Replies to post #192 on Bob's Track Friends Chat (TRAKDAWGS)

[Bob Zumbrunnen]

I fully expect to use 5th. I hit the rev limiter at MAM if there's much of a south wind. And the front straight on that is probably about half a mile.

I'm going as a student, and will use the Subaru with street tires until I feel comfortable enough to take the fast car out. And since it's an Audi club, I'm sure I'll get an instructor who's familiar with AWD. They're quite different.

[Bob Zumbrunnen]

Well, ended up being either a student with no instructor, or an instructor with no student. They put me in the instructor run group.

Pretty easy track to learn. And real, real fast!

The 3.73's in the Mustang make it a horrible car for this track. I used it once and though I was faster in it, I went back to the Subaru. Just hate having to go to 5th on the straight and have the engine drop to 3500 rpm and barely accelerate anymore.

Will switch to 3.55's before going to RA. I'm sure I'll still have to use 5th. Just not as soon or often as with the 3.73's.

Brainerd's really an easy track to learn the basics of. To such an extent that I passed a fellow instructor on my 3rd lap. I'm on the low end of the bell curve among instructors, but not the slowest.

Takes a while to really get the turns dialed in, though. To get that extra 10th out of them.

No idea what kind of speeds I'm reaching in the Mustang, but I'm entering turn 1 at 125 and exiting turn 2 at 110 in the Subaru. Pretty thrilling. Especially on howling street tires. I would guesstimate that since I'm entering the straight much faster in the Mustang (torque and Hoosiers), it's probably getting close to 140 before I slow it down a touch for turn 1. I'm running out of steam in 4th wayyyyy before the end of the straight.