LS3 Z track Diary and evolution.
10-20-2015, 12:54 PM
#41
I was able to hit the Nordschleife again on a "tourist" day. While its always good to get on the track, this was a total waste of a day. It took all day to get 4 laps in. After each lap so many accidents would happen that the track would have to close down just to repair the crash barriers or clean up the spilled fluids. It is getting to the point that the tourist days just are not worth it. I saw a lot of really nice cars meet their end due to sheer jackassery.
The biggest issue was that the entire day was an pressure cooker of ********. People would crash causing track closures, then the people who bought entry would get pissed off waiting for the track to open only to have to wait in up to an hour long queue to get on track which may or may not happen if the track closed again. So during that queue everyone gets all more worked up and when they finally get on track they drive like braindead psychopaths. Making dangerous passes and in general having no track courtesy to faster cars or even to the cars they may try and pass. This of course results in more crashes which lead to... you guessed it, more track closures.
I couldn't/wouldn't push the car to hard so I could not really get any feedback from my small alignment changes. The car was up a bit on power from the heads and cam but I could not turn that into any usable data.
One photo I found on the net from the day.
I'm driving at a caterham event in early November and if the temps and weather are not too low I may try and sneak some track time in.
The biggest issue was that the entire day was an pressure cooker of ********. People would crash causing track closures, then the people who bought entry would get pissed off waiting for the track to open only to have to wait in up to an hour long queue to get on track which may or may not happen if the track closed again. So during that queue everyone gets all more worked up and when they finally get on track they drive like braindead psychopaths. Making dangerous passes and in general having no track courtesy to faster cars or even to the cars they may try and pass. This of course results in more crashes which lead to... you guessed it, more track closures.
I couldn't/wouldn't push the car to hard so I could not really get any feedback from my small alignment changes. The car was up a bit on power from the heads and cam but I could not turn that into any usable data.
One photo I found on the net from the day.
I'm driving at a caterham event in early November and if the temps and weather are not too low I may try and sneak some track time in.
10-21-2015, 12:45 PM
#43
A low splitter would rub there, I usually have an exhaust pipe rub on the exit though.
The power is there, where as before it would kind of stop pulling after 5500 rpm it now pulls all the way to redline. I don't feel any loss down low which is great.
The power is there, where as before it would kind of stop pulling after 5500 rpm it now pulls all the way to redline. I don't feel any loss down low which is great.
03-19-2016, 11:44 AM
#45
Its that time of year again, the car is getting a few upgrades. The first time attack event is on 1 May at the Nurburgring GP track so I've got about a month to get this work done. I'm looking at a upgrade to the exhaust system a bit, the aero started from last year is nearing completion and then i'll be building a front bashbar/radiator support to integrate the front splitter so transmit its down force to the frame.
I dropped the motor back out today and prepped for the header swap. 1 3/4 inch long tubes with a 3 inch collector. Ii'll run it through a high flow cat then step it down to 2 1/2 inches to the y pipe. I'm torn between running a 3 inch all the way back or jumping up to a 3 1/2 inch single.
I dropped the motor back out today and prepped for the header swap. 1 3/4 inch long tubes with a 3 inch collector. Ii'll run it through a high flow cat then step it down to 2 1/2 inches to the y pipe. I'm torn between running a 3 inch all the way back or jumping up to a 3 1/2 inch single.
03-19-2016, 07:02 PM
#46
New Member
I am suprised for track use that you are going to be running cats. That should make some really nice changes going long tube. hopefully you can post some vids of your run in may.
04-08-2016, 12:20 PM
#48
The tires for the first events finally arrived, Got them mounted and prepped.
I'm running a 285 Square setup this year, this is a change from the 275/295 split I had last year. Hopefully this alleviates the understeer I had last year. I also had a problem with differential temperatures so I swapped out the Nismo finned cover for the new Z1 cover that adds an extra half liter of oil capacity.
I'm running a 285 Square setup this year, this is a change from the 275/295 split I had last year. Hopefully this alleviates the understeer I had last year. I also had a problem with differential temperatures so I swapped out the Nismo finned cover for the new Z1 cover that adds an extra half liter of oil capacity.
05-03-2016, 02:06 AM
#49
The first TimeAttack event kicked off this last weekend. It was at the Nurburgring GP course using the sprint configuration. I was classed in the Pro 2WD class against some very respectable competition. In my class was an S15, S14, S13(all SR20det powered) a turbo miata, 3 different 350Z's, a pair of turbo'ed and swapped honda civics, an S2000, a fully built up turbo Celica and a few others that escape me right now. I almost didn't make the event actually.
On Friday evening I went to take the car out of the garage to prep and found out the transmission output seal was shredded and leaking. I called every parts store and dealership within 100 miles and had no luck finding a Dodge Viper output seal ( Go figure). I went home darn near defeated, and had found a dealer about 3 hours away that sold vipers. It was too late to call and find out if they had parts, so on a hope I drove down early Saturday morning to be there when the doors opened. I got really lucky as this old tech steps out with his first cup of coffee. After sears and roebucking through his bins he comes up with what he thought was a viper seal so off I go. Turns out it was.
I got to the track late Saturday to prep for Sunday morning. After a small hassle with tech about my undertray being too low, I removed it and got past tech.
The morning conditions were against me. I didn't have any real rain tires with me and conditions were hovering around 40 degrees, very wet and very foggy. I couldn't be competitive in these conditions, anything more than a mild throttle input would just break traction and against guys with rain tires, no chance.
After the free training and warm up I was 9th in class. Qualification was the next round and to progress into the hot lap finale I needed to be in the top 5. Fortune favored me and the sun finally broke through the fog and got me a semi dry track. I managed to improve my lap time from 1:56 and change in the went to 1:44.7, enough to grab me the 4th place spot.
This got me into the hot lap Finale. I had never been able to get my tires up to temp the entire day with such cold track surfaces and I knew it would be a struggle here. They were using a outlap, hotlap, cooldown lap format so I knew I was going to be on lukewarm tires at best. I was on pace for a sub 1:44 lap but got overzealous coming out of the esses and got myself into a mild tank slapper that dropped me into the 1:45 mark.
Overall, It was quick enough to get place me third. First place was won by the S15, and second pulled off a 1:44 and change in the turbo Miata. I was completely stoked considering I went from almost not making it to placing third. I'm clearly down on Aero and I'm up on weight As I am still running half the interior and stock panels and glass all the way around. I also only had the OEM Nismo wing so I was not really gaining anything in aero. Both the Miata and S15 were all running large wings and splitters. There is room to improve and I know what I need to do.
On Friday evening I went to take the car out of the garage to prep and found out the transmission output seal was shredded and leaking. I called every parts store and dealership within 100 miles and had no luck finding a Dodge Viper output seal ( Go figure). I went home darn near defeated, and had found a dealer about 3 hours away that sold vipers. It was too late to call and find out if they had parts, so on a hope I drove down early Saturday morning to be there when the doors opened. I got really lucky as this old tech steps out with his first cup of coffee. After sears and roebucking through his bins he comes up with what he thought was a viper seal so off I go. Turns out it was.
I got to the track late Saturday to prep for Sunday morning. After a small hassle with tech about my undertray being too low, I removed it and got past tech.
The morning conditions were against me. I didn't have any real rain tires with me and conditions were hovering around 40 degrees, very wet and very foggy. I couldn't be competitive in these conditions, anything more than a mild throttle input would just break traction and against guys with rain tires, no chance.
After the free training and warm up I was 9th in class. Qualification was the next round and to progress into the hot lap finale I needed to be in the top 5. Fortune favored me and the sun finally broke through the fog and got me a semi dry track. I managed to improve my lap time from 1:56 and change in the went to 1:44.7, enough to grab me the 4th place spot.
This got me into the hot lap Finale. I had never been able to get my tires up to temp the entire day with such cold track surfaces and I knew it would be a struggle here. They were using a outlap, hotlap, cooldown lap format so I knew I was going to be on lukewarm tires at best. I was on pace for a sub 1:44 lap but got overzealous coming out of the esses and got myself into a mild tank slapper that dropped me into the 1:45 mark.
Overall, It was quick enough to get place me third. First place was won by the S15, and second pulled off a 1:44 and change in the turbo Miata. I was completely stoked considering I went from almost not making it to placing third. I'm clearly down on Aero and I'm up on weight As I am still running half the interior and stock panels and glass all the way around. I also only had the OEM Nismo wing so I was not really gaining anything in aero. Both the Miata and S15 were all running large wings and splitters. There is room to improve and I know what I need to do.
The following 3 users liked this post by armt350z:
05-03-2016, 03:25 AM
#50
New Member
It's a dream of mine to race my car there! Your living it
And viper seal? What am I missing here?
And viper seal? What am I missing here?
05-03-2016, 07:44 AM
#52
New Member
Doesn't ford use the same t56?
Just talking out loud
Just talking out loud
05-12-2016, 07:24 AM
#57
I've never driven a Grand sport in anger. When I reference it against my time in a Z51 package C6 though its fairly different.
The turn in and communication through the steering wheel is much better than the Z51 . At the limit I am more comfortable in the Z33, there is less body roll, the back end is more predictable. The Z has more power than the C6 with a lot more pull up top, but that's easily matched with the same exact mods on the Z51.
For me, the Z51 would push wide if you went in to a turn too hot and if you tried to use throttle to bring the tail around it would snap over steer. The Z33 on a square setup is neutral and can hold a predictable slip angle with throttle.
The turn in and communication through the steering wheel is much better than the Z51 . At the limit I am more comfortable in the Z33, there is less body roll, the back end is more predictable. The Z has more power than the C6 with a lot more pull up top, but that's easily matched with the same exact mods on the Z51.
For me, the Z51 would push wide if you went in to a turn too hot and if you tried to use throttle to bring the tail around it would snap over steer. The Z33 on a square setup is neutral and can hold a predictable slip angle with throttle.
05-12-2016, 10:16 AM
#58
I've never driven a Grand sport in anger. When I reference it against my time in a Z51 package C6 though its fairly different.
The turn in and communication through the steering wheel is much better than the Z51 . At the limit I am more comfortable in the Z33, there is less body roll, the back end is more predictable. The Z has more power than the C6 with a lot more pull up top, but that's easily matched with the same exact mods on the Z51.
For me, the Z51 would push wide if you went in to a turn too hot and if you tried to use throttle to bring the tail around it would snap over steer. The Z33 on a square setup is neutral and can hold a predictable slip angle with throttle.
The turn in and communication through the steering wheel is much better than the Z51 . At the limit I am more comfortable in the Z33, there is less body roll, the back end is more predictable. The Z has more power than the C6 with a lot more pull up top, but that's easily matched with the same exact mods on the Z51.
For me, the Z51 would push wide if you went in to a turn too hot and if you tried to use throttle to bring the tail around it would snap over steer. The Z33 on a square setup is neutral and can hold a predictable slip angle with throttle.
05-15-2016, 02:45 PM
#60
I was able to hit the Nordschleife again on a "tourist" day. While its always good to get on the track, this was a total waste of a day. It took all day to get 4 laps in. After each lap so many accidents would happen that the track would have to close down just to repair the crash barriers or clean up the spilled fluids. It is getting to the point that the tourist days just are not worth it. I saw a lot of really nice cars meet their end due to sheer jackassery.
Great to see another Nordschleife enthusiast here!
