BEZ06

This was a really great event!!! The weather was great all weekend (about 73 degrees today!! ). I got to meet a bunch of forum members and we had a great turnout of Vettes this year. Last year there were about 4 Vettes and I was the only C6 Z06. This year there must have been at least 15 or 20 Vettes with about 8 or 10 C6Z's!!

The event was sponsored by Audi but there was a great variety of different cars including Porsches, BMW's, Ferraris, Mustangs, Ford GT's, Vipers, and quite a number of fully race-prepped cars.

My C6 Z06 is pretty much bone stock - I've got a Killer Bee intake and a tune from Jim Hall, and I put on DBA 4000 rotors (cracked one in the last session) and Hawk DTC-70 pads, and I was running Hoosiers with a nice aggressive track alignment.

Here's a video of a couple laps around the track, and that first 2:06 lap was probably my fastest of the event and around 175 was the fastest I got. The infield turns are a lot of fun (especially with the Hoosiers) and the I really like sailing through the "Bus Stop" (the chicane on the back straight), but of course the big draw at Daytona is the 31 degree banking:

BEZ06 in his C6 Z06 at Daytona

For a high HP car Daytona is a really fun place to get the most from a car like we've got!!!

Bob

CHJ In Virginia

Great video - thanks for posting. Seeing the speedo go over 170 makes the heart race just watching. That Trackmate system with the over layed video of the gauges is really nice.

TopSpeedNeed

Hey Bob, its Tony, 02 yellow Z, # 437, aka "The Fogger", I enjoyed the weekend as well, it was fun meeting you and your lovely wife, can you either post or e-mail the video of me in front of you.... My e-mail address is Flyinisme@aol.com.


Tony

TopSpeedNeed

I was at Daytona this weekend as well and met some great Vette guys, if you were there this weekend also, could post a response so we can put forum member names with faces and cars... I was # 437, yellow 02 Z06 aka "The Fogger"..

Tony

z060ntrack

Wow where have I been? I didn't know there were HPDE's at Daytona now; many years ago I with a freind tried to establish HPDE's at all of International Speedway Corps foot print that would be specific to each facility.

Pretty impressive how fast the Z06 gets to 150 coming out of the in field and up onto turn 1 even though you are shot shifting into 5th.

BEZ06

The C6 Z06 is an absolute monster!!!

I'm a novice track guy running in the green group, so I was taking it easy on me and the car!! You can see some lights flashing under the top of the steering wheel, as well as the instrument cluster. I think there's some frequency imbalance between the frames per second the video is recording at and the frequency of the electrical system of the car that creates that flicker and I've to try and fix that.

The lights behind the top of the steering wheel are a progressive shift light and I've got it set so the first one comes on 3,500 and at 6,750 they all start flashing and I often ran it up to that point, but most of time I was shifting a little earlier just because, like you say, the car accelerates so fast and even in 5th is so strong.

3rd runs up to almost 125 mph, and 4th will run up to about 160 mph at the 7,000 redline, but the torque curve is so broad that when I was just out cruising doing 2:15 parade laps I went easy on the engine and brakes.

I talked with a couple pro drivers that were tuning up for the Rolex 24 coming up early next year. They said that although a Riley DP car can turn qualifying laps in the low 1:50's or maybe even down into the high 1:4x range, during the race they'll do 2:05 laps to try and keep the car running for 24 hours.

Bob

waddisme

This is my goal for 2009 is to do this! I did the Lowes Motor Speedway this year and it was a blast. Daytona has to be 2x the fun!

BEZ06

Yes, it was a HUGE blast!!!

Like z060ntrack said:

The NASCAR speedways didn't need to lease out their tracks. Well....not until recently.

Living here in Daytona I used to be amazed at the huge facility that was only used a few times a year. Most of the year it just sat there.

It started to get active in the middle of January for the Rolex 24, and that rolled right into all the testing and qualifying for the Daytona 500. Then nothing much went on until the Pepsi/Coke 400 over the 4th of July. Then it sat there again until the Turkey Run car show during Thanksgiving, and was pretty much empty until January.

The had some driving events there, but they always required some type of competitive license - there were no HPDE "education" type events for us track novices.

However, in December 2007, the Audi Club of North America convinced them to allow a true driver education HPDE. Since then there have been a couple more during 2008, including a PBOC event the first couple days of Nov - but that event didn't allow any "novice" drivers. I'm a novice with only several events, but I did that event and it wasn't nearly as good as the Audi HPDE. The PBOC had sprint races mixed in between the student run groups, and there was always somebody going off and delaying the start of my 25 minute session and cutting it down from the scheduled 25 minutes to only 15 or 20 minutes.

The Audi event over Dec 12-14 is a very well run event and a complete track newbie that was never on a track before can run the event and get a bunch of seat time. They also have a couple run groups for advanced solos, instructors, and pro drivers, but they still had to comply with the passing rules.

So....I guess the Daytona Int'l Speedway guys decided that they could make some money by leasing out the track to us fun oriented track drivers. I hear they get something like $35,000 per day and if you want to run at night it would an additional $10,000!!!

Hope to c'ya here next year!!!

Bob

cebars

Entertaining video. Thanks for posting.

What camera and data acquisition equipment/software did you use to get the data overlay?

sperkins

What scares me is the Mr. 35mph guy at 2:35 in the video. If you're hustling through the tri-oval at 175mph, there no freakin way you're gonna see that guy doing 70mph - much less be able to avoid him if he flinches. Don't get me wrong though; if I had a dry sump system I'd be there in a heartbeat.

BEZ06

There are a bunch of different data-loggers available. I've got a Traqmate. Traqmate has a software that integrates that "dashboard" onto the video. There's a software called TrackVision that will do a similar thing with data from most of the other data-logger units.

I used to use a cheapo Aiptek camcorder that did a great job and gave the same results you see in the video, but that video was recorded with a ChaseCam. With both recorders I used a bullet cam that is easily mounted anywhere in the cockpit and you run a wire to feed it's output into your video cam/recorder and I kept mine in the glove compartment or console. If you're going to mount the actual camcorder in the cockpit you'll need a larger heavy duty mount, and most guys mount it on their harness bar or cage. If you don't have a bar to mount it on you'll need a secure mount that will be acceptable to the tech inspectors.

Bob

BEZ06

I think most everybody is going at least 120 or 130 across the start/finish line. You can see way down the track beyond the start/finish when you come out of NASCAR T4 onto the front stretch, and the guys in front of you are the thing you need to be looking for. Because we need a point-by to pass and were using a right turn signal for that, if you didn't see a signal on you slow way down until the guy sees you and gives you a signal.

You can see that guy way down the track starting at about 2:00 and I'm up behind him by about 2:15 as we turn in for T1. At 2:35 we were well into the infield going around T3 (the Int'l Horseshoe) and it's about a max 50 mph corner anyway. There are 2 short passing zones in the infield and that straight out of T3 to the Kink is one of them, so you've got to position yourself to be ready to pass the guy when he gives you the signal.

Overall during the whole 3 day event there was no contact that I know of. There were a number of offs, but the only 2 damage incidents that I know of were a Mustang that was pretty well totalled by spinning out of the Kink and hitting some armco, and the other was a Bimmer that shredded a tire at about 140 right at the start of the braking zone for the Bus Stop on the back straight, but he managed to stay off the wall and only damaged a wheel well, and everybody missed his debris safely.

You are absolutely correct - especially in my novice student group, you're liable to run up on somebody that is just learning and is a little tentative and may not be going very fast. Most of the time I was doing well under 170 across the start/finish - i.e., just cruisin'!!

There were plenty of C5's here this time - nobody had any oil problems that I know of. C'mon down next year - it really is a blast!!!

Bob

ssdeuce

Cool video!

95jersey

Wow, that banking is just outrageous! Pocono has nothing on Daytona. It somewhat narrow though in comparison, not a lot of room for error. And that wall looks SO intimidating. Having done many ovals, it take ***** to max it out on the banking. God bless you, I don't think I would have done 170 in a non caged car personally.

I had a dream the other night, my C6Z was fully gutted with beautiful aluminum dash and a sweet yellow cage, digital AIM dash, removable steering wheel, sequential shifter...what a dream

z060ntrack

Now that Daytona is allowing HPDE's and after being there for many 24 hour races I'm so jonesen to get on that track. Problem is Buffalo NY is a looong way from Daytona

BEZ06

MNElectronBlue2002 towed down from Minneapolis. He's still on his way home but will probably post up his thoughts on the event when he has time.

Whether he thought the long drive down was worth it or not, I don't know - but I'll bet he says

Bob

Kanmer

We made it back from Daytona alive and well. What an experience!!! That place is awsome to run!!!


We left out on Wednesday morning with full intention of it being a 10 hour drive and were going all the way in in one day. 12 hours and one blown trailer tire later we made it to the race track. Nancy had a tire go on her trailer which was change by Jack & me on the side of the interstate. Thrilling to say the least. When we arrived at the track it was dark and we were tired. We came up with a game plan for jack to take his trailer to hin hotel and we were going to leave out stuff at the track in a public lot. Security had other plans for our stuff. They opened the gate we needed and we dropped my trailer and left Nancy's motorhome and trailer there and off to the condo we go. Thats a whole nother show, as they say.


Thursday came in with the weather. Rain, rain, and more rain. This was tech and registration day. Thank God there were no runs scheduled. We had tornado warnings until noon. Think Road Atlanta in March. We arrive at the track and they finally let us in at 11:00 am. I had time before to change my oil and get some last minute things straight. We got into our garage and unloaded the cars and set up our little area of operations in our usual organized fashion. Off to tech we all go. My car goes through no problem as does Nancy's. The they get to Jack's. (Who, by the way, had to borrow my helmet to get through) And there is a slight issue with his battery. It isn't bolted down! Bonehead. Well, 10 minutes and a few profanities later he has it tight and we are through. This group is serious about teching cars. No slackers here. After that it was off to Chili's for beer and lunch. They had a 2 for one beer & drink special. We were happy campers.

Friday came in and we couldn't have asked for better weather. The excitement was building. We were actually going to run on Daytona International Speedway!!! At the driver's meeting they recommended that if you have never run this track that you have an experienced driver go with you for your first session. Jack would have none of that! He made real good friends with the guy at grid. I am sure he will be remembered. Jack went out for his sessions as we attended classroom sessions. These were a waste of time as all they did was tell you not to crash or break any property. The we had to ride with the madman. That was actually fun. My first impression of the high banks was "Damn, this is bumpy!!!". That oval is rough. The infield is a blast and quite smooth. Jack had it down pretty quick as this is a very easy track to learn. The infield flows well and its hard to screw up the high banks. Now its my turn to run with jack as an instructor. We had a blast. It was interesting watching some of the other participants lines and attempts at finding apexes. I thought I picked the track up fairly quickly and was having the time of my life. It is a very basic track. Nothing complicated. Thie high banks are definately an experience. I watched my oil pressure carefully on them and never had an issue. The only issue I had was oil out the intake as I have no catch can.

Nancy went out next with Jack. She had a ball except her new suspension is too stiff. I will be working on that this winter.

Now for the bad news. In my 2nd run on friday I had a high trans temp warning. First time that had ever happened to me. We check the fluids and found that the trans fluid was rather dark and the rearend fluid was cooked. I blew off my last run of the day so I could change the fluids. I didn't actuall get them change, as well as a cracked rotor, until after nmy first run on Saturday. I went out for the 2nd session and had an absolute blast! I found a C6Z to run with and we tore it up. My high trans issue was solved..so I thought. Checkers came out and I had the warning again. Headed for the pits and let it cool down.


Now here I must go back to friday because thats when Nancy had an issue. She was on track and the car stuttered and clunked. She came in with 20psi oil pressure and a knock in the engine. After several attemps at diagnosis, we figured it was a spun bearing. Done for the weekend. I offered to let her use my car for a few sessions and it was agreed that she would.

As my car was cooling in the pits on Saturday, the Gremlins were at work. Nancy was to take my car out in her next session so I was just chilling out. She went to find a new tire for her trailer and wasn;t going to make it back in time for her session. SHe called and said haul *** in your session. I thew my helmet on and was getting strapped while letting the car warm up. I throw the clutch in and go to put in in gear with no luck. Try again to no avail. ****, I cooked my transmission I thought. Turned the car off and had full range of motion in the tranny. Put the car in gear, clutch in and turned the key. Car jumped. Clutch is good. Tranny is good. We bled the hydralics and even changed the fluid. No luck. My belief is the slave cylinder is gone. Car #2 down for the count. Before it broke I did see 164mph in the tri oval and 152 down the back straight before the "bus stop".

We stayed in Daytona for the rest of the weekend and hung out with Jack and his wife, Lynn. He also had a few friends stop by for rides. Short Order isn't the only ride Ho he knows. Jack was giving rides all trhee days. His car performed flawlessly except for cracking 2 rotors. All in all it was a great trip and something every track rat should experience. We are planning on doing it again with a few minor changes to our cars. Dry sumps and such. Bring new everything...tires, brakes, rotors, etc...

It was great meeting forum members and making new friends.

I will try to post some pics and video later


Bob

TmillerC5

AWESOME just awesome

MNCrystalRed2011

You got that right!!! I had an absolute blast. My 2002 coupe with base FE1 springs/shocks, Z06 bars and F1 Supercar tires didn't see the 160+ a lot of Vettes did, but I did see 150 a few times in the tri-oval.

Those high banks are intimidating until you head out of the infield onto NASCAR turn 1 for the first time under full throttle. The car just instinctively goes up to the high line and just takes off. And like Kanmer said, those high banks are really bumpy, especially 3&4. Gives me more respect for what the NASCAR/ACRA drivers do 3 abreast on those banks at 190+!!!

I had absolutely no problems with car at all, well my damn belt tensioner started to squeal a bit, but a shot or 2 of oil and letting the car warm up a bit took care of that. I made sure to keep the oil level 1/2 to a full quart over and don't think I ever saw an oil temp over 260. I pushed as hard as I dared, considering the relatively soft suspension and the bumpy banks. I ran in Comp Mode for the first day and first session on Saturday, then turned everything off for the rest of the event. The car actually felt better with no electronics on.

My student had an 07 Z, and like BEZ06's Z, that thing hauls a** out of the infield and chicane. My poor coupe was the slow car compared to the C6 Z's, Vipers, Ferrari's, Ford GT's and assorted race cars in the instructor groups, but I didn't care.

Both my wife and I said it was worth the trip, but probably not again, especially heading back north in December. We are in St. Louis now and dodged an ice storm thru TN and KY on Tuesday. It looks like we may have to dodge another ice/snow storm thru IA and MN on Friday. Maybe next time I'll just fly down and do the rent-a-vette like Don O. did

BEZ06

John

It was great to meet you and Jane.

When you were riding with me in that session (I think it was the next-to-last session on Sunday) remember that little steering wheel vibration when braking? I looked things over before I drove the last session and everything looked good, and I planned to just take it easy during the last session. The brakes felt good during that session and I didn't get that vibration until coming into the pits and braking at real low speed, where I got a sort of a thump-thump-thump when coming to a stop. I had seen more and more spider-web cracks showing up on the front rotors throughout the event, and after that last session I could see a bigger crack going into one of the slots.


Here are the rotors before I put them on before the event last week:





Here's what the right front rotor looked like today when I took it off:









The left front rotor was okay and the rears look almost new.




Here's a picture of the right rear wheel well:




You can see that the right rear tire wore a hole in the wheel well liner. The left side is fine, so I guess that's a good indication of how much more down force there is on the right side of the car, especially the right rear, when blasting around the banking - there's a friction circle on the "dashboard" on my videos that shows a pretty constant .5 to .8 lateral G-load from the left turn you're in all the way around the banked sections.

I was running 325/30-19 Hoosiers on the rear (stock size for a C6Z). Ron in the garage spot next to us with the black C6Z started off with 345/30-19 Hoosiers but they were rubbing the inside edge of the fender because of their width. He swapped to 325's after a couple sessions with the wider ones.


John, I hope the rest of your trip home is uneventful and you don't run into too much snow and ice. It was about 77 today while I was swapping everything today, and it's supposed to be about 80 the next couple days.

Bob