Blog Title: Adventures in Racing

Inspired by DG's old Talon Digest race reports, I've been chronicling my own race experiences. You'll find write-ups here dating back to 2007, although I've been active in autox & time attack since 1999.

Here are my adventures in racing. Hope you find them interesting / entertaining.

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Lapping @ Atlantic Motorsport Park - Aug 14, 2011

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Posted 09-16-2011 at 12:00 PM by Scott McIntyre
Updated 09-18-2011 at 05:46 AM by Scott McIntyre

Third outing and second lapping day of 2011 for me.

A few minor changes for this event.

I cut out part my passenger side fender liner and installed aluminum mesh to promote better air flow through my transmission cooler.
I reinstalled the resistor unit & temp sensor I had previously removed from the AC condenser box (under dash), which meant my AC fan now worked.
I increased my Goodyear tire pressures from 30 psi to 45 psi based on that tire test magazine article I spoke of previously.
I added another -0.5° of camber on the front. I noticed that the shoulders of the Goodyears are more flat than the Kumhos I'm used to running, so it makes sense that they'd need more negative camber. Now the car is set to -3.0° front / -2.0° rear with zero toe all the way around.
I also stuck some painter's tape on the inside lip of my fenders to see if my tires were still rubbing after my previous ride height increase.
And I had done some tuning beforehand so the car was not running so lean. It was now running between 10:1 to 11:1 AFR at wide open throttle.

I hit the track and immediately noticed an increase in available grip. The combination of higher air pressures and more negative camber definitely helped. It was also nice to be back to running full boost again.

However the car was still overheating like it did during my first outing. I could only get 2-3 hot laps in before both coolant & oil temps reached 235-240°F. Then it would take a couple cool down laps to bring them back down, and I might get one hot lap in after that before it'd be over heating again. So basically I was limited to sessions lasting < 10 minutes which wasn't ideal.

My laps times were not very good either. I was running 1:24 - 1:22 hot laps, when my personal best is 1:18. I'll have my work cut out for me if I want to beat my personal best at the upcoming Time Attack in September.

I think a big part of the reason my times were so slow is that I did not have much confidence in braking. Atlantic Motorsport Park is a pretty bumpy track and under hard braking (after the straights) the rear would get very light and dance around. I thought that the rears might be locking up, but someone following me said that they weren't. I don't know what the answer is on this one... I suspect that my rear springs are too stiff or are under-damped, but that's nothing I can address in the short term. Perhaps I'll try adding some toe-in on the rear next time and see if that tames it a bit.

I also noticed that my tires are still rubbing on my fenders, although not as harshly as before. It looks like they're just kissing the fenders as the shocks compress the bumpstops (as evident by the rubber o-rings I had put on my shock shafts). During my first outing this year when the car was 1cm lower than it is now, you could actually see grooves wearing into the tire from rubbing, but now there's no marks at all.

And I discovered something strange about my trans cooler pump & fan. When I switch it on at engine start-up, the pump runs and the fan spins as expected. However, once I come back into the pits after a session, the pump & fan are no longer running. I suspect the problem is a result of the power source I'm using to trigger the pump & fan relay. I just tapped into the unused generator relay connector in the engine bay. But there's something funky about the way that power source switches on /off. So I'm going to change to another ignition-switched power source for my trans cooler pump & fan relay. That should resolve the problem.

My biggest problem is the overheating though. For the next event I will cut out part my driver side fender liner and installed aluminum mesh to promote better air flow through my oil cooler (like I did for the passenger side). And I'll try burping my coolant again... Perhaps there's some air trapped in the system which is causing the overheating. And, presuming I have a spare radiator fan shroud (I think I have), I'll swap that on in place of my partially melted one.

Here's a couple pics from the event. One of me on-track, and the other of me working on my VE table (ECMLink) in the paddock. More photos of the day can be seen here: Lapping Sunday Pictures

And here's an on-board video clip. This is three laps... a warm up, hot lap, and cool down before coming back into the pits.

Posted in DSM Track Day/Racing/Dyno Reports

Views 1567 Comments 12

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Total Comments 12

Comments

	Nice updated, Scott! That's an insane amount of camber you're running. Glad to hear the increase helped though. That track looks like it'd be a lot of fun if it was repaved. I'm jealous you're racing. I want to get out there.
	Posted 09-17-2011 at 09:25 PM by snowborder714

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowborder714

That's an insane amount of camber you're running. Glad to hear the increase helped though.

Oops! Typo. Should have read -3° in the front. Fixed it.

But yeah, going from -2.5° to -3.0° in the front did indeed help. It's also when I noticed one of the ball joints in my SPC arms had developed some slop. Luckily, I have replacement ball joint sitting here in front of me now.

Posted 09-18-2011 at 05:53 AM by Scott McIntyre Scott McIntyre is offline

	Ah, that's a little better. Even still, -3° is a good amount. I just got my suspension installed with the SPC upper arms a few weekends ago. Now I just have to buy bump stops and see how much Delrin is needed to keep those arms out of the shock tower. I also have 2 spare ball joints ready if necessary, but I sure hope I don't need them any time soon.
	Posted 09-18-2011 at 11:20 AM by snowborder714

	I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to pull back the SPC ball joint boots and re-grease the ball joints annually. Perhaps that might improve their longevity.
	Posted 09-19-2011 at 05:59 AM by Scott McIntyre

	I globbed some extra grease in the ball joint/inside of boot and then secured it with a zip tie, per Tim Zimmer's recommendation.
	Posted 09-19-2011 at 12:26 PM by snowborder714

	Yeah, I had replaced the boot retaining ring with safety wire (tight!) but did not add any extra grease. I wish I had done so, as I noticed at the time there wasn't a whole lot of grease in there as delivered.
	Posted 09-19-2011 at 12:41 PM by Scott McIntyre

	Someone had questioned SPC on the amount of grease and they said what it was supplied with should be enough, if you hadn't read that. I'll keep you (and others) updated on if the extra grease helps prevent failure or not. How long have yours been on, how much driving, and how many events have you used yours for?
	Posted 09-19-2011 at 03:29 PM by snowborder714

	So i noticed your running a FP Big T-28, what boost are you peaking to and holding to redline? Also what fuel are you running with this setup?
	Posted 09-20-2011 at 09:16 AM by TougeGST

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowborder714

Someone had questioned SPC on the amount of grease and they said what it was supplied with should be enough, if you hadn't read that.

I'll keep you (and others) updated on if the extra grease helps prevent failure or not. How long have yours been on, how much driving, and how many events have you used yours for?

No, I didn't see that post about the grease. I kinda sporadically read this forum.

I installed my SPC arms in 2009. They've seen about 15 autox events, 10 track days (i.e HPDE), and 11,000 miles in total.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TougeGST

So i noticed your running a FP Big T-28, what boost are you peaking to and holding to redline? Also what fuel are you running with this setup?

I've got my FP Big28 maxed out. I'm running about 28-29psi peak, then ramping down to 23-24psi redline. Basically, I have ECMLink's boost control set to 25psi across the board and left the initial low-RPM spike for the extra torque.

For fuel, I'm running 91 octane pump gas with 6 GPH water injection. No meth. And no knock to speak of.

Posted 09-20-2011 at 09:59 AM by Scott McIntyre Scott McIntyre is offline

	wow. didn't think 91 with a little water injection would allow such high boost on a t-28. Any dyno numbers for this setup? Seems like she pulls nice and hard on the straights! Nice to see another t-28 making laps on a track!
	Posted 09-21-2011 at 06:13 PM by TougeGST

	No dyno charts, but I have this one I created in Excel using the HP calculator in ECMLink... It's from when I was experimenting between different timing & air-fuel ratio maps in the ECU, hence the labels.
	Posted 09-22-2011 at 06:49 AM by Scott McIntyre

Is this at the flywheel or wheel power? What kind of Timing and AFR are you getting away with to max this Little T-28 out like you are? Once again props on the great power produced using 91 and a tiny turbo!! Hope i'm not too much of a bother. I'm just very curious, I'm running a T-28 myself. The most power i ever measured was 220whp at 18psi on Full Function's mustang dyno, and 260whp on Thunderhill's Dyno Jet at 23psi peak. Both on plain 91 with AFR 10:5:1 - 11:3:1. Stock timing, took a little out in the peak torque, and towards redline. Wondering if i'm playing it to safe or if i can produce more with less timing and little more boost? I've always thought a T-28 loses efficiency after 24-25 psi peak, and definitely towards redline at that psi? again thanks for all the info.

Posted 09-22-2011 at 12:56 PM by TougeGST TougeGST is offline