Summit Point Shenandoah In A Miata

Published: August 4, 2015

Old Ram

Trying an apex-to-apex line, I think it is too tight. Hampered by rear sliding out into a drift under trailbraking. Could not soften the car enough.

A good reference point is placing left front tire on the outside corner of the black patch in the middle of the turn. With left front tire over that corner, the car will hit the second apex and be on a good line for early power application.

Hammer

Use the curb to pavement transition/seam/edge to rotate the car, similarly to Summit Point Main turn 5 and Thunderbolt octopus.

Turn 6

Braking point is halfway into the curb on the right side. Car feels excessively loose between turns 6 and 7 which limits how much speed I can carry into turn 6.

Turn 7

Car is sliding and possibly lifting wheels off the ground, not news though.

Turn 11

Bridge straight entry - late braking is crucial because this turn requires trailbraking to rotate the car while on the off-camber portion of the track. Turn in where the diagonal seam for pavement coming out of the bus stop reaches the left edge of the track, and aim for apex curb. Use the curb edge/seam to help rotate the car.

Karussel

Trying faster entries here, need to just brake less. Not seeing change in lap time so far with my maybe-faster-maybe-not entries. I did lose two wheels due to cracked spokes I assume due to driving through Karussel aggressively.

On the exit of the Karussel I do not even need to come out very far on the right with the power the white Miata is making right now.

Turn 16

I left foot brake lightly before the apex in turn 16 to settle the car.

Turn 17

I momentarily get on power between the apex of turn 16 and the apex of turn 17a.

Corkscrew

Trying a center to 1/4 off right side approach into turn 17b. The rear end loses grip under hand braking - the brakes actually clamp down on the tires enough to bring engine rpms to perhaps 2000-3000 range - and the car goes into a drift which is detrimental to lap times. Drifting in this corner costs me at least a second in lap time.

The Loop

I am now quite close to hitting the first apex, and also trying to use the seam at the apex curb to rotate the car. Having strong understeer in this turn.