Turn Left on International Speedway Boulevard (mini picture dump)

"KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs" (kusabisensei) 11/01/2014 at 09:06 • Filed to: Tracklopnik

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Leaving Daytona International Speedway, I heard that a lot from my GPS. But Daytona does have some right turns as well...in the infield. Here's what that is like...

This is still bigger than Charlotte for you France family fans (NASCAR). The banking on the oval turns is just absolutely absurd...31 degrees. If you don't drive fast enough, you will have to countersteer, lest you slide onto the apron. So I took a chance and brought this.

I was in the last group, because I don't have a NASA ready race car, and we had a bunch of NASA guys doing testing as part of our outfit. This also marks the first time that the Audi has been on a track. Daytona is one hell of a shakedown track. How so? This is what I found out over the course of ~60 miles on the Rolex 24 Hour circuit.

* Has a slight oil weep that ends up dropping oil onto the exhaust manifold (Only did it once, and then stopped)
* Has utter crap for brake fluid (Fluid started getting compressible towards the afternoon, and boiled completely as I was in the paddock after the last session)
* It will bite you if you exceed the torque bias of the Torsen center diff, causing it to effectively run as an open diff. (This is likely what happened as I added power right before my spin, and all the extra thrust went to the rear, which is exactly what I didn't need)
* Utterly relentless thrust (top indicated speed, 145MPH. I have no idea how accurate the speedometer is at 120+)
* It will need a lot of work to replace the worn out parts with 160K miles on them. This was completely expected.

I even spun in Turn 11 (exiting the bus stop). Don't worry, I didn't hit anything, or the wall. It's also on video, but since I'm not at home just yet, I'll have to post the video later on.

It's better to run out of talent than out of space.

The whole complex is massive. One of the other drivers (Phil) and I stopped on the road going in/out from the Turn 1 Tunnel, to just take in the size of the track.

After the last round of renovations (not counting the ongoing ones right now), NASCAR added the Fandeck, on top of the garages. This also included (not pictured) windows in the garages, so that the tourists taking the track's daily tours could watch these doofuses in sports cars and a Chrysler 300 SRT-8 prepare for more laps around the course.

This was a great experience. It's a bucket list track, for certain, but if you can get on it cheaply (Mine was $315 for the day), go and do it, THEN put the track outline on your car. Because not many people can have cars that they have driven at what is the Coliseum of American Motorsport (At least under the France family).

The Transporter > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/01/2014 at 09:22

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I'm sorry, but it had to be done.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > The Transporter 11/01/2014 at 17:53

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Well, duh. The France family would be accused of heresy if they even suggested running the course backwards.