[cdb95z28]

Good stuff Matt! I was good talking to you, your brother and friends. How'd your brother do in the big dog ZL1 1LE?

That was my first time at COTA and first time at another track other than my home track, Pitt Race. I have about 12 years experience tracking 3 different Camaros (edit: after this weekend, 4 Camaros!). I'm 50 and I'm still learning. COTA is actually a great place to explore these cars with the long sweeping 16-18 (turning the car with throttle), any of the super tight slow corners and the esses of 3-5. I spent about 10 hours on Forza 7 running COTA in a Spec Miata. This was invaluable for me as I learned the track. I was immediately comfortable on Saturday and I kept getting faster. I'm usually a slow learner but COTA felt so good to me. I want to get back with my own car! Even my best lap is full of opportunities for knocking off time. I have a buddy who works for GM and while he drives a "slower on paper" M6 SS 1LE he is consistently 2 seconds faster than I am. And looking for those two seconds gets us looking at very small areas of differences in the corners. Little adjustments can yield big time. If it was easy everyone would be fast.

For sure deeper braking can help as long as you are staying in the throttle longer and you don't over brake thru the entry and center of the corner. Of all aspects of track driving, I love braking the most. The car I was driving had Ferodo DS 1.11 pads. This is the same compound I run on my BCD equipped '22 SS 1LE A10. I run the typical non copper free ZL1 pad shapes. There are lots of threads on this here on the forums. Just google "copper free brake pads camaro6.com" and you'll find lots info.

With the a track alignment and fresh DOT 4 fluid, these cars are so approachable to drive fast. I tell people as long as you don't do anything foolish, the limit of grip is easily found. Very progressive ramp up to that point.