MX5 Turn by Turn guide for SMSP South Circuit

[Dan]

I play a bit of iRacing and find user created turn by turn guides helpful for getting my times down quickly as I get a feel for the lines and what to do on the circuit before I drive it so I figured I'd make one for SMSP South to help people out.

It took me a couple of hours on a long plane ride to splice the video together and I did the commentary this morning (my Logitech headset doesn't sound the best, sorry..).

It would be good to get peoples feedback on the video and if it's helpful (and correct), if it gets a good reception I could make one for other tracks since it's only 3 or 4 hours of work to make one.

[StillIC]

"Getting your braking done in a straight line" is for newbies. Fastest lap times require trail braking into the corner.

Before turn 5 I sometimes (on a good run) brush the brakes, else I run off near the exit. On my old less powerful engine I did not touch the brakes. I have a slightly different line to you at turn 6 and 7. I apex earlier at both, but not by much at 7. And I think I apex turn 10 later than you to help straight line 11. At turn 13, depending on who is running the meeting, it can be beneficial to lap time to apex early and run all your wheel outside the line on the exit. But the clubs seem to be cracking down on this now, even though most lap records were set when it was allowable.

Other than that I agree.

The sound on the video is pretty quiet. I cranked up the sound on my laptop to maximum but still too quiet.

I look forward to the next track!

[NitroDann]

Slow in fast out is a noob training tip, the fastest way is, of course, fast in- fast out- fast everywhere.

[Dan]

"Getting your braking done in a straight line" is for newbies. Fastest lap times require trail braking into the corner.

Before turn 5 I sometimes (on a good run) brush the brakes, else I run off near the exit. On my old less powerful engine I did not touch the brakes. I have a slightly different line to you at turn 6 and 7. I apex earlier at both, but not by much at 7. And I think I apex turn 10 later than you to help straight line 11. At turn 13, depending on who is running the meeting, it can be beneficial to lap time to apex early and run all your wheel outside the line on the exit. But the clubs seem to be cracking down on this now, even though most lap records were set when it was allowable.

Other than that I agree.

The sound on the video is pretty quiet. I cranked up the sound on my laptop to maximum but still too quiet.

I look forward to the next track!

Good pickup about me saying that you should "get your braking done in a straight line" when I was talking at turn 1, I should of really said something like "get most of your braking done in a straight line”, I was making the point because of the hill which can make the braking zone interesting. If you watch the video I am trail braking and only getting off the brake around the apex of Turn 1

It is interesting trying to balance talking about driving technique and circuit tips too. My thought on the subject in the context of the video is that experienced drivers will apply the driving skills they have to the circuit so I was focusing on more circuit specific tips which will help people who haven't dríven there before.

Some good points about the other corners as well, I think the most controversial corner I gave advice on is definitely Turn 6, after driving the circuit 4 times I still don’t have it nailed completely and if you watch the source video which I used for this (linked in my signature) you can see I take a slightly different line on the two laps I do, the wider line is faster but for me the tighter, later apex line is more consistent.

[Dan]

Slow in fast out is a noob training tip, the fastest way is, of course, fast in- fast out- fast everywhere.

I'm pretty sure I never said those words but my thought is that there is an optimum speed for most corners and the speed depends on the car and driver.

Like I said on the video, at Turn 5 which is a left hander that heads down a hill onto a short straight, if you have a more powerful car you might want to use a later apex (which will require you to enter the corner at a lower speed) so that you can use more throttle on the exit. The more speed you carry into the corner the earlier you'll force yourself to apex.

[forcedfive]

Good on you Dan for sharing your knowledge and time. You are very quick and smooth around this circuit and this should be great guidance for many of us.

[greenMachine]

Good on you Dan for sharing your knowledge and time. You are very quick and smooth around this circuit and this should be great guidance for many of us.

What he said.

I think I will watch this a couple more times, I have never felt I on top of this circuit.

[Magpie]

Thanks Dan, looking forward to the GP layout guide.

[Guran]

Excellent work Dan! Top effort and yes I'm very keen to see similar guides for other circuits.

An alternate guide (which I wrote) is on the website of the MX-5 Club of NSW. It uses the official turn numbering.

http://nsw.mx5.com.au/motorsport/the-tracks/smp-amaroo

Main difference is for turn 10 (Dan's turn 5). Personally I prefer a wider entry and later apex than what Dan is advising. Mainly because the exit is off camber and I hate understeer so I want the car straight enabling full power from the apex.

If you don't mind Dan, I'll update the webpage and embed your video.

[Magpie]

The only improvement I would like to see is a complete lap with the narrator in the passenger seat whilst being 'dríven' around the track and narrating at the same time. It all looks so simple at slow speed

Would be good if some people in other states could do the same or sponsor Dan to come and do the review.

Again well done.

[RileyR]

Would be good if some people in other states could do the same or sponsor Dan to come and do the review.

Again well done.

Yep more videos like this would be sweet
Great guide Dan

[Dan]

Glad to hear people seem to like it and thanks for the kind words.

If you don't mind Dan, I'll update the webpage and embed your video.

Happy for you to put the video up.

Thanks Dan, looking forward to the GP layout guide.

Yeh, I'll do either GP or Wakefield next. It will be more of a low power guide to the GP Circuit since my car doesn't have any power and I know from driving my Evo around there that some area's of that track are very different in a higher powered car.

The only improvement I would like to see is a complete lap with the narrator in the passenger seat whilst being 'dríven' around the track and narrating at the same time. It all looks so simple at slow speed

Would be good if some people in other states could do the same or sponsor Dan to come and do the review.

It's hard to explain all of the corners quickly but I did narrate the hot lap in real time after I did them turn-by-turn to explain the reference points for turn in, apex and track out but I decided to delete that in favour of the raw video since I thought people would be sick of my voice by the end of the video

I really like the way this iRacing in-car tutorial is done with just in-car video:


I wouldn't be the person to make the videos for tracks I haven't spent much time driving but I'd be happy to help others make these videos for other tracks if they use a Mac as well. It just needs some in-car from a relatively quick driver, GPS lap data which can be overlaid onto Google Maps and someone to narrate it.

[Magpie]

I have all that with the exception of "relatively quick driver".

I'm sure if I asked I could find a driver with the 'right stuff' to pilot my car around QR or Lakeside.

[Dan]

I have all that with the exception of "relatively quick driver".

I'm sure if I asked I could find a driver with the 'right stuff' to pilot my car around QR or Lakeside.

To take a commercial angle towards getting a quick driver, I could see someone like Josh at MCA viewing making a guide as a good advertising opportunity since their primary customer base is track drivers and they'd be giving something back to them while basically showing they know their sh*t.

[beavis]

Slow in fast out is a noob training tip, the fastest way is, of course, fast in- fast out- fast everywhere.

This^ ..."slow in, fast out" - sounds wrong to me.

Slow should not be part of any motorsport mantra.