Man Fastivus was friggin awesome! I was a bit sad that it got moved from Shenandoah to Jefferson circuits at Summit Point... but honestly I'm glad now because that track is a ton of fun as well. Not quite as technical so I was feeling really comfortable on it in my 3rd (last) session. Here's a video where I managed a 1:26.1 with my dad riding in the passenger seat.
As far as changes to the car go since last time on track:
- DO88 intercooler: Absolutely worth it. Notice the laptimes in the video? No real discernible difference even 4 laps in. Unfortunately I was an idiot and didn't have my Simos logger going... I was kind of focused on getting my dad sorted out to ride along and just focusing on learning a new track. I DID get temp data from session 2 but no video (well kind of... it's just my dad's reaction from the passenger seat).
- DS3.12 fronts now paired with DS1.11 rears (previously DS2500 rear): Way better. After a lap or two in and stuff gets up to temp they just plain work. My pedal did get a bit softer in the second session but never degraded further after that regardless of how hard I pushed the car. With my dad riding along in sessions 2 + 3 I was still giving ample room and braking early. I think next year at the advice of Don at TMI (the VIR race shop) I'm going to give AP Racing R4 fluid a try for next season.
It was my dad's first time on track (just as a passenger though) and loved it! Was great spending time with him and meeting a bunch of VW enthusiasts. Lots of cool and unique stuff... I was taking some detailed pics of the GTI TCR car... interesting things to note: DSG but no cooler required, has a factory radiator, obviously has the relocated intercooler, but the key takeaway is DUCTING to keep it cool. It has basically a loosely fitting fan with zero shrouding on the backside of the radiator. Eliminate all restrictions in the cooling path while it's moving at speed. Spoke with Dave at New German Performance quite a bit about it... very very cool car.
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