CR-Z Track Day at Harris Hill Road - Honda CRZ Forum: Honda CR-Z Hybrid Car Forums

Hutchead · 11-21-2011, 09:56 PM

After autocrossing for about a year I got a chance to do a track day in the CR-Z. This was my first ever track experience... what a rush! It was at Harris Hill Road outside of San Marcos, TX, and was put organized by Velocity Adventures. My instructor for the day was Jack M.

My CR-Z is a bone stock CVT, still with stock rims and tires. The car has terrible understeer but is amazingly easy to drive. If I ever found myself going too fast or getting too far off line, all I had to do was let off the gas, scrub a little speed, and let the tires get a little more grip.. then I could work my way back into the right line.

Jack said this was going to teach me some bad habits. At 11:43 on run 2 I let off the accelerator while going around a full speed turn. In most cars this would throw the back end around and lead to a spin out, but not in my CR-Z.

The other interesting thing he noted about the car is the very very late braking I could do leading up to turn 4. Notice the brake spot for the Porsche at 15:15 in Run 4. He brakes at the cone on the left. I am still on the gas until the 2nd cone (on the right) and still have plenty of time to brake before the hard right hand turn. Most cars had to use the hill to help them brake because if they waited to long then when they would come over the top of the hill and the car would be too light, the suspension would not have had time to settle, and they would go off before they could stop/turn.

I ran most of the day with 2 to 3 bars of battery. There are a lot of heavy braking spots to charge up a little. I hit 88 going up that hill to turn 4 with a full battery charge and that was early in the day when I didn't have the line right coming out of turn 3. Later in the day I could only get to 82 coming up the hill. That's 6mph I attribute to low battery charge.

The stock brakes did great, did not get squishy at all. Just push them to the floor when it's time to brake and let the ABS do it's thing.

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

DTLA · 11-22-2011, 02:19 AM

That's a cool looking course. Maybe a bit short? I'd hate to be in a high hp car trying to brake over one of those hills just before a turn. Did you get a session to run without an instructor? A passenger is a pretty big handicap for a low HP car like the CR-Z. The stock tires aren't much help either.

cyeung · 11-22-2011, 10:48 PM

Harris Hill Road... that brings back memories from 2009.

The owner was nice enough to open the track up for my team to test our solar-powered car before Formula Sun Grand Prix 2009 in about a week. Besides learning about some issues that we needed to work through in software, we had the chance to learn how the car handles. I was taking the last lap of the day.

At the straightaway past turn 5, I was going 30 mph and still accelerating when I felt the unsettling jolt that turned out to be the motor (with the rear wheel) seizing up. That sent me sliding forward, which caused the tire (inflated at 100 PSI per the sidewall) to blow. After the tire blew, the car did a 180. Attached pics show the skid mark I left and the tire that blew.

Long story short, we got the motor fixed and qualified to represent the University of Texas for the first time in over 15 years. As if that was not enough, about five minutes after getting out of the car, I got a call from a recruiter asking whether I would be interested in interviewing with them. I have been working for them for the past two years now, and am looking forward to many more years of working for them.

Scotty001 · 11-23-2011, 09:38 PM

Sorry guys.. Just removed a couple of posts on Street Racing. Lets keep it at the track please..

Thanks.

11-21-2011, 09:56 PM	#1 (permalink)
Hutchead Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: San Antonio Posts: 49	CR-Z Track Day at Harris Hill Road After autocrossing for about a year I got a chance to do a track day in the CR-Z. This was my first ever track experience... what a rush! It was at Harris Hill Road outside of San Marcos, TX, and was put organized by Velocity Adventures. My instructor for the day was Jack M. My CR-Z is a bone stock CVT, still with stock rims and tires. The car has terrible understeer but is amazingly easy to drive. If I ever found myself going too fast or getting too far off line, all I had to do was let off the gas, scrub a little speed, and let the tires get a little more grip.. then I could work my way back into the right line. Jack said this was going to teach me some bad habits. At 11:43 on run 2 I let off the accelerator while going around a full speed turn. In most cars this would throw the back end around and lead to a spin out, but not in my CR-Z. The other interesting thing he noted about the car is the very very late braking I could do leading up to turn 4. Notice the brake spot for the Porsche at 15:15 in Run 4. He brakes at the cone on the left. I am still on the gas until the 2nd cone (on the right) and still have plenty of time to brake before the hard right hand turn. Most cars had to use the hill to help them brake because if they waited to long then when they would come over the top of the hill and the car would be too light, the suspension would not have had time to settle, and they would go off before they could stop/turn. I ran most of the day with 2 to 3 bars of battery. There are a lot of heavy braking spots to charge up a little. I hit 88 going up that hill to turn 4 with a full battery charge and that was early in the day when I didn't have the line right coming out of turn 3. Later in the day I could only get to 82 coming up the hill. That's 6mph I attribute to low battery charge. The stock brakes did great, did not get squishy at all. Just push them to the floor when it's time to brake and let the ABS do it's thing. Session 2 Session 3 Session 4

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11-22-2011, 02:19 AM	#2 (permalink)
DTLA Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 26	That's a cool looking course. Maybe a bit short? I'd hate to be in a high hp car trying to brake over one of those hills just before a turn. Did you get a session to run without an instructor? A passenger is a pretty big handicap for a low HP car like the CR-Z. The stock tires aren't much help either.