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NJMP - Thunderbolt
- Thread starter ChrisS
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aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
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I've been looking at it too (I may be there for a NASA thing in Nov.)
I haven't found any good turn-by-turn descriptions, but there are plenty of online videos.
~Here's One~ from a Sprite-powered Lotus 7.
Thunderbolt track map
I haven't found any good turn-by-turn descriptions, but there are plenty of online videos.
~Here's One~ from a Sprite-powered Lotus 7.
Thunderbolt track map
Offline
Nial--
I have video shot from my car during the SVRA event in August that I can share with you if you promise not to tell everyone how bad some of my lines were. If you are going up to WG this weekend I might be able to burn a DVD and bring it along to give to you. Let me know--an email would be best to awgertoo@aol.com
I have video shot from my car during the SVRA event in August that I can share with you if you promise not to tell everyone how bad some of my lines were. If you are going up to WG this weekend I might be able to burn a DVD and bring it along to give to you. Let me know--an email would be best to awgertoo@aol.com
aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
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Great! Yes, Linda and I will be there.
My movie editing skills aren't really all that good....I'm just a self-taught hack.
But I just drove 200 miles today in the MGB to sit in a Windows Movie Maker seminar for teachers...so maybe this will give me a chance to see if I'm any better.
See you there on Saturday! (we'll be pulling in around 8 PM on Friday night).
My movie editing skills aren't really all that good....I'm just a self-taught hack.
But I just drove 200 miles today in the MGB to sit in a Windows Movie Maker seminar for teachers...so maybe this will give me a chance to see if I'm any better.
See you there on Saturday! (we'll be pulling in around 8 PM on Friday night).
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Nial--
You may say that your editing skills are limited but you seem to be able to post to YouTube whereas I can't figure out how to do that. In addition to Windows Media I have the editing program Adobe Premier Elements loaded on my laptop and maybe we can figure something out.
Looking forward to seeing you and Linda. Mary is coming and will hopefully be my fuel/fire person for the Enduro.
I put in some antifreeze today--temps are supposed to be in the low 30's at night. Dress warm!
You may say that your editing skills are limited but you seem to be able to post to YouTube whereas I can't figure out how to do that. In addition to Windows Media I have the editing program Adobe Premier Elements loaded on my laptop and maybe we can figure something out.
Looking forward to seeing you and Linda. Mary is coming and will hopefully be my fuel/fire person for the Enduro.
I put in some antifreeze today--temps are supposed to be in the low 30's at night. Dress warm!
aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
Offline
Neat! If I still have a running car on Sunday, I may join you in the enduro.
Don't tell Tivvy you have anti-freeze in your car during tech inspection.
He always says to me; "You don't have any anti-freeze in this, do you?"
And I always wink and say; "Oh no!" :laugh:
Don't tell Tivvy you have anti-freeze in your car during tech inspection.
He always says to me; "You don't have any anti-freeze in this, do you?"
And I always wink and say; "Oh no!" :laugh:
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Nial--
See the VRG site--antifreeze is allowed at this event.
There is an enduro on both Saturday and Sunday--due to a conflict we will have to miss Sunday's racing but I will be running Friday and Saturday events.
I have not driven at WG before so maybe I will just follow you around.
See the VRG site--antifreeze is allowed at this event.
There is an enduro on both Saturday and Sunday--due to a conflict we will have to miss Sunday's racing but I will be running Friday and Saturday events.
I have not driven at WG before so maybe I will just follow you around.
aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
Offline
Ahh. You're right. The tech sheet says "No Antifreeze <span style="text-decoration: underline">(seasonal)</span>".
Darn!...it's always more fun when you think you're breaking the rules. :laugh:
I have just fitted a 3.9 final drive. I exploded the 3.7 at BeaveRun on the last race of the event, and the 3.9 is all I have left.
For WG I was already RPM-limited on the back stright (6000) and the 3.9 will make it worse. I may be short on top end speed....we'll see.
The car was in a million pieces until three days ago. Trans lunched at NJMP. I just put in a "new" one, plus fixed a bunch of other broken stuff I noticed (cracked sway-bar mount, broken motor mount, etc). So I hope I didn't miss anything and have put Humpty Dumpty back together properly.
<span style="font-style: italic"> Chris: Sorry to hijack your thread!</span>
Darn!...it's always more fun when you think you're breaking the rules. :laugh:
I have just fitted a 3.9 final drive. I exploded the 3.7 at BeaveRun on the last race of the event, and the 3.9 is all I have left.
For WG I was already RPM-limited on the back stright (6000) and the 3.9 will make it worse. I may be short on top end speed....we'll see.
The car was in a million pieces until three days ago. Trans lunched at NJMP. I just put in a "new" one, plus fixed a bunch of other broken stuff I noticed (cracked sway-bar mount, broken motor mount, etc). So I hope I didn't miss anything and have put Humpty Dumpty back together properly.
<span style="font-style: italic"> Chris: Sorry to hijack your thread!</span>
OP
ChrisS
Jedi Knight
Offline
Returning to our normally scheduled program....
This is my take on the track :
T1: From the front straight (parallel to pit road) you approach T1 at high speed, a flat 70-degree right-hander. The end of the braking zone and turn in point had some debris from the track edge where the grass hasn’t come in yet so caution was required. The blend line for pit out is just after the apex and some gravel ended up after the apex in the track out line. I think this will get addressed as they work on the track.
T2: Out of T1 there is a slight uphill into T2. The apex is just at the right hand side of the horizon as you make the turn in but track out is blind until you’re at the apex. I was unable to find a good visual reference for track out and ended up late apexing this corner all day. The track opens up to the left and there is a lot more room to track out than it appears at entry. With practice a low power car should be able to take this under moderate power without the uphill crest unsettling the car too much.
T3: Between T2 and T3 there is a short shoot suitable for passing. In the shoot I up shifted to fourth and lifted slightly before turning in for T3. This is a fast right hander with a traditional line where a little of the curbing can be used. Between T3 and T4 is a fast straight with a slight rise that causes you to lose sight of the braking zone for a moment.
T4, T5 and entry to T6: After braking and downshifting to third you enter T4. T4 is another fast right hander, but tighter than T3. There seems to be a few lines here depending on how you want to take T5. If you track out to the left after T4 and throw away T5 you can accelerate to T6 and be on the left hand side of the track. I choose to track out less coming off T4 so I could get to the right hand side of the track to take T5 more traditionally, tracking out to the right after T5 and coming cross track into the brake zone for T6. This allowed me to carry some speed through T5 into T6 since my car doesn’t have the power to accelerate all that well.
T6: T6 is a deceiving right hander that looks tighter than it is. You should be able to carry a good amount of speed through here using the curbing to widen the track.
T7: Between corner T6 and corner T7 is a another short shoot that ends with the car about tached out in third before you get on the brakes hard for the turn in to T7. Track out of T7 depends on whether or not you are going to single or double apex T8.
T8: T8 is a long right hander that I frankly didn’t figure out all that well. It reminded me of Big Bend at LRP. You could single of double apex it but I often felt lost. You need to end up on the left hand side of the track to allow for the turn in to T9.
T9: T9 is a decreasing radius right hander but there is a lot of grip here and I carried a far amount of speed through here into T10, catching most of the cars in my vicinity. The car is loaded up on the right side so you can drive up on the curb without upsetting the car.
T10: This is a long left hander that forces you to stay to the right hand side of the track so that you don’t early apex T11.
T11 (Some refer to this as 11A&B, the Esses): The entry to T11 is important so that you can begin to gain speed for the front straight. There no straight line through here and I aimed to have the car settled midway so I could up shift to fourth and exit the esses under full power, just lifting slightly to settle the car prior to T14.
T12: Out of the Esses you pass under the bridge and into T12 which is an almost flat out right hander. There is a large section of curbing at the apex but I found it very unstable and stayed off it the rest of the day.
This is my take on the track :
T1: From the front straight (parallel to pit road) you approach T1 at high speed, a flat 70-degree right-hander. The end of the braking zone and turn in point had some debris from the track edge where the grass hasn’t come in yet so caution was required. The blend line for pit out is just after the apex and some gravel ended up after the apex in the track out line. I think this will get addressed as they work on the track.
T2: Out of T1 there is a slight uphill into T2. The apex is just at the right hand side of the horizon as you make the turn in but track out is blind until you’re at the apex. I was unable to find a good visual reference for track out and ended up late apexing this corner all day. The track opens up to the left and there is a lot more room to track out than it appears at entry. With practice a low power car should be able to take this under moderate power without the uphill crest unsettling the car too much.
T3: Between T2 and T3 there is a short shoot suitable for passing. In the shoot I up shifted to fourth and lifted slightly before turning in for T3. This is a fast right hander with a traditional line where a little of the curbing can be used. Between T3 and T4 is a fast straight with a slight rise that causes you to lose sight of the braking zone for a moment.
T4, T5 and entry to T6: After braking and downshifting to third you enter T4. T4 is another fast right hander, but tighter than T3. There seems to be a few lines here depending on how you want to take T5. If you track out to the left after T4 and throw away T5 you can accelerate to T6 and be on the left hand side of the track. I choose to track out less coming off T4 so I could get to the right hand side of the track to take T5 more traditionally, tracking out to the right after T5 and coming cross track into the brake zone for T6. This allowed me to carry some speed through T5 into T6 since my car doesn’t have the power to accelerate all that well.
T6: T6 is a deceiving right hander that looks tighter than it is. You should be able to carry a good amount of speed through here using the curbing to widen the track.
T7: Between corner T6 and corner T7 is a another short shoot that ends with the car about tached out in third before you get on the brakes hard for the turn in to T7. Track out of T7 depends on whether or not you are going to single or double apex T8.
T8: T8 is a long right hander that I frankly didn’t figure out all that well. It reminded me of Big Bend at LRP. You could single of double apex it but I often felt lost. You need to end up on the left hand side of the track to allow for the turn in to T9.
T9: T9 is a decreasing radius right hander but there is a lot of grip here and I carried a far amount of speed through here into T10, catching most of the cars in my vicinity. The car is loaded up on the right side so you can drive up on the curb without upsetting the car.
T10: This is a long left hander that forces you to stay to the right hand side of the track so that you don’t early apex T11.
T11 (Some refer to this as 11A&B, the Esses): The entry to T11 is important so that you can begin to gain speed for the front straight. There no straight line through here and I aimed to have the car settled midway so I could up shift to fourth and exit the esses under full power, just lifting slightly to settle the car prior to T14.
T12: Out of the Esses you pass under the bridge and into T12 which is an almost flat out right hander. There is a large section of curbing at the apex but I found it very unstable and stayed off it the rest of the day.
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I found turn 9 the most difficult, or maybe just the easiest to screw up. Twice I did not turn in late and sharp enough and wound up having to cut across the inside of 10. Talk about dust! The times I got out of 9 correctly 10 served as a great slingshot through the subsequent esses.
Monkeywrench
Jedi Trainee
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You can run 10 as a double apex corner or just hug the inside line.
12 should be flat out, but you need to commit to it in a vintage car (tires are crap compared to a decent R-DOT) and you'll need to use all the inside curbing.
12 should be flat out, but you need to commit to it in a vintage car (tires are crap compared to a decent R-DOT) and you'll need to use all the inside curbing.