SinCity350Z

iTrader: (19)

^^^Quick learner . Nice pics!

Eagle1

iTrader: (2)

Entry to Cotton Corners, inside right wheels over top of rumble strip


Entry to Bus Stop, outside right wheels on edge of rumble strip (right to left turn so prefer to keep moment of turn in on asphalt and not painted bumper)


Turn in to Bus Stop


Apex at Bus Stop, left wheels on rumble strip


Unwinding steering at apex of Riverside Sweeper at 100-105mph

kognition

iTrader: (1)

Nice to see you guys out there giving it your all. My Silvia suffered in the last half from a stuck injector of all things. Could have been worse i suppose. Anyway, from all the dirt accumulated in my car from spinning out on more than one occasion, i have enough dirt to finish a gardening project on my side yard now. For my first time ever driving this track at all, and the first time in a year having even driving this car... i managed a 2:13 which i am pleased with. At least i have a foundation to build from when i go back in the spring. While i know that i have a long way to go from my stock SR, i am going to focus more on aero and downforce before upgrading internals next summer. And my skills should significantly improve by then. But i do need at least another 150HP over my current 260HP setup for next year.

SinCity350Z

iTrader: (19)

Nice to see you on here Mike! Your Silvia is easily capable of some very fast times once you get her all dialed in, and I can't wait until you do . BTW, I am about to send you a PayPal payment . Let me know whats coming up next to buy.

Mike

kognition

iTrader: (1)

Hey Mike, thanks.
The hoods are up next. Mold is finished pretty much. I had a pain of a time with the hood, because while honeycomb is perfect for this application, the special honeycomb adhesive could not handle the engine bay temps. So i found a high performance self extinguishing aerospace foam core to bond the upper and lower hood laminates to. It might actually be a 5 or 6 lb hood if my numbers are correct. Ditto on the G35 hood. I am also researching thin fans that we can actually mount into the hood itself to do a more efficient job of forcing the hot air out.
Vents just don't seem to be enough for you guys.

SinCity350Z

iTrader: (19)

You are the man! If vented, what is the hood design going to look like? May I suggest the Nismo RS style hood. Hang on, let me find a picture...

EDIT: Found one. Also may I suggest pre-drilled holes for hood pins...

SinCity350Z

iTrader: (19)

Ed, I absolutely love this picture by the way...If you could make t-shirts and mugs out of it that would be great . Really though, that is an amazing shot...\

Eagle1

iTrader: (2)

Here is another one from Sears Point that shows the hood and venting pretty well too. But also the lateral load transfer.

SinCity350Z

iTrader: (19)

^^^Quit showing off Ed...

Eagle1

iTrader: (2)

And here is a picture in Turn 3 at Laguna Seca

kognition

iTrader: (1)

You guys need some serious hood venting, it is a huge problem with the T.T. kit
in particular. Theres no air gaps anywhere in the engine bay, i would say that is a huge weak link. We will have the hood pre drilled for hood pins because that is all that will hold the hood down. OEM hood latch = bahh!! This is track stuff.

NoLimit

iTrader: (7)

good times!

IMO, the Z guys should be looking for times in the 1:56-1:55 range in this config. That would be in the Modified class. I see no reason that a boosted Z33 can't keep up with a boosted NSX. I think Billy drove a Z to a 1:57, but it had slicks on that time I believe. So a bit more power, and with DOT race rubber, I think that is an honest time to shoot for.
Billy was driving the Factor X NSX to consistent 1:55's on Sunday, ... that is a 'full street car' with stereo system, etc. No wide body, so it can only accept 'smaller' tires than what a Z or G can run.

looking forward to next year!

Eagle1

iTrader: (2)

Kognition:
I could not agree more with your venting observation. Looking at the front view of the car, it is clear that we need to open up the bumper skirt to more air flow for the array of air hungry exhangers (radiator,oil cooler, power steering cooler, intercooler) In addition we really need an air ducting intake for the front brakes. The rear brakes are a huge cooling issue, but I have not gotten around to really looking at a solution, short of a change to the rear fender body kit and that is not inexpensive. It seems to me that if we go that route, we really should be getting longer half axles and pushing the stance out a few inches on each side at the same time.

As for the hood, the VIS approach does seem to work, but I am sure that with what has been learned with these cars over the past couple of years, that you can improve on it for both functionality, and looks. The "shark gill" look is not bad. And I like the directing of the flow to the side A pillars so that one does not throw any oil mist etc onto the windscreen. But it is not as efficient as it could be, not by any means. Additional evacuation slots could and should be in the area near the hinges, and I think additional intake scoops at the front would help force more air flow across the block.



Natural heat convection lifts the heat, but a vacuum or suction from the top flow would really be terrific.

That still leaves the low and rear mount of the twin turbos, cranking out serious heat, tucked down out of the flow. Not sure whether more needs to be done there, or what can be done. I have tried the thermal barrier coatings and that seems to have a true impact for power and reducing heat expression, but this is probably not additionally addressable with the hood. A side duct in the front fenders could be the only approach to force more air there. In any event it is not as important as getting flow to the assemblage of coolers up front, and the under bonnet heat out of there.

Looking forward to your masterwork!

betamotorsports

iTrader: (1)

Don't know. I can speculate:

SCCA has a tendency to run their events CCW for some reason.
SCCA might be low on workers and their track coverage requirements are a bit higher then most other sanctioning bodies.

But, I think the number one reason is:

I and others prefer CCW and the run down to Star Mazda over the sweeper cutoff. Makes the Esses much faster and Magic Mountain is very different when you approach it at over 100 mph and start braking on the uphill. 1CCW is my favorite.

I've got 900MB of video (with no sound) of Gary Sheehan in the Flying Miata chasing my old 240Z around 1CCW. One of these days I'll post it somewhere.

kognition

iTrader: (1)

Hi Ed,
Maybe cooling fans coming in from the fender wells would help with forced air.
Thinking about it as i write this, it might be more efficient to force cooler air into the area than to pull hot air out. And maybe a snorkel design to get the cooler air into the turbo exhaust side. Even a push/pull fan design could do much more. There is just so much heat energy being expelled that simple vents seem ineffective. I mean, all the work and technology to make it perform... and .... simple vents to get rid of the engines number one enemy? Heat. I think attention needs to be payed to removing the engine bay heat by
a good fan system that doesn't use alot of amps.

kognition

iTrader: (1)

I'm still going thru the CD my photographer mailed to me, but here are a couple wallpapers to enjoy. The first is me in practice, and the second is Mike Bonanni's Z.

SinCity350Z

iTrader: (19)

^^^Sweet! Thankfully he got it with the Nismos on .

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

Cool pix, Mike! Can't wait to see the rest of them!

ALong

iTrader: (12)

Since this was a regional event I would suspect these times are slow compared to what a National driver/car would run, especially if the ITS 325 is running faster than the T2 car and the T1 car is only 3 seconds faster than the T2. Most events we run at, we are 3-5 seconds faster than the fastest regional ITS BMW's and the fast T1 cars are 4-5 seconds a lap faster than us T2 cars.

Also the 100 degree heat which can kill lap times to the tune of 2-3 seconds per lap compared to cool weather.

betamotorsports

iTrader: (1)

Each region in different in its level of competition. In SoPac we have national level T2 drivers (Dave Schotz is the best local example - Runoffs pole in 2005 and front row 2006) and some of the top ITS drivers (John Norris and Bryan Lampe are two examples) and ITS lap times are typically a bit faster then the T2 lap times. T1 here is undersubscribed so it tends to be slower then it should be.

T2 was weak in the results example I posted above (2 cars in class).

EDIT: In SoPac ITS and T2 run in the same group and the group winner is almost always an ITS car.