thekinn

iTrader: (18)

Any chance someone can post or send a link to the VIR race? I was at Zdayz and missed it - it airs again tomorrow morning at 2am if you can record it (no dvr yet .. yeah i suck)

Fixxxercask

iTrader: (21)

I'm glad I saw your post. I just got home from work and put the race on. Didn't know the when it was on. Thanks!

scardeal

They didn't do that bad @ VIR. They finished 16th, up 5 positions from 21st where they started. It seems they still have some tuning and optimization to do to get further up in the ranks.

Unfortunately, they really need to be in the top 10 to really get more coverage on TV. (Or continue bumping competitors off the track...)

CasusManagement

Hey all. We want everyone to know that we are connected with A.M. Performance and will be posting some cool inside photos and updates to this thread. We have some cool pictures for you all this week that we hope you will enjoy. We also want your participation. We want you to post questions on the forum that the team at A.M. Performance can answer in a video. The questions can be anything that you have wanted to know and the team can answer. So please be considerate of others as we will not be answering vulgar, crude, or any other question that are not respectful. Furthermore, when you post the question add a name/nickname, this will be the name the team will use to respond to (if you do not provide a name/nickname we will not address the answer to you). Lastly, we will be taking questions until Wednesday, if you do not get your question up by then or do not get it answered in the video please do not fret as we will be doing more of these Q&A Videos throughout the season.



Pictures


1. These are the bushings we've made out of a self-lubricated thermoplastic. These are lower friction and lower maintenence than a monoball joint.




2. Here are those bushings on the car.




3. We ran into the hydraulic release bearing (CSC)/clutch pedal stuck to the floor issue at Barber Motorsports Park. It sucked, and we decided to never deal with that nonsense again, so we made this.




4. We also don't like clutch slip. Or slow-revving engines. To that end, we made this. The stock clutch/flywheel package (including bearing, PP, everything) weighs 38 lbs. This setup is 18 lbs, and even with the metallic clutch discs is really easy to drive. And it doesn't slip even one bit leaving the pit box with hot slicks (5500 rpm clutch dump), the car just lights them up and GOES.




5. Prototype front sway bar. Once we are done testing/developing this piece we will make it out of the appropriate thickness/diameter material and make a blade style adjuster for it. For now it is not adjustable, just for the prototyping phase.




6. Installed on the car. Due to the heim-joints, this bar won't suffer from bushing bind, which is a really common problem with sway bars that is hard to diagnose. Our design makes for a much more consistent performance from the bar.



7. Second chassis (car #05) getting cage wrapped so it can go to powder coat next week, while the third chassis is getting ready to go to the media blaster.




8. Oil cooler setup. At VIR, we never saw oil temp go over 200 degrees. Did I mention our races are 2.5 hours?




9. Lawrence going into Turn 4 early on in the race




10. Our first pitstop! It went surprisingly well, with tires, fuel, and driver change going off without any major issues. The biggest problem was a shoulder belt that slipped under Mike's HANS device, but that only cost us a couple seconds, and will be addressed for future stops.




11. Awesome photo of the car launching back into the race, courtesy of Melissa K. Smith Photography!



"At VIR we P16 at the end. We are very happy to have finished our first race, and that was very much the goal for the weekend. We got a TON of useful data and are confident in the direction of our setup and development of the chassis, which will be applied to both cars that will race at Laguna Seca. However, we also confirmed that with the current motor package we are simply outgunned on the straights, and by a significant margin. We are working with Grand Am right now and are going to sit out the next two rounds as we work on the necessary changes to make the car go as well as it stops and turns. They are being very responsive and we have no doubts that when we come back we will be much more competitive. Finishing was the goal for the last race, finishing in the top-10 is the goal for the next race.

Stay tuned!" - Mike Sweeney




Again post your questions and we will try to get them in the next A.M. Performance video update. Also, keep checking this thread for more great updates on the them.

amperformance

Just dropping in because I heard about this rumor floating around the internet. Our rev limiter was definitely set, and the motor was absolutely not over-revved. We had oil pressure issues that caused our engine failure at Barber, and we have enacted numerous fixes to prevent that ever happening again.

Just wanted to make sure that no one out there thinks we would make mistakes as elementary as not having a rev limit and zinging the motor. We have a reputation to build and protect here, so just be sure that we are dotting our i's and crossing our t's here!

Thanks!

Mike

03threefiftyz

iTrader: (25)

I stand corrected then...

Shamu Z

I can also confirm the AM Performance team is top notch effort. During track weekend that I was lucky enough to attend with them they were busy every session pulling data from the race car onto laptop and then busy analyzing every element from brakes to many engine parameters to suspension. Then making in paddock modidifications and hitting track again to measure improvements.

Then with all that data and feed back from driver returning the race car engineering team was busy designing parts to address issues they found with the car. Then back out for another test session. I think they have tested every LSD made for our cars! We are all going to benefit from them breaking stuff in early development and then setting out to improve on designs. Just look at the parts coming from this effort! Their parts are all tough well designed race proven stuff! I say this coming from Porsche race car world. They are making stuff I wish I had availbable for my Porsche race cars.

My Nismo has a few of their key new parts and the car on track is nothing short of amazing.

Zazz93

iTrader: (2)

Interested to see the output solution. Just not sure the engine can produce class leading horsepower, but maybe it can get enough to be in the ball-park.

When's the next expected Gram Am appearence?

DivZero

iTrader: (1)

The next race will be at Laguna Seca on Saturday July 9th. There will also be practice sessions and qualifying on that Friday.