dreaming on some of these times. Let's step back to reality for a moment.

1:19 at Cresson is GT3RS times. You can't compare yourself to Keith Verges in his Turbo SM on Hoosiers.
1:42 at MSR-H is very possible. I think you'll need at least 245mm Hoosiers to get close to it.
1:24 at Hallett. This one is reasonable but to get those last 2 seconds, I think a Hoosier will be required.
1:52 at TWS. This one is utterly ridiculous. That's an F-Production time! I know JZ ran a 1:54.xx with Aero and Continentals and he was still 2 seconds off of that time. Your realistic goal with your car should be a 1:58.xx
1:24 at HHR is possible with Hoosiers.

See the trend? Time to either join the arms race and buy Hoosiers or be content running NT-01 times.

[MINI-P]

I just lap, I don't race so take anything I say with a big ole grain of salt...

You could also hire a coach.

Best advice in the whole thread. There's some other very good advice too, but in my humble opinion this is the best. There's no shame in hiring a coach. Just $$$. I did one day with Jason Hart and dropped 3 seconds at ECR. For the price there is no part I could have bought for my car that would drop time that much. I have a lot to learn.

The other thing that was improving my lap times, before I had to rebuild my motor, was spending a ton of time in iRacing. May sound silly but I offer up this proof. I didn't drive at the track for 4 months between work and replacing my trans last year. I did spend a ton of time in the Miata and the Skip Barber Formula 2000 car on iRacing. My previous best at ECR was a 2:06.4 and my first day at the track after not tracking for 4 months I equalled that time in the first session, beat it in the second session and killed it in the third session with a 2:04.8. And I was faster and more comfortable driving faster all day. Your mileage may vary but it worked for me.

Also, you shouldn't feel bad about Ken O beating you. He drives a lot more than you do. I have serious Ken O seat time envy. And skillz envy. And tire envy.

[ken o]

I agree 100% on the sims. I like rFactor for a sim. It is cheap and the tracks are free. All the local tracks are available.

[SirHustlerEsq]

I just lap, I don't race so take anything I say with a big ole grain of salt...



Best advice in the whole thread. There's some other very good advice too, but in my humble opinion this is the best. There's no shame in hiring a coach. Just $$$. I did one day with Jason Hart and dropped 3 seconds at ECR. For the price there is no part I could have bought for my car that would drop time that much. I have a lot to learn.

The other thing that was improving my lap times, before I had to rebuild my motor, was spending a ton of time in iRacing. May sound silly but I offer up this proof. I didn't drive at the track for 4 months between work and replacing my trans last year. I did spend a ton of time in the Miata and the Skip Barber Formula 2000 car on iRacing. My previous best at ECR was a 2:06.4 and my first day at the track after not tracking for 4 months I equalled that time in the first session, beat it in the second session and killed it in the third session with a 2:04.8. And I was faster and more comfortable driving faster all day. Your mileage may vary but it worked for me.

Also, you shouldn't feel bad about Ken O beating you. He drives a lot more than you do. I have serious Ken O seat time envy. And skillz envy. And tire envy.

I'd love to use Jason Hart, but after $1000 to get him on the track and $300 to get me on the track...that's way more than I can afford. I just can't throw down that kind of scratch. It becomes more clear everyday that I don't make enough scratch to be in the hobby. I've been toying with the idea of signing up for a TDE day in the novice group to work on fundamentals, but I'm very weary of letting anyone drive my car because it's so easy to money-shift, and I have to get a set of tires since they won't let me run R-comps in TDE with my limited experience. I know Ken is going to beat my no matter what I do...being so far behind is the part that hurts my pride. It's just not fun anymore. I even got worked by a TTC car on this last race weekend. That is totally unacceptable.

I'm giving serious consideration to scratching the rest of the season and only running Miatas at Hallett in my daily to save face, lol. I don't know that I can deal with running Hallett again and not running a 25 or better.

[762]

Well you could consider starting to autocross, focusing on driver/car development in a more competitive & low cost environment.

[SirHustlerEsq]

Well you could consider starting to autocross, focusing on driver/car development in a more competitive & low cost environment.

When you consider the cost compared to seat time, auto-x is more expensive and again, I'm not trying to blow an entire day to run 4-laps. I get that you're trying to help, I'm just not going to pay $50 to rearrange cones all day. That's not fun for me. I've been to probably a dozen auto-x events, I'm not going to do it again.

[MINI-P]

I split the cost of coaching with two other dudes. Not sayin it was cheap but it wasn't AS costly. Also, I could work on stuff on my own while he was riding with one of the other guys.

With your NASA experience I bet Rick at TDE would at least put you in yellow group and by the end of the weekend you'd be in red. You can run R-comps in both groups. You can also have an instructor. If you sign up early enough you should request Brett Gabriel as an instructor. He's an awesome driver and a very good instructor. He races Spec Miata. I has him ride along with me several time and learned a lot from him.