You just got to love the lines, especially in 2, 9 and 11.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnYzvOBoPx4&NR=1


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnYzvOBoPx4&NR

pretty much TimeTrial lines....not race lines...going for the smoothest latest apex on all of them..
That is pretty much the line we teach students for Laguna.

I had a drive like that there once, but I wasn't in a 935, it was an RSR clone and I was passing Miatas, not prototypes. And my kid was (illegally) in the passenger's seat. He was 11.

He is driving this car......

Click to view attachment

Had dinner at Thunderhill last fall with Johannes. He is a very nice guy, great to talk to and quite humble for his accomplishments...we talked Lizards and Ferraris.
I have known him since he was about 18. Known his father for even longer.

Hey Dan,

I ran the track for a whole week-end a few years back in my Porsche 944S2 and LOVED the track....the best in North America! It sure beats Riverside, Ontario, Willow Springs, Phoenix, et al.

In watching the footage, I was surprised how FEW gear changes Van Overbeek was doing... possibly to "save the machinery." Later in the event he was using more gears and more revs.

I'm very interested in you comment about "time Trial Lines." The only spots I would critique were T-2, using the double-Apex (with running wide in the middle)which would let a competitor get under him. In my 944, I found a tighter line with a single late apex worked best.

The only other spot would be T-9 after the down hill run from the Cork Screw where I think he could have used a wider entry to increase the driven radius.

What are your views?

Terry

His lines were fairly typical for a car with big race slicks and tons of HP and low weight.
The double apex at turn 2 is one of two approaches that is accepted as the quick way around the turn, the other being staying wider at entry and then sweeping into the apex (decreasing radius corner). Double apex is something many 911 drivers use while many 914 and Boxster drivers use the decreasing radius with one late apex.
He was not really running race lines anywhere...
He was looking for quick lap times, not keeping someone behind him...also this stuff is gentleman racing with these historic mega dollar machines.

At turn 9 again his line was very typical of a full blow race car on slicks...he was leaving lots on the table there....but then again, if you go off driver's right at that area you end up going sideways into a drainage ditch...not optimal for a guest drive in a historic race car....
His lap times were in the 1:32 range, which is really moving at Laguna in a full bodied race car.
Quickest I have been on track at Laguna is in the 1:42 range which was in a 911 based racecar on slicks in 40* ambient temps...and that was a real eye opener for car control the first few laps until the tires finally got a bit of heat in them...


at full tilt I am sure he would be sweeping in a bit wider at turn 9 and exiting a bit wider.
I used to have to shift my 914-6 RS motor car mid corner at 9 and that was before the GP motorcycle changes that deepened and enlarged the gravel/sand trap and moved the bridge (abuttment was the issue) further up towards turn 8.
Also the distance from turn 9 to turn 10 has increased when the track was updated a few years back, as well as the distance from 10 to 11.
I have been driving Laguna for 20+ years now, and there have been some very significant changes over the years with repaving, new berms, and actual changes in the track layout. : And they took out the Oak Tree.

read more about that drive in Excellence mag
That "last 935" has a 4 speed gearbox, he never even got to 4th gear that day
I wish my 914 had a boost knob to twist in 150+ MORE HP!

I agree with Dan; a carefully and respectably driven historic car. I wouldn't gleen too much from the video other than just for fun. Last I ran there was in '84 or '85, so lots of changes to the track since then!

Anyone have a link to a quality 100% fast race car effort at Laguna?

Here's a just for fun link to a Super Kart video; 1:23.6; Wow that's fast. I knew Eddie Lawson did some real fast laps there, as did that Aussie (don't recall his name). The car guys always hate it when these guys show up.

http://www.forumeter.com/video/199747/Supe...ord-Laguna-Seca

Andys

www.Canepa.com has a pretty awesome video of his 935 on his website.. He usually drives his harder then anyone at the historics.. Also Moby and the warhorse gang has some great footage at the end of some 935's getting loose at laguna..

I wasn't there the day this video was taken, but my friend Pat Costin was behind him the entire session. Pat would get pulled in the straights, but had fun in the braking and corner zones. Hanging with a well driven 935, in a normally aspirated IMSA 911, is any day fun in my book.

Hey DanT,

Thanks for you review of Overbeek's lines. I agree that since it was Historic Racing, one can leave doors open and not worry about being dive-bombed on the inside. Also, NOT going 10/10ths in someone else's priceless toy make a lot of sense.

I First ran 'Seca in '81 in my 510 Datsun Sedan. That was the course that ran low
around the lake in a series of left-had sweepers finally heading up under the over pass. The Corkscrew was T6 then, and was formed by 3 FLAT planes of concrete.
I remember looking out the left window and FALLING over the edge, down the corner. Also, at that time, the straight after the corkscrew was LONGER, FASTER and made the entry into the off-camber T-7 a bit scary.

My last time back with the 944S2 was with the current configuration and I think the changes were ALL good! Now the Corkscrew is a Velvet RollerCoaster and a KICK! I also found I had to use the single-apex, late-apex line at T-2 otherwise I just wasted too much time understeering while trying to get the car to point.

I think I did a 1:52 with the stock 944 on street tires. I was pushing hard enough keeping in mind that I still HAD to have a car to drive 5 hours south at the end of the week-end. Regardless, I was just a wonderful outing!!

You are SO lucky to have that great track in your backyard!!

Terry

Great video. I love the sounds. That article in Excellence was one of the best ones I have read this year.