Before my last session, Phillip recommended I ride with Kobayashi in my car to see how he drives the track. Sitting in the passenger seat of your own car is always a different feeling but that soon went away as Kobayashi took the first turn. The control he had over my car was amazing, he would take turns and double the speed like it was nothing. He was passing twin turbo Porsches like it was nothing. Immediately after riding with him, I was able to go out for my last session of the day. After seeing what could be done with my car when driven correctly, I could tell I was improving. On the last lap I got a little overzealous and got to experience the snap oversteer the S2000s are famous for and spun out. Luckily I wasn't going too fast and didn't damage anything, but I knew it was time to call it a day. After driving into the pits I ran to check out my times; imagine my surprise when I saw that I had run 10 seconds faster than my second session with a 2:27.484! Just riding with Kobayashi was the reason for the drop in lap times, but his fastest lap was 13 seconds faster than mine at 2:14!
Talking to Kobayashi later about my setup, I was proud to find out that the car setup was perfect. He recommended changing the brake pads and adding a little more camber in the front. He also said to add a rear wing as I improve, do some front aero by adding canards and change the front tire setup to the 255/40s that I was planning on already. At the end of the day I learned that it is not the individual part that makes the car perform; it is how all those parts work together as a complete system. The TEIN Mono-Flexes and Enkei wheels are a perfect match for the Falken Tires. Most importantly, though, all these parts are a great match for a beginning track junkie like myself.