Had a chance to get the two cars out for the season opener for the local rally-x group. I drove the Evo and let my buddies (Grant and Josh) wheel the BMW around the course. Was a good day and we drove the cars back onto the trailers at the end of the day.

More of a writeup here, along with pics and links to videos:

http://racekern.com/Kernracing/2012/...o-rally-cross/



The Evo's about to get torn down. Tarmac suspension and Essex's AP brakes will get bolted on, the rear widebody parts just arrived, and there's more to come!

Dave

 

Rear widebody fenders have been unpacked and taped up. The fit isn't all that great, but I'm not actually planning on hanging on to them, just hoping to get them to fit ok so we can pull some molds. If anyone has tips on how to knock out this work, I'm all ears!



Front fenders arrived today. They're carbon only, stupid lightweight, and +30mm.



Dave

 

I like being able to walk 10 steps out to my garage and work on the car, but with two of them now, and an HOA that won't let me park another vehicle outside, it was time for a little bit more space. I've gone in with three longtime rally buddies and we're now renting a building that'll house our rally cars and let us help grow the local rally community.

I happened to be the first one to get moving things in there:



At firsrt the shop seemed huge, but add a few cars:



And, just for kicks, we filled the place up:



It won't normally be this full (I've got three cars stuffed in there in that last pic), but its good to know we've got room for two extras in there if/when needed.

Now, back to Evo content. One last picture of the car with the 2011 livery:



After some more careful test fitting we determined the body panels aren't going to fit nicely to the car. Since I'm only concerned with getting temporary fitment and making the mold making easier, I want to be able to counter sink screws into the body panels. They're thin, so that's not really possible. My idea was to add some material to the hollow back side so I can then counter sink the screws. Here you can see pics of the resin I added:



More pics as work continues...thanks for checking it out!

Dave

 

Shop looks good!

l8r)

P.S.: HOAs suck. I have sworn to myself that I will never, ever move into a dwelling that is subject to an HOA again.

 

Crap - just got an email from the PPIHC organizers announcing there's just 100 days left till race day.

Dave

 

Welp...I've officially committed to the project:



Spent yesterday out in the sun (makes fiberglass panels more flexible), and paid a huge price. Worst sunburn in March I've ever gotten.

Made some great progress though and by mid-afternoon, the rear body panels were glued and screwed into the body work:



Today I'll work on smoothing things out with bondo...indoors!

Dave

 

Its decision time for me and could sure use a little input from the track ****** on the forum. I've narrowed down my tire choices to one manufacturer and I've now got to figure out what size tire I want to use. Here are the choices:

275-40-17
275-35-18
285-645-18
305-650-18
305-660-18
320-650-18

So before I dig into what should mathematically fit - what are all your experiences with Evos on fat tires. I've heard that somewhere around 275/285 is likey as wide as we "need" to go, but is there a point of diminishing returns? I know as tire width goes up, so too does the weight and the aerodynamic drag (and price). There's also the problem of getting proper heat into the tires.

Curious to hear your guys thoughts, so thanks in advance for the input!

Dave

 

Dave, I think the biggest thing with tire width is, do you have enough power to push the heaver (bigger) tire. The reason people run 275's is because of the points they get in NASA. I have tested the 275-40 vs 285-30 and the 285 is for sure faster! Another big reason we don't see people running 315's is mostly because of fit. I'd really think about a 315 if you could fit it tho.

As for getting "heat in the tire". You would be fine with getting heat and not over heating a set of Hoosier A6's. This is what i run at hillclimbs and it is proven to be very fast on the hills. Even with the dirt section, i ran the A6's on my last run up Mt Washington. I probably wouldn't run them again if there was any dirt. But, on the pavement I don't think you will find a better tire for hillclimbing.

 

Thanks for the input! I don't have the scratch for Hoosiers, but the tires I will be running are from the same family. I'm likely giving up some ultimate grip in favor of running fewer sets of tires over the season (i.e. testing). My big mistake last year was not getting enough seat time to really get familiar with the car's tarmac tendencies, and damned if I'll do that again. My hope is for at least 2 full testing days before PPIHC race week starts.

Dave

 

For me it would depend on the track corners and car setup. So basically tire A, does it have a stiff enough sidewall, is the tire tall enough to max out gear X on straightway X, so on. In the case of hoosier A6/R6's, the sidewall is pretty stiff, but if you run a short sidewall like on the 255/35/18, and your going hard into off camber corners, you'll run all over that sidewall on the fronts. In which case i'd jump to the 275 since it has a taller sidewall, but not the 285 because it puts you back in the same boat. Could you run enough static negative camber to offset the roll, yes but you'd give up too much traction on braking for that particular tire. If you run too soft of a compound tire and you are rolling them, then you'll end up like Nate and I did last year where the outsides corded in one run/session. And if you run too short of a tire you may have to change gears on a corner that you shouldn't be and waste a few tenths, etc. Last is the heat like the others said. Most of us run a class that's restricted to 300-400 hp and 3000-3300 lbs so anything above a 285 is pretty moot. But anything under a 245 will get destroyed especially on the fronts unless it's a very friendly track and a very light car.

 

^ Good points!

PPIHC is a bit of a weird road as top speed for a 1000whp car is just 140mph. I haven't run data up there before, but I think my car will be capable of touching 130mph in two spots on the 12.4 mile road. The fastest cars average ~75mph, so overall, its a pretty slow course.

I've got a VIII gearbox with an IX 5th gear in the car this year and with a 275-40-17 I'd see about 127 fully tapped out in 4th gear. Since there are only 2 spots that are that quick on the hill, I'm ok with that.

Dave

 

Back at it again today. I must officially be the slowest person ever at doing body work. Here's what it looked like after the first few applications of bondo:



I started with the cheap stuff, then as I got closer to being happy with it, I switched over to glazing compound. Much smoother stuff and doesn't feather nearly as bad during the spreading process. Here's what it looked like as I ended the day:



Also knocked out a little tape work in anticipation of the next step:



Also got a box from AMS Performance today filled with these beauties:



Dave

 

Didn't realize you were making it a 2 door. Can't wait to see how it looks after paint.

 

Who said anything about paint? ;-)

Dave

 

Was back at it again today. Josh swung by and helped out for a bit...even solving one of the riddles I'd run into. When one of the panels went on the car it didn't line up with the bottom edge of the OEM body work as well as i'd have liked, so we re-formed the bottom edge nice and straight. Also roughed in the area behind the panels and above the tail lights.



Dave