Borg Motorsports

Went to LG Motorsports yesterday to get the engine taken care of for Nationals. As always, their service was fantastic. Car put down 359 HP and 362 ft-lbs. Looks like there is some work to do to hit the 380 goal...

Ramo7769

359 whp is nuts for a 3,000lb STU car when I think of mine at stock power at 345 at the flywheel. I have some work to do!

hamburgerman

Are you able to update backdate parts? If so it would appear you could probably get Z06 Heads and Cam you car would make it into the 380-400hp range.

ltborg

It's not that much power. Remember the gearing that the Corvette has to deal with. It's already traction limited in first, so more power doesn't do any good there. 28 HP is a good improvement, but that is peak to peak, a place my car almost never sees at an event. Power gains from 2500-4500 RPM (the prime autocross range) still need work.

ltborg

Update/backdate is not allowed in ST. Even if it was, Z06's aren't eligible for STU, only base cars.

rapid butterfly

Interesting thread and nice build.

I'm curious about how poor the gearing is for nationals type courses, especially east. Seems kind of bogus to us boost buggy types.

Borg Motorsports

Thanks! Last year on the east course in BS, I was in an OK place gearing wise, but not great. The STU winning 350Z hit the limiter in a couple places for 2-4 pops each. That's about as good gearing as you can get. The year before on the east side was AWD central: Tight, tight corners into long straights. Even on race tires I was bogging pretty bad on exit and there were enough of them it would have made a huge difference (in my opinion). Since the courses change every year, both could have tight corners into long straights, or it could rain, you just never know. If money was no object, I think a boost buggy would be the car to have in STU.

rapid butterfly

Well, hmm. I was there in 13 and last year. Your gearing in second is far superior to a boost buggy, your car weighs less, has a lot more power, a lot more torque, has sports car suspension rather than struts, more wheel, more tire to the tune of 40 mm, an aftermarket diff etc. from what I can tell the putatively poor gearing isn't and you've (generic you) been given many advantages over boost buggies.

As far as costs, I've had mine since new so that's kind of a non factor.

Yeah it might rain or there may be a course with digs, but I kind of doubt the latter especially after the reaction to the 2013 East course (which I liked :-) ) and what seems to have been a quasi apology by the designer.

We will see but I think we need to be hobbled a bit less compared to you all.

It will be nice to see you in Lincoln.

Borg Motorsports

You too! Sadly I won't be at the Finale, but I will be there all of Nationals week and look forward to meeting you and all the other STU competitors.

While I believe some of your points hold merit, I have to respectfully disagree with others on your list of the AWD disadvantages. I would suggest since you appear to feel strongly about these items, you write a letter to the SEB with data supporting your claims and a suggested solution (or solutions). For the amount I hear about the AWD cars wanting x, y, or z, there seems to be a significantly smaller (or nonexistent) amount of letters written to the SEB with supporting data. There is a great explanation of this process located here. Basically, in order to become a rule, the membership needs to submit the suggestion and offer supporting data (not just I want this). Hope that helps!

Getting back on topic to the Borg Motorsports STU build and event coverage, I'm excited to announce that two of the three possible codrive spots have been filled. Doug Francis will be codriving with me in the open class. This is Doug's first trip to Nationals. Katelyn Johnson will be running one of the STUL seats in the car. Katelyn has two National Championships, 2011 in STXL and 2013 in STFL. I'm looking forward to having both of these drivers in the car come September!

In parts news, the first production run on the Delrin bushing kits has begun. Base kits should be in stock and ready to ship in a week. There are some delays with the supplier for the Delrin AF, but I am working to resolve those quickly and at worst it should only be a two week delay. If anyone wants to run these at Nationals, order them up on the site and I'll be happy to help with the install!

rapid butterfly

I'll be running in STUL.

I wrote a letter. Ignored. :-). Kind of like my request for data about the poor gearing of a vette at a national size course :-) I never had the impression scca favored turbo awd cars. I think it rather likes vettes though.

But as I said, we will be there to do battle in STUL. I know you have at least one first class driver in STUL and a great car. Cheers.

Ramo7769

Surely no modern sports car would have leaf springs.

rapid butterfly

I didn't say modern. But what makes a vettes suspension better than a Mac strut isn't the spring in any event.

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

Good luck this year!!

Borg Motorsports

Thanks Anthony! And thanks again for the tune. I got the valve train replaced and it revs WAY more freely than it did before.

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

Let me know if you want to go back on the dyno.

ratt_finkel

Lane,

Very cool to see this all come together. Excited for you and the new business venture.

I'm curious if you can give some ideas on the pros and cons of your top tier bushings compared to rubber, poly and all metal alternatives.

Good luck at nationals!

Jeremy

Borg Motorsports

Thanks man!

The short list (I am working on a white paper about it) is that all metal bushings are best, followed by stiff plastic, poly, then rubber. Delrin doesn't squeak and rides reasonably well. Sphericals won't allow offsets, but if you are in a class that allows them, chances are you can change other things to get the alignment where you want. Cost, unsurprisingly, goes in the reverse order of performance other than rubber since you have to buy new a-arms to get them.

Borg Motorsports

It's been a busy August for Borg Motorsports and Borg Machine Works. The mill has been up and running, but the lathe (which will produce the bushings) is finally setup and ready to go. Sadly production will have to wait until after Nationals is over, but speaking of...

The Cobra Suzuka seats (bought through Strano Parts) are in the car on prototype seat rails. The car is wrapped (pictures to come once it is loaded tomorrow). Texas Track Works did a great job yesterday getting everything on the car exactly right for the big show. Final alignment specs are as follows:

Front
Camber - 4.4
Caster - 6.3
Toe - 1/8" Out
Ride Height (at tow point) - 4.0"

Rear
Camber - 3.2
Toe - 1/8" In
Ride Height - 4.25"

Based on some push that showed up after testing the extra offset in the rear, I switched back to the 900 lb rear spring. Should help the car on entry and in slaloms where it has the greatest room for improvement. The reason for this is that the greater offset on the rear bushings gave the rear more grip and greatly changed the balance of the car. Some of the pictures of my car at Mineral Wells and Pikes Peak show that the front tires have a nice attitude with the road while cornering, but the rears aren't nearly as well optimized. The extra offset clearly helped with this and this additional offset will be included in all production runs of the Premium Offset Delrin Bushings. Tire temps settled on things being best in the low -3's for rear camber and the car is still an animal power-on.

Currently the empty weight is 3015 lbs and it doesn't look like I'll be able to get it below 3000 before Nats (but I will be trying).

Other than the additional offset on the rear bushings and the seats, the only new part on the car is an OE glass targa top to replace the painted one. I like the look of the painted top better, but I wrapped the glass so it won't get too hot in the car. The glass top also gives about 1/2" more head room since it doesn't have a headliner and it is also 2.4 lbs lighter for the same reason.

To give a rundown on the current parts list:

Borg Motorsports Offset Delrin Bushings
Borg Motorsports prototype seat rails
Cobra Suzuka GT seats
VB&P Xtreme Springs front and rear
MCS DA Dampers
Strano 33mm Front ARB
Strano Hollow Rear ARB
Gear Diff
Halltech Venom CAI
Brisk GOR15LGS Spark Plugs
ATI 25% Underdrive Pulley
American Racing Headers 1.75" Long Tubes
Magnaflow 4" Round Mufflers
Corsa Titanium Cat Back (modified)
Bridgestone RE71-R 275/35R18
TSW Nurburgring Wheels 18x10.5 +65mm Offset
DRM 5/8" Wheel Spacers (all four corners)

I will be in Row 4, Spots 5A/B at Nationals all week. I'll have shade, Borg Motorsports swag, and Texas beer so feel free to stop by and check out the car or chat. Looking forward to seeing a bunch of you guys up there!

jesup16

Congrats on the trophy Lane!! I drove against Nick locally and he smoked me! Those guys and their cars are extremely well prepared... I'm looking forward to your feedback from Nationals.

StreetSpeed

Curious how the bushings are installed in the arms? I know a few shops have you send in your arms to have the bushings made to fit due to the varying tolerances of the stock control arms. Yours must be undersized if they can fit in all control arms? How much slop is there in the fit and how much slop do you think is acceptable?