hmmmmm I know that thread... :shifty:

 

Just don't get too greedy in turn 16... or turn 17... or turn 1... or...

Okay, just don't get too greedy until you get comfortable!

There's a bunch of speed to be had by taking a smooth arc through 14. It's scary fast if you carry the speed through 13 on just the right line.

The hairpin will piss you off, but the rest of the track is pretty fun. Even in a slow-ass car, it's pretty fun. I pack sandwiches for the straights between 16-17 and 17-1, it's all good.

Sebring has good "flow", it'll come to you. You might spend half a day fighting it, and then suddenly it will click and you'll want to stay out there for hours because it's just plain fun to drive!

 

see you guys there and Sebring is worth it

 

+1 to everything Loren says, and an extra shout out on the subject of braking managment.

If you have a fast car and fast tendencies sometimes one of your most critical limiting factors will be how fast you can enter a turn, which often means putting your car at its braking limits over and over again.

Even if you keep the car in its handling limits you may find it only takes a few turns or a lap or two depending on your driving and the car, before the brakes will start to fade or boil. This can put you in a very dangerous situation if you quickly enter a turn and find out too late your braking capacity is gone or find the pedal going to the floor.

So in addition to trying to figure out how to properly navigate the course, don't forget that if you are fast enough and your brakes arn't ginormous, you may need to slow your pace and better manage your braking technique.

 

I don't have 350HP or the weight of AWD so big brakes aren't a need for me.

I have stock hp (240), stock calipers, stock bushings, stock rotors, track pads, good/fresh ATE200 fluid, a SS lines. That's really all you need on BMW's until you start adding 100+hp.

If you're fading your brakes after a couple of laps, you need to change to a track only pad and/or add some ducting. Might want to make sure you aren't using the brakes for too long (riding them). Heat is produced more from time on the pedal and less from amount of force applied.

 

You clearly have an understanding of how braking works. You'll be fine.

It's the people who don't have that understanding and are used to autocross or tracks with shorter straights and lower speeds that sometimes get into trouble at Sebring. To your brakes, Sebring is 3 minutes of:
Brake from 110-80 (turn 1)
Brake from 95-55 (turn 3)
Brake from 110-45 (turn 7)
Brake from 95-45 (turn 10)
Brake from 85-45 (turn 9)
Brake from 110-70 (turn 14)
Brake from 80-60 (turn 16)
Brake from 130-75 (turn 17)
Lather - rinse - repeat

Speeds are +/- 20 mph depending on how quick your car is, how well it corners, how good you are, and how big your balls are. But, you get the point. Lots of repeated heavy braking, not much time for the brakes to cool.

For the novice driver, it can be worse, because they'll want to touch the brakes in a lot of other places where they probably shouldn't. That introduces more heat to the brakes where they should be being allowed to cool instead.

This PSA is brought to you by Loren, because it's Friday and he doesn't feel like working.

 

Great advice; thanks!

Looking forward to this track more and more. I'll be sure to bring two extra sets of pads.

Happy Friday!

 

Duh, sorry for the brain fart last night, I forgot which thread I was on and was offering noob advice. Keep forgetting Car54 already knows what he's doing and is just new to Sebring.

 

How conservative is that 75mph for turn 17? After I get a good alignment and some track wheels, I want to do a track day there...that's the only corner I can think of where I'm likely to do some real damage before I'm used to the track.

 

No way to tell you that dude, too many variables involved even if we knew what you drive.

Your just going to have to treat it like any piece of pavement you come across for the first time. Start out at a reasonable speed and work your way up from there as you judge how the car reacts to each pass.