Studying Sebring - made a map

[Gabe]

Watching videos is not enough for me to understand well things like race lines.
I might be one of the few that need to put things in paper - or electronic in my case. I made this map of a track I will drive for the first time in a few weeks. Now I can see it in my mind. (Picture is low quality my PDF is much clearer).

For those of you that drive this track with your eyes closed, let me know if there are other details I should know.

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[Timmy_Jones]

Time for some iRacing, I have never seen the track in person and have hundreds of laps on it. By no means would I be fast, but I would have an inkling on how to get around it.

 

[Gabe]

Yeah. The next step for me is to hop on a sim. Even if is a cheapo home sim with a wheel and pedals and apply all this to the sim knowing that from sim to real life is a huge leap anyway.

I know I will suck at the real thing anyway LOL, but I cant imagine going there without kind of knowing the turns and the basics of it. It would be like burning money without benefit.

 

[Davo307]

Reach out to me. Ive done around 1,000 laps there in person and have the TT4 record.

There's so many little secrets to the track. Love it.

 

[Gabe]

Reach out to me. Ive done around 1,000 laps there in person and have the TT4 record.

There's so many little secrets to the track. Love it.

Holy crap. That was way faster than the videos Ive watched. Yeah. Not only im a noob, I have never been there. I hope my instructor does not let me drive into the sunset on this one. HAHAHAHA. Sure thing. My car is stock engine power and I have upgraded suspension pads, fluid and rotors and still on street tires (continentals). Im sure my line is going to be a little different from you tho.

 

[Davo307]

Holy crap. That was way faster than the videos Ive watched. Yeah. Not only im a noob, I have never been there. I hope my instructor does not let me drive into the sunset on this one. HAHAHAHA. Sure thing. My car is stock engine power and I have upgraded suspension pads, fluid and rotors and still on street tires (continentals). Im sure my line is going to be a little different from you tho.

Which group are you going with to Sebring? Since it's your first time I don't want to bog down your thinking capacity with all the little tiny details and nuances that I've learned when needs to shave off half a tenth and such.

But I'm happy to go over the lap if you want to DM me. The Supra is like a bigger, heavier, faster s2000. So I'd only tweak the line into T10 and maybe T16 if I was in my own Supra (vs my s2000 video)

 

[FLtrackdays]

Yeah. The next step for me is to hop on a sim. Even if is a cheapo home sim with a wheel and pedals and apply all this to the sim knowing that from sim to real life is a huge leap anyway.

I know I will suck at the real thing anyway LOL, but I cant imagine going there without kind of knowing the turns and the basics of it. It would be like burning money without benefit.

Great job on the map! I wouldn’t try to make the car do any of the movement lines you put on it after apexing. When you’re on full throttle (parts of the track long enough before the next apex), let the car naturally drift toward the next turning point for the next apex. Such as coming out of turn one. If you’re tracking out and not passing anyone (not allowed in green group there), there is no reason to be weaving back to the middle of the track before turn 3. You want to feel where the car wants to go and guide her slowly to your next apex entry point.

That’s the biggest thing I noticed. Don’t worry about those parts of the line. It needs to be natural. Then when your wheel begins to straighten out, you can apply more throttle until the wheel is closer to straight. Then full throttle until your next threshold braking point. Get to the speed you need for the next apex and turn. And you need to add the corner workers to the map.

Each turn will have a corner worker close to it. So look for them your first time there. They are life savers when approaching a blind corner. There could be a car spun out on track or who knows what. You’ll be able to slow down enough to safely avoid most accidents that occur. The other areas you need to know are where to run off.

When are you going? A ride along in another Supra, BMW or Porsche of similar weight would be ideal.

You’ll easily see track direction of the pit and paddock trafiic when there and having an instructor helps. Entry points can differ depending on the group. I run about 2:24 w/out traffic. 2:23 and change is my PB and 2:26 with traffic. I can’t wait to drive there with a seat and trim those times down. You can ride shotgun with me or David. That will benefit you the most, along with just driving the damn thing, lol. It’s not nearly as brutal or difficult as people make it out to be. But it is by far the funnest track in our neck of the woods and better than most people anticipate.

Try some of these videos to get an idea of cars following the line when not passing:

Supra in this one:


And for inboard forward view, this Chevy is really good:

 

[hyboost]

Gabe, good luck at Sebring, you will love it! We have thousands of laps there, and each time out, I learn something new about the track. Challenging, bumpy, technical in parts and rewarding when you get it right (nothing like finally getting t17 or going flat through bishops). Be patient, and as others have said, go out with someone as a passenger and it will accelerate your learning curve.

You and I met at Homestead a few weeks ago by the way. I stopped by the garage and checked out your build with my old man. I’ve been racing a fully built Frankenstein e30m3 for years (2:18 car at Sebring) and have done a few weekends in my GT3RS as well, but about to start a supra track build so checking out your car was helpful. Looking forward to some laps with you and @FLtrackdays out there and learning from others on what works on this platform.

Oh, and I have a full sim at the house. You guys are welcome to come by ahead of your first weekend and do some laps just to get familiar with the track. Let me know…I’m in Parkland.

 

[Gabe]

Ohh hi. Yes. I remember you! Good thing to see you around here to. Yes. I can’t wait to get there and drive that track.
I had said, that it was gonna be a one off bucket list type of thing, but the more I see it, looks like I will be returning to Sebring as one weekend will be very little to get the best out of this track.

thanks for the offering! Looking forward to meet again.

 

[FLtrackdays]

Gabe, good luck at Sebring, you will love it! We have thousands of laps there, and each time out, I learn something new about the track. Challenging, bumpy, technical in parts and rewarding when you get it right (nothing like finally getting t17 or going flat through bishops). Be patient, and as others have said, go out with someone as a passenger and it will accelerate your learning curve.

You and I met at Homestead a few weeks ago by the way. I stopped by the garage and checked out your build with my old man. I’ve been racing a fully built Frankenstein e30m3 for years (2:18 car at Sebring) and have done a few weekends in my GT3RS as well, but about to start a supra track build so checking out your car was helpful. Looking forward to some laps with you and @FLtrackdays out there and learning from others on what works on this platform.

Oh, and I have a full sim at the house. You guys are welcome to come by ahead of your first weekend and do some laps just to get familiar with the track. Let me know…I’m in Parkland.

Damn that’s flippin fast ? You ever do FARA SLS? The time trials with them are a blast. You’d probably wind up in their SLU (unlimited class - they have an online calculator you can plug in the specs for your car) and still be toward the top. They’re going to be there in April (weekend that I‘m sadly working). It’s an inexpensive way to get some really good laps (sessions) in with other guys at your level. No point by required too, which is nice.

 

[hyboost]

Damn that’s flippin fast ? You ever do FARA SLS? The time trials with them are a blast. You’d probably wind up in their SLU (unlimited class - they have an online calculator you can plug in the specs for your car) and still be toward the top. They’re going to be there in April (weekend that I‘m sadly working). It’s an inexpensive way to get some really good laps (sessions) in with other guys at your level. No point by required too, which is nice.

Car was quick for sure. 2400lbs wet, 367whp from the s54 engine in it, dry sump, MCS externals, PFC BBK, pretty much anything you can throw at it. Was built to race PBOC and NASA and after running it for years, I sold it to a friend of mine. Car is in Tampa now, still a ringer with NASA. Ran high teens in a stock GT3RS after that but don’t have the heart to beat on it, so moved to an M4GTS which I sold last year and thus my new Supra project starting. Doing MCS, Verkline, Verus, AP BBK and we’ll see how quick we can get it, not sure if sub20s is possible on Hoosiers but we’ll see where it ends up.

See you guys out there…

 

[Exotic Papa]

Reach out to me. Ive done around 1,000 laps there in person and have the TT4 record.

There's so many little secrets to the track. Love it.

Hey Davo! I've done many track days at Sebring but I'm getting tired of just doing lap times at track days.

I'm trying to start on NASA and FARA TT and have been reading a lot about rules. I just bought an MCS 2 way remote suspension, a few alignment arms, front swaybar, and I'm going to ditch the 300TW tires to go on 200 TW 18" square on 295's (no aero yet lol, too much money spent last month). I know about the power calculations on NASA and it seems that I would have to run the supra on stock power. It seems like these mods are more for TT3 right? No way I'd be able to run TT4 with them. Just wondering.

 

[Rocksandblues]

Holy crap. That was way faster than the videos Ive watched. Yeah. Not only im a noob, I have never been there. I hope my instructor does not let me drive into the sunset on this one. HAHAHAHA. Sure thing. My car is stock engine power and I have upgraded suspension pads, fluid and rotors and still on street tires (continentals). Im sure my line is going to be a little different from you tho.

Respectfully, your newbie track brain is going to be over whelmed with just the basics. By the time you think “ok, turn 4 watch the bump, touch curb- you will be at turn 7 and way off line.

Listen to the instructor. Relax. Concentration the basics- increase speed when comfortable. Have fun. It’s not like you imagine.

 

[FLtrackdays]

Hey Davo! I've done many track days at Sebring but I'm getting tired of just doing lap times at track days.

I'm trying to start on NASA and FARA TT and have been reading a lot about rules. I just bought an MCS 2 way remote suspension, a few alignment arms, front swaybar, and I'm going to ditch the 300TW tires to go on 200 TW 18" square on 295's (no aero yet lol, too much money spent last month). I know about the power calculations on NASA and it seems that I would have to run the supra on stock power. It seems like these mods are more for TT3 right? No way I'd be able to run TT4 with them. Just wondering.

Hola Armando! You should try FARA SLS (super lap series) to get a feel where you want to land in TT. If you haven’t already, checkout their website. I have and it was a great. Everyone knows how to maintain car placement while keeping race pace. You can run in two different categories if you’d like. Such as SLS 1, 2 or even SLU (unlimited). Their average times (for each category) are pretty accurate for where you should be.

 

[Exotic Papa]

Hola Armando! You should try FARA SLS (super lap series) to get a feel where you want to land in TT. If you haven’t already, checkout their website. I have and it was a great. Everyone knows how to maintain car placement while keeping race pace. You can run in two different categories if you’d like. Such as SLS 1, 2 or even SLU (unlimited). Their average times (for each category) are pretty accurate for where you should be.

Hey Mark!

I’ve looked at the FARA rules and regs, but I have to dig deeper lol. I guess I have to see what mods are the most beneficial for each class. Will definitely look at the avg times you mentioned. Thanks Mark! I know we will definitely cross paths soon since we are in the same area. Looking forward to meeting you!

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