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Bluemustang
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- #61
Thanks man! Absolutely, can't wait. Glad to hear it is working well.
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Bluemustang’s GT Road Car Build
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Bluemustang
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R10 front track pads in and CS splitter. Getting ready for the trackcross.
BeastAR
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Read the whole thing. Good job on the car, and great reviews of everything you've done. Keep up the good work. Enjoy the track day
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Bluemustang
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Well the trackcross was amazing, and the car is back in one piece! What amazing fun. Maybe the most fun I've ever had in my life. I intended on mostly taking it easy, but instincts took over and was pushing the car hard.
The car performed excellent. The mistakes I made were primarily driver mod. Either on the wrong line or just trying to carry too much speed. But I was able to recognize my mistakes and improve on the next run. My lap time improved on each run, in the morning and the afternoon. Recognizing my mistake and fixing it showed in my lap times.
The afternoon became tricky because the track temps rose and after the Indys got heat cycled they weren't gripping like in the morning session. After the 2nd and 3rd run with only a .3 improvement in my lap time I decided to go for the hero run on my 4th and final run and shaved off a full second! I was exhausted by then but summoned up the courage to go for it. I could feel it losing grip and taxing the sidewalls in the hard corners but I said no I'm doing this, more throttle! And the car held. The Torsen helps a ton in putting power down exiting corners. And the springs and dampers felt excellent. The dampers especially did a great job in hard cornering while encountering bumps.
Now I know what this car can really do. I pushed it 7-8/10ths in the morning and maybe touching 9/10ths on the last afternoon run trying to get every bit out of it that I could. Now when I say that, you also have to consider my novice ability. So what I think 8/10ths is maybe not be someone else's. A good driver could probably get a lot more out of it and shave several seconds off just by knowing how to drive. This has changed my outlook on the car ccompletely. Now I will focusing on maintaining the car, improving my driving skill and doing what few mods are left to improve the on track performance further. I need grippier tires with stiffer sidewalls and more camber. And driver mod. Finished 5th out of 18 in my novice class and finished in the middle of pack overall and actually improved my position in the afternoon (which was the longer part of the course, we had almost the whole track except the final back straight). For the first time doing this I think I did pretty well.
But all that aside, soooooo much fun. If you want to do it, go sign up and do it. You'll thank yourself. And this car is certainly capable.
The car performed excellent. The mistakes I made were primarily driver mod. Either on the wrong line or just trying to carry too much speed. But I was able to recognize my mistakes and improve on the next run. My lap time improved on each run, in the morning and the afternoon. Recognizing my mistake and fixing it showed in my lap times.
The afternoon became tricky because the track temps rose and after the Indys got heat cycled they weren't gripping like in the morning session. After the 2nd and 3rd run with only a .3 improvement in my lap time I decided to go for the hero run on my 4th and final run and shaved off a full second! I was exhausted by then but summoned up the courage to go for it. I could feel it losing grip and taxing the sidewalls in the hard corners but I said no I'm doing this, more throttle! And the car held. The Torsen helps a ton in putting power down exiting corners. And the springs and dampers felt excellent. The dampers especially did a great job in hard cornering while encountering bumps.
Now I know what this car can really do. I pushed it 7-8/10ths in the morning and maybe touching 9/10ths on the last afternoon run trying to get every bit out of it that I could. Now when I say that, you also have to consider my novice ability. So what I think 8/10ths is maybe not be someone else's. A good driver could probably get a lot more out of it and shave several seconds off just by knowing how to drive. This has changed my outlook on the car ccompletely. Now I will focusing on maintaining the car, improving my driving skill and doing what few mods are left to improve the on track performance further. I need grippier tires with stiffer sidewalls and more camber. And driver mod. Finished 5th out of 18 in my novice class and finished in the middle of pack overall and actually improved my position in the afternoon (which was the longer part of the course, we had almost the whole track except the final back straight). For the first time doing this I think I did pretty well.
But all that aside, soooooo much fun. If you want to do it, go sign up and do it. You'll thank yourself. And this car is certainly capable.
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Bluemustang
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So I just wanted to add some other details as I begin to reflect after the track day.
1. Driver mod - I think I bruted it a little bit at times (trying to stay at the limit too much of the time) which hurt my times. But I got better on successive runs. And when I was better, I may have hung back a tad too long where I think if I got on more throttle earlier and carried through, the Torsen would have gotten the car to turn in more and grip more to carry more speed. The es curves gave me the most trouble but I improved. But just need to be more patient overall. Need to use the Torsen more to my advantage. And I need to brake faster instead of a slow push down. But the R10 front pads were insane and scary for my first time lol. Next time I will be better prepared for that.
2. Camber. At only -1.8 front camber I could have used more which would have helped front grip. The tire pressures helped me though. But I think my lack of camber made it understeer a bit at the limit, especially in the es curves. Rear end seemed to have more grip comparatively.
3. Tires. I found some limits of the Indy 500s. Tires with more grip and stiffer sidewalls would have helped me. A lot of people there ran competition tires. And like I said in the afternoon the tires became overheated and greasy. But that's to be expected. I pushed them very hard as well. Looking back on it I think they did very well considering I improved significantly in the afternoon, despite losing tire grip from over heat.
So, overall the car handled very well and I have identified a few ways I can improve it. Camber being the primary one on my mind. Also, @BmacIL pointed out that a harness could help keep me in place to have better control.
The car feels like a beast now! I kept the front bar on middle setting. It's amazing. On the street it's now even more apparent. Now that I know what the car can really do my street driving will improve significantly.
1. Driver mod - I think I bruted it a little bit at times (trying to stay at the limit too much of the time) which hurt my times. But I got better on successive runs. And when I was better, I may have hung back a tad too long where I think if I got on more throttle earlier and carried through, the Torsen would have gotten the car to turn in more and grip more to carry more speed. The es curves gave me the most trouble but I improved. But just need to be more patient overall. Need to use the Torsen more to my advantage. And I need to brake faster instead of a slow push down. But the R10 front pads were insane and scary for my first time lol. Next time I will be better prepared for that.
2. Camber. At only -1.8 front camber I could have used more which would have helped front grip. The tire pressures helped me though. But I think my lack of camber made it understeer a bit at the limit, especially in the es curves. Rear end seemed to have more grip comparatively.
3. Tires. I found some limits of the Indy 500s. Tires with more grip and stiffer sidewalls would have helped me. A lot of people there ran competition tires. And like I said in the afternoon the tires became overheated and greasy. But that's to be expected. I pushed them very hard as well. Looking back on it I think they did very well considering I improved significantly in the afternoon, despite losing tire grip from over heat.
So, overall the car handled very well and I have identified a few ways I can improve it. Camber being the primary one on my mind. Also, @BmacIL pointed out that a harness could help keep me in place to have better control.
The car feels like a beast now! I kept the front bar on middle setting. It's amazing. On the street it's now even more apparent. Now that I know what the car can really do my street driving will improve significantly.
Biggsy
Well-Known Member
Glad everything went well man. I hope to join you in the spring after i get my GLOCs . Was looking at a few tracks nearby between MD and VA. I'm at -1.2 camber up front and after reading your feedback, even for street, I will go up to around -1.8.
Do you think you are going to have a track set of wheels soon?
Do you think you are going to have a track set of wheels soon?
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Bluemustang
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- #69
Thanks man. Yeah man we should go together. There's another trackcross at DR on 11/3. Yeah, I'm finding out that even -1.8 is on the low end of aggressive street alignment. I need to eek some more camber out. I should be able to get to -2.2 with my setup I hope before other modifications. Yeah, I'll be getting some track wheels but not until next year. My plan is to go 19x11 and get a more serious tire like RE71R or RS-4s. Those shouldn't get overheated in a trackcross event like this.
I would consider the trackcross if you haven't been before. $100 for at minimum 8 runs at a real road course in your car, as fast as you want to go. Honestly after the morning sessions I felt like I got my money's worth! Also, less risk than an HPDE where other cars can hit you or you them.
Also, interesting note - I also found my off the shelf Castrol DOT4 brake fluid to not be enough. After the track I noticed my brake pedal is spongier and it's stayed that way since. I'll be switching to Castrol SRF so that I can get through the event and then some - and hopefully not have to change fluid again til 2020 roll around.
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Bluemustang
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My man! HahahaLook at this guy! #becauseracecar
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Bluemustang
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I've been driving around for awhile and went to the track day without shims on my brake pads (GLOC/Optimum doesn't provide them for some reason). Seems you can't just buy shims alone either. So based on @BmacIL 's suggestion, I was able to pick up some Raybestos Element3 pads which come with 5-layer shims. I'm going to try those for the street and see if they are quieter than the GS1s. Supposedly the Element3 are pretty good for what they are. At worst, I figure they're decent and I should be able to reuse the shims on my GLOCs.
The brake fluid overheated at the track. Running shims should help a little bit at lessening the heat transfer from the pads to the caliper. This may have contributed to my overheat problem, but I assume it is mostly that the off the shelf Castrol DOT4 was not enough and my rookie braking technique.
I may (and probably will) pick up R8s for the rear. Going to do a brake bleed for now and try the Element3 pads for the street, then switch back to GLOC R10/R8 and use Motul RBF600 fluid for the next event. I'd like to do SRF but it is a little too rich for my blood. Will report back on how Element3 pads seem for DD.
The brake fluid overheated at the track. Running shims should help a little bit at lessening the heat transfer from the pads to the caliper. This may have contributed to my overheat problem, but I assume it is mostly that the off the shelf Castrol DOT4 was not enough and my rookie braking technique.
I may (and probably will) pick up R8s for the rear. Going to do a brake bleed for now and try the Element3 pads for the street, then switch back to GLOC R10/R8 and use Motul RBF600 fluid for the next event. I'd like to do SRF but it is a little too rich for my blood. Will report back on how Element3 pads seem for DD.
SlowStangGT
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Hey @Bluemustang !
Glad to see the stiffer front bar setting was worth it! How is the trade off in ride quality? I’m about to install my bar, but I think I should initially set it soft, as it should be very close to a stock GT350R bar rate on the softest setting. I live in Northern California, so the mountain roads are fantastic but the daily commute pavement is not so much :(
Glad to see the stiffer front bar setting was worth it! How is the trade off in ride quality? I’m about to install my bar, but I think I should initially set it soft, as it should be very close to a stock GT350R bar rate on the softest setting. I live in Northern California, so the mountain roads are fantastic but the daily commute pavement is not so much :(
BmacIL
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I'd go with the medium setting and move to forward hole on the strut while doing so. Ride is not much different than stock bar.
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Bluemustang
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Basically I'd go along with what @BmacIL said. The effect on the ride quality you can notice but not major. Probably will be even less when I move the endlinks to the front strut hole, as current angle is not ideal. I have adjusted my driving behavior somewhat after stiffening the bar - as it sharpens turn in. Unfortunately I have so little track time/experience to be able to verify what difference bar stiffness made. Again I would usually listen to Bmac. He has quite a bit of experience and knowledge about driving and vehicle dynamics. In addition, the theory coming from the track community appears to be in line. Usually stiffer up front is better and should be helping to reduce understeer (even though counter to most general suspension theory on balance).
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