My second Redline Time Attack experience (VIR Full/GT Live)
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,606
Likes: 98
From: Northern Virginia
My second Redline Time Attack experience (VIR Full/GT Live)
After having a great time at the Summit Point/Shenandoah Circuit time attack just a week ago, I pulled my gear together and headed down to VIR for my second Redline time attack event, which was held on the VIR Full Course. I didn’t really have any time to do anything to the car between the events. I just made sure that the pads were still good, nothing was falling off the car, the brake lines were intact, fluids good, etc., but I had no time to do anything else. In fact, I never even emptied the car out between Summit and VIR. I had planned to tow to VIR, but since the trailer rental place didn’t open early enough and there was a nail in the back tire of my truck, I just decided to drive the car down and cross my fingers that nothing bad would happen that would keep me from driving it home.
On Friday, I got one practice session in the morning that was about an hour and another practice session in the evening that was a little over an hour. Obviously, you can’t and don’t want to run your car at 10/10ths for that long, but it gave me a lot of time to practice the trickiest turns and then put-put around the rest of the course to conserve brakes, the engine, etc. I had a great time with that and put almost no wear on my pads in 2 hours of track time, but I did dramatically increase my comfort level with the uphill esses, South Bend, and Hog Pin – all of which are critical to good lap times.
BTW, I’ve now had the same race pads on my Evo for 5 track days and they still look good. Thumbs up for Hawk DTC pads. Of course, I can’t say the same for my stock rotors which have warped on me twice now despite my best efforts to cool them on the track in the cool down lap and around the paddocks after the time attack sessions. (In my first track events, I ran Ferodo DS3000s. They lasted about 2 days. Don’t buy them…)
Anyhow, back to VIR. On Saturday morning, I had my first timed practice session to determine gridding order for the time attack. That was the first time I actually ran the car hard down the straights and into the braking zones. I hit 140 on the back straight at 132 on the front straight. I didn’t get lap times for that session (Redline had them, but they didn’t post them), but I think that’s probably the fastest I ran all weekend because the tires were cool and the track was clear.
At 1:00 in the afternoon on Saturday, we did our first timed sessions and I ended up in second place in AWD Modified after the first day with a 2:15.5 lap time. I actually only ran 1 hot lap on Saturday as I slightly flat spotted my front tires (my “threshold braking” went a little past the threshold of street tires right before the right hander leading to Oak Tree turn – the penalty of getting South Bend right) and then pitted when I got a heavy vibration at 130+ mph, thinking that it might be a cracked rotor. Nevertheless, I was thrilled with my 2:15, as most cars in Modified class were on race tires, had a 50 trim or larger turbo, and had gutted interiors and cages – basically, dedicated track cars. My car looked fairly out of place in the class with no cage, stock interior (minus back seat), street tires, etc., and really belonged in the Street (tire) Class, but that class ran on the much smaller and tighter 1.1 mile Patriot Course and I really wanted to run on the big full course.
On the second day, we ran again and there was an opportunity for me to lose my 2nd place spot as the fastest time of the weekend counts and the 3rd place car was only 1.2 seconds behind me. I decided to up the boost a couple ticks (from 22.0 to about 22.6 psi in 5th gear on the straights) and DTM Nick made my tune a little more aggressive on timing and fuel. I think the car picked up about 20 HP as in my second time attack session I hit 142 on the back straight (which was exciting in my very unaerodynamic RS when it was time to get slowed down!), but unfortunately on every lap of my time attack session I had to drive conservatively on the 100+ mph uphill esses and the top of the hill before South Bend after the esses because there was grass and dirt on the track from a car that spun just ahead of me. Seeing the debris flag thrown and knowing that I have NO safety equipment in my car yet (no roll bar, no harnesses, etc.), I decided better safe than sorry. I was bummed about that as I really wanted to run a 2:14 in the time attack, but oh well. I ended up netting two tenths faster with a 2:15.3 and holding my 2nd position in AWD Modified.
I had a great time this weekend. DTM Nick and Michael were once again extremely helpful and, even though they were under a lot of pressure and stress with their own car, they made time to help out their 4 customers participating in the Time Attack to ensure that everyone had an opportunity to put their best foot forward on the track. As I’ve said before, I absolutely cannot thank them enough. I’m having a ball with the Evo on the track and they are the ones making it possible for me with their constant support and counsel.
I’m looking forward to dialing in my car more next season. At this point, I have coilovers that I bolted in based on ride height, no cornerweighting, no tire temp analysis, and no datalogging. I played a lot with tire pressures, shock settings, and rear bar settings this past month and improved things, but there is a lot of ground that I still have to cover to get the car really working 100% for me. Next year, I plan to cornerweight the car, be more scientific about suspension changes in general, get the tools to change alignment at the track, etc. I also think I’m going to have my coilover valving tweaked a bit, as I’ve moved away from the off-the-shelf rates and I’m right at the edge of my adjustment range on track. I can’t wait!
Thanks again to DTM and all of the friendly, nice folks I’ve met and have been hanging out with at the track. Thanks also to the folks at Redline. They run good events that are a lot of fun.
It’s been a good first season for me tracking the Evo
On Friday, I got one practice session in the morning that was about an hour and another practice session in the evening that was a little over an hour. Obviously, you can’t and don’t want to run your car at 10/10ths for that long, but it gave me a lot of time to practice the trickiest turns and then put-put around the rest of the course to conserve brakes, the engine, etc. I had a great time with that and put almost no wear on my pads in 2 hours of track time, but I did dramatically increase my comfort level with the uphill esses, South Bend, and Hog Pin – all of which are critical to good lap times.
BTW, I’ve now had the same race pads on my Evo for 5 track days and they still look good. Thumbs up for Hawk DTC pads. Of course, I can’t say the same for my stock rotors which have warped on me twice now despite my best efforts to cool them on the track in the cool down lap and around the paddocks after the time attack sessions. (In my first track events, I ran Ferodo DS3000s. They lasted about 2 days. Don’t buy them…)
Anyhow, back to VIR. On Saturday morning, I had my first timed practice session to determine gridding order for the time attack. That was the first time I actually ran the car hard down the straights and into the braking zones. I hit 140 on the back straight at 132 on the front straight. I didn’t get lap times for that session (Redline had them, but they didn’t post them), but I think that’s probably the fastest I ran all weekend because the tires were cool and the track was clear.
At 1:00 in the afternoon on Saturday, we did our first timed sessions and I ended up in second place in AWD Modified after the first day with a 2:15.5 lap time. I actually only ran 1 hot lap on Saturday as I slightly flat spotted my front tires (my “threshold braking” went a little past the threshold of street tires right before the right hander leading to Oak Tree turn – the penalty of getting South Bend right) and then pitted when I got a heavy vibration at 130+ mph, thinking that it might be a cracked rotor. Nevertheless, I was thrilled with my 2:15, as most cars in Modified class were on race tires, had a 50 trim or larger turbo, and had gutted interiors and cages – basically, dedicated track cars. My car looked fairly out of place in the class with no cage, stock interior (minus back seat), street tires, etc., and really belonged in the Street (tire) Class, but that class ran on the much smaller and tighter 1.1 mile Patriot Course and I really wanted to run on the big full course.
On the second day, we ran again and there was an opportunity for me to lose my 2nd place spot as the fastest time of the weekend counts and the 3rd place car was only 1.2 seconds behind me. I decided to up the boost a couple ticks (from 22.0 to about 22.6 psi in 5th gear on the straights) and DTM Nick made my tune a little more aggressive on timing and fuel. I think the car picked up about 20 HP as in my second time attack session I hit 142 on the back straight (which was exciting in my very unaerodynamic RS when it was time to get slowed down!), but unfortunately on every lap of my time attack session I had to drive conservatively on the 100+ mph uphill esses and the top of the hill before South Bend after the esses because there was grass and dirt on the track from a car that spun just ahead of me. Seeing the debris flag thrown and knowing that I have NO safety equipment in my car yet (no roll bar, no harnesses, etc.), I decided better safe than sorry. I was bummed about that as I really wanted to run a 2:14 in the time attack, but oh well. I ended up netting two tenths faster with a 2:15.3 and holding my 2nd position in AWD Modified.
I had a great time this weekend. DTM Nick and Michael were once again extremely helpful and, even though they were under a lot of pressure and stress with their own car, they made time to help out their 4 customers participating in the Time Attack to ensure that everyone had an opportunity to put their best foot forward on the track. As I’ve said before, I absolutely cannot thank them enough. I’m having a ball with the Evo on the track and they are the ones making it possible for me with their constant support and counsel.
I’m looking forward to dialing in my car more next season. At this point, I have coilovers that I bolted in based on ride height, no cornerweighting, no tire temp analysis, and no datalogging. I played a lot with tire pressures, shock settings, and rear bar settings this past month and improved things, but there is a lot of ground that I still have to cover to get the car really working 100% for me. Next year, I plan to cornerweight the car, be more scientific about suspension changes in general, get the tools to change alignment at the track, etc. I also think I’m going to have my coilover valving tweaked a bit, as I’ve moved away from the off-the-shelf rates and I’m right at the edge of my adjustment range on track. I can’t wait!
Thanks again to DTM and all of the friendly, nice folks I’ve met and have been hanging out with at the track. Thanks also to the folks at Redline. They run good events that are a lot of fun.
It’s been a good first season for me tracking the Evo
Sounds like you had a blast, especially for your first season out.
I got bit by the road course bug myself this year. I was just at Shenandoa this weekend for a 2-day track event put on by TrackDaze. What a freaking blast, it was the most fun I've had in a car so far. My instructor was telling me that if I get the opertunity I need to try VIR full course out, he said its one of the best tracks he has been at.
I got bit by the road course bug myself this year. I was just at Shenandoa this weekend for a 2-day track event put on by TrackDaze. What a freaking blast, it was the most fun I've had in a car so far. My instructor was telling me that if I get the opertunity I need to try VIR full course out, he said its one of the best tracks he has been at.
I will be adding my write up also if you don't mind Rich. So it was a flat spot! I knew it! Sorry as we all were running around this weekend. I was a part of the Time attack pit crew as well as one for a couple of drifters so I was running back and forth from both paddocks all weekend. I need a 4 wheeler!!!
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,606
Likes: 98
From: Northern Virginia
awesome, the car looked good out on the track! I intend on doing some track time myself next year, I can't wait and you guys only make it worse.
BTW, what fuel were you using, straight 93 or mixes?
BTW, what fuel were you using, straight 93 or mixes?
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We had a great time this week competing in both Summit Point and then at GT Live. Actually, that's not entirely true. This week was very difficult but we did have some fun, laced with bad luck and bad planning.
I came to Summit Point very confident that I had developed a competitive car. Such was not the case. I think that I was annihilated by 4 or 5 cars handily. My car was suffering. My mind was suffering. After 3 or 4 laps my car was overheating, displaying similar behavior to other events this year. With a new motor I was fairly certain that the problem was elsewhere. I finally came to grips after talking to CJ that it was in fact a head gasket. CJ (on this forum) was very gracious as was AMS to lend me some tools and even a head gasket! And I got to work removing the head, at the track after the Summit Point TT with the engine still warm, so we could get it machined and repaired in this foreign area during the week, miles from the shop.
Prior to head disassembly my car was suffering from some very poor alignment decisions that I had made, combined with tires that were new to the car and a very poor fit. They were rubbing everywhere and made the handling cloddish. The car was over steering so badly that I somehow made it off the track at about 100mph into a tankslapper while following Mark in the AMS car. I had 4 wheels off, spinning and then back on in my recovery attempt during Saturday's practice. From that point on I never trusted the car for the event. I think I had a standing ovation from the sidelines Gigi Galli clapped.
Later in the week we realigned the car at Piper Motorsport in Dulles. A fine group of gentlemen, much like the AMS crew they were courteous enough to lend us some floor space for me to install my remachined head and new gasket that I bought from Dan at Mach V (another outstanding group of guys!) You can see how this week was going.
Simultaneously while I was working on my head, Bill was rebuilding the front end of his 240 which went off in the same place I did, only his juju wasn't as strong as mine and he hit the wall.
In one day we got the head machined, found a dealer that had a fiberglass front bumper for an S13, installed the head and rebuilt the front end on the 240. We were ready for GT Live!
I had all week to think about how slow I was and I hoped that the toe and camber settings would make the car settle a little better knowing that VIR was a very fast track.
----insert a week of PB+J, cheap *** motels and sleeping on floors and with Eclip5e for a few nights------
We arrive at VIR and pay $50 for weekend passes (EACH) and lament every aspect of a second fee on top of the normal registration (albeit reduced) for each member of our crew combined with the notable absence of prize money which was a refreshing aspect of GT Live 2006. Eclip5e climbed into the trunk for two mornings to foil registration's effort to extract further monies from our shrinking budget. We unload the rebuilt cars and get on the track on Friday evening for some laps. Wow, VIR is cool.
The car was handling great. Even at about 380whp it felt a little slow on the straights, probably because they're so long. I was getting my confidence back until Saturday when Phil Grabow destroyed my time by a large and unmentionable margin. I was slow again. Saturday morning practice was really not a practice, more of a "Sym Race" wherin we drove participants around VIR in our respective passenger seats to shock and amaze them. My car was making boost but unlike the day before it was only at 7k rpm that it would reach anything worth mentioning. My passenger for the Sym Race went on a trouble shooting rant while I was driving. It was distracting. Something was wrong but I tried to shake it off. Back in the pits I pulled the plumbing and checked visually for leaks. It ran great, I parked it and now it's not great.. humm.
So I found nothing. The car wasn't in a race ready condition. I did everything I could to diagnose the problem but fell short. I had to skip the TT on Saturday due to the problem. We left the next morning since Bill's Open RWD victory went uncontested. I was bummed, so much work and money to have what turned out to be blown injector seals. I thought a lot about selling my car. I've been thinking about racing motorcycles. Lots of quiet time on the 15 hour drive to consider how far everyone has come in one year. Last year I won my class by like 4 seconds, this year everyone is faster than last year. People are spending serious money on these cars. Really amazing.
Eclip5e took hours of film. He's going to make a documentary that should be entertaining/depressing/funny. I'm not sure what angle it will have. Stay tuned.
I came to Summit Point very confident that I had developed a competitive car. Such was not the case. I think that I was annihilated by 4 or 5 cars handily. My car was suffering. My mind was suffering. After 3 or 4 laps my car was overheating, displaying similar behavior to other events this year. With a new motor I was fairly certain that the problem was elsewhere. I finally came to grips after talking to CJ that it was in fact a head gasket. CJ (on this forum) was very gracious as was AMS to lend me some tools and even a head gasket! And I got to work removing the head, at the track after the Summit Point TT with the engine still warm, so we could get it machined and repaired in this foreign area during the week, miles from the shop.
Prior to head disassembly my car was suffering from some very poor alignment decisions that I had made, combined with tires that were new to the car and a very poor fit. They were rubbing everywhere and made the handling cloddish. The car was over steering so badly that I somehow made it off the track at about 100mph into a tankslapper while following Mark in the AMS car. I had 4 wheels off, spinning and then back on in my recovery attempt during Saturday's practice. From that point on I never trusted the car for the event. I think I had a standing ovation from the sidelines Gigi Galli clapped.
Later in the week we realigned the car at Piper Motorsport in Dulles. A fine group of gentlemen, much like the AMS crew they were courteous enough to lend us some floor space for me to install my remachined head and new gasket that I bought from Dan at Mach V (another outstanding group of guys!) You can see how this week was going.
Simultaneously while I was working on my head, Bill was rebuilding the front end of his 240 which went off in the same place I did, only his juju wasn't as strong as mine and he hit the wall.
In one day we got the head machined, found a dealer that had a fiberglass front bumper for an S13, installed the head and rebuilt the front end on the 240. We were ready for GT Live!
I had all week to think about how slow I was and I hoped that the toe and camber settings would make the car settle a little better knowing that VIR was a very fast track.
----insert a week of PB+J, cheap *** motels and sleeping on floors and with Eclip5e for a few nights------
We arrive at VIR and pay $50 for weekend passes (EACH) and lament every aspect of a second fee on top of the normal registration (albeit reduced) for each member of our crew combined with the notable absence of prize money which was a refreshing aspect of GT Live 2006. Eclip5e climbed into the trunk for two mornings to foil registration's effort to extract further monies from our shrinking budget. We unload the rebuilt cars and get on the track on Friday evening for some laps. Wow, VIR is cool.
The car was handling great. Even at about 380whp it felt a little slow on the straights, probably because they're so long. I was getting my confidence back until Saturday when Phil Grabow destroyed my time by a large and unmentionable margin. I was slow again. Saturday morning practice was really not a practice, more of a "Sym Race" wherin we drove participants around VIR in our respective passenger seats to shock and amaze them. My car was making boost but unlike the day before it was only at 7k rpm that it would reach anything worth mentioning. My passenger for the Sym Race went on a trouble shooting rant while I was driving. It was distracting. Something was wrong but I tried to shake it off. Back in the pits I pulled the plumbing and checked visually for leaks. It ran great, I parked it and now it's not great.. humm.
So I found nothing. The car wasn't in a race ready condition. I did everything I could to diagnose the problem but fell short. I had to skip the TT on Saturday due to the problem. We left the next morning since Bill's Open RWD victory went uncontested. I was bummed, so much work and money to have what turned out to be blown injector seals. I thought a lot about selling my car. I've been thinking about racing motorcycles. Lots of quiet time on the 15 hour drive to consider how far everyone has come in one year. Last year I won my class by like 4 seconds, this year everyone is faster than last year. People are spending serious money on these cars. Really amazing.
Eclip5e took hours of film. He's going to make a documentary that should be entertaining/depressing/funny. I'm not sure what angle it will have. Stay tuned.
Last edited by Bimmubishi; Oct 8, 2007 at 08:15 PM.
Alex it's been a really tough and somewhat heartbreaking year for everyone, myself included.
Things can only go up from here, I am by no means an expert, but I think you are largely out-suspensioned on the track. In a power to weight sense your car should be able to hang with those guys. I hear Mastercard is jumping at the chance to sponsor your suspension
Things can only go up from here, I am by no means an expert, but I think you are largely out-suspensioned on the track. In a power to weight sense your car should be able to hang with those guys. I hear Mastercard is jumping at the chance to sponsor your suspension
Rich,
You did a fantastic job as usual out there. Placing 2nd in Modified with a stock "style" turbo (white rabbit) and street tires is nothing short of amazing. Considering last years times would reflect a second in unlimited class for your beast. This next season will be a blast. We are looking forward to working with you again to help you meet your goals.
Thank you again for the kind words.
Nick
You did a fantastic job as usual out there. Placing 2nd in Modified with a stock "style" turbo (white rabbit) and street tires is nothing short of amazing. Considering last years times would reflect a second in unlimited class for your beast. This next season will be a blast. We are looking forward to working with you again to help you meet your goals.
Thank you again for the kind words.
Nick