Hi everyone! After several searches I'm still looking for some help...

Two friends are doing a PCA Driver's Ed (HPDE) on the South Course at VIR this weekend in their nonturbo 911's. One of 'em is a recently-promoted intermediate who has never been on the South Course, and the other is a beginner who's never been on a road course, but has been a spectator/pit crew guy many times.

What they need is any online video of laps around the South Course, and/or any hints people can give about the place, relative to the HPDE line, braking points, and so on.

I thought about it for a while and couldn't drive a confident South Course lap with my eyes closed. Therefore I'm not comfortable giving useful advice (other than hand placement, looking ahead, watching the mirrors, etc)... so I thought I'd ask the h-t experts

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Jon
(playing "catch-up" after 7 days without power)

 

"The Bitch" is aptly named
(and yes I realize that probably wasnt very helpful )

but as I recall, there arent really any "tricks" to the track. Im sure since you have driven it before you could give just as good advice as anyone else.

 

It's actually one of my favorite tracks. The crossover is way technical. What I do there in the GS-R may well take a 911 into the grass, but it's all I know. Here goes...

Turn in late for T1 ("The Bitch"). I trailbrake very aggressively here and take 2nd gear. Climb the inside gators aggressively. This turn is one of my favorites because it's so challenging. I take third gear as the left tires track out and get up on the track-out curbing. Generally that curbing is all that keeps me on the track.

Straigt line towards driver's right to enter the spiral. You need to slow down for spiral; I wait until the last minute, where you get a brief uphill to aid braking. A beginner will want to brake earlier. I turn in REALLY early for the first left of spiral, and REALLY early for the right at the end. Right side wheels in the grass for the right hander.

This puts you at whatever the bottom of spiral is called, a 150 or so degree left hander. As you're sliding down the hill exiting the spiral, the car is going to be moving to the left. This is good. You want to do the 150 deg left starting from full track left. Brake, turn in, trailbrake in, stay on the track...and take 2nd gear if you can (it's REAL busy down there). There's kind of a "ditch" where the pavement meets the gator on the left. Stay just off the gator and this indention will act kinda like a tether and sling you around the corner.

Next corner is a 120 or so right called fish hook, and puts you back on the long course in the last half of the climbing esses. Turn in and apex kinda late, because if you don't you'll end up in the little triangle of dirt where the crossover meets the full course.

The rest of the track is now VIR Full. South Bend is done without so much as a lift, because you're not actually carrying as much speed as you would from the full course's esses. What actually helps here is *not* tracking out all the way and using as little turning as possible. Less turning = less distance. Then proceed through the Oak Tree complex as you normally would.

Alternatively, you can use this: http://www.thscc.com/timetrial/lap_south.html This walkthrough is from Peter Krause, who actually designed the crossover.

 

LOL! That's just the thing though, I haven't driven at speed on the South Course in a couple of years, and I can't remember which way all the turns go, on the divider road in particular All the stuff that it shares with the Full Course I remember explicitly of course...

Jon
(hoping to have his memory refreshed, in addition to finding vid's for these folks)

 

AWESOME, thanks so much Karl!!!

Jon