rfn026

When the ALMS season began I did an article on Lou's GT2 effort. By the time we got ready to print the article the effort was over. We decided not to publish the article since it would be about history.

In the mean time I had an article and several hundred pictures. I've decided to post it here. It's in two parts and hopefully I'll get Part Two up and running tomorrow.

The Article

For some reason Goggle posted this in a strange place. You have to scroll down past the "Brakes are Good" section to find the article. I'm sorry about that - but I'm blaming Goggle. Works for me.

Richard Newton
Wheel and Tire Performance Handbook

0Randy@DRM

Nice pictures!!!

Randy

gkmccready

Yeah. Them there are some fancy Penske piggyback shocks! Did you see how tiny the fastener was for the swaybar? Crazy. Also noticed no bump rubber on the rear shock, which struck me as strange.

69427

Anybody got a Cliff Notes version of the spec differences between GT1 and GT2?

thanks

quick04Z06

The air inlet restrictors were unreal! A two-month old baby could barely breathe through those tiny restrictiors, much less a big racing V8yearning for air.

It looks to me like a little "creative" breathing device would be in order....

0Randy@DRM

We haven't ran a bump rubber on any car in the past 15 years that I have been around here. Why? They are there just to limit travel. This progressive spring rate- bump rubber is kinda a bad agurment. Does the shock change too when it runs into the bump stop???

Randy

LG Motorsports

Hi GUys,

Nice stuff. As you all know, we did run the car again at Petit, and in practice (one session) we were second fastest with a 1:20.1 at Road Atlanta.

After we ran Utah, we dropped out of the series to develop the car and have a new nose and front under tray built as well as a new rear carbon undertray to mount the AC Condenser on.

WE also were trying to solve the cylinder head gasket problem that was an easy fix but GM would not let us use the same heads and block that they use in GT1. So at Petit, we had the same engine problem that hit us at Sebring. (Gm is getting the good heads approved for their own GT2 car for 09,) hard to believe, right?

At any rate, the series is clearly a tough series that burns money. Without our sponsor and team mate who brought the sponsor, it was impossible to find the necessary money until Petit, where Tomy Drissi stepped in with his movie company sponsor.

So with the new design nose (built for us by ACP and Kerry Hitt), and the new undertray from our world Challenge car, we stepped up the performance of the car a great deal.

We also used the new Dunlop Tires, which appears to be the best Non Michelin tire in the series. It is good to see them gain on their performance, and we benefited from that.

Right now, we are talking to a company that will help us find a way to come race the entire season in 2009. We would like to get Eric Curran or Marc Goossens in for the longer races, and keep me and Eric for the short races, but that all depends on the money situation and how the sponsor thing goes.

We have learned alot about the series, and about the car in the last 10 months. with any luck, we will be back in 09 to impliment what we have learned.

My crew got down to a 9.5 second time to do a 4 tire change! that is no easy task. That includes the time from raising the car, to dropping the car and changine all 4 tires in between.

Our driver changes are now down to 31 seconds, which is faster than the fuel, so that also is an improvement. (at Utah, it took over 1 minute and we lost positions.

I will say it was satisfying to get the 1:20.1 time at Atlanta for a 2nd spot even if it was just practice. We missed the set up for qualifying and Goossens lost 7 tenths to qualify 7th.

Either way, it is more fun than we should be allowed to have.

I will be at the Peterson Museum in Hollywood on Thursday for the "Tribute to Corvette Racing" on a panel with a bunch of racers and a Corvette dinner, so if you live near LA, find a way to stop by and check it out.

The car will be stripped next week, and rebuilt for the winter test at Sebring. We are looking to get 50 pounds off the car so we can move down 25kg in weight, which will help the tires, and performance.

Thanks again for the great write up.

See you at Sebring!

Lou Gigliotti

LGM

gkmccready

Slamming metal to metal at full travel just seems like a bad idea? Even a couple millimeters of bump rubber to lessen the, er, shock of bottoming seems like a good thing unless you have so much travel you can afford to build things such that you never bottom the shock? And I'd think that limiting factor shouldn't be spring rate. But I'm really just trying to learn more. :-)

Has anybody managed to package a piggyback set up on a stock C5/C6?

0Louis @ LG Motorsports

the frame will scrape before the shock bottoms

gkmccready

And there's the answer! Thanks!

I hope you guys get a shot at a full '09 season; I was cheering for you whenever I could.

LG Motorsports

Befor we run any of our cars, we take the springs off and set the car on the ground to varify that there is NO binding in the suspension or in the shocks etc.

Then with the car on the ground, we also raise the suspension (with no springs) and make sure that there is some margin.

Hope that helps. We always want the shocks to be free to be shocks without ANY interference from any bump rubbers or any of the chassis.
That goes for the sway bars also.

Thanks

Lou G

trackboss

I have piggy back ohlins on my c5. Its ohlins latest shock and I'm still developing, but I have made them fit and they do so very well. I'm using double eyelet shocks, but my shock builder will be making them with a clevis rear lower for those who don't want to go through the trouble. I have a temporary front upper clevis, but will be making a new one that allows for more compression travel and distributes the loads better. Fronts must be run with the body side down so a little more unsprung weight than the rears, but the shocks are super light to begin with. Best thing about them is how easy they are to adjust. Just reach behind the tire and turn the *****. No raising car. Hope to be out soon for testing. Valving is simply a very good guess at this point. They are by far the easiest shocks to re-valve however so that is not a big issue.
Anyways, cool photos!

LG Motorsports

We ran two 30mm restrictors on the car for Atlanta.
That would be like running a "2 Barrel Carb" with 30mm chokes, to put it in perspective.

That is about 1 3/16" each

That photo shows the naca ducts that get the air into the restrictors, and they go "sonic" at the limit of air flow, which means that the "Ram air" effect will not help when they go sonic.




thanks
LG

joemoia

In simple terms GT1 cars are lighter (lower minimum weight vs. engine displacement); are allowed greater HP (larger [more air] restrictors vs. engine displacement); are allowed greater body/aero mods; and have better (carbon/carbon) brakes than GT2 cars

trackboss

Looks as though there is quite a bit of suspension mounting point restrictions as well.

0Louis @ LG Motorsports

Inboard mounts must remain within 20mm of factory point, and outboard points are free.

rfn026

Since you guys seem to like pictures I did what I call a photo dump.

I put a bunch of unedited stuff over on my Picasa album. Lou and Louis should be able to answer any questions you might have. I just take pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rfn026/LouSGT2#

Richard Newton