Scott McIntyre
DSM Wiseman
- 309
- 44
- Mar 15, 2002
-
Halifax,
NS, Canada
Third outing and second lapping day of 2011 for me.
A few minor changes for this event.
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.
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.
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.
