Congrats Dave on the win! i saw you guys mention on the live feed about a Buttonwillow simulator that was made. Can you share what program or game that was?

EDIT: professional awesome was the team that mentioned the sim.

 

Congrats on the GTA win!

 

I'm still in the process of putting together a writeup of the event, but I just finished the video from our fast lap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igfvW...ature=youtu.be

Thanks for checking it out!

Dave

 

Thanks for posting the video! I was hoping you had in-car footage. So what did you think about BRP? Btw, are you open to share some of your specs? Like what size/compound tires did you run, and your whp?

 

Fun track - and I need more seat time! Over the course of the weekend I think I only put in 4 laps at "full tilt" but many of those - just like the lap in the video - have spots where I'm unsure of myself and chicken lift.

Hoosier A6 285/30/18 on 10.5" wide Enkei RPF1 - no idea on tire pressures...didn't seem to find time to get that looked at. Just did an initial cold bleed to maybe 29f 27r....but that whole day is a bit hazy being that it was done on 3 hours of sleep and a bad migrane.

I ran the car on low boost all morning, and in the afternoon I went to high boost of about 30psi (I can't currently see the boost gauge, and even if I could, I'm not sure I'd find time to look at it). Power is between 600-700whp, not sure how elevation effects things at Buttonwillow, hence the range.

I think if I went back out with the car with the exact same parts and spent another day learning the track, dialing in air pressures, and tweaking the shocks, I think I could probably drop another 2-3 seconds and run faster than the F-wing Scion (1:47)....but that doesn't put me anywhere near the stupid fast unlimited TA cars like Sierra Sierra (1:41) or the FX NSX (1:40.3).

Dave

 

I think you did a good job. Youre not a local, and im guessing it was your first time at BRP? Im sure if you come back with more time to learn the track and dial things in, 2-3sec will be no problem at all. In-car video is best, but i can tell you were unsure about your line and that was probably part of the reason why you were lifting more than youd like. If you told me you were coming i would have tried to come out.

 

Was sort of a last minute thing and given my luck on the rest of the trip, I decided to keep it low key and just have fun with it. I was just out by myself and totally stunned that I was able to place...figuring my car was more "Limited" than "Unlimited" based on the NSX, Scion, and GST cars.

It was my first time out at Buttonwillow and also first time racing the car below 5000 foot elevations. Its nice to have the boost come on so early! Here's about what I managed for practice:

-Practice session only did 1 3/4 laps as my front fender pulled out.
-First timed session did 3-4 laps at 70%.
-Second timed session did 2 80% laps plus the in and out laps.
-Third timed session I missed completely.
-Fourth timed session I did one full tilt lap, a cool down lap, attempted full tilt lap (thwarted by Scion), cool down lap, full tilt lap (my fastest of the day), and a cool down.

I think if I'd had time to view some in-car I'd have been able to correct a few things right off the bat...but finding those last seconds can take a lifetime. Paul in the AMS TA-X ran a 1:46 something so if I could get into that range with my car I'd be totally thrilled.

Part of me is thinking I should try to un-mod the car to the Limited classification if I decide to continue competing in the series. For example JC's subaru makes similar power and is just 50 lbs heavier than mine, and he hasn't done carbon doors yet.

Dave

 

If you can run in a lower class i say do it. Modifying a car for TA can be incredibly expensive no matter what class you run in, but im guessing youll find more competition in the lower classes.

 

QFT! There were only 3 of us in Unlimited AWD and with GST's car-b-que it was really only two of us. At least I sorta did Unlimited proud by sneaking in a better time than any of the Limited class guys on my last lap.

Dave

 

Dave, will you be doing other events in the future? Road Atlanta is a MUST!

Dan

 

Not totally sure at this point. Lots of things currently on the wish list!

Dave

 

Attending the Global Time Attack and Super Lap Battle event at Buttonwillow was a bit of a last minute decision for the team. We knew that with all the time and effort that goes into the Evo, it just NEEDS to get used more than once a year. With the local hillclimb season winding down after the delayed Pikes Peak, converting it back to gravel spec wasn't in the cards - plus we really wanted to get the BMW out to one race. So with the racing season over in Colorado, we had to look elsewhere. Turns out there was an event that fit into the schedule just about perfectly. We knew we wanted to get out to the SEMA trade show in Las Vegas again, and the GTA event was taking place the Wednesday afterwards.

That just left one rather large logistical issue to sort out...where to store the Evo during SEMA week. Our traveling tuner extrodinare Mitch had recently moved to SoCal and offered up a place to keep the car for a week. So, with that problem solved, it was time to hit the road. Unfortunately the trailer had other ideas at 4am in Utah.





Thankfully that'd be the last of the towing drama for the entire trip. Fast forward to SoCal, then back to Vegas for the SEMA show, then back to SoCal. On Tuesday the guys from MotoIQ stopped by Cobb SoCal's shop to snap a couple pictures of the car.



Rules for Super Lap Battle called for tires with a DOT stamp, so the Continental GT-R tires were swapped out for Hooiser A6, also in a 285 width. Continental with the "Pikes Peak Groove" on the left, and the Hoosier on the right.



Mitch put the car on the dyno to see how the tunes he's worked on at Pikes Peak fare at sea level. Ended the night with two tunes to use at the event the next day, one at wastegate boost and another to use if I needed to close a gap to a faster competitor. Here's a shot of the car all buttoned up and ready to get loaded on the trailer.



Strapped the car down and headed for Buttonwillow. Pulled into the hotel a bit late with a killer migrane, but hoped that a few hours of sleep would have me ready for the morning. Unfortunately my three hour nap wasn't long enough to kick the headache, but with a new group to run with, I wanted to get there as early as possible. I'd exchanged a few emails with the tech crew beforehand and tech inspection process went smoothly. They did request that I add a ventilator pump because of my front-exit exhaust, so thanks to my buddy <a href="http://projectbaja.com">Josh's Baja Project</a>, I had some parts to borrow! Other than the oil change, brake flush, tire swap, and the addition of the some brake ducts, the car was the same as it was for Pikes Peak. Unfortunately, with the group I'd be running with, my car slots into the Unlimited Classification.



There's some pretty serious competition in the Unlimited Division, but GTA breaks the classes out by drivetrain configuration, FWD, RWD, and AWD. The guys from GST Motorsports were the odds on favorite to take Unlimited AWD, but a problem on the first set of morning laps knocked them out for the day, it looked pretty serious and terminal:



I headed out for my first laps of the day with the slow group so I could focus in on the line rather than trying to run quickly. On the first lap where I got up near 100mph, the passenger fender pulled out of place and started flapping, so I pulled right in and got that fixed, but that cut into my 20 minute lapping session in a big way. There would be four timed sessions to run throughout the day so I wasn't too worried. I decided I'd run the morning sessions on low boost and see where the car slotted in with the rest of the competitors. In addition to learning the track, I was pretty much there by myself, so I was going to take an on-off-on lapping strategy mixing in some cool down laps so as not to over tax the Evo.

In the first session I went out at the end of the middle group and after 4 laps I started catching other lap traffic. I'd gotten in two decent laps and ran a 1:55. That was good enough to get bumped up to the tail end of the fast group. The big benefit here was that I'd get to follow JC Meynet who was piloting a similarly powered subaru and held the Limited class record. On that session, I also ran only a couple hot laps, and dropped into the 1:52 range. Added bonus was that I even got to check off doing some rally at Buttonwillow (see pic below). Heading into the lunch break, this put me in 3rd overall, behind the F-Wing Scion and JC's subaru.



Lunch break went quickly and I spent time getting all three cameras set up. Hopped into the car and pulled up to the grid. Lucky for me and unfortunately for JC, his subaru had some transmission issues, but he had stuck around and was walking thru the the grid. He noticed a bit of oil on my splitter, and knowing oil belongs inside the engine and not on body work, I pulled back into the pits and investigated. Looks like once again a last minute change designed to make my life easier had backfired. The 3" brake ducts I'd installed the night before had caused a bit of an issue. As I tightened the splitter into place, the brake ducts pushed the oil lines up about a quarter of an inch...to the point where it was close enough to the exhaust pipe that it partially melted the lines.

Counting myself extremely lucky that I avoided a huge fire, I was resigned to take my third and call it a day...for about 10 seconds. I ran around the pits seeing if anyone might have -8 lines or fittings that might get me back in the game. The guys with GST Motorsports were awesome and offered me a few fittings so I'd be able to cut out the damaged section and screw in two fittings. Upon tearing into the car, I knew there was no way I'd be able to complete the surgery in time and needed a quicker solution. After a quick chat with John from Cobb, we decided the only way I'd get back on the track was to take the one good line and loop it back to the oil housing and essentially delete the oil cooler. With just 5 minutes to spare, the car was all back together and running leak free so I hopped back in, gridded up, and turned up the boost!



With no oil cooler my lapping strategy was going to be even more important so that the engine didn't get cooked. First hot lap went well, but on the second one, despite having loads of empty track out in front of me, I caught the F-Wing:









Unfortunately my timing on catching the F-Wing couldn't have been worse. I lost the flying lap I had going, and the driver in the car contested me into turn 1, so that lap would be shot as well. With plenty of time on the clock, not to worry, right? Wrong, the car was below a quarter of a tank of fuel at this point. I figured if I could get back to the start line before the fuel light came on, I might have a shot at one more hot lap so once past the F-Wing, I put it in 5th and lugged it around the track. As luck would have it, the fuel light didn't illuminate until just before the start/finish line. Knowing this was it, I just went for it. When the car crossed the finish line my time was a 1:49.804. I had moved ahead of one of the competitors from the morning session, but the guys from FXMD were able to get a new engine in the car and post a new track record, so I ended the day in 3rd overall.



I'd like to give a few special mentions:

AMS Performance - full lap at Buttonwillow with the low fuel light on and no starvation, the surge tank works!
Essex Brakes - AP Brake kit & CL pads hauled the Evo down lap after lap with a firm pedal the whole time!
Mitch McKee - thanks again for keeping an eye on the engine via the Motec!
Allison - I know you couldn't be there because of work, but racing really is a bunch more fun with you there!

All in all, I had a fun time and the car ran great other than the self inflicted oiling issue. There's more time in the Evo as it sits, and more allowed by the rules...so stay tuned and maybe we'll get the car back out to Buttonwillow in 2013! Thanks to the SLB & GTA guys for the last pic:



I want to give a shout out to the companies that've helped us make the car as good as it is - wouldn't have been able to do it without such great support!

AMS Performance
Continental Tires
Enkei Wheels
ShepTrans
TiAL Sport
Manley Performance
Kelford Camshafts
DHP Composites
Performance Car Club
Wright Group Event Services
Guru Graphics

 

Hey I gotta ask:

We race snowmobiles with a gt35 frame turbo and a side exit exhaust. We did the math and found that the side exit exhaust was actually causing drift from the side force. They are sensitive to drift because the front end is unloaded under full power . I understand thats a snowmobile and a lot different power to weight ratio, but does any significant forces come to play when the ehxaust is oriented as far forward(swingarm effect) on your car? we added a 90 sweep to our exhaust to cure the issue.

est 600 hp on VP import.. 750 lbs with driver

 

I don't honestly never thought about it. I do remember feeling massive torque steer (push to the driver's side) when I was first doing suspension setup, but that was when the suspension was full soft on compression per AST's setup directions. I ended up having to stiffen that up to make the car actually driveable. LOL

And 35r on a snowmobile....

Dave

 

yes one of 10 snowmobiles in the country to achieve 7 seconds in a 1320. I wtched and was first responder to an accident to a friend hitting the wall at 150 which had an exhaust that exited forward and downward in the front end. I have been proposing for a long time the effect of exhausts that push. Its a turbine in the end. Plus we run vp import which is lethal.