WOW What a day!

I had an amazing time. I didn't know I could push a car so hard and leave in one piece! If you even have a thought of trying this, I highly recommend it. I want to send out thanks to Scott Alghrim for some great instruction and Steve Alghrim for the ride of my life!!!!! :eek: :cool: Thanks to Rich M. and the Corvette Club for setting this up.

The only scary point was when one of the drivers had accident. Unfortunately his car is not doing too well, but the driver is fine and the instructor with him will be fine as well (Get better Dave L!)

Again thanks to everyone, it was a great experience nice to meet new people and I look forward to doing it again! :cool: :cool:

Dennis

 

Awesome. I've been wanting to so this for quite some time, but am hesitant because I have an A4. How did you A4 hold up to the abuse? Were you manually down-shifting through the turns or just relying on the computer to downshift at the right time? :cheers:

 

Just kept it in 3rd and let the car do the rest. The trans did get warm! but there were other A4 guys there and they had experience with it and their cars were still running. These cars can take it. There was an instructor there who had a 92 (I believe) ZR-1 with 160K! (I know, a stick) on the odometer and no major work done to it and he drove that car at a level that was unreal! Just take care of the car and it can handle it (fresh fluids,etc)

 

Gingerman is a blast. I've been on that track several times now and like it more every time. Although I haven't been there in the vette yet, I can definetly see how you can just do the entire track in 3rd. Hope everything is ok for the guy that crashed horrible to see something like that happen. BTW, where did he crash, coming out of 11?

 

Awais,

I was an instructor at this event yesterday which was sponsored by the North Shore Corvette Club. I installed a tranny cooler this spring to deal with the high trans temps one can experience when pushing the A4 hard. I had absolutely no tranny issues yesterday. The warmest the fluid got was 257 degrees, warm, but below the 260 degrees that starts setting off DIC codes. Above 270 degrees is the danger zone. I run this course mostly in second gear, shifiting to third only in the two long straights. The car will shift normally in third, and second winds out at about 100 mph near the end of the faster straight, at which time it upshifts briefly so the rev delimiter doesn't kick in. I then brake into the corner while downshifting manually into second again, making the turn and accelerating into the second shorter uphill straight and shifting into third again. I put 78 miles on my car yesterday, which equates into about 37 laps, some very hot laps as I had my racing tires on and your "old" wheels. You should have come out! :smash:

 

The driver was a student on his very first lap after the instructor handed over the driving position to him. It occurred in turn 11 when the student came in too hot and couldn't brake enough before sliding off toward the armco/tirewall sideways. There is a "sand trap" there, and when the left wheels hit the soft sand, the car was completely airborn, landed on its roof and right side , and came to rest in the sand about 3 feet from the tire wall. A lot of lessons to be learned by this. When you autocross on a high speed track like Gingerman, you have to ease yourself into getting faster. It takes a lot of skill to keep Corvettes on this track at high rates of speed, even though it is one of the safer tracks in my opinion. Turn 11 is really the only place where you can get into serious trouble. #2: The student would have been better driving within himself and going straight into the beach. The sand was so soft the car would have just quickly bogged down in this "sand trap". The student had wanted to take his car out without the glass roof but was discouraged from doing this as C4's are not as rigid with the top off. #3 They both had helmets on which saved them from more serious injury, the instructors helmet actually cracked on the top. The car was totaled but both occupants were released from the hospital late yesterday afternoon with no serious physical injuries. The passenger side of this C4 took the worst of it. The A-pillar was crushed about 4", the glass top was shattered as was the windshield and hatch glass. Most seriously, the roof panel between the glass top and the rear hatch was also crushed about 4". It was amazing that these two members of our club were not more seriously injured than some bumps and bruises. BTW, the track personnel and emergency medical people dealt with this situation very quickly and professionally. :eek: :eek:

 

Souns like you guys had a blast :cheers:

78 miles on your car :eek: Thats cool :cheers:

 

Brian,

The tranny cooler has really helped. Thanks for the install! :seeya

 

MY2000,

May I ask who it was? It might have been someone I met at the Stars and Stripes party.... :nonod: :sad:

 

WOW! Some good can come out of this accident if we all keep in mind that our Vettes do have limits, even if it feels like they can do everything.

Really glad those involved are ok!

 

Mike, sounds like you guys had an awesome time. I'll try to make it out there with you guys once I get some problems with my car squared away.

 

It was awesome!

Thanks to the NSCC and especially Rich Moburg for setting it up and being my instructor for the day.

Did anyone elses oil temp get high? Mine went to 260, and I backed off a bit and let it drop to 240. After a half a lap of going hard, it was back up to 260. The last session it was up to 268 by the time I noticed it, and I did a cool down lap and headed in. I'm considering getting an oil cooler, if the install isn't too bad, and I can find one with a thermostat that opens above 212 (too ensure moisture gets boiled out, and so the car warms up quicker driving on the street).

Nice to meet everyone, and I'm definately coming back if the NSCC has another one of these.

 

My oil temps saw 250+ as well. I had just had an oil change done maybe 350 miles ago.

 

That's why you use a synthetic oil! During the summer, I switch to 15W50 weight Mobil1 instead of 10W30. I'll have to look up what is considered "hot". Also, the Z51 option comes from the factory with an oil cooler, as does the Z06 (I believe).

 

Mike,

Mobil 1 says anything to 400 degrees isn't a problem. Of cousre there can be a lot of other components that aren't going to like that extreme. The DIC will account for higher temps and downgrade total oil life somewhat. But I regulalry see 270 if I'm down in second coming out of turns. I usually pull in at 275 thinking the brakes are getting pretty warm by then. I really don't think an oil cooler is needed on a C5 unless you are running lots and lots of laps.
BTW the oil cooler on the Z51/Z06 is for the power steering.
Like you pointed out the weak running part on the C5 is A4 oil temp.
Miles, I mailed your manual and stuff to you. Somehow it ended up in my car.
What was your total "concrete count"?
;) ;)

 

Dennis,

Thanks for all your help....

 

:lol: Not as high as it could have been. The most I got in a lap was 12. I was aiming for 20-22, I think. By the last session I could follow the line okay, but frequently ended up a foot or two off of the concrete.

What kind of brake pads do you have again? and what was the fluid, too?

Thanks.