elmerrox

dang nice you hit 130! must be a fun feeling.

DaWhole9

Just about EVERY racetrack in SoCal has open track days...California Speedway may have stopped...2 guys in a Porsche Carrera GT were killed a few years back and there are still legal battles raging from this as the track workers may have been negligent....But Willow Springs, is proably the closest...they have a few configurations from a small windy track to the full fledged big boy track with the LONG straight.....

carchitect

iTrader: (1)

Troy, thanks for the pics and vids. We had a blast. I hate that you got a ticket on the way there. We had a blast in H-town for the rest of it too. Your car is running on eibachs and for that reason is a lot more planted than mine. the body roll as you can see is a lot more than I'd like for it to be. There are way to improve here and I might look into it in the future. This track is somewhat difficult to sync to yourself since its so long and has 2 long straights and a couple short ones. The banking is is good locations except for the non-existent transition from the front (longest) straight going into turn #1. The dip there would limit most on the Z06 owners from pushing their cars since most of them have lowered those cars significantly. The vid of me on the turn shows how much body roll one can experience. My IS350 has the sport suspension and is currently running Pilot sport PS2s the grip on this track is good but not what I consider excellent. If I were to do this back to back (I plan to on my supra) I would certainly dedicate a road race set of wheels and tires. As mentioned above, I did expect to have the brakes fade on me but they didn't. The tires did loose traction after i drove the vehicle harder and harder. There were a lot of guys on the track who were also getting themselves familiarized with the track so keeping the distance was important to me. For this reason I elected not to rent the beacon/transmitter setup. If I had more experience with this track I certainly would use that setup to help me gain consistency and reduce my times. Not to mention I would've run with the advanced group.

We had 4 sessions of 30 mins each. Between sessions other groups ran. So cars and driver's had rest time and ability to make changes and if possible review the runs. The instructor really helped out with coaching us with the ideal lines to follow.

I feel the sport suspension is great for everyday driving but during these driving events one can find their limitations. My instructor mentioned to me that the single largest improvement one could do to improve their time would be to reduce the weight. The IS350's suspension is light so unsprung weight being as low as it is really helped out when entering and exiting those bumpy corners. But the vehicle's heavy weight does play a toll on how fast the vehicle exits those curves. And it does understeer more than I'd like. Since my car is stock aside for the Lexus HKS exhaust, I loved the way it held its ground against a lot of other cars. I couldn't touch the supras and Z06s but I did give a turbo awd carrera a lot of hell as I was eating him up in the turns. The straights his 450hp turbocharged powerplant was lot more than the 306hp IS350's 2GR to handle. My instructor was more impressed with the interior of the car than the outside. He was shocked with the way the stability control was not upsetting the balance of the vehicle when it kicked in and out. He also noticed how it had the ability to apply individual wheel braking as a passenger.

Since I've driven the IS-F, there could be way to improve the IS350. Stiffer springs and shocks (HKS hypermax III) and sways could help out here. I would expect the IS-F to perform better than the IS350 but not so much better in the turns. I found myself shifting back and forth from 3rd to 4th. The F uses more gears to needless to say, you maybe using more gears throught the track. The F is also much heavier with a weight balance more forward so enter the turn from the back straight could be difficult. The same tire footprint means the grip won't be better. The benefit I could see would be the reduced height and stiffer spring rate. I'll find out more when I drive the F on a road course in a few weeks.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

I heard the Z-06's ran fastest and SW beat Andi Baritchi this time. Wish I could have been there. Not this year...next for sure, with the Supra though...

Drunkebuda

man that looks like fun

vboy418

looks like a ton of fun!!!

combfilter

iTrader: (3)

The z06's were killing it out there. Seriously, I was so impressed by them.

combfilter

iTrader: (3)

yeah it was a great time guys. We had a blast. My headlights have pit marks/debris marks all over them. Lucky my color doesn't show much on the paint. Windshield is pitted like a ****. Oh well, it was worth it.


oh yeah and one other thing. passport vs v1 ???? hahah it doesn'tmatter.. I had an 8500 and carchitect has a v1. We both caught a couple of signals on the way down about the same time; however, when a cop uses "auto on" and you are the lead IS, guess what happens??? yep, you get the ticket. 79 in a 65 (i forgot the speed limit drops from 70 to 65 at night)..DOH!

carchitect

iTrader: (1)

SW did indeed take the trophy home. That guy can drive like no one else. It was a lot of fun. I hope to make a lot of progress on the supra soon and get it on this track next year.

projectdna

iTrader: (56)

looks awesome. good to see some 2is track action; shows that the 2is (especially the is350) is not just another plush lexus.