I hear you and I agree...my point was that's how NASA "FL" does it. Other NASA regions that I've participated with do not, neither NASA Southeast nor NASA Mid-Atl. I always like challenges so I was game, but I really feel it's an oddity in the more education oriented HPDE groups.

For another comparison, NASA Mid-Atl does a pace car with a pace lap and a waving green flag to start their HPDE sessions. It's funny to see the lead car pack the field up before rounding the corner before the green flag. People are also warming their tires by swerving....c'mon!

Here's some video (still loading and processing):

YouTube - NASA Hyperfest Green Flag Start

 

Where did this "s h a r e d_session" come from??? I don't remember typing that but it came out that way. Even when I edit the word it comes back. Are you poking fun or is the forum twisting your words too?

 

Ha...I totally typed "shared" before shared_session and it's not there now. Someone type s h a r e d _ s e s s i o n without spaces and see what happens.

 

the shared_session thing is a glitch on the forum, I tried editing it out.

 

Yeah, there are a couple of text-replacement glitches on the forum. Something about "pm" and "session" are two that I see frequently.

NASA regions are all somewhat independent, so they can do their own thing to some extent. When I ran with NASA SE at CMP in SC (woohoo, acronyms, baby!), they put me in HPDE3, and now that I think about it... maybe it was point-by, but otherwise open passing. I think that was what struck me was that I got a point-by in the middle of the big sweeping "carousel" turn. I was thinking "I can't pass you here"... then I remembered that I could.

Just pay attention at the driver's meeting at whatever event you go to. Obviously, they're all different. I just wanted to point out that "open passing without point-by" isn't necessarily bad as long as ALL of the drivers on track are at that level. Obviously, in the groups where oblivious drivers who take half a lap to notice you behind them and give you a point-by, it would definitely not be safe to do it that way!

 

Perhaps our guy explained it a little differently, and since its been a couple years the memory is getting a little hazy, but I remember being told that while you had a right to maintain your line, if someone was passing to give them room. Might just be because sebring is a clockwise track that most people attemped to pass me on the left and I'd move over to let them through. Probably also a bit hard to see a hand waving out a sedan window if you are staying on the right of my rear as well, lol.

Things might have changed over the last decade or so, but a PCA HPDE I attended in the late 90s at road atlanta allowed us to use our turn signals to signal a pass.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed your event out at Sebring. I was telling you about getting another experienced drivers into your car at PBOC/PCA/CHIN events. I regularly run with LD and his father along with knowing a lot of the instructors with these groups. I was planning on running nasa events this year but haven't had the time to make it out to their events. I'm running a 318ti that is just slightly slower than Josh Feingolds SC miata in TT.

The video looks good. Not sure why the other person told you to line up on the right tree. When you take turn 10 at your cars full potential you will go wide all the way across the track and need to line up on the left most tree if you are using the trees as a reference point. I would say you have a lot more speed through turn 10 as you didn't use half of the track out available right there.

I am one of the drivers that will use off track reference marks as opposed to cones. So when I'm instructing a new student, I tell them to line up on the left most tree, hit the curbing or hold a tighter line through turn 11 with one set hand motion. You should not have to add or take away any steering input if you hit turn 11 just right. That should have you coming out of turn 11 lined up on the tower. Once you round turn 12 line up on the right side of the airport building. That will have you coming across the track at an angle into the braking zone for turn 13. I teach students to look at those markers in an effort to get their vision to stay up as opposed to trying to watch cones on the side of the track. If they are looking up at the tower or towards the building, the corner worker as well as the apex is all in their vision. I tend to use more non-visual references at a track like sebring since it is so bumpy.


My quick sebring tips for advanced drivers-
Turn 1- Turn in should be very close to the cross hairs formed by the road repair(buried pipe running across the track), and a cross line in the concrete. Many clubs will put a taller cone directly on the pipe. For me, I turn in slightly before the buried pipe, you want to scrape the left wall with your side mirror. Then use all of the track out avoiding the large bump on the inside left. Our cars share the same suspension and I'm in the 95mph range at track out.

turn 3- turn in slightly early and use the inside curbing to help rotate the car a little bit. Be careful as the curbing on the inside and outside of three is tall and if you catch to much of it, you can go for a ride.
Turn 5- I use the large black patch that has a 90 degree triangle with a piece of concrete as my turn in marker, I turn in from mid corner, not the outside right, takes a little patience and use the rumbles on the exit of the turn. Be careful about using this rumble because if you get on it to early there is a bump that can unsettle the car.

Turn 7- turn in sooner and faster, use all of the rumble at apex, use the left rumbles on exit.

Turn 9- I don't turn in that early, I wait about 15 feet and then turn in so I'm coming in straight to turn ten. If you turn in early, you end up in mid track and have to move the car back to the left to get straight for the brake zone.

Turn 10- you can go faster, track all the way to the left and use the rumbles. take a tighter line around 11 with one set hand motion. You can use the transition from black top to concrete as your turn in marker. You should be flat from 10 to 13.

Turn 13- Come into the brake zone at an angle, not straight with the track. ANother transition from black top to concrete is a good turn in marker. Make sure to hit the reflector at apex and use all of the track out and the rumbles on exit.

Bishops bend- use the left rumble on entrance, track out to the 1/3rd mark on the right, exit in such a way that you are straight for the brake zone for 15. With good tires suspension setup you should be flat through here.

Turn 15, turn in is going to be a few feet before the end of the grass on the left, hit the inside reflectors, and if you are carrying good speed you will track all the way to the rumbles on the left. I follow those left rumbles and drive over them before the "brake zone" for 16.

Turn 16- looks good in your video, I don't use the really wide porsche line there.

Turn17- get your car angled across the track so you are braking in a straight line that has you buzzing the corner worker station. You should be on the brakes until you need to do your full turn in to hit the exit apex. I don't worry so much about being close to that apex as long as you are full on throttle well before the bridge and using all of the track to get good exit speed, don't pinch the corner just to hit the apex. For me, there is a sweet spot that is under an expansion joint on the right side of the bridge, this avoids the really large inside and outside bumps just past mid point of the turn. You will see that the DE line for 17 is to brake in the outside left lane, follow the white line until it intersects with a "black" line, and then turn into the apex. Racers use the inside buzz the corner worker line instead of the double apex.

 

^ Now that is what I call awesome construtive criticism right there.

Its one thing to watch your vid and see that a lot of your lines were far from ideal but quite the gift to give you a detailed punch list of exactly what needs to be tweaked.

 

This is all part of that Sebring "flow" that I mentioned before. Once you find it and make peace with it, it all comes together and is a wonderful thing!

I also just realized that I've been calling turn 13 turn 12. Oops. Because I drive it much as you described, I don't really consider turn 12 to be a turn. You turn in at 11, hold your line and flow right through it.

I need to get back out to Sebring. It's been too long.

 

Just watched more of my video in parallel with the write up. Great points above. I'm really excited to get back there now to try some new lines. 3.7miles is a lot of track to learn in one weekend. I wish I could have grabbed an instructor for the whole weekend. Next time I go I'll plan to walk T1 and 17 at a minimum.