STANG KILLA SS

haha sorry to hear about your conditions, i wont tell you that were in shorts and t-shirts here with near perfect track temps.....
ive got SRF setting on the bench at home after this ordeal, waiting for a 100% full flush/swap.
i used the pfadt track alignment guide, oddly it recommends toe out on the rear for all cars (including there street car setup ). i thought it was VERY odd, but assumed they knew more than my experience. well obviously they dont. can you recommend a rear toe in amount? preferably in degrees as we do it on a machine, not manual alignment.

its funny you mention that 3rd paragraph, i have more on just about all those points in an upcoming update from this last week......
haha your the second guy today to ask me to join NASA time trials! but if i understand it correct its not for me. ive NEVER been good at single lap hot lap/qualifying times. never have, never will. i dont possess the analytical skills to be good at that. however i do do pretty decent in actual races. (i do a LOT of SIM stuff)

philpacs

Good advise, for hard tracking I would absolutely do a BBK. I tried literally everything with stock calipers, from a cooling kit, coleman rotors, SS lines, SRF etc and although they helped a lot weren't even close to BBK. I still couldn't get more than 2-3 hot laps without some inconsistency. I just did the fronts due to cost and it made a world of difference with better braking, no cooling issues and consistent braking I never got from stock calipers. The consumables over the years would've more than bought the kit and also BBK's last longer on pads, rotors etc. The stockers just can't dissipate the heat once you put track pads and learn to brake well. Happy Tracking!

freddyvette

Hey Stang Killa, Have you tried Harris Hill Raceway in San Marcos? It's a bit easier on the brakes. It's a 1:30 track. a lot of fun in our cars. I'm just starting out but we have several corvette guys there every now and then.

STANG KILLA SS

i have not. its a membership/country club track is it not?

freddyvette

I go with friends who are members and pay the half-day pass for 150$. It's a good time, we can organize at least 4 corvettes to go at the same time.

Mordeth

Killer SIM setup. I use a very basic one simply to learn new tracks before I go to them. Your setup is impressive.

Time Trials is nothing more than a stepping stone to W2W. It lets you find and push the limits of your car and yourself in a much better setting, as everyone on the track is a racer and there are no waiting for or dealing with point-bys. You don't have to necessarily concern yourself so much with competing for times or completing the 'perfect lap' if you don't want, but rather getting accustomed and comfortable in an actual racing environment and finding the edge that you need for W2W, as well as refining your racecraft and car control.

Here are my alignment settings on Hoosiers with spherical bearings, coilovers and full aero in preparation for a race. Tow OUT for the front and toe IN for the rear (look at the arrows):






And here is an alignment I ran on NT01s:

STANG KILLA SS

Got an opportunity last weekend to drive for team GSpeed in one of the 3 corvettes they were entering in the World Racing League US Endurance Championship at Circuit of the Americas! Two 8 hour endurance races, one Saturday and one Sunday.

Thursday @ MSR Cresson
Met Louis, owner of GSpeed, and went to shake down the car and get a few laps in it.Attachment 48349995Attachment 48349996Attachment 48349997

also got a few a few laps with Lou Gigliotti, owner of LG Motorsports and Corvette racing fame. he did a couple laps then i did a couple before session was black flagedAttachment 48349998

went out again in a later session which was also black flaged after a C5 went off track and de-beaded a tire.

Friday @ COTA
race practice, driver gear and car tech inspection, and drivers meeting.fueling up for practice. had 21 gal quick fill fuel cell (max allowed)Attachment 48349017

i did the 1st and last practice sessions of the day. sharing driving duties with 2 other drivers.morning session i putted around getting a feel for the car and track. last session i tried to get a bit more aggressive to simulate the race.final friday practice

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data
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final check and new tires for race in morningAttachment 48350004

Drivers meeting Friday night. 93 cars to be on track at the same time!Attachment 48350005

Saturday morning Race Day #1
getting lined up by class on pre grid. we were running in GP1 which is the second to fastest class. so we were near the front of the entire feild, but near the back of our class.Attachment 48350006

our hot shoe Brian would start the race for our #61 car
green flag! released in 2 packs, this is just the first half of the pack we were in.

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He made up a Bunch of spots but unfortunatly on lap 5 is when our issues started. waterpump pushed out the tube (pressed fit) that the hose connect to. had to be towed back to garageAttachment 48350010

some silicone and hammering the tube back in had us back on track. Brian was able to do another 45 minutes or so.

came in for 1st pitAttachment 48350011Attachment 48350012Attachment 48350013

after this is when we started having our issue. car was smoking bad.came in again first time and it appeared to be coming out of the rear drivers side valve cover breather, pluged it back up and sent back outAttachment 48350014

3 laps later had to come back in, it spit out plug and was smoking again. getting worse. all from under the hood, none coming out exhaust.we did this 3 or 4 more times every 3 laps. car would come back with NO oil showing on dip stick. was smoking so bad they couldnt hardly see where they were going. leaving quite a huge smoke trail.finally the problem was found. rear main seal had blow out (likely from excess crank case pressure) and the oil was leaking straight out the rear main, out the bell housing and hitting the exhaust.
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at the 2 hour mark of the first race, our weekend was done. had a spare motor but was decided it wasnt worth the effort, with the other 2 cars still in the game, and unsure if it could be done in time for race next day.
i never even got to suit up. my 3 year dream and W2W racing debut never got to happen. i was was gutted.....
on sunday our other 2 cars with 30 minutes to go were sitting in 1st and 3rd. they ended up finishing 8th (due to extra fuel pitstop) and 59th.

drewz06

amazing! it's my goal to run in a w2w race one of these days, and even more so for a team... if anything, you got a killer story and some amazing pics out of it!

congrats! and I'm definitely jealous, even if you didn't get all the way through it!

drew

pjazz

Thanks for sharing. Hopefully you'll have another opportunity in the near future.

JasonSB

freddyvette

You don't see the #fuckVR sticker on his desk?

STANG KILLA SS

HAHA good eyes!
yeah VR is not for me. ive tried it. too many cons at this time.

crappy screen door graphics
heat/sweating
eye strain
can be uncomfortable for long sessions and endurance races
i wear glasses usually(dont fit well inside)
cant see buttons/keyboard
no peripheral vision

im not saying ill never go to it, but right now its not for me.

Mordeth

That's a great experience with a top notch team. Really a shame about the issues with the car. Endurance racing is BRUTAL on race cars. It's not even funny. I raced in an 18 hour endurance race with AER (American Endurance Racing) earlier in the year at Watkins Glen. Drove a Porsche for a racing team that brought two of them. Of the 90 cars that entered maybe half of them finished the race. Only one of our Porsches finished (other one lost an oil pump after 7 hours and killed the motor) and this team is always VERY VERY well prepared with an entire crew and lots of support. **** just happens.

Glad you were able to get a taste of it though! Racing is an entire different animal than DE. It's an even larger step-up as going from tooling around the street to DE.

Here is a short vid my wife took of me getting into the Porsche for a driver change during the race. Pit stops with AER are mandatory 3 minutes so that's why you see me waiting to be "released" by the crew who is using a stopwatch.


I'll tell you that once you get the itch to race it's hard to resist. I only go to DEs now to instruct and shake down my car. It's a true statement that "....everything else is just waiting".

Get your racing license (and wallet) and start Racing! Time Trials is a good introduction.

1993C4LT1

Hey OP, would you recommend buying from texas hot rides? They have a car in interested in.

STANG KILLA SS

FINALLY got back to the track after a 3 month wait for the full 3.1 track to be available. this one was with the Porsche club, ive never run with them before. huge organization, most cars ive ever seen there too.

also got a bunch of "upgrades" (more on that later) and despite the old change 1 thing at a time adage, i changed everything at once.



stock calipers to wilwoods
rubber lines to braided stainless
Motul 600 to Castrol SRB
Centric rotors to DBA
Raybestos ST-43 front pads to Hawk DTC-60
stock rear pads to DTC-30
stock shocks to DRM tuned Bilsteins


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also went from BFG Rival S(200TW) to Toyo R888R(100TW) same 315/335 sizes. although the Toyos appear to run a bit wider.
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also re did the rear toe, had been following the pfadt corvette track alignment guide which for some reason recommends toe out on the rear. car has been sorta unstable so we changed it to a more traditional 3/16" toe in on the rear.
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Tires:
should have been way stickier. they proved quite the opposite. they were audibly louder, more squealing communication which i liked. but grip appeared to be way down. i was pushing/understeering and finding the limits alot. which i rarely do with the Rivals. it was quite noticeable. temps were 40 in the morning working up to 59 in the afternoon. full sunshine, no clouds all day. i tried everything from 31-39 hot. all had less grip. im hoping it was the cooler temps? or are the "harder" Rivals superior? also in the pits on cold tires first session (tires were 40 degrees) thats the first time ive EVERY felt tires feel like ice. i was sliding and spinning in the pits, just moving the car at idle.



Brakes:
also a let down. pretty much EVERYTHING was upgraded here. just didnt seem to have great braking. was missing alot of apexes and just not stoping well at all. like stock brakes/pads. worse at times. then i started noticing on slower corners were i didnt have to downshift the brakes were just OK. right near my old setup, maybe touch below. ie decent in low rpm situations. but on faster corners, when i had to down shift, as soon as i would down shift, the rpms would come way up the pedal would push back at me, reducing the braking clamping to almost nothing. was REALLY blowing apexes then. just had no stoping power. i later realized this and waited to down shift until nearly all my braking was done, and the rpms/speed was lower, this helped. but it delayed my turn in, and ability to go somewhat deep really bad. costing me time. i especially didnt like what it did to my turn in timing.

also noticed bad vibrations in the early two morning sessions. which ive ALWAYS fought with this car. i would have bad "warped" rotor vibrations in just 1 or 2 days. these were brand new and did it in 1-2 sessions. bad. but then in warmer afternoon sessions it actually went away some how. like all of it. im running full race spindle ducts with scoops in the fog light holes.
pedal was very firm with little feel/feedback as well.

really disappointed in new brakes so far.



shocks:
didnt notice much difference here. i particularly bought these for a rough crest on the back stretch were the two halves of the track meet. its rough from all the angle changes from the jumper road. plus im right in my peak power there, and its a crest so the car gets light, my goal someday is to be able to take that flat out, no lift. these seemed to help little with that.



couple cool cars, what appeared to be a 60s can am car w/o the body
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never seen an Atom in person. looked brand new.
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was able to get check ride from advanced instructor and got moved up. i was running everyone over in blue group. got to yellow and it was great (what i ran in at TWS) it was the first time ive ever run two entire sessions without having traffic slow me up. never saw anyone. was SO nice. was able to run 4 back to back 2:26 in last session. super consistent.

but a full second off my personal best, despite all the new/better/faster parts.



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freddyvette

I may be wrong but I think those R888R's should be run with less pressure.

Next time, why don't you try spin-balancing the rotors? I've heard this can take some of the vibration away.

When I switched to stainless lines on stock rotors, I began to get a lot more feedback. I could tell when the ABS would be coming on soon. Is yours still on? Have you checked the brake booster? Maybe you're not getting enough power assist, or maybe you have a vacuum leak.

In regards to becoming airborne: have you considered Ebay ZR1 aero w/ GM reinforcement? I noticed a lot better stability in these types of situations.

STANG KILLA SS

went back to the track monday


picked up a new Anderson Composites hood
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shaved about 9 lbs. but i really bought it for the cooling, and reducing front end lift.
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few cool cars there
Mike Dusold was there with his twin turbo '67 from the Optima Street car series
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also a 488 GT3 prewrap. a AMG GT3 also rolled by in the same all white, but i couldnt grab a pic fast enough
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Thanks to a tip from Sam Strano i swaped my OEM rear pads back on and it fixed my braking issue! (pedal push back on downshifts) now i find myself needing a bit more braking power, but i think i can get there.



dispite the horrible grip of the Toyo R888R, ive been working on a few corners and learning the track better, and was able to set a new PB.

my previous PB was a 2:25.7, did back to back 2:24.9s! still lots to learn but happy with the improvement, especially on these terrible tires.



Attachment 48348673

Pb82 Ronin

Horrible grip on R888's??? Please elaborate man.

STANG KILLA SS

apparently its well known the R888R are shitty grip tires. one guy discribing them as "almost all season tires"
sadly i didnt discover this until after i bought them. my experience with them has confirmed this. serious drop in grip from the Rivals id been running. like a big drop. dispite the rivals being "200TW" and the Toyos being "100TW"

they feel like when i ran my camaro on the stock street tires. (and not the good modern ones)

yip

My experience with R888R's was very positive and was near the level of grip of my up to temp Cup 2's. The Cup 2's were 2 seconds faster for me on a hero lap but only averaged 1 second faster on a full session. For reference I would go out at 22-24 psi cold with the R888R's and my tire temps would measure within 10 degrees from inside to outside edge with about 3 degrees of camber front and 2 degrees rear. The tires feel soggy on the first lap but when they get up to temp I could really lean on the tire with confidence to the point that even the Bilsteins were not enough and I switched to a 2 way setup now. Another really positive thing for me about the R888R's is that the grip was good down to the cords and could take quite a few heat cycles.

I've ran just about every 200tw tire out there but never the BFG Rival S's. My Cup 2's are actually coming off as we speak and I am going to try out the Goodyear F1 3R's but I have a feeling that I will be going back to the R888R's based on price and longevity even if the other tires are a couple seconds + faster on average.