Andrew and I went to the CSCC auto-x again on Wednesday. I still struggled with the 615’s, and Andrew agrees that they’re really slippery. The car is definitely slower. Cars that I was tight with at the first events now leave me way behind. Pressures were finalized by the pyrometer at 46/39psi on a hot day where track temperatures read 114F. I thought these seemed high, and others agreed, but research has indicated that such high pressures are normal. The same research suggested a break in period of a couple hundred kilometers is required before they start working really well. This is the tire that dominates the street tire classes in SCCA solo2 afterall.
The car however… still drives incredibly well. When I first started driving, I remember having a horribly difficult time making the car oversteer. These were the days that I co-drove with Ryan, and though we both had great success at auto-x, drifting was far far from something we had any skills in. In fact I remember one corner at an auto-x event 4 years ago that Ryan once drifted with big angle entrance to exit (totally by accident of course), and it totally floored me. Someone even caught this run on video, and it was the prime feature of our website for a long time following. That video is still around, and here.
My point is, that now it seems to be a rarity to have a run that doesn’t include some big entrance to exit or corner to corner slide. Whether it’s me behind the wheel, or maybe the car has just become so much easier to drive, sliding has become a HUGE distraction from creating a fast time. I swear my intention every run is to go out and improve my time, but then the ass gets loose, and it’s just so much fun to keep my foot in it hard. Even Andrew… the self confessed grip style driver, was starting to hold angles. Normally riding passenger with him in such situations scares the piss out of me… but this week that was not true.
Maybe there’s good reason why so many FD drivers are on 615’s…