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Old 05-20-2012, 06:24 PM
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Track Junky Track Junky is offline
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Thanks guy's, it felt like a great accomplishment to be able to hit my mark and knock 2.5 seconds off of my previous best lap time. The beauty of it all is that I know there's more to be had and I think if I could have completed the last session I would have definitely been in the low 4's or high 3's. I'm still trying to better my entries and exits in turn 1 and 8 but the biggest contribution to my faster times was being able to adjust my rear roll center height. My next goal is to get into the 2:02's on 100 TW tires.
I got to the track about 6:30 a.m and parked over by the Chicca crew. This was a NASA event and I was running in the Time Trials group.
My first session out was a wasted session as I only got one hot lap before I heard something dragging underneath my car so I came in to see what it was. My center front spoiler support rod broke free from the spoiler and I was dragging it as it barely held on by the last thread on the bolt that secured to the subframe. That really screwed me because I had nothing to go on as far as making any adjusments for the next session. I still managed a 2:12 and that put me at 32nd on the starting grid for the next session.
2nd session car was pushing mid corner but I still managed a 2:07.6 which bumped me up to 23rd on the starting grid. I adjusted roll center again and took 2 lbs of air out of all 4 tires before the 3rd session.
3rd session is the session I got my 2:04.9. The car felt way more neutral in the early laps but as the tires got hotter I started to lose front grip. I came in after about 5 laps because I knew I wasn't going to get any faster.
Jacked the car back up, raised roll center up one more notch and took two mor lbs of air out of front tires.
4th session 1st lap I already new I hit the sweet spot. Car was just the way I liked it, just a hair loose. 2nd lap I was passing cars that were previously running faster than me. I was stoked!! Whipped around turn 15 and it felt like I was going to push my pedal through the floor board and then about 50' feet before the start finish line I heard a big clunk and the first thing I set my eyes on was the rpm gauge as I hear my car shutting down.........it instantly dropped to zero.
I passed the K-rail and pulled to the right side. A puff of smoke shot up and it smelt like oil. I sat there until the tow trucks pulled up. I asked them if there was oil on the ground and they said yes. I think to myself,"****".
Long story short......timing chain snapped and broke through the bottom of my billet timing cover taking the bottom of the cover with it.
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Gaetano Cosentino

Last edited by Track Junky; 05-20-2012 at 06:31 PM.
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