alright, first track day down on the island went great. How many of you have palm trees in your paddock?
The RFT's were predictably boring and offered little grip, especially on the part of the track that used to be a drag burnout surface, which happens to be right in a braking zone.
Never turned the TC all the way off, didn't feel like I needed too. With the TC off via 1-press, the rear was a little loose on throttle application, spinning the outside tire I think. No diff in these cars of course, except the brakes. Probably my best laps were with the TC fully on and never quite getting into it hard, just driving smooth.
No don't laugh at me, in my RX-8 I never used the TC/SC system on the track or at autocross, but it was very invasive. And obviously in an old Miata, there ain't no TC son... With the RFT's you are already running out of traction pretty fast, so driving with the TC off seemed/felt much slower. That said, my lap times were very consistent regardless of TC settings, between 1:43 and 1:47 (passing people).
Brakes didn't give me any trouble, despite the fact that I was consistently into ABS in the hard braking spots. I didn't notice any fade, but this track is not so hard on brakes.
Hard to compare, but my friend who runs a modified Boxster S on R-compounds runs a 1:29 or there-about's here. My best was a 1:43, but I'd wager R-compounds or even really sticky street rubber is worth what? 5-8 seconds at least? In autocross we used to say the r-compounds were worth 2-seconds at least per 30-seconds.
Thanks for all the advice, I know I will be back for more. I had so much freakin' fun. I don't know why I haven't been racing in the last several years...
