VIR with TSCC: December 2024
More updates from my now-foggy memory
I’m finally getting caught back up with the Trip Reports, so let’s talk about the last event from 2024. Obviously it’s been a little while so I’m going to just cover the basics here and hopefully be more timely with updates through 2025.
Leading up to the Event
The weather outlook was cold but dry (especially cold on Saturday), so for once I was able to bring both sets of my 200TW tires: The V730s mounted on 17x9 Apex SM10s and the RE71RS mounted on 17x9 Konig Hypergrams, rather than just one and my rain tires/wheels. The V730s had been getting used now for 2 years of track and some autocross use… still with life left to go. They’re miserable in the rain but they are a great bargain for a long lasting dry track tire.
I was really appreciating having my tool set packed and ready to go. As someone who has had less and less time to devote to getting all the stuff together for weekends like this, the amount of time saved has been well worth the cost of putting it together.
That said I did run into one minor issue a week prior to the event during the usual once-over: one of the 8Y RS3 brake ducts were completely missing. Fortunately I kept my old 8V ducts which had some small rock chips in them, but were easily fixed by taping over the holes. In hindsight I do not think I’ll be buying the 8Y ducts again… they hang VERY low vs the 8V and I suspect may have been taken out between that + the lowered ride height of the 034 springs. This is made even worse by my running 245/40R17 tires which are 0.5in shorter overall than stock (which translates to about 0.25in lower ride height as a result). In the photos above you can see how much further below the LCA that the 8Y ducts (right) hang vs the 8V ducts (left).
My goals for the weekend
I had been in a bit of a funk for most of the year at this point, and really just needed a good weekend with friends. Though I was just having “fun” I gave myself 3 goals for the weekend:
Get to bed early each night - no later than 10:30
Focus on my student (Marvin again in his Fiesta ST)
Go out and have fun in as many sessions as I could tolerate
How it went
Saturday went great - Marvin and I picked up right where we left off from the May 2024 event. He progressed to the point that he had a solo check ride late in the day so was able to be cut loose on Sunday. I didn’t push myself particularly hard as it definitely felt like the V730s were losing their grip, primarily in braking zones. I did manage to run a 2:11.04 but that was really not my best driving and I KNOW the IS38 had another 2-3 seconds in it at minimum.
Sunday I got a good night’s rest, had already swapped the RE71RS on the night prior, and was feeling good in the first session out. I alternated between “push” laps and “cooldown” laps to keep temps manageable. I was running the slightly spicier tune (28ish psi peak) than usual, which I tend to do only on the first couple cool sessions of the day. I was THINKING about bringing it in on lap 6, but for some reason told myself to stay out and lo and behold: I managed to throw down a 2:09.44. At that point I was happy to have accomplished something quantifiable for the weekend and could have driven no more and been perfectly happy going home like that.
But I didn’t stop driving. I think that FINALLY knocking a significant portion of my time down gave me the motivational boost I needed to just keep focusing on driving and having fun. I ran several more sessions on my more moderate tune (26ish psi peak) and for whatever reason.. everything just “clicked” and immediately came together when I went out to drive at 2:15 in the afternoon. The air temp was 66F (though the track temp was much hotter due to the sun). I went out and on the first lap immediately put down a 2:11.25, followed by a 2:09.60, and finally again a 2:09.05… while being held up by a Cayman through the LAST turn onto the front straight. I wasn’t even mad. I now KNOW that a 2:08 is within the realm of possibility and what I call “safely attainable”. I am positive that a 2:06 or 2:07 is possible if absolutely every single thing goes right. Especially with the spicier tune in an earlier session.
My 2:15pm session from Sunday
With that kind of consistency from lap to lap + being late in the day, I KNOW that a 2:08 or better is within the realm of possibility under slightly more optimal conditions.
Other stuff
As far as how the car did, it had no issues all weekend. I DID swap back to a regular (non-vented) MK8 PCV valve after what happened at Fastivus 2024. Over the course of the entire weekend, I had one single big knock event, where two cylinders showed -10.12 and -7.50 deg of KR. I would see -3.00 deg on all cylinders at other times, but since my knock sensors are not heavily numbed, I’m just letting the ECU do it’s thing and knock the timing down as temps rise. I also think I may be a tad too aggressive on the timing for that particular map for track use so may just dial it back a bit and see what happens. It is worth noting that the only oil I got in my catch can (inline w/ MK8 PCV full retrofit) was minimal. Approximately 3-4mm of oil at the bottom of it after each day.
