Would appreciate hearing from those who've ridden Mid-Ohio, particularly the advance riders. I'm curious to see how ridiculously fast the talented guys go, compared to my pace. What lap times are you guys turning? Do you have any advice for an intermediate rider? What changes did you make to get faster? Any parts of the track to focus on for improvement? I'm finding some gains by keeping on it through thunder alley, but I'm wondering where the real big gains are usually made. Thanks, TC
without riding right with you....it is tough to assess where you are strong or need speed. to answer your question about times....i would assume advance guys are spead out in the 1'38-1'45 range. at race pace we ran 1'36 in the novice and the experts were something like 1'32 (not sure on that one though...check mylaps.com) the things to work on for laptimes are always the rider variable items: entering and exiting turns. braking as late as possible, as smoothly as possible and as little as possible. when you get to the apex, you have to consider if you could have braked less/later/smoother...and keep re-assessing and re-adjusting each lap. at corner exit, get on the gas as early as possilbe, as smoothly as possible, as hard as possible. after you've finished off a turn assess if you had more track available and could have accelerated earlier/smoother/harder. and again...keep re-adjusting each lap. braking and corner exits are where races are won. in my opinion braking is more important...but they are both definitely the keys.
i ran in intermediate on saturday and sunday (and had a blast by the way!!), and I found myself taking turn one a whole lot slower than I could have. that track is so wide you can carry a lot of speed through there. so i imagine a lot of time can be gained by not wussing it through there like i did. :lol:
I think the fastest guys last weekend there were in the 37-39 range. Can't be too sure, I didn't have a lap timer on either, but I know a couple of people who did and were going somewhat slower than a few of us. A fast expert race pace is a 31-33, but that would be hard to do on a track day, and probably not all that smart either. Last years races I got down to a 32.2 on the charts, and my best ever was a 31.9 by stopwatch when the timing was not being used. As far as where to improve, ask one of us to follow you next time, there are alot of good guys out there that can clean up your lines/ get you going in a couple spots. Everyone has different problem area's, just need to locate your own. Mine was always turn 14, but I got over it :twisted: