Tuning 430 C with GT Kit and Exhaust (pics)

I posted some in-car video from my race on Saturday. I qualified 3rd out of 55 and it was a 20-minute sprint race. I was able to win despite my corded tires by the end. Lesson learned about trying to squeeze out tire life. No personal best lap times for this past weekend due to the heat cycled tires. The results from the wing/splitter combo is inconclusive at this point. I just ordered some new Pirelli slicks and I will be back at VIR on October 31 so please stay tuned for official results.

http://vimeo.com/15792048

 

Here are some pics from this weekend.
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Oooohhhhh! I want to hear more about the adjustable shocks but more about widening the front track. Front-end wash-out is my biggest complaint with the car. The 360GT widened the front track and mounted bigger front tires. This required Michelotto to provide a more flared front fender to receive the wider setup. Would I have to fit different fenders? Is the wider track accomplished with different control arms or some type of spacer at the suspension pick-up points on the frame casting?

By the way...thanks. The car does sound fantastic IMO.

 

Thanks Andrea. My corded tires were definitely not due to anything you did with the setup. I was just being cheap and trying to delay the mounting of new tires. Since that day I've ordered two sets of new Pirellis. T minus 10 days until I'm back at VIR.

 

Well, I just finished day one of a two-day track event at VIR. I'm excited to say I set my personal best VIR laptime after having this car for almost two-years. I had good tires this time and I did a 2:00:08 with traffic (no clean lap) and a TraqMate Theoretical Best Lap (TBL) time of 1:59. The car was a little squirrely and after I came in I checked my tire pressures and found they had grown to 36+psi all around. For those of you that use Pirelli slicks, you know our cars are very difficult to control at those pressures. I dropped the pressures to 30psi but I haven't gone back out for hot laps since then (I've been giving rides to friends that came to visit). Guests are gone now and tomorrow I'm back in the saddle looking for a 1:58.

I'm getting great video and I'll report back after tomorrow.

 

Another great day and another personal best. Today I did a 1:59:5 in traffic and a 1:58:5 Theoretical Best Lap. The car was HOOKED UP. I have a lot more to post, video to share, and people to thank. I'll write more over the next few days.

Very happy

Paul

 

Hello all.

Well, after a lot of drum-roll I finally have some information to share about the test of my car modifications.

Just to summarize, I purchased the GT Aero kit and Capristo headers, both provided and installed by Taurino Racing. I also had my most recent car setup (scale/align/ride height, etc) from Arnie Poundstone of Ferrari of Washington.

After a lot of effort to make sure I was comparing apples to apples, I've concluded that my cornering speeds have increased by at least 3% and my max straight away speeds have dropped by one half of one percent. I know that might not sound like a lot but consider that most tracks have maybe one or two straights and 10-15 turns. For my comparison I only compared turns that would benefit from aero (70 mph and above).

All of the above dropped my lap times by 3 seconds on a 2-minute lap. Keep in mind that the diference between the 360C and the 430C is somewhere around 4-5 seconds on a similar track so 3-seconds is a lot.

I feel like the increased torque from the Capristo racing headers counteracted the aero drag on long straights to result in the very minor loss in top speed.

Below is a video of a 1:59 lap with a little lost time due to a BMW in my way. I calculate that my lap would have been 1:58 without the traffic. Anything below 2 minutes is a VERY good time for VIR full course. Notice how calm and controlled the car is. I'll take some credit for this as the driver but I give most of the credit to the aero package and car setup.

http://vimeo.com/16487374

I welcome questions or comments.

 

Thanks Bryan. Yes I created that Ferraromatic video. That was really just a fun jab at a few friends of mine and the darn thing went viral and got a quarter of a million hits in a week or two. I shut it down because I was getting tons of complimentary emails everyday from people telling me they were spitting out their coffee, etc.

I quietly restored the link a month later and it's already gotten 40,000 hits.

Here's the current link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-iNbHhbfcE

 

Thanks George. I don't know the noise level but I would estimate 100 db. At the end of this posting is a video of me passing a friend. You may have seen this.

Seriously, I can keep track of the people that come up to me and say "your car sounds so awesome" or "the only time I don't mind being passed is when you go by".

As I mentioned before I'm using the Capristo racing headers, but I fabricated the rest of my exhaust system at home with my welder and sections of 304 stainless exhaust tubing. My design is a similar concept to the Capristo system after the headers. Seriously, it does sound fantastic.

http://www.vimeo.com/15516397