Ain't that fun?
I've been twice to Willow Springs, and in a total time of a few hours (maybe 3 1/2 or 4) my times have come down 6 seconds, to 1:38.1. (Stock tires, stock alignment, smoothies, K+Ns, and Corsa cat-backs)
Hardest part for me is not to "get off it", when the car pushes, but rather keep my foot in it. Goes against my natural reaction, which is to let off the gas when I feel I'm losing it. If you let off the throttle suddenly, it oversteers, and round you go! Be smooth, ride it out! (Easy to say!)
A fun turn at Willow Springs for a beginner like me, is turn 5, an up hill left-hander. If you are are the inside berm, you have a lot of room to the right in which to balance the car at speed. I like to push the throttle in third gear, and feel the back end kind of swing out to the right a little, as you set the car into a slight controlled drift. Its a slow enough turn that you can easily react with more or less throttle, before you will go just go off the track. And if you make a small mistake, there is more time to correct, since you are going slower there. Also turn 2, you can do the same experimentation in a mostly level right-hander, but that corner is about 80 mph, and I don't like the look of the runoff, so I'd rather practice slidin' the back end around with the throttle in turn 5. Now someone said there is a drainage ditch over there somewhere, so don't use this post as license to run off Turn 5!
Turn 8 is about 125 mph for me, (I heard of a mostly stock Viper doing 138, I think it was John Dearing) But I don't experiment there! I just keep it steady, and keep my butt cheeks squeezed together tightly, while holding my breath, and gripping the wheel until my knuckles turn white!
If you don't have an ACR, make sure you get the ACR oil filter adapter, which allows more oil pressure, its about $260.
Also get the "trap doors" installed in your pan. A lot of people make them, but I got mine from Joe Dozzo. You can find him with the search feature.
Make sure you change to Red Line power steering fluid, which is much less likely to catch fire, and toast your prized possesion. I paid $14 a quart, and used a little over one quart, and changed it per Henri Cone's instructions. (Search key again)
Use 15-50 weight oil (Mobil 1) at the track, especially in So Cal, where we run around at 108 degrees in the punishing desert sun.
Get the high temp brake fluid, so you don't boil it.
John Dearing gave me some Porsche air deflectors for the front control arms. They are easy to zip-tie on. This is better than putting em on rock solid, because if you have an OTE (Off Track Excursion), they won't likely get all busted up, and you can just zip 'em back on.
Next up will be ACR shocks/springs, remove sport shims, and then maybe Stop Tech brakes.
