I took the Diasio out to Autobahn Country Club this Sunday to the Northwoods Shelby Club's Northwoods Inuagural. We got to run on the club's South course which is generally reserved for club members. Another interesting feature of this event was that during our HPDE there was an actual race held by SATCAR.

http://www.autobahncountryclub.net/
http://www.nwshelbyclub.net/
http://www.satcarracing.com/

As most of you know, I picked up the car a couple of weeks ago and had a very short attempt at driving it at VIR. It became apparent at VIR that the car had not been regularly maintained and had a few broken parts. So, I spent the week before the event getting the car in some semblance of working and driving condition. Oil change, diff fluid change and coolant flush. I had to make a new seat bracket, adjust the shifter and throttle cables, change mirrors and install a shift light just to mention a few.

But it appears to have paid off, because I ran all 5 sessions without trouble(well almost no trouble). I started out the first session by just getting used to the car and the track. The first thing I noticed is the noise. The car is very noisy, it has a really loud gear whirring and it vibrates a lot. My main concern was listening to the engine to determine when to shift. (I never succesfully found an tach wire to tap into for the shift light) After a few laps, I started to get the hang of the motor noise. It sounds like a jet plane. Here's a clip ( Fly by Clip )

The second thing I wanted to work on was braking. Since the car does not have ABS or EBD or power assist, I thought braking was going to be a pain, but I found it quite easy for the most part. You can hear a threshold brake in the above clip and that was after about two sessions. I think the car is so light and you have to brake so little that its just a non-event really.

The car is also much faster than I thought it was going to be. I had it dynoed initially and it came out to around 118hp to the wheels. It was running very poorly and the car would pop furiously at WOT at anything below about 6500 rpms. Fortunately the car comes with a Dynojet Power Commander. Which is a black box A/F tuning device where you can just upload a new map. The Dynojet site has tons of maps for different mod combinations. So I just downloaded one which closely related to my setup and it runs much better now. I was in the A group and after the 2nd session, I was not passed again for the rest of the day. It still need some tuning work and of course I'll probably add cams and a port and polish to get up to about 155-160 to the wheels, but I'm estimating that I'm at around 130 to the wheels now.

The last part of the car I had to get used to was the handling. This was the first time I ran Hoosiers too so I had lots of learning to do. These were the real Hoosiers too, not the ones off Tirerack. No tread what so ever. Even old, these tires are sticky. I was unable to drive the car smoothly the entire day. The slightest miscue on turn in or correction and the car is heading off in the wrong direction. Also, the car coupled with the Hoosiers can exert a large amount of G-force on the driver. In some tighter corners, it was all I could do to hold my head up and hang on to the steering wheel. The car is a real handful as you approach speed.

In the last session, I started to get the hang of the track more and so my speed started to increase. On what would turn out to be my last lap, I nailed corner 2 & 3 which set me up for a really fast turn 4. The corner takes me by suprise and I turn in a bit late. As I hit apex, I start feeling a strange sensation in my head. I experienced vertigo for the first time and below is a video of the result. Listen to the accelerator. I'm still on the gas even though I'm sideways. I just had no idea what was going on until the visual cues were overwhelming what my body was feeling. Then I thought, hey I'm spinning, I better put both feet in. After a 180 and a 270, the car came to a halt. I tried to restart it, but all it would do is click. So I had to be towed in.

180/270 spin


Overall it was a great day and I learned a lot. I'm very happy with the car, but it is much more powerful and dangerous than I thought it was. It looks so cute and cuddly, but it has earned my repsect this weekend. I've got lots of work to do over the winter and especially when Spring rolls around when I have to start driving it at speed. My plan is to make a 3 piece carbon body for it, bring it down to racing weight (maybe a 1000 lbs) and cam and port the motor and get it up to around 150hp to the wheels. Then start racing!

 

Good to hear you got some of the minor issues worked out Geoff. Are you officially done for the season now?

 

Yes, that's about it. Most of the tracks here are closed until April. Your Barber trip has to be coming up pretty soon, did you call the rental place? ;-) Just saw your sig, a Miata as a daily driver??

Its been a helluva year. Started out at Road Atlanta, then Da Glen, Road America, VIR, throw in a bunch of days at Blackhawk and ACC (north & south) and I'm wiped out. Think I got in about 20+ track days this year. Blew a motor, got my regional license, picked up a race car. Wild year.

Next year I'd like to hit Mid-Ohio, Grattan and another Left Coast track. I'd love to get to VIR, but the last 4 hours of the drive is just a killer. We'll see what the Chicago Crew decides. Plus the wife has been bugging me to take her out to California so maybe I'll hit Laguna next year too. What's on everyones to do list for next year?

 

Hah, I'll have to call the rental place later today to see if they have any more F150s... lol

It's been a good year for me thus far... but it's not over yet!

Road Atlanta (2 days)
VIR Full (4 days + 2 more?)
VIR North (2 days)
VIR Grand East (2 days)
Summit Point Main (4 days)
Summit Point Shenandoah (1 day + 2 more?)
Watkins Glen (2 days)
Mid-Ohio (1 day )
Barber (to be 2 days)
Nurburgring Nordschliefe (1 day)
and one rallycross in a few weeks with the WRX... haha

Next year I want to hit Mosport, and possibly Road America, and if I move across the pond, then I'll hit the 'Ring again and probably Spa. I'm looking into getting my SCCA Comp license, and we'll see what happens from there... And yes, I'm trying to pick up a Me-otter as a DD to replace the WRX next year... might as well buy it now since this is the best time of year to find a bargain.

 

Just looked up Mosport, looks like a pretty cool track. What have you heard about it? Only 8 hours from Chicago.

 

I've heard it has a lot of blind sweepers that tend to drop off drastically... BJ should probably chime in with his opinion though...

 

Bonus video! Had a little room left on the server. Here's a lap of ACC.

http://home.comcast.net/~geoffbrown/acclap.asf

Notice the braking, I'm not at full speed yet, but braking at
1.5 is not a problem.

 

So THIS is where you put your write-up!

GREAT, well written review! Glad you got most of the bugs worked out!

Sounds like a race car. Looks like a race car. Goes like a race car. AND, you drive it like a race car. AWESOME!!!

A left coast event would be cool, but I doubt I could join the fun.

Mosport is a great track. I never drove on it, but WAY back, when I raced my Spitfire, my regional license hadn't gone though the slow SCCA process when my crew had gone to IRP, so, with cheap gas, we towed the Spit to Mosport for a F1 race!!!! I'll have to check, but I think James Hunt won.

Thanks for posting the video links. Looks like the South loop is a lot more fun than the North loop we ran.

 

I love this forum.


thx for that writeup

 

I saw your car at that event. I was there watching my friend drive on the North track that day. What kind of lap times were you running on the South Course?

 

I ran a 1:41. That was my first time on the South track, first time on real Hoosiers and first time driving the car. Not too bad. I've probably got a good 7-10 seconds to go.

 

My friend's 97 Cobra ran a best time of 1:44 with me in the car on the South course. The members have some sort of magnetic timing system that is fed to a computer in the clubhouse. I thought that was pretty cool. Another friend of mine was out there with a couple cars. I think he ran a best of time of in the low 1:30's on the South course in his heavily modded 95 Mustang GT. He just recently bought a Stohr(West Race Cars) and was testing it out that day as well. Don't know any lap times on it, but the thing flies.

 

Was there this summer, incredible track!

corner 1 2 3 4 5 are just insane. It's like driving on ski slopes. The drop offs and sweepers are just crazy. It's a VERY fast track... as an instructor of mine says... don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly

 

Yes, the Stohrs are multiple time National champions in SCCA racing. Very nice car. The Diasio is a mid-pack running car, but the upside is that I can take it to almost any HPDE and drive it. The Stohr would not be welcome at most street car events. Very unsafe to drive one with 3500 lb cars behind and in front of you.

 

I might have to give that a try next year.

 

They didn't want to run it in some of the sessions because there were too many cars. Granted, they were fast cars like FR500s or GT3rs, the Stohr is a lot faster and it's hard to see. Too unsafe when you are matching 3500lbs cars vs a ~1100 lbs race car. I was at Gingerman a few years back and they were out in there old Van Dieman(Sp?). I was out in my 330i and that thing would pass me like I was standing still.

 

A well piloted DSR (Stohr, Diasio etc.) will run about the same times as a Porsche Cup car!! Considering I only paid about 21k for my Diasio, that's pretty good bang for the buck.

The main problem with the Diasio is weight. Its about 200lbs more than the stohr. I'm building a carbon body this winter and working on weight reduction stuff to help me be more competitive. I've got the top of the line gixxer 1000 motor, but I'm considering getting a 600, boring it to the rule limits and boosting it. I'll need the weight reduction and about 200hp to the wheels to be competitive at the National level. That's assuming I can drive the hell out of it, which is yet to be seen.

 

Geoff, I KNOW you'll drive the sh*t out of it......I've seen how well you drove your Z. But, PLEASE, optimize your car as it is. Maximize it's reliability before you go totally nuts adding more toys!

Sitting in the paddock with a broken car sucks!

 

Yes, Obi-wan. But the pull of the dark side is strong.

 

Quick pic update. Tomorrow the rearend and suspension come out, next weekend, the motor!! Body is at the body shop getting painted. My first track day is 11 weeks away!