Ozark International Raceway

[13COBRA]

Headed down to Ozark International Raceway (OIR) this weekend. MVP is hosting a two day event. Typically I don't like running big events like this that aren't timed....but I missed the NASA Central event down there a couple weekends ago due to family obligations.

Looks like a big, fun, fast and precise all wrapped into 19 corners, 1200' elevation changes and 4 miles of newly paved asphalt. I've been running it on my simulator for the last week or two just to get comfortable with the corners, as there are so many blind up and downhill corners involved. Fingers crossed it helps out!

Something I thought was odd, we're running the full course, with the bus stop bypass. I haven't seen video of anyone else running that configuration yet.

OIR Map A.jpg

I mentioned running it in the simulator... I found a gentleman out of the UK that does custom skins for the cars. He was able to replicate my car pretty damn good. Obviously wheels and tires aren't close...but hey, it took him a few hours to what it would take me weeks to do.

t82nsihtfsa91.jpg

It seems that the elevation changes on the track are so quick that there have been a lot of cars bottoming out/lifting tires. I don't think I'll bottom out, but the lifting tires part is unnerving; especially at 130mph+ on a track I'm not super familiar with.

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Going to load up Thursday and head down Friday. Luckily my parents have a house about 20 minutes from the track so it'll make the commute pretty easy!

For anyone not familiar with the track, or how to work YouTube/Google, here's a friend of mine's Z06 running it a couple of weeks ago. He's ran the fastest posted time I've seen, with exception of the open wheel cars.

[GTS Dean]

What a great track! It looks like a number of the corners have been diamond ground to take care of some pavement imperfections. Sometimes it's hard to build the right camber and get things to drain right on a race track when the profile and cross slopes change abrubtly. The paver's automatics are always trying to lengthen grade changes and resist cross-slope deviations. Those areas require manually jogging the grade control switches, or turning the automatics off and cranking the hand controls on the screed.

[13COBRA]

What a great track! It looks like a number of the corners have been diamond ground to take care of some pavement imperfections. Sometimes it's hard to build the right camber and get things to drain right on a race track when the profile and cross slopes change abrubtly. The paver's automatics are always trying to lengthen grade changes and resist cross-slope deviations. Those areas require manually jogging the grade control switches, or turning the automatics off and cranking the hand controls on the screed.

Several spots I believe had to be cut, and redone, for exactly that reason.

[ViperNC]

What a roller coaster ride that track is. I get the MVP invites and just haven't made it out there yet. Looks like I need to make the effort! Have fun!

[13COBRA]

What a roller coaster ride that track is. I get the MVP invites and just haven't made it out there yet. Looks like I need to make the effort! Have fun!

The over the hill section is called a roller coaster, ironically.

[Arizona Vipers]

That looks like an amazing track! An awesome job on the skin for your car!
That Vette must have been running bigger tires than stock...

[13COBRA]

That looks like an amazing track! An awesome job on the skin for your car!
That Vette must have been running bigger tires than stock...

It is. I think he said about .75" taller front and rear.

Make the trip sometime and we'll go run it!

How's your turbo car coming along?

[TheWessss]

This track has been added to my bucket list. Will definitely be hitting on my way to or from NVE5 in 2023

[Arizona Vipers]

It is. I think he said about .75" taller front and rear.

Make the trip sometime and we'll go run it!

How's your turbo car coming along?

Plumbing is all done, the hold up is our Fuel Safe fuel cell, been waiting 7 months they keep screwing up and dropping the ball. Once we get that installed we'll put the brakes and aero on and then it's ready for testing.

[13COBRA]

Just my luck. Made it through a warm up session...then lost my gas cap.

[Arizona Vipers]

Just my luck. Made it through a warm up session...then lost my gas cap.

Duct tape???

[13COBRA]

Duct tape???

I tried it. It was pretty hot yesterday and I think between the heat and the gas fumes it just wouldn't stick after 2 laps.

Obviously I'd rather pay out the $150 for a cap rather than a big fix on something...but it's almost not frustrating losing a weekend because of a small, completely avoidable issue.

[Viper98]

Gorilla tape. It’ll stick!

[13COBRA]

Gorilla tape. It’ll stick!

That's what I had. It worked for a little bit. I think the gas fine and the heat ate the adhesive pretty quickly.

[13COBRA]

FINALLY getting a shot at this track this weekend! I was supposed to run with NASA Central, but they canceled do to the event organizers getting COVID. Now, running with another group. With such short notice, it looks like it may turn into a private track weekend.

I now have 3 fuel caps if anyone needs a spare.

Also, thanks to Victor at Complete Performance Motorsports my clutch is up and running!

[jrubin80]

FINALLY getting a shot at this track this weekend! I was supposed to run with NASA Central, but they canceled do to the event organizers getting COVID. Now, running with another group. With such short notice, it looks like it may turn into a private track weekend.

I now have 3 fuel caps if anyone needs a spare.

Also, thanks to Victor at Complete Performance Motorsports my clutch is up and running!

Can't wait to hear how you like it. It is definitely going on my schedule for next season.

[13COBRA]

So far so good. Track is fast. Kinda scary, but not terrible. Several HUGE elevation changes, blind crests/turns, etc. I ram a 2:33 on my 6th lap. Think I could run a mid to upper 20s with the right mindset and balls.

[Exhlr8n]

Post some videos when you get a chance..!

Have fun!

[13COBRA]

Post some videos when you get a chance..!

Have fun!

It'll be Monday/Tuesday.

It's getting hot. Going to hangout on the dock haha

Planning for a few fliers tomorrow morning.

[13COBRA]

It was a fun weekend. I didn't get to run as much as I had hoped. I'm not notoriously hard on tires...but this track had me killing my left side tires. I went through a set yesterday...rotated side to side...and still killed them. This morning I put on a fresh set in hopes of setting a fast lap. I went down another 2psi on the left side in order to keep them in operating range for an extra lap or so, well I ended up slipping the bead after a lap and a half of warming up... maybe 1ps would've been a better start.

Well, on to the track. The track is perfect. the garage area is excellent. Clean bathrooms, showers, plenty of room. Each garage has a garage spot and a flat next to it available for use. There was plenty of room for my truck and trailer, as their parking lot is set up for semis. Being brand new, everything is in impeccable condition.

The corner worker stations all have excellent vantage positions before/after the hill they're on. The electronic flag panels are easy to see and spot immediately. I can't say enough about how it's all set up.

There are so many blind corners and crests, it would definitely be taunting for someone the first time out wanting to go fast. I was very pleased with how the simulator prepared me for that aspect of it. The off camber turns are wild. Turn 1 is off camber, downhill and stays off camber until you hit the valley. Turn 5 is the same way, down a larger hill then feels like you're b blasting off towards the moon, but in reality you're about to through the essess. I was too eager for them and oftentimes found myself turning in too early for the first one. The trick is to wait until you see the very last corner of the right side curbing then turn in and it'll keep you pretty straight through the rest.

In to the roller coaster section. Definitely took me a few times through to want to be flat, the elevation change is incredible and you just feel weightless. The corner worker said my suspension was completely unloaded but all tires stayed on the ground. In the video you can hear my foot back and forth on the gas, my belt wasn't tired enough to hold me down in my seat so my whole body was moving a little.


Turn 7 I just took super slow. 8 was better on laps I didn't hit traffic. 10 is a super fast corner, that I never got comfortable with. 11-14 I did decent, but could carry a lot more speed.

The main 'straight' is terrifying. The wall is soooo close to you, and I wasn't near close enough haha I was about a car too far to the left. Definitely looking forward to going again.

This was my fastest lap. I think with another time or two on it, I can churn out a 2:26-2:28. Overall I was super happy with a 2:33 as it's the fastest lap I've seen posted with the exception of open wheel cars.

[13COBRA]

Further break down.

T1. I used a 7 brake pedal instead of a 5. Could carry another 9-11mph through it, allowing me to track out further. There's plenty of room to hustle the car back to the left to set up for T2.

T2. I used a 5 brake pedal instead of a 2. Same as T1. Could definitely carry more speed up the hill and let the banking and uphill help scrub some speed, again plenty of room to hustle right and set up for T3.

T3. Definitely could be faster, but my line was just where I had planned.

T4. I needed to be another half car to the left and hold it there longer. I early apexed which messed me up/slowed me down for T5.

T5. Downhill off camber, aka scary. Coming out of T4 too tightly didn't allow me a straight run at 5. If I would've held right longer, I could've straightened this out and made it faster.

T6. Entry was good, should've broke a little later. I turned in to the first of the esses early. I should have waited until I could glimpse the last corner of the curbing on the right and it would've been a straight shot through the rest and MUCH faster. The previous lap was overall slower, but I was .5 seconds faster through the esses.

T7. I came in too slow, coming out of T6, my rpms were down too low for 4th, but there wasn't a good spot to downshift to 3rd. Just slow.

T8. Down to the roller coaster. This is a straight line. Driving it, it looks anything but straight. But by curbing on the left then on the right, it's a straight shot from T8 to the turn in on T9. I needed to tighten the harness even more to hold me down, as the second hill I was weightless and my foot lifted.

T9. I could carry 5-7mph fairly comfortably, stay on the throttle to use the whole track and hang far left. Since I didn't get all the way left, I was setting myself up to pinch T10 and not carry enough speed.

T10. I pinched T10 and overslowed. Probably lost 8-12mph by doing so. I left A LOT of track out there that I didn't touch. Next time I plan on a slightly earlier apex, using all of the curbing and sticking the throttle hard. I should be at 145mph or so coming into T11.

T11. Overslowed with the lap traffic. Like a bitch I knew it would be a hard pass to get done before T12, so I slowed down, knowing I would pass coming out of T12. Cost me a lot of time.

T12. Early apexed. Wasn't sure if he was going to let me have the racer's line (right outside) or if he would stay wide and let me cut underneath. I had him by about 300hp so I knew I could make either one work.

T13. Really weird corner. It's a fast sweeper, but goes off camber at the top of the hill and feels like you're going to drive off into the trees. I early apexed like a bitch and was able to stay on a decent 'safe' line..but costing me lots of speed. It kinda looks like a double apex.

T14. Super tight turn. Should've stay further left and made it more rounded, I opted for the point and shoot method. Produced some understeer which snapped to oversteer. After watching it through a few times, another car width to the left and a turn in would've been faster.

T15. I think I can take this flat, or near flat. Just depends on when I can grow a pair.

T16. Quick guesstimate, if I took T15 near flat I'd be about 130-133 coming down to the braking zone. A 3/4 brake pedal tap and a turn in using the camber and uphill to scrub speed would've been a better bet and resulted in carrying more speed. Rather than bottoming out at 89mph, it would've been closer to 100mph and pushed me further left on the track which would've been perfect. I could've throttle steered my way to the cone over the hill and set up for T17 perfectly.

T17. I had a pretty good entry here. Held right a while. Turned in a couple feet early, but it was close enough for a decent angle. The release here is where I had issues. I wanted to release and stay center track. I don't want to run into the pit entry lane (super bumper), but I need to straddle the pavement seam between the outside and inner lane. I'm in the middle of the inner lane. The wall just feels so close right there.

T18. By not starting out wide enough, I pinched the apex and had to scrub too much speed before hitting T19.

T19. I missed the apex completely. Was too far wide and didn't have enough speed to carry me out track right so in order to set up for T1 I was about a car width and a half too far inside. Kinda moot as the next lap was a cool down, but still.



I'm really excited to get back down there. I think I can easily break into the 25's or so with just the aforementioned changes. I think my car is capable of 22s, not sure I have the balls...but maybe some day.

I would love to set up a Viper excursion down there. The owner is a great dude and would definitely be open for it.

[GTS Dean]

Nick,

It's little wonder you were abusing your left tires. Of your 2.55 min lap, you had some kind of right G component about 33% of the time. Left G was 46%, or nearly half of the lap - AND for extended periods of time.

I'm assuming you were cording, or blistering the outside edges - so 2 suggestions: 1) more negative camber on the left side and 2) more pressure on the left side. Air pressure stiffens your shoulder and sidewall, plus helps your temperatures from getting too localized

[13COBRA]

Nick,

It's little wonder you were abusing your left tires. Of your 2.55 min lap, you had some kind of right G component about 33% of the time. Left G was 46%, or nearly half of the lap - AND for extended periods of time.

I'm assuming you were cording, or blistering the outside edges - so 2 suggestions: 1) more negative camber on the left side and 2) more pressure on the left side. Air pressure stiffens your shoulder and sidewall, plus helps your temperatures from getting too localized

Thanks Dean.

I like to run hot around 26-28 depending on the track. I started 22 on right and 21 on left. When I came off I would be at 28 right, and 31 left so I pulled some air out of the lefts...too much as it turns out.

Yes, I could definitely have used some more negative camber on the left side, and I kinda knew that going in. After pulling tire temps, I'd start about about .7-.9 more negative on the left side front and back to hope to even out the temps across the face of the tire. Unfortunately, this is the only track I run where it would require more left than right negative camber...so the likelihood of me taking the time to do an alignment just for a weekend here and there are kinda slim haha Maybe I'll do it next year for the first NASA event and try to set a scorcher of a lap.

[jrubin80]

Nick

That track looks like an absolute riot. A few of us are going to try and convince the powers that be to let that be a crossover with Rocky Mountain next season. And knowing they have nice facilities makes it even better. Awesome driving and well done!!

[13COBRA]

Nick

That track looks like an absolute riot. A few of us are going to try and convince the powers that be to let that be a crossover with Rocky Mountain next season. And knowing they have nice facilities makes it even better. Awesome driving and well done!!

I'm looking forward to meeting you guys at the track! You won't regret the voyage!