I am heading to Gingerman Raceway for my first time trial event put on by the Indy Region SCCA. It looks like the day will consist of (3) 20 minute practice sessions in the morning and (3) 20 minute competition session in the afternoon. This will be my 11th track day at Gingerman so I am comfortable with the track but I would welcome any advice regarding how to manage the competition sessions. Car is a 2006 Miata with Hankook RS4's that do not tend to overheat and brakes are track specific and also have handled 20 minute sessions without issue in the past. Do I push every lap when clear track exist and cool off on laps where passing/point bys occur? Any helpful hints? The forecast is sunny and a high of 80F so should be a nice day to be out and playing with cars.
Rodan
SuperDork
8/24/22 9:41 a.m.
Do you have on-board timing so you can see what you're lap times are doing?
I generally turn my quickest lap on lap 3-5 of a session, with the out lap being a warm up. At our events, we try to line up fast to slow to minimize passing during the time trial session, but that takes a session or so for everyone to figure out. You still may have the fast cars catching you at the end of the session.
Try to get the tires up to temp, then send it. If you can see your times slowing, or feel like things are falling off, don't be afraid to end the session early and save your tires and yourself. As the car/tires heat up, your potential for setting a PB drops off.
The really annoying part is I almost always run my quickest lap of the day in the cooler morning weather... during practice. 
Rodan said:
Do you have on-board timing so you can see what you're lap times are doing?
Yes, I use Track Addict (only on my phone, no separate GPS so limited accuracy) and it does give predictive lap times which I can use to get a feel where I am gaining/losing time and if a lap will be a throw away. In my prior 20 minute sessions I have had fastest laps as early as lap two and as late as lap eight which might be an indicator of my general inconsistency 
