Next up, Ferrari Club
So you might be thinking, Ferrari club? Ya, Ferrari club.
A local dealership Ferrari of Washington hosts several track events at Summit Point. Since the number of Ferraris in the area are too small to host a single mark event, they allow other of us lesser folks to join in on the fun. It also helps that I have an in.
My day starts on Friday with car prep (as usual). I get there early, but still with all the meetings car prep, tech and registration, My first session starts before I am ready. I decided to go with the tires I bought at the 12 hour event, used Toyo’s. I had purchased some new wheels and some used Hoosier R compound tires and was quit excited to give them a try. I decided since I had installed a rear sway bar a few weeks ago, I would only go with one change at a time.
The car felt much better. I still got a little push in the corners, but is was far better than to date. As I built speed, the tires became the limiting factor so on day two, I install the new Hoosiers. I had to roll the fender lip in the rear because there wasn’t very much clearance. I only have about a fingers width between the tire and the shocks on both front and rear, perfect! Man these Hoosiers are wide! The stock tire is 205/50, the Hoosiers are 225/45. The big difference is going from 6″ to 7″ rims.
It was a little chilly, so I decide to take it easy the first session to get the tires up to temp. By the second session, I relize why everyone raves about these Hoosiers. Wow these things grip. I am still getting a push, but it’s far less. By the end of day two, I am feeling far more comfortable in the car. I still am getting the push, and my rear tires aren’t coming up to pressure in the rear (cold), but the fronts are handling and appear to be wearing well. The rear tires pick up all kinds of debris that never comes off, they aren’t sliding it appears. One thing I did notice, the Hoosiers cause the car to follow road crown and such. In spots on the track, the car seemed to wander a bit. I think that’s due to the extra width and stickyness of the tires. I guess that’s the 2.5 deg of camber talking.
There was an incident involving a Lamborgini on Friday, so I was told I will need a check out ride with an instructor before I can take passengers. The check ride goes well, with the instructor saying lots of nice things about my driving.
Day three starts with me rotating the tires so i can wear off the tire boogers that built up on the rears from the day before. All went well and I picked up a lot of speed. There were several much faster cars, I was doing a better job of keeping up with. I am still the little fish in a pond with big fish, but several folks approched me and said they were impressed how good I was doing in that “little car”. Gotta love those Ferrari guys, (little car huh?).
In the end, I am tired from 3 days on the track, but the car goes on the trailer in one peice and running. It was a successful weekend