[beworthy3]

Doing my first event at Watkins glen this weekend. Have been pretty excited for it. I've watched the ASM track tips video a few times. Very helpful but was wondering if anybody had some tips or points of interest with experience with our cars. Doesn't have to be elaborate or anything like that.

Ive done 16 days so far, mostly at NJMP. Did one Pocono mega course. Car is basically stock, got camber plates and some SPL parts.

Thanks!

[Patriot Motorsports USA]

Just pay attention to taking it slow... find a car like a Miata that is using momentum and just follow his/her line. Do not worry about power, that will come later. I have had more fun driving slow cars fast than fast cars being slow because they were trying to kill me!

Take care of the tires and always focus on giving your brakes the best fluid, Castrol SRF which is the standard all others are measured by. Stay hydrated and eat some fruit, bananas and such to keep your focus.

[Joshinator99]

Originally Posted by Patriot Motorsports USA

Just pay attention to taking it slow... find a car like a Miata that is using momentum and just follow his/her line. Do not worry about power, that will come later. I have had more fun driving slow cars fast than fast cars being slow because they were trying to kill me!

Take care of the tires and always focus on giving your brakes the best fluid, Castrol SRF which is the standard all others are measured by. Stay hydrated and eat some fruit, bananas and such to keep your focus.

Sounds like great advice to me!

[N Camarolina]

I did WG for the first time last year, with about 26 days behind me at the time. Here were some of my take aways:

1) Have a healthy respect for the walls. They are often never far away
2) Be wary of the curbing at bus stop (both at entry and in the chicane) - it is very high and not worth running over
3) You can really have fun attacking and trail braking turn 1 because there's lots of run-off in case you are a little too fast. Bear in mind though the approach is down hill, so will take longer to scrub speed than you think.
4)The banked right hander in the boot section is tons of fun because it is fairly deep. So you can scrub extra speed if entry is a little too fast
5) If raining, there will be many sizable puddles on left side of track all the way down the long straight in the boot section (just after the banked right hander), as well as the length of the front straight. Avoid these at all costs by staying on the right side of the track
6) The gearing in the M6 doesn't work the best for the last 2 turns of the circuit, as you get near the rev limiter on approach in 3rd gear in both cases (thus high engine RPM all the way through that section). Same problem with the carousel section after bus stop (very long right hander at high rpm if you do it in 3rd). Running most of that part in 4th helps decrease abuse on the engine, but acceleration will suffer a bit. No big deal though if goal is learning the track and having fun.
7) Really fun track over all. Have fun!

[beworthy3]

Originally Posted by Patriot Motorsports USA

Just pay attention to taking it slow... find a car like a Miata that is using momentum and just follow his/her line. Do not worry about power, that will come later. I have had more fun driving slow cars fast than fast cars being slow because they were trying to kill me!

Take care of the tires and always focus on giving your brakes the best fluid, Castrol SRF which is the standard all others are measured by. Stay hydrated and eat some fruit, bananas and such to keep your focus.

This is going to be the first time im doing 2 days at a track so I will be pretty patient when im out there. Will not be trying to set my best times once I get on track or anything like that.

W for the SRF. This is my third season using the castrol. Probably wont ever use anything else

[beworthy3]

Originally Posted by N Camarolina

I did WG for the first time last year, with about 26 days behind me at the time. Here were some of my take aways:

1) Have a healthy respect for the walls. They are often never far away
2) Be wary of the curbing at bus stop (both at entry and in the chicane) - it is very high and not worth running over
3) You can really have fun attacking and trail braking turn 1 because there's lots of run-off in case you are a little too fast. Bear in mind though the approach is down hill, so will take longer to scrub speed than you think.
4)The banked right hander in the boot section is tons of fun because it is fairly deep. So you can scrub extra speed if entry is a little too fast
5) If raining, there will be many sizable puddles on left side of track all the way down the long straight in the boot section (just after the banked right hander), as well as the length of the front straight. Avoid these at all costs by staying on the right side of the track
6) The gearing in the M6 doesn't work the best for the last 2 turns of the circuit, as you get near the rev limiter on approach in 3rd gear in both cases (thus high engine RPM all the way through that section). Same problem with the carousel section after bus stop (very long right hander at high rpm if you do it in 3rd). Running most of that part in 4th helps decrease abuse on the engine, but acceleration will suffer a bit. No big deal though if goal is learning the track and having fun.
7) Really fun track over all. Have fun!

1. My first note to myself was keep it out the walls lol.
2. The chicane curbing has been on my mind. I know its the faster way around but it looks brutal on the car. Dont think I need those extra tenths. Maybe once or twice but ill mostly avoid those.
3. The elevation changes will be quite new and fun for me. I dont get this much of those at NJMP
4. The boot looks like so much fun, when i first watched an onboard I couldnt believe how fast the driver accelerated out of the right hander
5. I might just park it in the rain tbh, ill give it a go around NJMP but out there im not so sure about that lol
6. Ok I will probably run this in 4th mostly, and maybe occasionally run 3rd if im in a rhythm.
7. I definetly will. Super excited to give this a run!

[N Camarolina]

Originally Posted by beworthy3

1. My first note to myself was keep it out the walls lol.
2. The chicane curbing has been on my mind. I know its the faster way around but it looks brutal on the car. Dont think I need those extra tenths. Maybe once or twice but ill mostly avoid those.
3. The elevation changes will be quite new and fun for me. I dont get this much of those at NJMP
4. The boot looks like so much fun, when i first watched an onboard I couldnt believe how fast the driver accelerated out of the right hander
5. I might just park it in the rain tbh, ill give it a go around NJMP but out there im not so sure about that lol
6. Ok I will probably run this in 4th mostly, and maybe occasionally run 3rd if im in a rhythm.
7. I definetly will. Super excited to give this a run!

I too ran a lot of it in 4th. I did my weekend with PCA and my instructor was extremely helpful in teaching me the line as well as teaching me how to drive in the rain. Ironically, I was very uncomfortable with rain prior to that weekend, but got a lot more comfortable during the time at WGI. Turned out to be a godsend because it rained on and off during one of the days, and in crazy ways where half the track was quite wet and other half was near bone dry. Turned out to be a lot of fun.

[RamAir02]

I have a good amount of seat time at Watkins Glen. I won't claim to be quick, but I do have a lot of videos at WGI in case it's helpful.

[beworthy3]

Originally Posted by N Camarolina

I too ran a lot of it in 4th. I did my weekend with PCA and my instructor was extremely helpful in teaching me the line as well as teaching me how to drive in the rain. Ironically, I was very uncomfortable with rain prior to that weekend, but got a lot more comfortable during the time at WGI. Turned out to be a godsend because it rained on and off during one of the days, and in crazy ways where half the track was quite wet and other half was near bone dry. Turned out to be a lot of fun.

Ok that makes me feel a little better about it. I don't think it will rain but if it does ill grab an instructor up (which I will probably do if its dry anyway)

[m6-lt1]

I have done 3 days there including 2 days 2 - 3 weeks ago. My car is bone stock.

My first time there last year it took me the entire track day to realize that I can pretty much go full throttle in the S’s. Aside from the transition in the middle of the S’s you can literally go full throttle in the S’s. This year since I knew that going in I was finally able to eclipse 140+ in the back straight which was a goal of mine. I only have 10 track days under my belt, more experienced folks can kiss 150 in the back straight.

They removed the curbing in the entry of the bus stop. I accidentally took too much curbing in the bus stop chicane (first bit of curbing you can hit) and went off track (no damage or anything, just a small off, so be careful of the curbing BUT you can and should definitely use it. Don’t avoid it. If you just kiss the curbing it’s not brutal on the car at all and it’s a lot of fun to hit it.

After you do WGI, you’re going to budget to do more days there instead of NJMP and Pocono. It’s THAT good. There is so much camber in every turn that you can give a lot of throttle coming out of them. It is unlike anything else on the east coast.NJMP and Pocono are my local tracks as well but next year I am going to try to go to WGI twice. It’s also a cool area overall. As you and others have said, respect the walls first, and then work on being more aggressive on throttle. There are a couple walls that I keep respecting “too much”. My instructor was pointing out that I was being way too scared in those sections but idk I didn’t want to risk anything. I did wind up being a little more aggressive because my instructor was telling me I was being way too timid in those areas. Glad I listened because I truly was being too scared of the walls. Still was going way slower than what the car is capable of in those sections.

Stock brake pad will work fine there but you’re stopping from 140+, 130, and 120 after the 3 straights so I am planning on upgrading to a different pad for next year. I think something with a little more bite and temperature range is better for that track.

[beworthy3]

Originally Posted by RamAir02

I have a good amount of seat time at Watkins Glen. I won't claim to be quick, but I do have a lot of videos at WGI in case it's helpful.

Thanks! Ive been diving into a ton of onboard to prep. Especially with this camera angle

[beworthy3]

Originally Posted by m6-lt1

I have done 3 days there including 2 days 2 - 3 weeks ago. My car is bone stock.

My first time there last year it took me the entire track day to realize that I can pretty much go full throttle in the S’s. Aside from the transition in the middle of the S’s you can literally go full throttle in the S’s. This year since I knew that going in I was finally able to eclipse 140+ in the back straight which was a goal of mine. I only have 10 track days under my belt, more experienced folks can kiss 150 in the back straight.

They removed the curbing in the entry of the bus stop. I accidentally took too much curbing in the bus stop chicane (first bit of curbing you can hit) and went off track (no damage or anything, just a small off, so be careful of the curbing BUT you can and should definitely use it. Don’t avoid it. If you just kiss the curbing it’s not brutal on the car at all and it’s a lot of fun to hit it.

After you do WGI, you’re going to budget to do more days there instead of NJMP and Pocono. It’s THAT good. There is so much camber in every turn that you can give a lot of throttle coming out of them. It is unlike anything else on the east coast.NJMP and Pocono are my local tracks as well but next year I am going to try to go to WGI twice. It’s also a cool area overall. As you and others have said, respect the walls first, and then work on being more aggressive on throttle. There are a couple walls that I keep respecting “too much”. My instructor was pointing out that I was being way too scared in those sections but idk I didn’t want to risk anything. I did wind up being a little more aggressive because my instructor was telling me I was being way too timid in those areas. Glad I listened because I truly was being too scared of the walls. Still was going way slower than what the car is capable of in those sections.

Stock brake pad will work fine there but you’re stopping from 140+, 130, and 120 after the 3 straights so I am planning on upgrading to a different pad for next year. I think something with a little more bite and temperature range is better for that track.

Ive given the Ss a lot of thought. Ive seen onboard where people are mostly flat. Im going to try it but I know the first few times my foot is going to lift more than needed. This will probably be like T12 at NJMP, i know it can be flat but I often lift.

The curbs do look fun. I will definitely find my ways up on there occasionally.

One thing I have told myself over and over is being more agressive with the throttle. My entry speeds are good but my min speed falls more than others because im being too light on the throttle that I should be, that will be a focus out there. And yeah its a far drive but ill probably be back often. The track looks so fun.

Im still on the stocks, but I said earlier this year that this will be the last year I use them. Need something more agressive

Great tips thank you

[TransamGTA350]

Originally Posted by beworthy3

Ok that makes me feel a little better about it. I don't think it will rain but if it does ill grab an instructor up (which I will probably do if its dry anyway)

Doesn't look like any rain this weekend, but was just going to say, don't avoid wet track days. They are fun, you learn a ton, and will make you faster in the dry. And after doing a couple of wet track days, they aren't scary anymore.

An instructor on a wet day will definitely help with learning how to find the wet line or lines (there may be more than one) and some other techniques to be safe and quick in the wet.

Also sounds like you are going with Masstuning this weekend. They're a good group to run with.

[m6-lt1]

Originally Posted by beworthy3

Ive given the Ss a lot of thought. Ive seen onboard where people are mostly flat. Im going to try it but I know the first few times my foot is going to lift more than needed. This will probably be like T12 at NJMP, i know it can be flat but I often lift.

I still haven’t worked my way up to being flat on T12 in NJMP. Like you, I know our cars can do it but mentally I haven’t gotten there yet! I think your plan with the SS’s is the correct way to go about it.