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Did a few laps at Summit last Sunday. The car did well with no major issues. Very happy with cooling upgrades, both coolant and oil temps hovered around 180 degrees all day. The brakes with Gloc pads did well too, not at all bad for stock calipers. I was expecting a lot of understeer but due to ancient 13 year old street tires I was actually getting substantial oversteer too. Made for fun, but not very fast lap times. Started to rain around noon, so never got a chance to swap to the R7s, that'll have to wait 2 weeks for the next event. I did notice that the stock exhaust is way too quiet, with the helmet on I could barely hear it. Also, the stock flywheel is not allowing the RPMs to drop nearly fast enough. Both of these will need to be addressed soon.
Might as well have been. In the red instructor run group where every other car has open exhaust I could hear them but not my own car. I had to do most of the shifting purely by watching the RPM gauge. I'll be going to long headers and single exhaust over the winter for sure.
Single exhaust with removable baffle installed. I'm used to german car part prices, so the fact that this whole stainless exhaust was $150 shipped to my door is downright amazing. It's also way lighter than the stock setup. Can't wait to try it out this Friday at Summit.
Not at all, came together easy and fit the stock hangers perfectly, no fitment issues. Did manage to shear one of the old bolts despite plenty of penetrating fluid, but that's pretty much normal with exhaust bolts.
Did a day at Summit yesterday. Overall it went well. Temps were cool, the sun was shining, pretty good day for a track event. Some resulting thoughts:
1) With stock suspension and square 275/35/18 R7 setup the car was exhibiting severe oversteer. After taking the straight between turn 9 and the bridge sideways and into the dirt, I've decided to do something about it and for lack of better options disconnected the rear sway bar. That turned out to be just the ticket, it cured the oversteer and the car behaved fairly neutral and predictable from then on, albeit soft and twitchy. I was able to rotate the car thru sharp turns (5,6,7) with a bit more throttle without snap oversteer I was getting initially. The softness and twitchiness did slow me down a bit thru fast sweepers (9,10) and the car tended to dance around and never really settle down. Towards the end of the day I was getting used to it and able to keep pace. I think my next step will be a thicker adjustable front sway bar so I can reconnect the rear and still tune out the oversteer. Any recommendations on the front sway bar?
2) Oil and water temps stayed in 180s all day, very happy with these upgrades.
3) Tire wear seemed ok, but still need proper track alignment with more camber for better wear and grip. I'll see if I can get this done in time for VIR in Nov.
4) Open diff sucks (obviously). Trying to power out of turn 1 and turn 9 I'd just end up spinning the inside wheel. That will need to be addressed over the winter.
5) Ran the fuel down to almost reserve and never saw any starvation issues. Not sure if these show up only at counter-clockwise tracks, but at Summit no problem.
6) Stock brakes keep impressing. No fade even after 1/2 hour sessions, although they did heat to the point of the pad backs turning white and I was able to smell them towards the end of the session.
6) I can see and feel the potential in this car to be a fast track machine, I just need to unlock it with my wallet
7) Almost forgot, no rubbing at all from the 275 R7s on 22mm offset wheels. Very happy with that.
Did a day at Summit yesterday. Overall it went well. Temps were cool, the sun was shining, pretty good day for a track event. Some resulting thoughts:
1) With stock suspension and square 275/35/18 R7 setup the car was exhibiting severe oversteer. After taking the straight between turn 9 and the bridge sideways and into the dirt, I've decided to do something about it and for lack of better options disconnected the rear sway bar. That turned out to be just the ticket, it cured the oversteer and the car behaved fairly neutral and predictable from then on, albeit soft and twitchy. I was able to rotate the car thru sharp turns (5,6,7) with a bit more throttle without snap oversteer I was getting initially. The softness and twitchiness did slow me down a bit thru fast sweepers (9,10) and the car tended to dance around and never really settle down. Towards the end of the day I was getting used to it and able to keep pace. I think my next step will be a thicker adjustable front sway bar so I can reconnect the rear and still tune out the oversteer. Any recommendations on the front sway bar?
2) Oil and water temps stayed in 180s all day, very happy with these upgrades.
3) Tire wear seemed ok, but still need proper track alignment with more camber for better wear and grip. I'll see if I can get this done in time for VIR in Nov.
4) Open diff sucks (obviously). Trying to power out of turn 1 and turn 9 I'd just end up spinning the inside wheel. That will need to be addressed over the winter.
5) Ran the fuel down to almost reserve and never saw any starvation issues. Not sure if these show up only at counter-clockwise tracks, but at Summit no problem.
6) Stock brakes keep impressing. No fade even after 1/2 hour sessions, although they did heat to the point of the pad backs turning white and I was able to smell them towards the end of the session.
6) I can see and feel the potential in this car to be a fast track machine, I just need to unlock it with my wallet
What was your tire pressure before and after? Did you notice a difference between morning sessions and afternoon sessions as far as track temp and handling? I have a little narrower setup than you at VIR and I was oversteering real bad when my tire pressure was too high. With stock suspension it did feel balanced but I may not have been driving hard enough lol. If anything I was having more understeering because I was either missing the line or went into a turn too hot.
started out at 32psi in the morning, by afternoon I was coming back off track at about 38-40. I adjusted it to 38 hot and kept it there. The track did improve in the afternoon, but it wasn't a huge difference. Didn't get much understeer at all, I feel like with a bit more time with the car I'll be able to consistently use the throttle to rotate the car thru the slower/sharper turns so there should be no issue with washing out of a turn. Keep in mind I'm coming from an awd car, so my natural approach is late turn in, slow in, fast out, overcooking entry speeds and turn ins has been beaten out of me a long time ago
Also... keep in mind my car is fully caged, and therefore a lot stiffer in general, so that might be aggravating the oversteer condition quite a bit. Anyways, just ordered the Megan Racing 36mm front sway bar.
started out at 32psi in the morning, by afternoon I was coming back off track at about 38-40. I adjusted it to 38 hot and kept it there. The track did improve in the afternoon, but it wasn't a huge difference. Didn't get much understeer at all, I feel like with a bit more time with the car I'll be able to consistently use the throttle to rotate the car thru the slower/sharper turns so there should be no issue with washing out of a turn. Keep in mind I'm coming from an awd car, so my natural approach is late turn in, slow in, fast out, overcooking entry speeds and turn ins has been beaten out of me a long time ago
Also... keep in mind my car is fully caged, and therefore a lot stiffer in general, so that might be aggravating the oversteer condition quite a bit. Anyways, just ordered the Megan Racing 36mm front sway bar.
I gotcha. The first couple sessions I started with 32psi and ended the session at 40. Then I went to 30psi and ended with 36psi. That seemed like the sweet spot for me. There tires were able to hold up through the sessions.
Hey! Who are you running on the track with ? We currently have 4 Z's with the SCCA HPDE club. NOt trying to recruit you, more interested in meeting you up the next time you come around summit. I live 10miles north of there.
Coming off a decade of running an Audi A4 on the track, my involvement with the Audi club runs deep, not only as an instructor but also as their lead tech and resident computer nerd plus my wife does their registration duties, so it's hard for me to break away. When I find time I also instruct with PCA and TrackDaze. I have several friends who run NASA and SCCA events, but so far I haven't had the opportunity to join in. I'm hoping next year the Z will run well enough to where I'll have the opportunity to get out there more instead of working in the garage, so you might see me at a local SCCA event yet.
A little excerpt that illustrates the oversteer I was dealing with at first before I disconnected the rear sway. There was no throttle bleep, what you hear is the open diff allowing the inside wheel to slip as the traction goes away...
