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DerHase's 2019 GTI Rabbit Edition: HPDE shenanigans

19birel

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pittsburgh
Car(s)
MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
My co-workers with MK7s all swear by the DSG tuning being one of the best mods they did, glad to hear you're enjoying it!

Are you doing the Track Advantage event at VIR on 12/2?
 

DerHase

Autocross Champion
Location
Hampton Roads, VA
Car(s)
2019 GTI Rabbit
My co-workers with MK7s all swear by the DSG tuning being one of the best mods they did, glad to hear you're enjoying it!

Are you doing the Track Advantage event at VIR on 12/2?

No, I'll be there Dec 10-11 for the Tidewater Sports Car Club December to VIRmember event.

https://www.motorsportreg.com/event...rginia-international-raceway-tidewater-343533

Not sure why I'm not showing up on the registration list, but I'll definitely be there. (I used to be an organizer, I think their "purple" upper intermediate group is flagged as "not visible to the public" or something).
 

19birel

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pittsburgh
Car(s)
MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
No, I'll be there Dec 10-11 for the Tidewater Sports Car Club December to VIRmember event.

https://www.motorsportreg.com/event...rginia-international-raceway-tidewater-343533

Not sure why I'm not showing up on the registration list, but I'll definitely be there. (I used to be an organizer, I think their "purple" upper intermediate group is flagged as "not visible to the public" or something).
Oh nice! I was hoping to squeeze an event in this year but reading through the requirements it occurred to me that my helmet is no longer in spec (SA2010 iirc). Maybe I'll just get an inexpensive open face to get by, but i'd rather put that money towards getting a fresh Arai painted up

How's the weather/track conditions at events that late in the year?
 

DerHase

Autocross Champion
Location
Hampton Roads, VA
Car(s)
2019 GTI Rabbit
Oh nice! I was hoping to squeeze an event in this year but reading through the requirements it occurred to me that my helmet is no longer in spec (SA2010 iirc). Maybe I'll just get an inexpensive open face to get by, but i'd rather put that money towards getting a fresh Arai painted up

How's the weather/track conditions at events that late in the year?

It's great for boosted cars 😂

It's been 45F and sunny and it's been 65F out before.

They DO buy weather insurance so if the track is snowed out or iced over (rain doesn't count) you'll get your money back for whichever days it happens. It happened in February of 2021... Saturday was great at like 55F, Sunday a snow storm was scheduled to roll in. So everyone got refunded 50% for those who signed up. This included the hotels on site if you were staying there. Was quite nice (though I'd have liked to have driven more instead).

Also TSCC has a ton of loaner helmets available. Email trackevents@tidewatersportscarclub.com to verify.

I'm also getting ready to buy my son one, so if you wear a size small you're welcome to borrow it for the weekend.

Otherwise Racequip Pro20s are pretty damn nice for the money. The large size is cheap right now too...
https://www.amazon.com/RaceQuip-Hel...mzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0

So far (7) MK7 peeps should be there last time I checked.
 

19birel

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pittsburgh
Car(s)
MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
Hmmm, I think I might have to sign up then haha. I'm just gonna have to roll the dice and wait to do so until my car officially gets its reconstructed title so I know for certain I'll actually be able to drive it down there.

Looks like I'll have to start doing some practice laps on Forza to learn the track some more 😅
 

DerHase

Autocross Champion
Location
Hampton Roads, VA
Car(s)
2019 GTI Rabbit
Ordered some 034 Motorsports lower and upper torque mount inserts and installed this weekend. Was a problem with the initial shipment - they were sent in crappy packaging that ripped open in transit and the upper insert fell out. Emailed 034 (bought directly from them a couple weeks ago), and had a replacement sent and in my hands last Wednesday. Was kind of annoying that their phone support is non-existent, and email took a day to hear back but otherwise their CS was great.

Drove around a bit, my impressions:
-Big difference in on/off throttle change. More direct not feeling the engine/trans swing wildly.
-Wheelspin instead of violent axle hop.
-Nearly zero perceptible change in NVH. Includes reverse/taking off/etc. If there is a difference it's negligible. (edit: there's a tiny bit of added NVH most noticeable when in drive and the vehicle is cold. Slowly gets better as it warms up. Nowhere near as bad as a bone stock Chevy Cobalt though... ha).

Also got a new addition to our family: Roxy. We got Remi almost 2 months ago from a local shelter and he's been awesome. Super good boy, but tons of energy and gets bored when my wife is working from home. He had fun with some family dogs over Thanksgiving which pushed us to get another. So this has been most of my weekend making sure they play nice. She's like a little piglet the way she snorts and almost oinks when she wants food 😂 Farts like a homeless man also. Love her.

Also my wife got me my Christmas gift early: a Garmin Catalyst which I'm looking forward to using in 2 weeks at VIR.

Also have some V730s on the way this week. Not sure if I'll run the 660s or V730s at VIR. The 660s still have at least a couple days in them but part of me wants more comparable data for testing a front sway bar in February (as few other changes as possible). Not buying another set of wheels until next year. At which point doing A B A testing will be more doable for different tires (or sizes).
 

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DerHase

Autocross Champion
Location
Hampton Roads, VA
Car(s)
2019 GTI Rabbit
Had a great weekend with the Tidewater Sports Car Club at the December to VIRmember HPDE!

Was great to see @tigeo in person finally along with a bunch of other MK7 buddies, some from Facebookland and some old friends.

The intercooler: awesome. I never got logging from a full session, but I got a few laps in. I think I have a problem with my dongle or need to update firmware to work with the latest version of Simostools. Not a big deal but in a nutshell IATs were never more than 12-14F over ambient when on throttle. They'd creep up a bit when off throttle of course but go down and stay down to +12-14F. Oil temps never exceeded 245F. Coolant stayed fine at 190-200F.

The sway bar feels great out back. I do think I will go forward with installing the front bar this winter since I already have it. For science. If I hate it in February then the stock front will go back on before a May event.

The Garmin Catalyst: friggin awesome. VERY useful tool for comparing lines and different braking techniques. I still have a lot of work to do myself as a driver as far as getting back to consistently doing the same thing every time. Keeping myself in place in the seat seems to be the biggest issue. Arms and shoulders are so sore :ROFLMAO: I was able to work on individual sections of the track throughout the weekend and it pieces together an "optimal lap" video where you can figure out which ways were fastest.

The main thing is it doesn't tell you what the CAR is capable of... only what YOU have already done. As long as that is understood, and you can feel comfortable pushing yourself and know WHERE you can do it safely, you can figure out what works and what doesn't pretty quickly. I think the value in this thing will be huge in speeding up learning a new track. Try a few different lines and it'll slowly adjust the recommendations to piece together what is a decent goal.

On the APR DSG tune: prior to the event I tested out the manual mode and found out it did NOT auto-upshift as I instructed to... unless you lift off the throttle. Even then it didn't work every single time. I took the car back and had it flashed to run manual with no auto-upshift as I'd rather it be consistent. MAN was it hard to break the habit of letting it upshift itself on the stock tune... At some point I'll have to make a montage of me yelling inside the car "DAMNIT SHIFT" etc as it hits the rev limiter, I remember to hit the paddle, and then it takes FOREVER to complete the shift. Finally on my 4th session on Saturday I started to get a rhythm down... Basically only used 3rd-4th. Stock ECU tune was speed limited to about 121-122mph GPS speed (due to the shorter 245/40R17s).

Here was MY personal fastest actual lap of the weekend, Saturday in session 4:


And a buddy of mine did a slightly faster lap... but there is a TON of time as he blew turn 1 and left some time in the esses... but had a ton of speed on me through South Bend and Hog Pen:


Can't wait to go back in February! Shameless plug in case you're interested in joining in on the fun: https://www.motorsportreg.com/event...rginia-international-raceway-tidewater-120123
 

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19birel

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pittsburgh
Car(s)
MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
Love how the Garmin actually talks to you and gives suggestions on your line, that's rad!

Wish I could have made it to this event but excited to join you all in February!
 

DerHase

Autocross Champion
Location
Hampton Roads, VA
Car(s)
2019 GTI Rabbit
Love how the Garmin actually talks to you and gives suggestions on your line, that's rad!

Wish I could have made it to this event but excited to join you all in February!
Yeah man, it was a great time! @tigeo already signed up. I'll be doing so in the next week or so. If you do it before the end of the year you can save $50 ($525 vs $575 Jan 1).

In other news it took a LOT of getting used to manually upshifting due to the way I was driving the stock DSG tune up until now (letting it auto upshift, only worrying about downshifting as I entered every turn)... It was REALLY hard to unlearn. I spend the first 2.5 sessions figuring out just WTF to do since the car is so darn quiet. This video is from session #2 Saturday only. Don't watch with kids around... it's nothing but cursing every time I hit the limiter followed by a delayed shift.

 

dood.

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Seattle
Car(s)
2017 GTI S DSG
Some great shots. Looks like fun!

Screen Shot 2022-12-19 at 5.30.44 PM.png
 

19birel

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pittsburgh
Car(s)
MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
I might have missed it but have you done anything with the XDS settings?
 

DerHase

Autocross Champion
Location
Hampton Roads, VA
Car(s)
2019 GTI Rabbit
I might have missed it but have you done anything with the XDS settings?

Currently set to "weak" but I think I'm going to completely turn it off before the February event.

I also have straight ahead brake stabilization disabled, hydraulic brake assistant disabled, and one of the brake booster settings adjusted (though I think I'm going to undo that as well, or actually log and test stuff before blindly making changes. There are a lot of interesting things in the ABS module I'd like to play with. For science.

I do have the VAQ diff is set to increased traction as well FYI.
 

19birel

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pittsburgh
Car(s)
MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
Currently set to "weak" but I think I'm going to completely turn it off before the February event.

I also have straight ahead brake stabilization disabled, hydraulic brake assistant disabled, and one of the brake booster settings adjusted (though I think I'm going to undo that as well, or actually log and test stuff before blindly making changes. There are a lot of interesting things in the ABS module I'd like to play with. For science.

I do have the VAQ diff is set to increased traction as well FYI.
Geeze there's a lot of settings in that ABS module! Did you notice a difference with the hydraulic brake assistant disabled?

I'm going to disable XDS soon, I don't mind it on the street but I might as well start getting used to it turned off. I'll turn up the VAQ diff while I'm in there too
 
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