SimBa

Same here, although I might move away from the 660's next season. They're really good bang for buck, but not the fastest at autocross.

I did hear about the 660+ which is supposed to come out towards the end of the year. Apparently they're going to get rid of the delamination issues and IIRC it might be slightly lighter?

What pressures are you running when hot?

OptionXIII

Here's your competition.

The Raging Heavyweight: A Pro-Touring Camaro - Speedhunters

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Great video, looks like your car is a handful on that track. Looks much shorter/tighter than the track I was at. The looks rippin'! Glad you are able to enjoy it some, even if only on shorter courses for now.

And good work taking FTD!

Z_WAAAAAZ

I'm gonna get crucified for this hahaha. I usually set my tires at 26-28psi cold the night before depending on how hot the next day's gonna be and just run em. I measured 36psi hot last year on a ~80*F day at the track and figured that was in some sort of correct realm since my alignment was pretty dialed at the time my tires weren't wearing unevenly. I need to check pressures more often this year and actually get a pyrometer. I know I should be running uneven cold pressures at certain tracks but never have (looking at you, WSIR).

This is the first I've heard about the RT660+. That'd be awesome not having to worry about delam'ing them anymore. I was thinking I'd grab a set of the Conti Extremecontacts on the next go around since you can get em on TrackDayTire for pretty cheap currently (buy 3 get one free I think).

Holy sh*t. I saw the in-car footage of that thing running at my local kart track but didn't get a good look from the outside. What a machine. No shame in getting smoked by that guy I guess...

My car's a handful at all times due to my subpar driving but thank you! It's definitely a hoot and I'm stoked to rip it even if it's not over 100mph at some big track. I should have the driveshaft in hand for the Getrag swap this week or next, though, and then hopefully it's back to the races!

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

It's OK, we're all amateurs just trying to go fast at the end of the day. I didn't think your driving was bad at all, in fact, it looked quite good. Though you were definitely overdriving a bit, which can be a lot of fun (and makes exciting videos).

I personally feel like my driving went from overdriving to underdriving over the last few years, if you look at my older videos I was really working the car and sliding around everywhere, skidding into braking zones, flying off the track, etc. My PB's have gotten slightly better with no recent offs, and I don't feel like I have to push the car as hard to extract time so I'm taking that as a win. I feel like there's more room to push still, particularly opening up my lines and pushing braking zones deeper, but I'm working back that direction again. Really as long as we're out there getting seat time and having fun there's no shame in any of it.

Thanks for the book recommendations, btw, I'm currently reading Speed Secrets after reading your recommendations.

Z_WAAAAAZ

Quite true! We all gotta take driving seriously but simultaneously remember that we're not being paid for it. A great quote from the foreword in Ian Korf's You Suck at Racing:

"A lot of books on driving are written by professional racers who assume you too want to be a professional racer. Not this book. It's written by a hobbyist who suggests you keep your day job. Besides, it's much more fun being an enthusiastic amateur than a jaded professional (just ask someone in the sex industry)."

I feel like the natural progression in this sport is to go from underdriving, to overdriving, and back to underdriving (but maybe slightly less so?). It's fun as heck when you learn the limits of your car and can slide it around on command. I think it's important to learn, though, that feeling fast and going fast can be two separate things. I'm closer to the tail end of your overdriving stint right now. I usually have one good off every other track day, but am trying to change that. Just because you're pushing it doesn't mean you're improving, learned that from mountain biking and I'm sure you did too haha. I think the last nail in the coffin for me was seeing my fastest lap time at WSIR the last time I was there. It was literally the only lap I didn't have any substantial oversteer corrections on. Felt like I was a little under the limit to be honest.

Glad you picked up Speed Secrets and are enjoying it! It's a great read for only being a 10 or 15 dollar book!

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Oof, that one hit home. I wrecked out so many times the first season or two of riding MTB, good thing I was younger then, but I still have injuries from that era (2010 - 2012 ish). Including a pretty badly broken foot from DH that was a season-ender. I'm more of a AM trail rider now days, but still get after it on the snowboard!

SlowTeg

That go kart track looks like a lot of fun! Ah you inspired me to get off my **** and do some more work on my car. Question for you.. Are you running the OEM front tow hooks or some aftermarket? I got the front bumper on and intercooler in place and I'm going to have to do a lot of ducting.. there are gaps everywhere *sigh* Tired of wrenching and just want to drive.. lol

OptionXIII

I'm not Zak, but I figure I track my car often enough, and overdrive it so regularly, that it's a good courtesy to the track workers to have something ready to go if I do bin it or have a mechanical issue and have to pull over.

I've got a single AWR tow hook/eye up front for ease of access. I didn't remove the other front factory baby tooth so it can be used as a tie down point for towing, and am relying on the stock rear tie down points for track recovery. If they're fishing me out backwards, it's already uglier than I'd like and it's going to take a while regardless of aftermarket tow hook or factory tie down. Plus the lower aftermarket rear hooks become a clearance concern for me. I guess I could cut my bumper to raise up the larger non-OEM tow hook. I thought about painting them red but lets be honest, any corner worker or tow guy at an HPDE event should know where stock Miata tie down points are.

Z_WAAAAAZ

Haha, sounds about right. It's super easy to get excited in the moment and get in over your head, especially racing DH! Hope that foot break didn't result in any lingering issues. I thought upper body injuries sucked (they still do) until breaking my big toe in Brian Head last summer. What a pain in the *** not being able to walk normal for weeks, I cant imagine an actual foot injury!

Yo, thanks Teg! Glad I could be of assistance hahah. I got rid of the OEM tow hooks to use the mounting points for my undertray/splitter. I did, however, bolt in a tow strap and drill a hole in the airdam so I have a way to get towed off track from the front. The weekend I installed it, I got towed off track twice. Money well spent! I went cheap and just grabbed one of these. Hasn't failed me yet.

SimBa

Hmm... YouTube suggested a video to me yesterday and the thumbnail looked oddly familiar.

redursidae

That was fun to watch haha. Thanks for sharing that. He was death gripping enough to need a shake at the end!

Z_WAAAAAZ

Whaaaaaat...? Nah man that can't be me, must be some other guy with the same car

The dude that runs that page is super quick. Stock power NA8 on 225 RS4s with the usual bolt ons and I couldn't drop him at the end. Very humbling hahaha.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Haha, that was a fun video to watch.

Nahh. Driving fast in canyons is about who is more of a jackass vs any talent (or tier of car). That dudes crossing double yellows almost losing his car multiple times to hang with you driving much more reasonably.

Good driving there Zac, I didn't see you cross the double yellows once, maybe slightly on an open corner with good visibility but good lane control.

As a cyclist (both moto and pedal) I hate some of the canyon carving channels, that ***** reckless as ****. A good spirited canyon drive is great fun, but never drive past your vision on public roads.

*old man rant

Z_WAAAAAZ

Thanks, Nate. Having been on both ends (bike and car) as well, I try to keep a decent margin for error in the canyons. You're right about the chaser's driving. I wasn't scrutinizing too hard at first, but he does cross double yellows more than a few times.

Maybe even more importantly, I try to stay away from anywhere that bikes and traffic might be in general. Usually the road we hit in that video is almost completely empty, even on weekends. Seeing even 4 or 5 other cars on that stretch is more than usual.

SimBa

I was going to say the same thing as Fire. "Keeping up" with someone in a scenario like this seems to largely be who is more reckless. If it was on track then it would be more impressive, but on a public road with oncoming traffic I don't think there's much significance in who's faster, regardless of setup.

I've pushed my car further than I should have on public roads before, which I'm sure most people on here would admit to as well. I'm no saint, but there is something to be said about staying in your lane and respecting blind corners.

Having said that, cool to see more footage of your car in action!

curly

iTrader: (25)

If you click on his "I crashed" video, he's doing some pretty stupid stuff just relying on not seeing headlights to see if he's safe. But he doesn't have his face buried in social media on his phone, he's not shooting up schools or fentanyl, or stealing cars, so I can't be too mad at him. I fully expect him to be hung when he kills someone else though.

OptionXIII

Not to pile onto this guy, but even his dad is calling him out haha!

Z_WAAAAAZ

Holy crap, I hadn’t seen that comment! ^^

FWIW, I’d like to make it known that I’m not close friends with the guy filming or condoning that driving. I just sold him my original head unit and figured we might as well meet up at the canyons since I wanted to do some driving anyways that day.

SlowTeg

I won't stand on my podium saying "this kid shouldn't be doing this stuff" as I did plenty of dumb stuff when I was young. The big difference is gopros and social media didn't exist back in the day to record and post me being a dumbass on the internet. It's a fine line to walk posting this stuff on social media because as you said.. all is well, until something bad happens. I remember what it was like being young and poor. Just saying "take it to the track" isn't really feasible for most young people, so I can sympathize.