AlwaysinBoost

iTrader: (17)

This thread will document my first year doing TT in my 2004 WW GSR w/SSL.

I purchased my EVO back in November 2004 with just 4 miles on the odo. It was my first new car. Since then I've put over 130k trouble free, fun miles, and I can honestly say I enjoy it more now than when I drove it off the lot that sunny Sunday morning in MA. There were a few bumps along the way, but overall its been an awesome journey.





I started doing track days 2008 and quickly became hooked! Ok hooked is putting it lightly, I'm sure most of you can relate. From the door it was clear the EVO had way more potential than I was able to use, so I decided it would make more sense to modify the driver before the car.






To gain experience I did HPDE's with various clubs in the NE; PCA, BMWCCA, NASA, Trackdaze, FATT, SCCA and pretty much anyone who would host an event. I would always take an instructor with me and pick their brain as much as I could (still do). Eventually I climbed up the HPDE run group ladder and found myself in the instructor group comparing my lap times with similar setup cars, I knew at that point it was time to try TT'ing.





I'm currently competing in the Real Time Attack (www.realtimeattack.com) AWD Street tire class. I like that RTA has a street tire class that allows you to do all the basic bolt on mods that make the car so much fun to drive on the street. Not wanting to haul tires to and from the track, not to mention all the added consumables that going along with r-comps, I focused my setup around running a 255 street tire like the Dunlop Z1 Star Spec or Hankook RS-3. This allows me to arrive and drive with minimal hassle since I don't trailer my car. I'll also be running a few events this year with NARRA (www.narraonline.com), EMRA (www.emraracing.org) & Global Time Attack (www.globaltimeattack.com).

Current Mod List:

Suspension:
Ohlins Flags (10k f/12k r)
Perrin PSRS
Whiteline front sway bar
Whiteline roll center correction kit
Whiteline bushing
Perrin rear sway bar
RT/Tuning alignment & corner balance

Wheels/Tires:
OEM BBS MR - 255/40/17 Z1's
Enkie RPF1 - 255/40/17 RS-3's

Brakes:
Blank "oem" style rotors
SS lines
OEM Calipers w/hotlap motorsport cooling ducts
currently using either ST-43 or XP-10 pads
AMSOil or Motul fluid

Drivetrain:
Exedy twin disc
TRE 1.5way rear diff
driveline fluids flushed with Motul by RT/Tuning

Power:
OEM IX longblock swap done by RT/Tuning (www.rttuning.com)
Perrin cone filter
2.75" downpipe
Ultimate Racing 3" HFC
3" TBE
MBC @ 20-22psi on 93oct
RT/Tuning Dyno tune

Exterior:
IX front bumper
JDM rear
vortex generator
homemade Shoe Motorsports front splitter

Interior
Schroth ASM Ralley-4 harnesses
Removed spare tire & sub. Other than that no weight reduction

To do:
larger radiator
rear diffuser
turn the boost up, bro!





RTA Event Schedule & Results
Round 1 : April 14 sat - Lime Rock, CT - did not attend
Round 2 : June 9 / 10 NJMP - Thunderbolt Raceway , NJ 1st Place
Round 3 : July 28 / 29 sat & sun NJMP Lightning, NJ 1st Place
Round 4 : August 25 / 26 Monticello Motor Club - Monticello, NY
Round 5 : October 20, Saturday - Watkins Glen International - Watkins Glen, NY

GTA Event Schedule & Results
Round 4 : August 4/5 NJMP Lightning, NJ - 2nd Place

NARRA Event Schedule & Results
Round 4 : June 9 / 10 NJMP - Thunderbolt Raceway , NJ 4th Place
Round 6 : August 25 / 26 Monticello Motor Club - Monticello, NY

EMRA Event Schedule & Results
Round 5 : July 28 / 29 sat & sun NJMP Lightning, NJ 1st Place

DISCLAIMER: If you own rights to any photos in this thread and want them removed please contact me.

AlwaysinBoost

iTrader: (17)

Day 1 - NARRA - Thunderbolt Raceway w.Chicane

This was going to be my first ever TT event and I was very excited. Going in I wasn't really sure what to expect other than I knew it was going to be much different than the usual DE format I was accustomed to. I also knew I wouldn't have as many chances at running a good lap time like I do at a DE, so I knew I had to make every lap count.

Not only was this going to be my first Real Time Attack TT event, but at this event I was also going to be running with NARRA (www.narraonline) in their USTT Championship series in TT3 class. Narra doesn't break their TT groups down by tire choices like RTA does. Tt goes off power to weight ratio. Meaning almost any tire is legal so long as you stay within the specific weight and HP for your class. Since my car is very basic in the power department (around 300whp) and running on normal street tires, this meant I would be at a huge disadvantage compared to more powerful cars funning on racing slicks.

Not wanting to bring a knife to a gun fight I enlisted the help of some local EVO buddies and was able to borrow a set of well used 285/30/18 A6 hoosiers on 18x9.5 Enkie RPF1 wheels. Thanks Mike (Mr. MR) and Aaron (psushoe)! As if I didn't have enough first's to worry about this would also be my very first time running the car on slicks! Nothing like trial by fire, lol.

The day started out like any other track day except this time I was swapping tires in the am (which I HATE, btw). I got thru tech with ease and started to get my car setup by putting most of the stickers you need to run in the proper spots.

Waiting in line to tech:



getting weighed:








For my first session of the day I decided to just take it easy and get a feel for the slicks. There was no gridding by time, people just kind of gridded where they felt they should be. I wound up gridding near some buddies who I know were fast and pretty season'd TT'ers. If I could stick close to them I knew I'd be OK. I wasn't expecting record braking times, but I was expecting to be at least close to my previous best time at this track on street tires, which was a high 1:37.

Right off the bat I could feel the hoosiers had more inital grip than I was used to. It was going to take me a little while to build up the confidence needed to PUSH harder than I was accustomed in order to get those faster lap times. I was also running on a suspension which was setup for street tires, and not wanting to touch my settings I had to 'drive around' some issues I was having. With that said, in only a couple essions I ran slicks, I was still able to run faster than my previous best time by almost 3 whole seconds, running a 1:35.0.

















That time was good enough to land me in 4th place in TT3 out of 14 other cars, just 1 spot out of a podium finish. Not bad for my first ever event on slicks. I was faster than some better prepped cars like Vipers, GT3 Porsches and GTR's so I was happy about that!



After only a couple sessions the track and tires were getting hot and greasy. My times started to get worse so I decided to save the wear and tear on my consumables and switch back to my streets to put some times down for the RTA TT event happening tomorrow...

Day 2 - Real Time Attack Round #2 - NJMP Thunderbolt course w/Chicane!

Day 2 started off with me applying more stickers and cleaning all the track debris off the front end of the car. Following behind cars with R-comps will throw a LOT of OPR on your car! This chic was there to make sure all my stickers were applied correctly.



I made sure she double and tripple checked that everything was good.



all riced up, err... I mean stickerd up and ready to race!





Looking around at the competition for the day I knew I was going to have my handful trying to get a decent lap in on street tires, but I wasn't about to let a little traffic stand in the way of me and a solid finish for my first event. Here are some pics of the action:











And here is a quick vid shot from Team Foren's car as a Subi driver spun in T5 and started to ROLL BACKWARDS while cars are trying to go around him.


And here is another angle of the same incident. This was shot with a GoPro mounted on my front bumper.


I never really got a 'clean' lap between all the flags, traffic and mishaps on track. The first session out of the box proved to be the fastest. Lucky for my the 1:36.6 I put down was enough to secure the win in RTA and I walked away with first place.



^ Results show 1:35.0 from the previous day, but my best time on street tires that day was 1:36.6 according to my lap timer. I know the car has more in it, I just need to dial out some of the understeer that is so bad in these cars.

RTA Round 3 @ NJMP Lightning in July is where I will begin to add aero in the hopes of increasing the front grip! First step is to make a custom splitter using the designs and ideas I've gotten from other racers.

AlwaysinBoost

iTrader: (17)

July 29th, 2012 - Real Time Attack Round 3 - NJMP Lightning & EMRA TT

My second TT event with Real Time Attack was at NJMP Lighting, a track I know very well. After fighting understeer so much at Thunderbolt, I decided it was time to take advantage of a few of the rules in my class allowing aero modifications by adding a front splitter for the car. Not wanted to buy an off the shelf 'one size fits all' type spiltter, I decided it was best to make one specifically for my needs. I talked with some fellow EVO owners who track their cars to get an idea of how I wanted to do this. I got some great info and put a plan of attack together. First order of business was to order some alumanite and get a template going.

I wanted to start off with as big of a splitter as I could and tweak it by adjusting the AOA and/or trimming, so I went with a full 4" lip. This is the template I came up with laid out on a full sheet of alumanite.





And this is what the finished product looked like after mounting, before adding the front bracing.









And the finished product with bracing added:





In the pits with Team Foren and John T from RTA.







Gasing up:



Driving to the track with the splitter installed I was worried about scraping or ripping the thing off since it hung so low. Thankfully its just the right height and I didn't have any issues going from PA to NJ.

The idea here was to remove all the understeer. After the first turn on my very first warm up lap it was obvious I had accomplished my mission. The car was transformed from an understeering, tire squealing, pushing PIG to a tail happy, loose oversteering MONSTER! I couldn't believe the difference!

With the splitter working better than I expected I had to totally change how I was driving the car to make up for the oversteer condition. Having driven the EVO in stock(ish) form for so long I was use to lifting off the throttle to rotate the rear... this was not possible now. Instead of lifting I needed to start to use the throttle to plant the rear while turning in.

It took me a while to adjust to this new to me style of driving (and I still am). As a result my times suffered. I was almost 1.5 seconds off my usual pace at this track. Best time previously at NJMP Lightning was a 15.6 thrown down in a DE session. On this day with virtually the same setup, with the only additon being the front splitter, I was only turning mid to low 17's!! Not the result I was hoping for but I was determind to keep at it try to tame this new oversteering beast.

Aero in full effect:















Conditions on the track weren't great. IT was hot and there was a decent amount of traffic. The temps were so hot that my Iphone would cut off after only a few minutes of recording, so I didn't get much data or video from the event. I could only manage a 17.0 as my best time for the day. Lucky for me that was enough to snag 1st place in my RTA class.

Final RTA Results here:





The EMRA portion of the event was secondary but I was real curious to see how my sub-par times stakced up to the other people in my class. Thankfully there was only one other car and I was quicker by a couple seconds.






Overall it was another awesome event. At the end of the day I wound up driving home with 2 - 1st place finishes, a couple trophies and some awesome Kognition & Racing Brake contingency!

Next event is Global Time Attack @ NJMP! Plans for this one are to make the rear end stick without taking too much grip away from the front of the car...

AlwaysinBoost

iTrader: (17)

Its only a week after my last TT with EMRA/RTA and I'm back at NJMP Lightning for the Global Time Attack round 4.

What an awesome event. There were some amazing cars/drivers registered and I was very excited to be sharing the track with them. I registered my EVO for the AWD Street class, which has rules much like the Real Time Attack series. I wasn't sure who all was in my class, but I knew at least one of the competitors would be Team Professional Awesome and their insane VII time attack car. PA set the track record last year on Hankook RS-3's, the same tire I was running.

The plan for this event was to tame the oversteer induced by the well functioning splitter and hopefully beat my previous best time of 15.6 from a year ago. Seeing as this was August and temps were close to 100* I knew I was gonna have my work cut out for me.

I started off by consulting my shop (www.rttuning.com) on how to best go about this new oversteer issue. After some discussion between their suspension guru Pat and the owner Vince, we decided to not make too many changes and just add a 1/32nd of toe-in to the rear to keep the tail planted while the wheel was turned until I can get more comfortable controlling the car with the throttle. I also took it upon myself to trim the 4" splitter down to a smaller 2 3/8". Here is the finished product with some revised bracing.



Everything else on the car remained the same. I'm still running the same 20psi thru a HFC on a bone stock motor. ONly mods are MBC, TBE, Rt/Tuning dyno tune & suspension.

First session of the day was just to get a feel for the car. I could tell right away the toe changes made the rear much more controlable. Instead of the car wanting to step out and turn in and exit it was slightly understeering which I was fine with. Without really pushing I managed a mid 1:16, which was almost 1 second faster than my time from a week ago. I knew a new personal best time was out there... I just needed to drive the car hard and capture it.







Seeing that time and knowing I wasn't driving as hard as I could've made me want to go all out this next session and try to lay down a good lap before the track and my tires got too hot. I reviewed the data from my Harry's Lap timer and saw two spots where I thought I had room for improvement. Armed with that info I set out to try and do everything the same and just push in those two places.

Second session I made sure I lined up first in grid to make sure i didn't run into traffic. I was in the slower of the two run groups and there were guys in my group who had never really been on track before, let alone in a TT situation, and I didn't feel safe pushing hard around them so I knew it had to be done quickly. Unfortunately my Iphone shut off shortly after my warm up lap due to the crazy hot temps that day and I didn't get my fast lap on video. I did however manage beat my mid 16 from the first session and get a new personal best of 1:15.414. That time was good enough for 2nd in my class but no where near fast enough for first.



Here is a video of the warmup lap my iphone managed to capture. this is a high 15.9 behind the insanely fast Professional Awesome Evo VII


And some pics shot by various people during the event:





I look real serious here.





And some podium shots of me in the first loser position.



I'm not a sore loser, lol.



All in all it was another fantastic event. I got a new personal best time at the track and still think I have another .75-1 second out there with some setup tweaking and a little better conditions. I also managed to help some friends with their cars and they too broke their previous personal best records at the track.

Next event is Real Time Attack @ Monticello Motor Club...

Smike

iTrader: (8)

Woot! TT Rookie!

I'm a rookie again in CMC. I should put an amused sticker next to my rookie plate.

Not going to run NASA TT?

FilthyEvo

iTrader: (3)

You're in MA? I'm in NH and plan on attending a bunch of the same track days as you! I'm just starting off though.

Check out these guys too (http://www.comscc.org/, http://www.scda1.com/); they're doing a bunch of local-ish track days that you might want to check out!

Have you ever came up to NH to run at NHMS? There is a track day August 25/26th with COM, I believe.

AlwaysinBoost

iTrader: (17)

Rookie power, bro!

No nasa TT for me... at least in this car. I did it backwards and modded my EVO slightly before looking at NASA's TT rules. I would have to take off some silly stuff to even be competitive in their classes and then run slicks on top of that. All of which I am against (read: I hate swapping tires at the track). My car as it sits now wouldn't even make it into TTA with street tires.

I toyed with the idea of bringing the car totally back to stock or even renting a bone stock EVO just to go after the TTC records at my local tracks, but it just wasn't in the cards at the time.

AlwaysinBoost

iTrader: (17)

I purchased the car in MA from GRAVA mistu when I was up there for work, but I live in PA. NEver been to NHMS but I have been to NED, lol.

igo4bmx

iTrader: (17)

Tldr

honda-guy

iTrader: (55)

you aint touching my TTC records

and you have no chance with TTB or TTA records since Ben ran TTB last year and TTA this year

if it ain't NASA TT, then it doesn't count

AlwaysinBoost

iTrader: (17)

thats why I put the pics in there.

AlwaysinBoost

iTrader: (17)

enjoy that TTC record, while it stands. Next year I'm going after TTD in the M3, then once I have those records I'll be coming at chu in TTC. Better turn the boost up, bro!

honda-guy

iTrader: (55)

^ you aint going to get my records if i co-drive your car in TTC

AlwaysinBoost

iTrader: (17)

^ you ain't getting near my car anytime soon... my tires are still flat spotted from your last session!

honda-guy

iTrader: (55)

^ they were already flat spotted, which made it easier for me to flat spot them more. square tires are faster because there's more contact patch