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Beaverun
with the Integra Type R Club
Wow, what a
track, and what a group of cars.
I got to drive The North Loop of Beaverun in everything
from stock to HEAVILY built Type R’s, a Silvia, a BUILT EVO, and
a Integra LS Turbo.
Running down the
front straight only the turbo cars needed 5th gear, the
others got to the top of 4th.
The braking point totally depended on how good each car was
on the brakes. The
200-meter marker is at the beginning of the rise, the 150 is on
the way up, and the 100 is near the peak. All
the cars could go to at least the 150-meter marker at full
throttle before having to go to the brakes.
The cars with great brakes and the shocks to handle heavy
braking over the rise could go past the 100.
It worked well to start at the 150 and work forward.
Getting to the 100 while still at full throttle was doing really
well.
While Turn 1 is
downhill and off-camber it’s quite wide and grippy, it will
really hold a lot of speed. You
can do the 4-3 downshift on the way down the hill, while still
straight. Turn-in is
late, at or after the cone that that has a painted spot, and
should be in the same location most of time.
As Turn 1 is a compromise corner, Turn-in is late, but
pretty hard. You will
do a lot of turning early in the corner, get back on the throttle
early, and take the apex late.
Make sure that you are all the way onto the curbing by the
middle of the curb, and stay on the grating that's past the end of
the concrete curbing. Shortly
after the end of the curbing turn in smoothly for the Right Apex
of Turn 2.
Turn 2 and 3 can
be made into basically one long corner.
The track-out of 2 being ALL the way to the edge of the
track for one car length and then you will continue turning Right
toward the Right Apex of 3. In
all of the cars that I drove, we did not get onto the Apex curbing
of 3. They were all
putting down good throttle through 2 and 3, and to get to the apex
of 3 would have required a breathe on the throttle. It was
quicker to keep the speed up and not go all the way onto the
curbing. After Apexing 3 (almost to the curbing, but not on it) there
was room to straighten the wheel up some and put down some power
before getting on the brakes for 4.
A good run
through 3 would place you perfectly for a brush of the brakes
before turning in for 4. 4
is one of those awesome corners that really rewards looking ahead.
You want to get all the way to the white concrete on the
Turn-in curbing before turning-in. Make sure that you have sighted
over the Apex, to the Track-out before Turning-in. You want to get
ALL the way onto the Apex curbing, almost hitting the middle and
just-past-middle yellow posts.
You should be back heavily into the throttle by the time
you apex, making sure that you are accelerating out as hard as you
can to still stay on the track at Track-out.
The concrete curbing itself was usable, but the grating
after it was very unsettling.
The short shot from 4
to 5 was done still in 3rd gear.
Turn 5 was another
big time late Turn-in, Early throttle, Late Apex corner.
These cars all did well going back to the power between
Turn-In and Apex. Turn
5 goes sharply uphill after Turn-in.
You will actually want to get onto the curbing early, but
apex very close to second-to-last yellow post.
There is room to free the car up about a two car widths off
the curbing before turning Left for 6.
Turn 6 is kind of a
non-event. On the other hand, done right it feels good.
Only the totally stock-suspended Type R was okay using the
apex curbing. All of
the others did well getting TO the curbing, but actually getting
on it was more unsettling than the 1-foot of width was worth.
This will often be true if a corner can be taken totally
flat (to the floor) and the curbing is large or rough.
The exit of 6 is totally compromised for the entry to 7.
We were only freeing the car about 1 car width from the
Left side of the track before bringing it back to setup for 7.
Ah 7.
All good tracks have a challenging corner like 7.
Very forgiving as far as staying on the track, but very
rewarding with huge Exit Speed and grin factor when done just
right. What worked out to be just right for us was setting up wide,
almost to the outside cone, but not quite.
Turn-in was about 1 car-length before the road dropped
away. It required a
smooth but decisive Turn-in to the Right.
You have to really commit to it, but you’re committing
before you can even see the apex, or anything else other than sky
ahead of you for that matter.
When you Turn-in at the right spot, and the right amount,
as you crest the rise you will be pointed toward the apex.
As long as you get within a foot of the apex curbing there
will be plenty of room at Track-out to stay flat.
That’s right, done just right you can be flat to the
floor from Turn-in for 5, all the way to braking for 10.
Even if you’re not flat over the hill, as soon as you
crest it you will know if you can go back to full throttle or if
you need some correction. Let
the car run free to the Left for Track-out, there will be plenty
of time to setup for 8.
8, the kink, is
also kind of a non-event. As
long as you use the whole track, and are smooth, 8 is quite easy
to take flat. Setup
all the way to the Right edge of the track before Turning-in, and
then use ALL of the Apex curbing.
If you’ve done that, Track-out is easy.
Letting the car run free helps with speed, but you don’t
need to create too much extra track distance.
Just let the car go where it wants. The built cars
were getting to 5th shortly after 8, they were all in 5th well
before Turn-In for 9.
Not quite so easy
to take flat is 9. On
the track map it appears that 8 and 9 are very similar in radius,
but 9 feels a bit tighter than 8, and you will have gained a
significant amount of speed between 8 and 9. On the other hand
with a good suspension it was easy to take both flat, but cars
with big power mods and no suspension mods, it could get a little
hairy braking for 10. Anyway,
if your car is setup well, you should be flat through 9.
Depending on
setup you may be able to track out 9 and then get it straight,
parallel to the edge of the track for braking.
Or, if you have huge speed and not as much chassis control,
you may be basically making a straight-line braking zone from the
just past the apex of 9, to the Turn-in point for 10.
Realize that even a near stock Civic Si was at 110mph
before braking down to 50mph for Turn 10. The faster cars are probably closer to 130.
Realize that a 60-80mph speed reduction is SIGNIFICANT.
The car needs to be under control to shed this much speed.
And your brakes need to be good.
One thing that
seemed to catch a lot of people out is the fact that your Slowest
Point should also be the Most Steering Input Point.
In other words, whatever point in the corner you have the
wheel turned farthest, that should also be the point where you are
going slowest. It is
not good to slow the car down, then let it roll, or even
accelerate, and then try to turn it more.
Turn 10 is one of
the corners that teach the whole Slow and Tight Point really well.
You need to make sure that you are braking all the way to
your tightest turn point. For
Turn 10 this is actually just a little bit shy of your apex, you
do want to be off the brakes, turned toward the apex, and on the
throttle before you apex Turn-10.
The track is so wide for all of 10 and 11 that as long as
you get to the apex, and it’s not ridiculously early, you will
have no problem going to full throttle and letting the car free up
enough to stay flat and accelerate well through 11.
Your speed through this section is MUCH more important than
your position. Realize that your speed here sets your speed all the way
through 11,12, and on down the front straight all the way to
braking for 1.
Considering that you
are easily flat through 11, 12, and down the front straight, Turn
10 is the most important corner on the track.
The fact that these cars are easily flat from apex on makes
the most important thing on the whole track your full-throttle
point, ideally before the apex, and your apex speed.
To be continued soon…
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