My coaching session with Dan Clarke (Champ Car/Indy Lights)

CL65 Captain

CL65 Captain

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We'll we don't have Billy here in the Midwest, but I was fortunate enough to get a session with Dan Clarke. It's interesting because Dan asked me to stay totally off the brakes and gas from turn in until track exit and just carry more speed into the turns. I had always been taught that you are either on the gas or on the brakes - no coasting.

Dan @ Las Vegas Champ Car Series 2007
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It became apparent my new splitter was more effective than I thought, as I had been using throttle as a crutch to put weight on the rear and mask the mid corner oversteer. As I started building up speed entereing the corners his way, this is very evident in both my video and the video of Dan driving my car. And yes, the splitter was unscathed during my spin and off at the end of the video. :smile: PS it was his first time in an NSX and he loved the car, so I had to let him have a turn driving. :wink:

My turn....

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Dan driving....

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Unfortunately, Dan only got 3 laps before the end of the session, none of which were clean all the way through w/o traffic. But just looking at one of the laps you can see he's faster through turn 4, 5 & 10 by +3 mph.

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Judging from the picture of his Indy car, he could use some more downforce.

Great videos, I just wish I could hear his coaching as well as the engine noise.
 
ChopsJazz said:
Great videos, I just wish I could hear his coaching as well as the engine noise.
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Looking good Jim! Thanks for posting!!!

+1 on what Ken said! Would have loved to hear what was been said as well.

I'll have to move to the States I reckon. You guys have some great tracks!
 
Nice videos indeed. Your driving Jim was so much smoother than his LOL! But I noticed he attacked the berms at entry riding them aggressively - sometimes earlier hence why he was trying to catch it upon exit. I am not sure how you were holding up as a passenger, but if I had a driver like that I would be praying for the session to end - not to mention if it was my car :eek::tongue:

But what surprised me is that - unless I missed it - all his passing without point bys (and he passed the 944 on the left when the signal was to the right) and even both of you did pass inside turns:eek: That is frawned upon in here.

Keep them coming.
 
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Instructor group pass anywhere including turns, with a point.... And yes he didn't wait for points.

sent from my Evo4
 
Your car still looks a bit loose, especially off throttle or trailbraking. When you or Dan push the car on entry, the car snaps loose. Dialing a bit more understeer will enable you to push the car more and go faster without loosing rear grip and sliding.
 
That's pretty nerve-wracking having someone else push your car that hard. I'd be whispering silent prayers the whole time!

So, who had the faster lap times?
 
stuntman said:
Your car still looks a bit loose, especially off throttle or trailbraking. When you or Dan push the car on entry, the car snaps loose. Dialing a bit more understeer will enable you to push the car more and go faster without loosing rear grip and sliding.
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Billy, I'd love you drive my car sometime and help me with the set-up. It was really good to meet you (and your family) at Laguna Seca last weekend. Too bad about your bad luck though.

Sorry for straying off topic.
 
Sylvan said:
That's pretty nerve-wracking having someone else push your car that hard. I'd be whispering silent prayers the whole time!

So, who had the faster lap times?
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me. but it's my car and my home track. Dan only got 3 laps, none of which were clean laps though and had never driven an NSX - yet alone one that was over-steering pretty bad that day. If you look at the data plot above and take out the 5000' mark where he got caught in traffic and the 8000' mark where he got it sideways on the top of turn 9, I think he would have beat me by a second or two.
 
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I disagree Hrant's comment on the smoothness of the pro vs Jim, Jim like most of us nsx owners learn his car from day 1 and kind of know how the car behaves and where the limit is... I felt that Dan was driving in a different pace, and most of the abrupt inputs were corrections when he just push the cars a little bit more than the tires grip.

I was going to comment on the passing though, if he drives like that here in NW, track marshall would have end the session and kill him. :wink: Gosh, I love(and missed) open passing.

Jim, I'm going to start calling you Spin Doctor!!! I'm not sure, but it seems to me that either you have very slow response to your tires grip(which is unlikely); looking at last few spins video you posted; your hands were kind of kept in a very slow and small input, almost as if you intentionally want to drift the car out of the corner instead of "saving" it. like this one, as the car starting to slide, I can see that you could still have saved the car by turning the wheel more or faster...
 
NSXDreamer2 said:
I disagree Hrant's comment on the smoothness of the pro vs Jim, Jim like most of us nsx owners learn his car from day 1 and kind of know how the car behaves and where the limit is... I felt that Dan was driving in a different pace, and most of the abrupt inputs were corrections when he just push the cars a little bit more than the tires grip.

I was going to comment on the passing though, if he drives like that here in NW, track marshall would have end the session and kill him. :wink: Gosh, I love(and missed) open passing.

Jim, I'm going to start calling you Spin Doctor!!! I'm not sure, but it seems to me that either you have very slow response to your tires grip(which is unlikely); looking at last few spins video you posted; your hands were kind of kept in a very slow and small input, almost as if you intentionally want to drift the car out of the corner instead of "saving" it. like this one, as the car starting to slide, I can see that you could still have saved the car by turning the wheel more or faster...
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You are correct and spot on. There were two prior saves in turn 2 in this video, where I was faster with correct small inputs. The last one in turn 4 where I spun was too late, too small a correction. My previous spin videos were too late with too big of corrections. I'm going to have to find a compromise between my "smooth" style and being aggressive with the corrections sooner. As well, I am use to using throttle to balance the car and Dan took that away from me this session and was a little caught off guard in turn 4 as I never have a problem there as I am usually accelerating hard from turn in until track exit and all the weight is on the rear.

The car is really loose, and I'm going back to OEM rear sway and adding a DF Type R wing. If it under-steers than I will go with the Dali 0.85 bar. The 1" Dali bar was perfect for me when I was running 1000/600 springs but now that I'm back to 600/500 it is way too stiff for the rear.
 
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CL65 Captain said:
You are correct and spot on. There were two prior saves in turn 2 in this video, where I was faster with correct small inputs. The last one in turn 4 where I spun was too late, too small a correction. My previous spin videos were too late with too big of corrections. I'm going to have to find a compromise between my "smooth" style and being aggressive with the corrections sooner. As well, I am use to using throttle to balance the car and Dan took that away from me this session and was a little caught off guard in turn 4 as I never have a problem there as I am usually accelerating hard from turn in until track exit and all the weight is on the rear.

The car is really loose, and I'm going back to OEM rear sway and adding a DF Type R wing. If it under-steers than I will go with the Dali 0.85 bar. The 1" Dali bar was perfect for me when I was running 1000/600 springs but now that I'm back to 600/500 it is way too stiff for the rear.
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if you want to do aero, forget about R wing, just get a GT wing and be done with, you will never go back. R wing doesn't give you the performance considering how much they cost and blocking rear view.

why don't you go back to just a little more spring in front?
 
NSXDreamer2 said:
I disagree Hrant's comment on the smoothness of the pro vs Jim, Jim like most of us nsx owners learn his car from day 1 and kind of know how the car behaves and where the limit is... I felt that Dan was driving in a different pace, and most of the abrupt inputs were corrections when he just push the cars a little bit more than the tires grip. ..
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I see no disagreement:wink: You just complimented/completed the second half of what my statement implied - nevertheless, he was not smooth. But I can appreciate the why excuse though you would think one would take a few laps in a new car before pushing the envelope pace especially in someone else's car. But racers are a different breed :tongue:
 
NSXDreamer2 said:
if you want to do aero, forget about R wing, just get a GT wing and be done with, you will never go back. R wing doesn't give you the performance considering how much they cost and blocking rear view.

why don't you go back to just a little more spring in front?
Click to expand...

I am going back to the OEM sway first instead of front springs because it's free. Then go from there.
 
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Hrant said:
I see no disagreement:wink: You just complimented/completed the second half of what my statement implied - nevertheless, he was not smooth. But I can appreciate the why excuse though you would think one would take a few laps in a new car before pushing the envelope pace especially in someone else's car. But racers are a different breed :tongue:
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I knew I'm not born to be a racer as I also take baby steps to get used to any "new car" However, I won't hesitate to push the limit and trying to find the rhythm of a new track, whenever I get on those rental kart places. To certain pro drivers, our nsx is just as slow as I felt in those rental karts. It's all relative.
 
Stinkycheezmonky said:
No it doesn't, as in your Racelogic unit doesn't provide other data?
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They have an add on module that will let you input other sensors. To be honest, I haven't even looked in to it....

"[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]With [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]one RPM[/FONT] and four analogue inputs, it is possible to record such parameters as engine speed, throttle angle, or brake force and so enhance the analysis that your PerformanceBox already offers."[/FONT]
 

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