Nice! You're closing in on factory trans am times. Is the track record still 43.112? One of my favorite DVDs is "LRP The Secret Valley of Racing". That track is the only part of the country I would consider giving up SoCal weather for.
thanks, LRP track record depends on w or w/o chicane w/o is 39 sec by a gtp car back around 1990 w is probably low 40s
So are you running with or w/o chicane? Whats the competition doing? This is the FCA open track date? New socks? Is that Florida slang for rubber? Neways, go get that 55!
I was there today takin some pics and got a few of your car...nice work today! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
During some of the sessions I was not out in the ch, I was helping setup a gt3r, and we got down to low 56's on 2 race old tires. Gearing was horrendous, and made things tough. With new tires, proper gearing, the car/driver would be in high 54's. Most of the 360challenges (with competent drivers) were doing 59/60's, but there was a LOT of traffic, I barely got 1 clean lap per session. Weather held out and it was a gorgeous weekend...even got a little sunburnt. The other fastest cars at the event were the Sports racers, doing 57's.
Anyone else got any stories/pictures to share? I didnt make it down this year so I can only hope to re-live it vicariously
I'm still waiting for my Penske shots, once I have those I expect to be down around 57 or better w more practice. at 59.1 I still consider that I am holding back bcus I think w a better driver or more practice the car could do a 55
Cool William, do you think the so called high center of gravity with the boxer 12 over the trans makes much of a difference compared to say a 360s layout?
absolutely, thats why F placed the trans behind the engine on the F50 Not sure what they were thinking w TRs & BBs I'd like to add lower engine mounts and will look into a hewland trans that may be shorter & lighter
I'd highly suggest some Ohlins or Sachs instead of the Penske's. Penske's are a rather old design, and the shrader valves leak. The penske formula shocks actually use some of Ohlins internal parts, but its a different design basically. If you did not purchase anything yet, i'd highly suggest looking into Sachs/Ohlins, MUCH better!
What about Motons? Racers are geting really long life between revalves. They seem to hold up really well
No chicane that weekend. I saw your TR out there on the track. It was fun to see the big 12's out there- not really the track for them, but you were certainly running right with all the challenge cars. mario
Motons are good, no doubt, although they still utilize the shrader valve design. You either need "the right tool" to properly fill/maintain nitrogen level, or figure out a way to compensate. With the Ohlins, you can go years without losing an fraction of a psi. Plus, you can check the pressure without having to worry about some leaking out. After dealing with Ohlins directly for a couple months while designing some of their shocks for BMW's, I just became a huge fan of their design, and attention to detail. Things like an ABS sleeve on the theaded body to protect it from getting galled up by the spring, it really makes a difference when you put it into perspective. Motons are great, and there are many MANY gt & touring cars using them, although when you get into the next level of competition, with the higher gt1 cars, and prototypes, all you see is Ohlins, Sachs and Dynamics. Other than the new 4way's, basically every time I deal with a set of motons there are issues...although when they work (which is most of the time) they work really well. I had Moton motorsports on a bmw, loved em, but the Ohlins flat out perform better. Either way you go, moton, penske, whatever, the key is to have them properly valved, and have them setup for your car and application. In the end its still just a small component of a much larger system.
I really don't understand shocks. It is a black art to me. I like what you have to say. I was under the impression that racers see a fixed life to these disposable shocks, I.e. routine revalvings. Do you think you can get years of service for Ohlins in a kind of "set it and forget it" kind of way (of course adjusting them for the track conditions will need to be done). Do you have tips on shock selection or valving as places to start? It seems like you just guess. Then you test. Then it is so long between my next valving test that I get no useable data. I need a few sets of shocks to try in and out but who can afford that? Any ideas?
Dampers are a place where there is probably some of the most engineering on the vehicle. Aero is more black art, dampers are pure engineering/science The internal valving can all be calculated and simulated, and then verified on a Shock Dyno. Determining the valving of the shock is not simple, and it takes some engineering background (although not necessary in club racing level, but it helps a lot obviously) but more importantly experience. I have/had Ohlins on several BMW racecars that are in there 3rd season of racing and the nitrogen level has stayed perfect. In fact, due to the precision adjustments, unlike many other shocks, each "click" of the adjustment knobs (whether it be rebound or bump) is fine enough to allow exact adjustment, but its also big enough to feel a difference between a single "click" adjustment. Shock Selection is easy, choose your budget, and pick the Ohlins that fits your criterion These things ain't cheap, although I am doing Ohlins on a 360 challenge over the winter as a little project on a "budget" using the Ohlins ST44 (st=single tube) dampers. They are affordable, and a great shock. The top line damper Ohlins makes actually come with a program for you to design the shock valving, and get simulated data before you even touch the shock. This is a great tool, and because of the design of these units, they can be quickly and accurately revalved. I am not a fan of doing all the aero touchup work on the 360(ch's) to correct what is a suspension problem. Mechanical grip should be the first concentration, not the aero. Once you maximize mechanical grip, in a gt car like this, you can then use aero as a tool to balance the car. Since its primarily relying on mechanical grip, you are much more likely to hurt your performance with aero modifications than help. There are definitely some aeros where the 360ch can help, but 90% of the stuff I see is fairly generic stuff that is slapped on hoping it will help. Its a "system" and each component plays a small part. You will get the best car when everything works together, AS a system. And this discussion was just shocks, just as important are spring rates, spring setup (tender springs), compliance (bushings/bearings, etc), swaybars, etc.
