ITS at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), 1st event

[NoVA_Teggy]

I haven't been here in forever but I'm at VIR today and tomorrow. So far, PB was 2:16.90 on the full course. 120 MPH up the esses in both the CTR and ITS requires balls of steel but I managed to do it. Scary but as long as you hit the gators, you'll stay on. Just don't lift when you get to the top just before turn 10. 4th gear, light braking, apex then full throttle!

Perfect track day too. Couldn't quite get back to the 2:16's in the afternoon and consistently ran 2:17-2:19. Some of that was due to traffic, but it was also quite a bit hotter in the afternoon.

I'm headed back tomorrow for about half a day then I'm gonna take the Teggy back to NoVA. Gotta work on Thursday so no time for a full day.

Unfortunately, there was a black CTR that went off track and left with some battle scars and an oil slick that had to be cleaned up. Otherwise, pretty uneventful day.

Hope you guys are doing well!

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[StingertimeNC]

Hey, good stuff. I'm headed back for a 3 day event starting Friday. Going to be 10 or so CTR's there. Staying with my buddy @pointbypatrol.

Great times! I haven't broken 2:20 yet. Really hoping to knock that out this trip. I'm still running summer tires, and I do not have balls of steel, LOL.

Even on summer tires I should be able to run a 2:15, just tough to get comfortable.

You can run a 2:15 and still only go into the esses at 115 and come out at 105 through turn 9. I also need to get more comfortable in turn 10, at 85mph or so. It's all coming at you kind of fast and it's so easy to make a mistake. But if you hit apexes and braking points you don't need to be balls to the wall to run good times. It's just hard to put it all together.

What's your top speed prior to braking for oak tree? I'm topping out at about 100mph there. (not consistently depending on turn 10 of course.)

All that being said, I'm kind of conservative which is why I'm so slow.

I assume you had no issues with coolant temps or anything else noticeable?

Hope to get out there at the same time some day.

My next trip to VIR will likely be the Trackdaze event on Halloween. (two day event) It's the only time of year I get to run Grand Course.

 

[NoVA_Teggy]

Just got back not long ago. The track was pretty wet for a while today but dried out a bit and I was right back at 2:16-2:18 for the rest of the day. I loaded up early and left so I missed a few sessions, but didn't wanna start making mistakes because I was already tired and wanted to tow the car home in one piece.

As for turn 10, I'm usually around 75-80 MPH, and I'm usually around 95-100 MPH before braking into Oak Tree. I carry a lot more speed into it now because I brake around 2-1 uphill. Helps slow the car down quite a bit.

But when I get to the top of the esses just before turn 10, I bleed off some speed. That seems to be the spot where FWD cars can easily crash and RWD cars spin out. For us FWD guys, too much speed and too much understeer in that spot will inevitably lead to a bad day. I'm more afraid of that spot than the esses.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Cool, glad you made it out in one piece. We're similar in speeds in that area. Turn 9 (last right at the top of the esses, the car gets a little light, so I find it scary to go much over 100 there. Gotta keep the throttle down a little to keep the rear end planted. I definitely carry maintenance throttle through the esses, but because it's up hill, I still end up shedding pace. The car should be able to handle 110 all the way through, but just scary.

Right before turn 10, downshift to 4th, shed about 15 mph, then back on throttle after turn in for 10. Keep the rear planted.

Friday will be exhausting, we have six-25 min sessions plus 45 min open track. Then Sat and Sun 4 more sessions each. Plenty of seat time. Hope to improve some and get home safely!

 

[NoVA_Teggy]

Be safe out there and break that 2:20 barrier!

 

[StingertimeNC]

Be safe out there and break that 2:20 barrier!

I did it today!! Ran two consecutive laps at 2:17.5 and 2:17.6 in my second morning session.
Basically ran between 2:19 and 2:21 best times for the rest of the day. Track and tires got hot and car was more loose all afternoon.
Good progress though. Kind of excited to try 200 TW tires soon.
There are like 15 CTR’s here too.
Fun day 1.
Everyone was safe.

 

[evanescent03]

I can visualize a whole lap of LS clearly in my head but everyone always comments how crazy the corkscrew elevation change is, and how no video game prepares you for the reality.

Corkscrew is like driving off a building … I definitely blew it a time or two by not getting set up properly … I also was watching for the sidelines when a caged Mustang blew the braking zone coming into the corkscrew and went straight off .. lots of tires there but destroyed his car. Yikes.

epic track though and highly recommend. I imagine it’s even better now that they’ve resurfaced it!

couple pics bombing down with my blue Camaro and 718S. The way the car bottoms out the suspension at the dip is definitely interesting! Ahhhh those were the days ? I miss it out there

 

[evanescent03]

I did it today!! Ran two consecutive laps at 2:17.5 and 2:17.6 in my second morning session.
Basically ran between 2:19 and 2:21 best times for the rest of the day. Track and tires got hot and car was more loose all afternoon.
Good progress though. Kind of excited to try 200 TW tires soon.
There are like 15 CTR’s here too.
Fun day 1.
Everyone was safe.

Nice.!

what pads were you on? I’m going to Watkins Glen in July and Summit in August… need to get pads and considering upgrading the pilot sport 4S but may just obliterate them and then change to “prevent waste”…

 

[StingertimeNC]

Running Paragon R5 front, P3 rear and Motul RBF 660 fluid. It's doing the job nicely and had no issues bedding the brakes in nicely before the track.

 

[NoVA_Teggy]

I did it today!! Ran two consecutive laps at 2:17.5 and 2:17.6 in my second morning session.
Basically ran between 2:19 and 2:21 best times for the rest of the day. Track and tires got hot and car was more loose all afternoon.
Good progress though. Kind of excited to try 200 TW tires soon.
There are like 15 CTR’s here too.
Fun day 1.
Everyone was safe.

Awesome! I experienced the same fate in my afternoon sessions. I made a few more 2:16 runs but the warmer it got, the more time I started to lose.

Wish I could have made it out for the TSCC event. I'll for sure be at the next Ken Kirkham event (my personal fav run group) in October and hopefully get down there for Dave's Race in September.

I love to see that we're well represented at VIR. The word's getting out about the DE5. I know whenever I'm there and I'm the lone wolf FWD car in a run group, I get quite a few visits in the paddock asking "What kinda car is this???? An Integra?" LoL

 

[StingertimeNC]

Yep as usual I’m the only Integra here. Lots of positive attention from folks.

today Ben from Gears and Gasoline drove Ben from Pointbypatrol’s car and ran a 2:07.

During the parade lap, we got myself and the 15 CTR’s all there on track together, and gears and gasoline had their cameraman filming from the back of a media car,as we all went around the track together. It was actually very cool. I’m the lone D5. That stuff will be on gears and gasoline’s YouTube channel within a week or so I suspect. It was quite the scene to all be on track two and three wide.

Super fun day meeting all the guys from the Civic forum.

This was at our Airbnb afterwards.

 

[NoVA_Teggy]

Yep as usual I’m the only Integra here. Lots of positive attention from folks.

today Ben from Gears and Gasoline drove Ben from Pointbypatrol’s car and ran a 2:07.

During the parade lap, we got myself and the 15 CTR’s all there on track together, and gears and gasoline had their cameraman filming from the back of a media car,as we all went around the track together. It was actually very cool. I’m the lone D5. That stuff will be on gears and gasoline’s YouTube channel within a week or so I suspect. It was quite the scene to all be on track two and three wide.

Super fun day meeting all the guys from the Civic forum.

This was at our Airbnb afterwards.

This is awesome man. I'll have to shoot you my contact info. I'd love to join you guys for the next track day.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Yep, will do.

Here's a vid from my best lap to date. Finally making some progress. Ran tons of laps in the 2:18's and 4 lap's in the 2:17's. Overall I can consistently run sub 2:20 now as long as track temps aren't too high. Looking forward to a fall event where daytime temps are a bit cooler. The morning sessions this time were great though.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Bonus Vid of me following one of the Civic Forum guys that came to the event. Awesome group of guys. This was his first time at this track so he's taking it kind of easy. Just a blast to follow him around.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Thought I would also share a couple pics of the group too.

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