Track name: thompson speedway road course
Track location: CT
Lap time: 1:24.3
Year/model: '17 GTI
Estimated total vehicle weight with driver: 3300
Estimated wheel horsepower: 230? Stock
Fuel: 93
Tire size and model: 225 kumho v730
Estimated ambient temperature: 80F
Notes on setup (turbo, suspension setup, rain, frightened, etc.): Ohlins MT21. DS2500 front pads and RS3 ducts
Back at Thompson again. First track day with Ohlins MT21 setup. Did a shakedown at miata-cross last weekend where I seemed to stack up a bit better than I normally do against miatas -- but last weekend's course did seem to suck for miatas... Anyway, you might want to know my impressions of the silly ikea dampers. Is the car faster? Well maybe. Overall the off throttle balance has been shifted more towards understeer with the new suspension. The car generally seems less easy to upset and as a result less responsive to trail braking and throttle lift. A more stable setup which seems easier to hit consistent lap times. Its really hard to say what the pace difference might be given so many variable changes, but I would suspect at the upper estimate its something like an improvement of ~1s on a 1.7 mile road course like Thompson. But is the car more fun to drive? No not really its fine though. Ran the dampers set to 6 clicks rear and 7 clicks front, what I ran at autox, for the first session and it was way too stiff and struggled especially in one bumpy braking section-backed off to 11 front 10 rear but when I go back I am gona try full soft
The run group didn't have too many cars in it. Really just a few Porsche Caymans and way too many miatas. Frequently I would have 5 minute stretches where I didn't see any other cars. Then my car would get properly heat soaked from all the fun I was having and then I would do a cool down lap...and when ready for the next hot lap a wild miata would appear. Additionally, a connector on my jank GPS broke in the afternoon so I only timed in the morning. Regardless, of the sessions I timed, I went 2s faster than last time I was here. I suspect the afternoon sessions had a few better fliers but how quick who knows; all the more reason to come back another time. So out of that 2s improvement how much is tires, suspension, driver? Your guess is as good as mine
One fun thing that did happen is someone walked by my car and snitched to the event organizer that I am running on cords. I am most definitely not running on cords. The event organizer did diligence and did a full inspection of my kumhos. pic related.
View attachment 220637
One more fun thing. Porsche Cayman GT4s are insanely capable. Getting absolutely roasted by one that is avoiding apexes with wanton abandon is really something:
Lastly here is my video with overlay:
But I appreciate this thread so I figured I’d add some data points.