I like the R8 styling cues. But imo solid white with the blue "Audi" stripe would be nice.

 

lookin good!

 

Solid white on a track car is for masochists, with all the rubber scuffs on the front I'd have to spend hours cleaning it each time lol

 

I received the replacement wing from Street Faction. Since I already have the nine lives wing mounted I have no use for it, but just looking at this one there are no weak spots and the front edge doesn't have the large flat surface so I think the first one I got was just really badly made, this one looks a lot better. I'm going to list it for sale, hopefully someone local can use it....

 

At Summit with PCA this weekend, things didn't go according to plan. My fears about the way I mounted the rear speed sensor rotated off center were realized. Car seemed to behave ok for a bit then of a sudden the ABS freaked out going into the main straight braking zone, locked up the rear wheels and sent me into the gravel pit. So I'm here to say, don't do what I did, don't mount your speed sensor rotated, it won't work correctly. Did some paddock surgery and shaved off the boot of the sensor cable until I was able to clear the diff cooler return line, so that the sensor now sits in correct alignment again. Drove around the paddock and the ABS light went away, so I think that's good now. Unfortunately the off also cost me two destroyed tires and I only have one spare, so now I'm trying to find replacements so I can still do some driving this weekend. As luck would have it tomorrow it's suppose to rain pretty much all day, so I won't be missing much, but hopefully I can get something setup for Sunday....

 

Also on that subject. I likely didn't notice the ABS light coming on the dash, likely because it's next to the tire pressure warning light that's always lit up (no sensors in my wheels). Is there a way to disable the tire pressure warning light?

I probably should just pull the cluster and take out the tire pressure and airbag bulbs...

 

I knew a guy who put black tape over the TPMS light. lol.

 

Got the tires mounted this morning and after the rain let up managed to do one session in the afternoon mostly to shake out all the leftover gravel from under the car and to test everything out. The ABS is working well now and no other problems have surfaced. The tires are Goodyear Supercar 3Rs, at 100 thread wear so at upper end of r comp, but they have fairly decent grip. Tomorrow is suppose to be good weather and I have 3 session left, gonna try to make the most of it.

 

Here's the video of my ABS lockup on Friday ending up in the gravel pit


And the video (or more to the point audio) of next day finally going out to shake out all the gravel from the undercarriage of the car


And finally a few fast laps from Sunday. I improved my personal best from 2:26.2 last time to 2:25.1. Considering I had to downgrade from slicks to basically aggressive street performance tires, I'm happy with that results.

 

😬 yikes

 

Yeah that off ended up costing me 4 tires. One was off the rim and all 4 were corded. No damage to the rims or the car however. Based on the video I hit the gravel trap at about 30, so I did manage to scrub off quite a bit of speed along the way.

One more, here's a session from Sunday chasing my buddy in a gray Cayman S

 

not just a track car. the canyon runs I've done in my Cayman this month have coated the rear fenders with black **** and now I'm going to have to go buy some exotic cleaner to get it off.

I'm extremely not a car show guy anymore. used to be... used to shiny up the car and go to the shows and sit in a lawn chair and enjoy some conversation.

it's funny what going to the track does to your mindset on what is nice. the side of my Cayman is coated in Hawk brake dust and I'm too lazy to clean it off but then again I kind of like it.

 

😂😆👍

I enjoyed watching that. it looks like an early model Cayman like mine. those 3.4's have a radical third and fourth gear torque curve that's just awesome. I've gone from the 3.5 Z straight into the 3.4 CS and the Z has better launching power but the Cayman just goes like a banshee when it hits third and the gears are tight, so so short. I love that it maintains high RPM in between those shifts that's one advantage it has over a z which drops in RPM quite a bit with the stock flywheel.

 

He is a bit faster down the straights, but I have better handling. On a track like summit the advantage is mine.

 

I keep going back to this wondering what else i can do to get 90+mph speeds thru Summit turn 10. I'm pushing out into the rumble strips at 83 mph. Given that's not on slicks, so maybe there is a few mph to be had there, but I doubt I can reach 90+. Not sure if that car has a front splitter? That might help or it might be just extra weight hanging there, hard to tell. I'm sure there is a significant power different too since he's topping out at 136 and I'm at 126, so maybe the answer is just more power and more downforce on the rear wing. As is the wing angle is approx 7 degrees, if I try to increase it I'll likely lose more time down the straights than it's worth. Still, nice to have something to shoot for, right?

 

Here's the video of the chase above from the point of view of my buddy in the cayman. I go from mirrors to front around 7:30

 

Final summary from Summit. I went thru the car and did not see any other damage from the gravel pit, so that's good news. I also checked alignment and everything seems ok. I did dial in extra half a degree of front camber, since the front tires are still wearing more on the outside. It's at 3.5 degrees now, we'll see if that's enough and if that gives me more front end grip. I did need to install new front pads while the rears are still good after more than a year, which makes me think maybe I should install some brake ducts this winter.

I was planning to go back to Summit this coming weekend, but on the way home the Excursion brakes started leaking fluid and looking underneath it appears to be coming from a rusted hard line, so I'll need to replace all the hard lines and rubber lines before I can tow again. I have the parts on order, so maybe I can knock that out this weekend. But also it's too damn hot to be on the track right now, I might just wait until Sept for the next event.

 

I have a bunch of business vans and went through short period of doing all the maintenance work myself which saves a bundle of course, but I'm just getting worn out from heavy hours on top of everything so I just take them to a shop now. I just got the front left strut assembly replaced on a Toyota van for $700 which rubs me wrong... the parts are only 180, but I have to accept it as a business expense. the most I have time for is oil changes and brakes.

 

A bit OT, but I just gotta vent. I replaced all the metal and rubber brakes lines on the Excursion over the weekend. Took me over a day of laying under the truck to get it done. For most part it went fairly smooth. Since I was replacing everything I was able to cut out the old lines without bothering the undo the connections. The rear lines and the line to the front ABS unit went in easy. Likewise the lines from the master cylinder to the ABS were no problem. Where I ran into trouble was the line from ABS to the pass side front wheel. The OEM line is one piece that snakes it's way along the subframe under the engine. There is no way to replace it with a one piece line without removing the subframe or the engine, so the Dorman kit comes with a 2 piece replacement with a connector half way across. The problem is the location of the connector is such that there is no way to get a wrench in there to tighten it, much less two (one to hold the connector, one to tighten the line). Also, the sizing inexplicably goes from metric on all other connectors in the kit to a 5/16 standard size. After much cussing and tearing up my hands I ended up sourcing a 5/16 crow's foot wrench from my buddy to finally get it tight. What a pain! The second issue I ran across was that the front driver's bleeder screw was corroded to where it wouldn't flow at all. Went to Advance and got "exact fit" replacement for the Ex, brought it home only to discover it was too short and wouldn't seal property. By then I had about quart of brake fluid down my driveway, but at least I got all the air out of the corner. At least that job is done now and the Ex has good brakes again. I had just enough time left yesterday to wash and pack the Z back in the trailer ready for next event.

 

it's surprising when you come across shitty engineering like that it makes you wonder what the hell were they thinking? because there's always a manager at some point that approves a design decision and are they thinking of maintenance income? some choices are so incredibly bad that it's obvious the car maker does not give a **** about maintenance.

like with my 2010 SHO, the AWD transfer unit has a lifetime oil! imagine that! Ford invented gear oil that lasts forever! I took it in at 100K to ask them to change the oil in that unit and they quoted me 6 hours of Labor to remove the entire unit and drain it out of the shaft opening. since I didn't go through with it of course the unit failed after a short time and I was saddled with a 2,500 replacement. now you can't tell me that isn't Ford's benefit. they built things to last only as long as the warranty.

after owning Fords my whole life and only in the last 2 years going Japanese and German I've been shocked by how shitty mustangs are in comparison. I just never knew any better. I am planning on a GT350 in the future but I would not go back to a prior gen.