Vince's Stuff: Back at ICAR, lap times are improving!

I headed back to ICAR last Tuesday for the evening lapping sessions. It had rained in the morning and early afternoon, but it was supposed to stay clear in the evening. I left home a little after 5:00 p.m. and there were still a few sprinkles of rain but, to my great surprise, there was absolutely no traffic... I mean none. I couldn't believe my good fortune. As I arrived at the track, everything was pretty dry, but it wasn't raining. There were only a handful of cars and it wasn't too warm. I fugured these would be good conditions to set some better lap times than at my last visit. There were some ominous-looking clouds not too far away so I decided to run in the upcoming yellow group in case it rained soon. I could then go out immediately afterwards in the green session and the tires would already be warmed up.

I headed out and after a few laps, I was passed by a beige 92-95 Civic Coupe that was flying (I wonder what the specifications are!) and a C8 Corvette. The track was almost completely dry (there was a small puddle a the apex of turn one). I could not keep up with the Civic but I kept the Corvette in view for a while. Soon after, I was caught by another Civic EK (hatch) and an RX8. I waved them by but the RX8 elected to stay behind me. I was able to follow the Civic for the last couple of laps of the session and in doing so, I clocked my best ever lap at ICAR, a 1:46.83 (2/100ths faster than my previous best!). I immediately headed out in the green session with nice warm tires, but I wasn't able to beat the lap time. Maybe it was the fact that there was no one to follow or catch? I did manage a 1:47.09, so pretty close to the same time. I had stupidly decided to go out without my gloves and after the first session, I was sweating quite a bit, even though it was not that hot out. I also went over track limits on the right of the back straight on one lap when I didn't time my steering imputs corectly. A 15-minute session at ICAR is pretty short, but 30 minutes in my car feels pretty long (no power steering, no a/c, etc.).

I was chatting with the RX8 owner after the session and I was extremely sweaty. I was ready to head home and I wanted to make sure my lap data had captured the double session. The session was there in the data, but I was having trouble converting and exporting it. I had uninstalled and re-installed RaceChrono since my last visit to the track, which could have been the cause of the problem. After trying a couple of times, I managed to convert and send the data. I really did not want to lose the data of my new best time! Anyway, by the time I did all of this, I was a bit less sweaty and tired and there was another green session coming up in about 10 minutes, so I decided to head out for one last session. I was trying a new line onto the front straight where I short-shifted into 4th gear and cut the corner a bit more and it seemed faster, although the limited data doesn't bear this out yet. I didn't improve my lap time and only managed a 1:47.44 in that session.

I am still learning a few tricks at ICAR and there is still some time on the table. I tried a couple of laps where I did not overdrive the car at all, and focused on smoothness, and the times are not that far off the best time. I think these types of laps are easier on the car and tires. I also felt that I was carrying more speed in the esses (where I crashed in 2017). I still need some more track time to fine tune these things, ideally a full day at that track. I was focusing on smooth weight transfer at the end of the back straight into the hairpin and it felt good. I also realized that whatever Choo did with my pedals, it is now quite easy to heel-and-toe on downshifts, which makes for a better entry into corner one.

I think that a lap in the 1:45's is achievable without any upgrades to the car. I have been looking at videos on Youtube, and there are a couple of Civics in the 1:43 to 1:45 range. The coupe that flew by me did not have any visible aero, yet it was quite a bit faster. I have to figure out why! Is it horsepower? Gearing? A limited-slip diff? I hope I can chat with the car owner at some point.

As for my Civic, it has become super reliable. It is easy to drive to the track, I can really push it on track, and as long as I keep an eye on the oil level, it needs no maintenance at the track. It's really meeting all my expectations. Now, I want to focus on driving it well. There are a couple of small things I might do to the car this season (dyno tune, front lip and rear wing) but they are minor things. The car is now fully succeeding at being a fun and economical track tool. Let's hope things keep moving in the right direction!

Here is the video of my best laps: