Alright, here's some data from yesterday. These are my best times in the different sessions. I ran more sessions, but I was letting people pass me so I wasn't getting a clean lap.
2:08.19
2:05.34
2:03.83 - with Tom
1:55.85 - Andrew
1:58.54 - with Andrew
1:59.95 - Will
The 2:03 I got when Tom was ridding with me and gave me some tips for turn 7, 8 and 13. I was happy he said I was smooth and consistent, he liked how the car was set up and was very pleased by how I took the keyhole. He was very nice and has a great way to explain what you need to do, he was also asking me what I thought I needed help with instead of telling me what to do. Unfortunately, I was only able to get 2 clean laps out of that session, I kept having to let people pass.
In the afternoon, after Andrew rode with THE Will Dodd I got him to drive my car, and he proceeded to set the 1:55 time. He was on the Elise's ass the whole time... hahaha. I swear the car felt like it was going sideways in most of the corners, but after watching him I was able to drop a bit over 5 seconds off my time. Since it was the last lap of the session, I lifted when I saw the checkered flag... He was also pleased with the car setup, and was surprised by how well the tires held up. Andrew gave me some more tips to cut down a bit more, and was also pleased by my improvement.
Last but not least, THE Will Dodd went for a drive. He struggled a bit with the manual rack and small steering wheel, which you can see when he drifts part of the keyhole... hahahah. He got a 1:59 but the traffic didn't help. Bonus from this video, you can see the Mazda 5 going a bit sideways on some corners.
Things I need to work on:
- don't brake as hard before turn 1, so the car is more stable. Andrew said it's a bit jerky how I get off the brake and into the corner
- turn 8 can use a bit more speed
- don't brake for 12, just let off a bit at the 150 mark and turn a bit earlier
- stay towards the inside before 13 to carry more speed, I worked on this when THE Will Dodd was ridding with me
- carry more speed through the kink
- don't brake as much on 3 to carry a bit more speed into the keyhole
- brake later before 7, my problem with this is that I wasn't able to do a good and consistent heel and toe so I didn't feel comfortable braking later. Different pedals might solve the issue
I also need to adjust the camera angle to get a better view of the track, sometimes you can't see much of the right side of the track.
I'm very pleased with the car and the results, a seat and harness should also help since I was always making an effort to support myself.
Andrew's run from the lap timer
My run from the lap timer
with Tom getting ready to go out
the car in the garage cooling down
Andrew driving
my fast lap
THE Will Dodd