VIR with TSCC: May 2024
Great friends, great weather, great times
I’m going to try something a little bit different for this trip report and essentially just narrate the entire weekend rather than just assessing the car, let me know what you think.
All photo credit for the on-track shots goes to AJ Allen Photography!
Chaos leading up to the event
If you saw the last trip report, you know that I had the subframe out of the car prior to that event, and immediately destroyed the Whiteline LCA bushings in under 24hrs at the autocross. This means I had effectively 3 days to drop the subframe again and changes the bushings out between the autocross on 5/19, and leaving for the Tidewater Sports Car Club Memorial Day HPDE on 5/23.
So I busted ass and dropped the subframe for the second time in a week, bled the brakes, swapped the DS3.12s and DS1.11s on for track, and put a few other little tidbits on the car that would hopefully help with the brake cooling. I reinstalled some old/used MK8 rear lower control arm bushings to get through the weekend (which are closer to solid than OEM MK7 bushings). My BFI bushings were already showing signs of tearing, and the MK8 GTI/R bushings have very small voids which allow for the needed flex up and down for suspension travel.
For a quick recap of changes since VIR in February (bolded), here’s a list of how the car was set up for this event:
I left for VIR on Thursday a bit early from work. Got in around 6pm, hung out and helped run the tech inspection line. Unlike most events in the past, I even managed to get to bed at a reasonable time every night prior to driving, which I think is the #1 reason I have a hard time putting a decent lap together when I’m there. It’s no fun driving when you know you’re not as sharp as you should be.
Friday
There’s something truly special about the early mornings at VIR. The sun rises, the fog dissipates revealing the track and it’s surroundings. The place is full of history and it’s almost a haunting feeling when you stop to think about it.
Friday was for intermediate solo/advanced/instructors only, plus TSCC was doing some experimental/fun Time Trial sessions as well. I didn’t bother running TT since I was mainly just trying to improve myself, and had the Garmin Catalyst to accomplish that. I DID throw my autocross tires on (245/40R17 Bridgestone RE71RS on 17x9 Konig Hypergrams) to see if I could throw down a decent lap on them, and just feel them out on track a bit. The track was a bit damp from rain the night prior but basically dry when I went out. I pulled off a 2:13.72 after 4 laps of traffic, and found that the RE71RS were basically a one, maybe two lap wonder. They felt really good for those laps, but realistically I just needed to get as much seat time as possible. So I changed them out for the V730s the remainder of the weekend, which don’t “fall off” nearly as quickly.
We had some rain and lightning mid-day which caused missing one session, but the track dried out quickly so the V730s weren’t even an issue there. It was a pretty consistent 80-82F ambient temp the entire day which is never great for making power. I was down a few mph on the back straight vs February, but still faster than my 2:12.55 personal best from May of 2023. I spent the majority of Friday just focusing on regaining my confidence pushing speeds in the esses… which was a LOT easier with the ball joint and bump steer correction changes. The car now doesn’t have any kind of side to side shimmy when hitting curbs, etc. I was in a rush to get the car together so did not take formal measurements, but it is blatantly visible when watching the car get lifted or lowered on the Quickjacks - to be shared in a future article.
Friday evening ended with getting some dinner with friends at the Oak Tree Tavern, and getting to bed at a reasonable time. Which rarely ever happens.
Saturday
Saturday was spent focusing on getting my student, Marvin up to speed in his Fiesta ST. This was his first real HPDE (though he has done some track-cross events and does lots of autocross regularly). It was kind of bittersweet instructing in that thing since it’s on the same chassis as the Mazda2 that preceded my GTI. They are super nimble and turn in really well.
My right-seat ride for the weekend
The entire first day was spent primarily working on recognizing the flag stations, getting the general line down, smoothing out inputs, learning visual cues for turn in/brake markers, and trusting that the back side of T10/South Bend wouldn’t move while we were approaching. It’s a VERY intimidating corner and video really doesn’t do it justice. You just have to commit to it because you can only see corner entry, with the exit curbing hiding behind the hill until you’re cresting it at 80-90mph.
As for my OWN driving, I managed to go 0.01 sec slower than Friday with a best time of 2:13.73 in the first session of the day before it got dumb-hot out at just shy of 90F. I wasn’t pushing super hard because I knew I needed to just get more consistent in my trouble areas. I got a bunch of laps in throughout the day though, and my top-3 lap time consistency was getting better (0.53% was my best session). I was just working hard on getting comfortable in the esses and in T10 again now that I could really start pushing the car. I had lost a LOT of confidence due to the bump steer issues last time. I also gave a bunch of ride-alongs to novices/spectators which is always fun to do as well.
Marvin’s last session of the day ended well, carrying more speed and being more familiar with the flag stations, etc. He was getting comfortable tossing the car around the blind corners and we probably doubled our speed in T10 vs the first session of the day. We had a short download session afterwards and went over how we’d find a lot more speed the next day since there won’t be as many “unknowns”. This is something I’ve seen time and time again when instructing. He would be starting a new day already knowing where he’s going on track, with the driving line mostly down, aware of where the flag stations are, and he would know what the car feels like at higher speeds now. Starting a new day not having all of those things to worry about is HUGE for being comfortable in pushing the car.
There is SO MUCH info to take in on your first track day, that you really need to have some time to let everything sink in to really reflect on overnight. Novices’ second days always seem to start out really strong in my experience if they can get the basics down on day one.
Marvin’s Fiesta ST
The plate reads “Tomagotchi” and makes me giggle every time I see it.
About 10 min after the track went cold, we got to do a track walk with Nathan Bunn, who has thousands and thousands of laps at VIR. I’ve done this once before - and HIGHLY recommend everybody to do a track walk any time you get the chance. You can see SO much more than what you do when driving, even slowly around the track.
After hitting 20,000 steps for the day on the track walk, a bunch of us made our way back to the garages, grilled out some burgers and hot dogs, and bullshitted for several hours. Really getting to sit back, socialize, and relax like this hasn’t really happened in a while - we’re normally trying to fix something, or do a bunch of work to the cars, etc. It was really great to just relax. Anybody who wandered by was welcome to pull up a chair and hang out, and there was a pretty regular filtering of people in and out as the night went on. This was probably my favorite memory as far as non-driving times of the weekend go.
Sunday Morning - First Session
Sunday was a little bit cooler starting out at ~70F, increasing to 78F quickly. I originally came to the track this weekend with the goal of shooting for a 2:11, maybe 2:10 lap time. My previous PB was a 2:12.55 run this same time last year in 65F weather. I still had the Kumho V730s on the car and thought about throwing the RE71RS on, but decided against it. I just needed to drive the car and focus on my line and pushing the braking zones. I decided I’d stay out for the full session, doing a single push lap followed by a cool-down lap or two as necessary.
I was running my higher boost tune in this session (28psi tapered to 17psi at 6500), which is comparable to most stage 1 or 2 IS20 tunes. It generates a LOT of heat quickly, oil temps can go from 230 to 280 in a lap and a half. Due to this, it’s basically a one-lap-wonder when driven hard. I would use the Switchpatch map switching to revert to my lower boost tune for the cool down laps, then change back to my spicier boost tune on the back straight, bomb into Rollercoaster and try to get a decent run out of Hog Pen. You want to start with as much speed as possible when you start a quick lap attempt.
So how did it go? Not quite as planned, but I was glad I stuck it out. The V730s were at 25psi and 29psi cold for the out lap, so I wasn’t going to go straight to beating on the car on lap 1. I got focused, drove my target line at a slower pace while warming up the tires with a 2:28.21, then on the back straight, set up to make a fast lap attempt on lap 2 - which didn’t start off great with a poor exit from Hog Pen, and the car was dancing all over the place coming hot into T1 - I think the tires were still not fully up to their target pressures (35F/33R psi hot). So I knew this wasn’t going to be THE lap already, so I just drove at 8/10ths pace to get some heat in the tires and stick to the line.
Down the back straight I noticed that the Catalyst was searching for satellites and I may have yelled a few choice words. I was still feeling out the car’s grip overall and could tell it still wasn’t all there in Hog Pen. Oil temps went from 220F to 258F in a single lap, and it was taking a little while to come back down in temp, so I took 2 more cool-down laps in a row. I went for another push on lap #5 and managed a new personal best… by 0.01 seconds. Cool, I guess.
I ran a 2:12.54. I was kind of disappointed at this point, thinking there’s no way I was going to get a 2:11 at this rate, but at the same time the weather wasn’t going to be getting any cooler for the rest of the day. I was torn between taking the car in and staying out. Oil temps were up to 265F so I took another cool down lap as I debated with myself and then decided I was just going to keep driving.
New Personal Best - Finally!
So I took one more cool down lap, and then started pushing out of Hog Pen, which admittedly was a pretty poor exit causing me to start the 7th lap about 4mph below ideal. I braked into T1, and screwed up by getting to the throttle a tad too soon, lifted, and the car tucked in further pinching off my exit of T1… so I hugged the right side of the track and just kept going. I glanced at the Catalyst and saw that I was still time-ahead of my PB, so I just went with it. I carried decent speed into T3 (though there is still more to be had), and then nailed T4a/4b by eating ALL the curb, which set me up through 5a/5b and entered the Bridge Straight about -0.5 sec ahead of the 2:12.54 a couple laps prior.
I continued on up the Climbing Esses, carrying more speed again, and turned in for T10/South Bend and the car stepped out and 4-wheel drifted as I let out a “whoa” cresting the hill. T10 got pinched off a bit and due to the slide I ended up not using the exit curbing like normal.
At this point, I’m hauling ass into Oak Tree and see my buddy Heiko up ahead in his red Cayman. I didn’t want to run right into the back of him, so I braked more softly over a longer distance as I was running calculations in my head that would allow me to maintain momentum on corner exit while getting by him without hurting my line too much. He gave a funny point-by over the roof, and I think realized I was carrying a lot more speed on exit and he moved over and pointed to the left which helped me out with no more than a little wiggle to get straight again.
This wasn’t my best run out of Oak Tree, but considering the point-by it wasn’t that bad. I made my way down the back straight, roughly -0.9 sec ahead of my prior PB as I enter the braking zone for Rollercoaster. I start braking from 136mph from between the 1 and the 2 marker. Still pretty conservative and COULD have pushed a bit further, but this is HPDE and nobody is winning anything. I ease off the pedal so I can trail down towards the right hand apex and the car pushed a bit wide. Normally I’m aiming to hop the curb. I’m back on the throttle quickly and breath off for a second so I can hit the left curb in T15 and back to WOT down the short downhill straight.
At 93mph I went a car length past the right side curbing before turning in for Hog Pen/16a. I didn’t use as much left hand curbing as I could have, but it was still moving at a reasonable pace. Another quick brush of the brakes on the downhill between 16a and 16b, nailed the right inside curb of 16b and immediately back to full throttle as the car “hops” down into the divot at the base of the hill. Throttle out and enter the front straight as I glance over at the Catalyst to see I’m now 1.3 sec up from my prior PB.
I crossed the line with a 2:11.23… finally a year later making a real improvement over my 2:12.55 last year. I honestly have been feeling a bit burnt out on driving and stuff for a while now, and really needed this.
The rest of Sunday
At this point I was happy - the weekend with friends was great, I accomplished my primary driving goal, and was fine taking the rest of the day easy. So I re-focused my attention back to Marvin.
We had a great first session of the day, he was getting to be far more consistent. This allowed us to start pushing braking zones and fine tuning some lines. In one of his sessions, we went out and the car overheated… we forgot to turn the AC off when leaving the pits - oops! The car went into limp mode to protect itself as we were were in the esses, so we kind of coasted up the hill and then down the backside of T10 pulling off into the grass to let the car cool down. After a couple minutes he restarted the car and we drove across the field, after being given the OK by a corner worker after Oak Tree. We drove across the back straight and made an exit through South Paddock back to North Paddock.
I had another buddy, Ben of Point By Patrol there, whose CTR wreck video went viral not too long ago. This was his first event back on track since then, and took the opportunity to do a few easy laps with him, as he had some questions about my line, etc. Definitely check out his Youtube channel if you get a chance!
Marvin and I finished out one or two more sessions after lunch, and I packed everything back up into the GTI and drove home to Newport News. Had a nice uneventful drive home, listening to the It’s Not the Car Podcast… which I highly recommend if you’re into that kind of thing.
So what about the changes to the car?
In short, I think the setup isn’t really going to get screwed with. It works well. The car is easy to drive fast.
Bump stops: The bump stop change doesn’t let the car slam in daily driving, and it’s a very soft engagement so you can still slam the curbs without issue. I was debating going back to OEM springs (or try some from a Golf R), though since ride height was not a concern… I’m going to leave that as-is.
Ball joint/bump steer correction: Going from the 034 ball joints (has about 17mm of RC correction and -1.2 deg camber) to the Whiteline ball joints (approx 7mm of RC correction and only -0.5 deg camber) AND the bump steer sleeves (lowers outer tie rod by approx 6mm) AND the Powerflex offset LCA camber bushings (gains back another -0.6 deg of camber) was incredible as far as how the car feels at speed. It’s more stable under braking, more stable at higher speeds, and more importantly doesn’t have any “teetering” type feeling when riding curbs on corner exit. I had considered trying the 034 ball joints w/ the bump steer correction sleeves, but after measuring the relative height differences of everything, I wanted to go for a drastic change in bump steer to see if the effect was noticeable… and it was. There will be a future article/video going over all the specifics, with measurements and everything. Would I like a bit more camber? Yeah. But I don’t think it’s absolutely vital at this point. -3.4 deg is pretty healthy. One bad side effect of the Whiteline ball joints is I did lose a ton of caster. They are not offset forward like the OEM ball joints (and 034) are. And since I had the bushing failure right before VIR, I had to throw OEM rear LCA bushings in, where some offset caster correcting bushings would be far better. I think I’ll probably end up biting the bullet and buying some spherical rear LCA bushings. It’s really the only thing that will hold up for a reasonable amount of time IMO.
Brake cooling stuff: The Girodiscs are the real deal. I was hoping to see a change in temperature paint shades, but I didn’t have any kind of brake issues all weekend. No soft pedal, no glazing of pads, etc. It’s entirely possible that the lack of temperature difference was because I was able to get on them much harder than before. It’s much harder to quantify the Golf R fender liners, the new bigger brake scoops, and the backing plates… but I’m not melting speed sensors or ball joints, and the brakes feel fantastic so I’ll call that a win. Once I get a few more events on this setup, I’ll be better able to assess if there’s an increase in pad life, etc. and probably write a follow-up brake article. I am doubtful that they will “save money” due to the high cost vs Zimmerman blanks, but they definitely give you a bit more headroom if you’re really pushing the brakes on track.
