Accepted into the 2012 Ultimate Track Car Challenge!!!

[TSiAWD666]

Thanks everyone

Nice! I run XP16/XP12 on a TCE big brake kit and love them. Much better than the Wilwood pads I started out with.

For the street / autox I run AX6.

Scott, did you run that combo on the road course as well? If so, what brake setup front and rear? Seems like it's a bit more rear bias than I personally would like but I am feeling it out still, and am very curious if you found the extra rear braking a better balance for you. Of course there are more factors like suspension and weight balance that would affect just how your brakes work for you but any data is still useful.

 

[Scott McIntyre]

Scott, did you run that combo on the road course as well? If so, what brake setup front and rear? Seems like it's a bit more rear bias than I personally would like but I am feeling it out still, and am very curious if you found the extra rear braking a better balance for you. Of course there are more factors like suspension and weight balance that would affect just how your brakes work for you but any data is still useful.

Road course:

• Front - Carbotech XP16 - Wilwood FSL 4 piston calipers - 13 x 1.10" rotors
• Rear - Carbotech XP12 - OEM EVO 8 Brembo calipers & rotors

With this setup, I've never had a problem with fade or boiling fluid. No brake ducts.

But now that you mention it, I do seem to recall thinking that the rear had a bit too much bite (haven't had the car out this year). Perhaps you're right in that going two or three compound "levels" between front / rear is the ticket. I'll have to try XP10 on the rear as well.

 

[TSiAWD666]

So the xp20s... I ran them this weekend at Summit Point Raceway. I'll be posting a review but I'll say here that they are AWESOME Man, they are 10x better than the Pagid Orange pads I had. So much more stopping power.

Your brake setup is basically what I have. I have stoptechs up front and evo 8 calipers/rotors in the rear. With the pads I'm running the balance I feel is pretty stable. With your thoughts on your setup I think I'll stay this way for a while. If you ever try out the XP10 pads lemme know how that changes things for you! If you call Carbotech to order the pads you can get them pre-bedded so that you probably won't have to do a bedding after install (but not entirely sure, since they are technically different compounds that might not work).

 

[Scott McIntyre]

If you call Carbotech to order the pads you can get them pre-bedded so that you probably won't have to do a bedding after install (but not entirely sure, since they are technically different compounds that might not work).

You are correct in that if you have ONLY had Carbotech brake pads on the rotors, then they do not have to be re-bed.

That's one of the things I love about Carbotech... I can swap between my Carbotech street & track pads without having to bed them in each time.

 

[TSiAWD666]

Here's some exterior footage of the car from last weekend at Hyperfest 2012, which took place at Summit Point Raceway. Taken by WillRaceForBeer here on DSMTuners (thanks man!!). Nothing particularly special in the footage just that people expressed interest in exterior shots of the car.

Hyperfest 2012 - HPDE 3 Eclipse GSX - YouTube

Car was de-tuned even more than at VIR as I was experiencing a miss that I now believe (or hoping) to be excessive oil in the intake system from blow-by that Greengoblin and Calan are helping with. You'll even see some smoke in some of the footage from the oil Also blew an exhaust mani to turbo gasket and even discovered my exhaust mani had a crack in the collector area. Yay for racing I'm still also really taking it easy in most of the footage as I haven't been on this track in a looooong time and was still re-learning the course. So I gave folks plenty of space and just eased through the track safely.

Thanks so much to WillRaceForBeer and QuickSilverGSX9 for all the help this weekend. Couldn't have made it through it without the help

Here are some shots in the paddock before the car got dirty

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Thanks to Carbotech for the phenomenal brake pads, Meguiar's for the awesome car products that keep her clean and shiny, and DHP for the kick-ass wing

 

[greengoblin]

Man that looks like fun. Jealous.

 

[snowborder714]

Very nice, John! That's a fun track.

 

[Scott McIntyre]

John, have you ever tried iRacing? With their millimeter accurate laser-scanned tracks, it could be valuable tool for re-learning / practicing VIR before the big day. Many pro drivers use it as a training tool for learning new tracks.

 

[TSiAWD666]

No I haven't! A racing sim that has VIR in it?!?!?!? COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I'll have to look into it. I've been dying to get a game with VIR in it for so many years, praying it would show up in Gran Turismo but no luck. Thanks for letting me know about this!

 

[Scott McIntyre]

Yup, iRacing only has real-life tracks, all laser scanned with pinpoint accuracy. So what you learn in the sim should be directly transferable to real life. I wish they had my local track too.

 

[TSiAWD666]

I have a new sponsor! Road Race Technologies (RRT Service | BMW Specialists) is a local tuner specializing in BMWs. They have put together some incredible machines and do everything from maintenance on stock BMWs to building full on custom racecars. I've seen some of their handywork and I'm very excited to be working with them! I met them at Hyperfest as one of their employees recognized me and the car from when he worked on it at the last fabricator that worked on the car (they let him go due to downsizing and he landed at RRT). RRT has saved my butt twice already, once with broken turbo/manifold bolts that I was trying to remove due to a cracked manifold and blown turbo/mani gasket, as well as re-welding a bracket due to a measurement error on my new Calan catch can system. Thanks to them the car's still on track to make it to the UTCC.

They've offered initially to install some higher rate springs (highest rate my current valving will support), dyno the shocks and make sure the cross adjustment is identical, corner balance the car, align the car, and then provide assistance in dialing in the settings of the shocks. Two days labor minimum here so this is very helpful if all goes well. In the future we'll talk about a cage for the car, so it's a great relationship to build. Very excited!

I also have my new drivetrain installed! Tim Zimmer (Twicks69 here on DSMTuners) of TMZ Performance put together a Stage 4 transmission with a Quaife ATB front diff and four spider center diff, a rebuilt transfer case, and a rear diff with an Evo 9 diff with the Weir Performance 12-disc upgrade as well as a Frontline Fabrications diff cover. Also installed some Avid Racing motor mounts (Thanks to Extreme PSI for the discount on those!). I installed it with WillRaceForBeer, QuickSilverGSX9, and another fellow not on this board, over the weekend. Thanks a TON to those guys because without them there's no way in hell I would have been able to do the job in such a short time (or at all, man I suck when it comes to working on the drivetrain . I haven't tested out any of it other than some tame driving around town but so far so good.

 

[95talongirl]

Very cool and exciting!

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Wow! Congrats! Seriously, what a dream.. I'm going to have to look up RRT now

 

[greengoblin]

You need to post more pictures John. People love pictures. At least I do anyway!

 

[fhudsonjr]

Kick butt, John.

 

[91stocker]

You need to post more pictures John. People love pictures. At least I do anyway!

+2 on this. Love the vids as well. Looks like so much fun. Congrats

 

[cioc]

Careful with that new rear diff in there! The car will be a completely different animal. Ask me how I know.

 

[TSiAWD666]

I didn't take any pics during the install. That's how hectic it was. Also, I'm not sure they'd be really interesting because they just look like clean stock parts on the outside since the goods are on the inside Tim Zimmer is supposed to send me pics of the build at some point but hasn't just yet.

Here are the pics I do have of what's changed in the last couple weeks to make the car race ready:
1) Picture of the new valve cover (THANKS to Greengoblin for doing me the massive favor and getting it done so incredibly quickly) with a catch can from Calan (thanks for producing the can so fast and answering my thousands of questions as well as accomodating my customizations!). -10AN lines on a customized can design to fit my particular car, with ports on the valve cover slightly in-board to minimize oil in the head pouring into the lines.
2) TMZ Performance Stage 4 Transmission, with ports for a future transmission cooler (that's the blue AN fitting you see)
3) TMZ Performance rear diff and the Frontline Fabrication billet cover
4) Diff installed on the car. Sorry for the bad pic as it looks a lot prettier on the car.

Cioc - I think I recall you pointing out how much of a change it made in an older post and I hadn't forgotten that. Plus I'd read anecdotes from many of the Evo guys. I'm definitely going to be careful when I get back on the track! Thanks for the warning!

 

[talon2gbuyer]

Damn dude, thats sick! good luck! bring home the trophy for the DSM folks!

 

[Spyder FX]

That is an amazing machine, go dominate this event!

 

[D_Eclipse9916]

Congratulations buddy! Sorry I Was so busy during Hyperfest I didnt have a chance to stop by.

Ill be there competing as well in the challenge, although in a much slower car . Ill try to stop by your car on friday.

RRT is a great shop and you will be happy to deal with Wayne, James and them.
A little advice for the competition, the first session is a warm-up and all it determines is wether you will be in the "fast-group" or "slow-group". Times do not actually make it.

The second session would be the one I would focus on "going for it". It will be official times, and will be faster than any other session the rest of the day. Its going to start to get miserably hot on the track and the tires just wont give the bite towards the end of the day.


I am really impressed, your build is gorgeous and very well done!

 

[QuickSilverGSX9]

Just wanted to stop in and say that this car is a monster and I can't wait to see it fully dialed in. Also, it was a pleasure working on the car with John, Jon and Rob. I wish I could be there to help support and watch at the UTCC and then run HPDE over the weekend.

 

[TSiAWD666]

Thanks to everyone again for the votes of confidence and kind words!

Congratulations buddy! Sorry I Was so busy during Hyperfest I didnt have a chance to stop by.

Ill be there competing as well in the challenge, although in a much slower car . Ill try to stop by your car on friday.

RRT is a great shop and you will be happy to deal with Wayne, James and them.
A little advice for the competition, the first session is a warm-up and all it determines is wether you will be in the "fast-group" or "slow-group". Times do not actually make it.

The second session would be the one I would focus on "going for it". It will be official times, and will be faster than any other session the rest of the day. Its going to start to get miserably hot on the track and the tires just wont give the bite towards the end of the day.


I am really impressed, your build is gorgeous and very well done!

Thanks for the advice! I wasn't sure what the format of the UTCC was and knowing I only have one real warm-up session helps. Yeah I'm sorry I missed you at Hyperfest. I thought you might be driving that BMW of yours and I thought I saw one like it in the paddock, but I wasn't sure and figured if it was you that you might stop by later. So what car are you driving at the UTCC?

RRT is indeed awesome! I'm VERY impressed with all of the guys there and am extremely lucky they've decided to help me out. They completed the suspension work yesterday and I swung by to discuss sticker placement. Here's what they did for me:

1) Installed my new Swift springs with higher rates than the ones Robispec gave me originally.
2) Dyno'd the shocks to make sure they were even across the sides and damping properly.
3) Corner Balanced the car (with weight in the driver's seat)
4) Aligned the car (again with weight in the driver's seat)
5) Trimmed my spark plug weather protector (that aluminum sheet you see on top of the valve cover in some pictures) so it now fits with those huge -10AN fittings.

Car felt like it had much more grip up front and more tossable in the rear, but I couldn't really get up to speed where they are located so we'll see how it turns out. The shocks did dyno out even, so credit to Robispec who while is impossible to get a hold of 99% of the time, he does good work when he finally gets around to it. It feels like I gained a lot more grip low speed for sure, but I'll just have to see how the high speed handling is. They gave me the corner balance sheet and it came out as perfect as they could get it considering the imbalances present in the car, and the alignment was spot on to my requested specs with some small tweaks based on what they saw in my photos/videos and of the wear on my tires. I just picked up the car today as they needed this morning to install the stickers. Below are some shots.

Just wanted to stop in and say that this car is a monster and I can't wait to see it fully dialed in. Also, it was a pleasure working on the car with John, Jon and Rob. I wish I could be there to help support and watch at the UTCC and then run HPDE over the weekend.

Rob, I could not have even come close to completing the work this weekend without your help. Thanks for helping out a guy you only just met and nearly killing yourself in that heat. I owe you big time man and I won't forget it!

In one of the shots you can see the license plate bracket I had made at Mach V. Bolts on with a 10mm nut/bolt and is so I can avoid tickets on the way to/from the track. Pretty slick design

The classes were just announced for the UTCC. Here they are:
Overall Winner
Fastest Mustang
Fastest Corvette
Fastes AWD
Fastest Privateer BMW
Fastest Chryser-Group Car
Fastest Daily Driver
Fastest Four Cylinder
Fastest Mazda
Fastest Car on Stock Calipers

With me being on street tires it's going to be tough for me, but Ill certainly do my best. I kind of wish I hadn't stripped out my interior earlier this week as I might have competed in the Daily Driver class haha.

 

[snowborder714]

Knowing their background in alignment/corner balancing, I'd hope they would have done this, but I figured I'd ask anyway.

Did they disconnect sway bars before corner balancing? I know you got the parts to build the adjustable front sway bars, but I'm not sure if you've gotten around to having them installed. If so, did they adjust them to remove the preload?

Did you make sure to have them tighten down the SPC ball joint nuts to 120 ft/lbs?


Car's looking really good! I wish I had more time to help out or even chat with you. Hopefully in the upcoming weeks when my work load decreases a bit.

 

[fhudsonjr]

How about a larger view of that plate bracket?
Good looking wing. Do you know at what speed that rear wing begins to apply useable down force?