It's big, but you may find it entertaining. A single lap around the VIR full course from December 1, 2001.

Towards the end of the lap (coming out of hogs pen) I get passed by a Ferrari 360 Challenge car. Make special note of the sound of that car!!

Link to the video:
http://www.navybluec5.com/video/out_lap.rm

-Matt

Crap. Real movie? Can you use a real format so some of us can watch it? I HATE RM.

Awesome video!!!

That track looks like it offers good balance between speed, handling and even a little elevation change.

You drove well! You appeared to lose it once, but you got her back under control - nice.

Now, what are you running for your suspension set-up, because your car looks and "sounds" like she quite a bit loose! As you know, races are won and lost in the turns, not in the straights.

Are you still stock, or near stock on the suspension side of the equation?

At first I could not tell if you were waving at the camera, or waving the Ferrari 360 to pass you. It looked like he had a pretty good run up the rpm ladder before passing you because he left you like you were standing still. Did you slow down for him - it looked like you did for a moment anyway!

Nice run!

Redshift,

I used RealMovie because every other format that the conversion program I used offered would have put that movie at 40MB or greater.

Top Speed:

I'm bone stock, but had non-run flat street tires on the car for that weekend. Sometime next year I'm going to switch over to 'R' compound tires, but not until at least 1/2 way through the season.

The two times I waved were to the Ferrari to let him know I saw him and to the corner worker giving me the passing flag.

That was a particularly slow lap. My best lap times for the weekend were about 10 seconds faster. That was the first one with minimal traffic I found on the tape to convert to RM.

I lifted coming out of the corner to let the Ferrari by. Once I got back into it he didn't pull all that badly from me, but he's much lighter and can brake later/carry more speed through the turns.

-Matt

Just wondering if that was a first lap? Looked like you were trying to find which lines you wanted to take in the corners. I know you had Fun!!! I need to get my Z06 down there sometime in the spring

MD99C5,

You're right, I was kinda searching on that lap. That was early on the Saturday (my first day on VIR full course). By the end of Sunday I had run laps that were quite a bit more smooth and "purposeful."

-Matt

yup.. noticed that too

looked like you were aiming for the cones and not looking ahead :p

You nailed it Eric. Just before I took that lap I had a veteran instructor/racer with me pointing out the "high horsepower line." In a few spots he said "drive cone to cone through here for a few laps and you'll find the line." So I did.

Like I said above, but Sunday I had shaved 10+ seconds off that lap, so you can imagine how much different a 2:3x lap looks compared to a 2:4x lap (which you guys got). If I didn't lift halfway down the front and back straights I could probably get low 2:30s or high 2:20s out of the car.

Can't wait to get back there.

-Matt

"I lifted coming out of the corner to let the Ferrari by. Once I got back into it he didn't pull all that badly from me, but he's much lighter and can brake later/carry more speed through the turns."

Not when you put a real suspension on your C5, lower the CG, get some real tires and show up at the track one day with a 1/8th of a tank! Then that 360 will wave you to pass him! Most of that tire squeal should go away when your set-up is correct. By the way, that will be a good sign to look out for when you start doing your suspension changes. As the car gets better balance at the limits of cohesion, you'll find it talking back at you less, and less the harder you drive it. Just something to look forward to.

Your lines looked pretty good for just the first lap. You exited high which is normal for first lap encounters. You did very little downshifting, which was a first lap dead give-a-way.

I love what you are doing with the car, Matt! This is why I bought my C5 – to run at the track on the weekends. Finding the limits of both the car and my skills is the fun part. Using it as a daily driver was second priority at purchase time. Some of my friends and family members just cannot understand why on earth I would “do that to such a nice car”. When I take them to the track, they finally understand. I love to see people drive their sports cars the way they were meant to be driven. The C5 is much too nice a machine to be cooped up on a street, or freeway all the time.

Looks like I need to get a camera mounted for next summer season! Enjoy your sport and keep the Video coming!

[ 12-12-2001: Message edited by: Top Speed ]

Top Speed,

I've already lowered the car, and the next time it goes in for an alignment I'm going to talk to some folks here on the forum and get the straigh goods on a more aggressive alignment. Maybe dial in some (more) negative camber. We'll see.

The people I work with called me crazy for "buying a car like that and then taking it to the track."

I replied with "What would be crazy is if I bought that car and only drove it to work. If I wanted a car just to drive to work, I would have bought a Volkwagen."

No offense to VW owners (my wife drives a VW).

-Matt