Stoptech/Hawk/SPL Camber Arms/KTS/Hotchkis-My track setup impressions
09-28-2006, 10:57 PM
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Stoptech/Hawk/SPL Camber Arms/KTS/Hotchkis-My track setup impressions
Just wanted to share some pics and a vid from my latest track event. Figured most of you would like the glowing rotors shot.
high res here: GlowingRotors It's my new desktop and I think i'll get this one printed and framed. Too bad it rained on the drive up from Austin and the car was filthy.
VIDEOS:
here's a vid of my car at TMS TMS_Night
And a vid from Hallet 2 weekends ago HallettMotorRacingCircuit
Last Saturday night I attended at solo approved HPDE at Texas Motor Speedway held on the roval (combo of oval and infield road course) hosted by Drivers Edge http://www.thedriversedge.net/
We ran from 6pm till midnight giving us one session before the sun went down and 3 in the dark. There was plenty of light on the oval but the infield was pretty much pitch black. They used cones with reflective tape on them to mark turn in and track out points, but half the time they were no where to be seen as people missed their track out points and punted the cones into the dirt. It was a little unnerving tracking out and not really knowing where the edge of the track was, but it was a rush at the same time. They put a cone chicane on the front straight to slow us down and that's where the glowing rotor pic came from.
Last weekend I drove 9 hours to Oklahoma to try out Hallet Racing Circuit for the first time with the Z Club of Texas. It was my first time running either track. I'll try to post more later on the individual events in the Autox/Track forum but since this post is inteded to be suspension/brake specific I'll post it here.
Car setup is as follows:
-KTS prototype coilovers-running about 1 inch lowered. rear shocks set at 4 clicks from full soft and fronts set to about 10 clicks from full soft.
-SPL front Camber/Caster arms set to -3 camber and 10 caster
-Stock rear arms set to -2 camber.
-Hotchkis Sways set to full stiff front and full soft rear.
-Stoptech 13" front BBK running Hawk HT-10 pads and stock rear single pistons with Hawk Blue pads (I had to upgrade to the Stoptechs after blowing out a caliper seal mid session and catching the caliper on fire) Hope to upgrade the rears soon but the stockers have held up so far.
-SPL solid diff bushings.
-Wheels are 5Zigen FN01RC's, 17x9 +35 and a 3mm spacer in the front. I use this offset as I originally purhcased these wheels for my Z32. I have heard of people running a wheel this size with no issues, but my 275/40 Hoosiers rub the front upright arm without the spacer. I would recommend a lower offset for ideal fitment if you plan to use hoosiers this wide or wider. This combo weighs in at a mere 42lbs.
Impressions:
The car is quite neutral with this setup and a blast to drive. I fought oversteer originally with the 275's front and rear, but with the sway bars and shocks I have been able to dial it to mostly neutral. Most of the oversteer I get now is power oversteer. I guess I need to ease onto the throttle slower or get a better LSD. I'm a little throttle happy anyway so I'm sure most of that is driver error.
This is my 3rd event to run the Hoosiers and 6th or 7th on the SPL arms. Previously I tracked on my street wheels and tires-275/40/17 Kuhmos and Falkens on 17x9.5 5zigen ProRacer GN+'s. I had heard horror stories of tearing up r-compounds in little time without sufficient camber so saved the hoosiers till after I got the front camber arms installed and dialed in. I tested them for 3 or 4 events on street tires and then threw on the hoosiers-first at Motorsport Ranch for ZCON, then Hallett and then again last weekend at TMS. The Hoosiers are the older r3so3's that I've had for a few years now but had only run one event on them with the Z32. They take a few laps to warm up, but once they do hold on! You can throw the car into turns with a ton of speed and it just sticks. The tires don't give any audible warning when you've reached and/or exceeded their limits but the breakaway is very predictable and easily corrected.
The Stoptechs are a huge improvement over stock. As I mentioned, I wasted the stock front calipers in no time(got maybe 3 events out of them with Hawk Blues till the caliper blew).
I've tried a few different pad combinations so far since upgrading to the Stoptechs. Originally I tried out the Ferrodo DS2500's up front and Hawk HP Plus in the rear. This is a sufficient steet/track set up as I didn't experience any major fading, but I did have some pad transfer to the rotors up front causing a nasty vibration and pulsation. I tried the DS2500's twice with the same results. I switched to the HT-10s which I drove on the street for a few days as recommended by Hawk to wear off the pad deposits. I then bed them in and ran them the past two events with no issues and great braking ability. I also used Hawk Blues in the rear as I had an extra set in the garage. The blues wear out quite fast but have great bite. I hope to try HT-10's front and rear next time out.
Verdict: hp plus/ds2500 ok for street or beginner track. If your an aggressive driver, go with the HT-10's or Blues. I will have to try out the Ferrodo DS3000's soon so I can report back on them. They are rated for much higher temps so hopefully they can take a little more abuse than the 2500's. The Stoptechs have allowed me to brake very late and very hard-I now gain a lot of time on people in the braking zones.
I recently added a carbon fiber race seat as I was sick of having the sides of my knees bruised up from trying to hold myself in place in the turns. Now I can sit tight and concentrate on driving vs sliding all over the place. No more using the steering wheel to hold me in place-I can now use it to steer! I plan on adding a roll bar or cage and getting harnesses to hold me even firmer in place. Another highly recommended mod if you track your car.
I love the tossabilty and responsiveness of this car. Whoever thinks the z33 isn't a suitable track car is dead wrong. Admittedly the car wasn't this quick and agile when I first bought it, but I'm very impressed with it's performance in it's current state. The camber arms really helped with quick and precise turn in and have allowed me to get a nice even wear across the tires. I can easily dial the camber out for the street(fronts anyway) so I don't tear up my street tires. The adjustable sway bars and shocks have allowed me to tune out the oversteer and get the most grip out of my tires. The car has very little body roll and is comfortable to drive on the street with my track settings. It always surprises me when I can out corner Elise's, spec Miata's and such and pretty much keep up with vette's in the straights-seems to surprise a lot of them.
I know when I first started taking my z32 to the track I searched endlessly for good info on track setups so just thought I would share my experiences and impressions so far.
Here are a few other pics from the event at TMS.
couple pics of the seats
high res here: GlowingRotors It's my new desktop and I think i'll get this one printed and framed. Too bad it rained on the drive up from Austin and the car was filthy.
VIDEOS:
here's a vid of my car at TMS TMS_Night
And a vid from Hallet 2 weekends ago HallettMotorRacingCircuit
Last Saturday night I attended at solo approved HPDE at Texas Motor Speedway held on the roval (combo of oval and infield road course) hosted by Drivers Edge http://www.thedriversedge.net/
We ran from 6pm till midnight giving us one session before the sun went down and 3 in the dark. There was plenty of light on the oval but the infield was pretty much pitch black. They used cones with reflective tape on them to mark turn in and track out points, but half the time they were no where to be seen as people missed their track out points and punted the cones into the dirt. It was a little unnerving tracking out and not really knowing where the edge of the track was, but it was a rush at the same time. They put a cone chicane on the front straight to slow us down and that's where the glowing rotor pic came from.
Last weekend I drove 9 hours to Oklahoma to try out Hallet Racing Circuit for the first time with the Z Club of Texas. It was my first time running either track. I'll try to post more later on the individual events in the Autox/Track forum but since this post is inteded to be suspension/brake specific I'll post it here.
Car setup is as follows:
-KTS prototype coilovers-running about 1 inch lowered. rear shocks set at 4 clicks from full soft and fronts set to about 10 clicks from full soft.
-SPL front Camber/Caster arms set to -3 camber and 10 caster
-Stock rear arms set to -2 camber.
-Hotchkis Sways set to full stiff front and full soft rear.
-Stoptech 13" front BBK running Hawk HT-10 pads and stock rear single pistons with Hawk Blue pads (I had to upgrade to the Stoptechs after blowing out a caliper seal mid session and catching the caliper on fire) Hope to upgrade the rears soon but the stockers have held up so far.
-SPL solid diff bushings.
-Wheels are 5Zigen FN01RC's, 17x9 +35 and a 3mm spacer in the front. I use this offset as I originally purhcased these wheels for my Z32. I have heard of people running a wheel this size with no issues, but my 275/40 Hoosiers rub the front upright arm without the spacer. I would recommend a lower offset for ideal fitment if you plan to use hoosiers this wide or wider. This combo weighs in at a mere 42lbs.
Impressions:
The car is quite neutral with this setup and a blast to drive. I fought oversteer originally with the 275's front and rear, but with the sway bars and shocks I have been able to dial it to mostly neutral. Most of the oversteer I get now is power oversteer. I guess I need to ease onto the throttle slower or get a better LSD. I'm a little throttle happy anyway so I'm sure most of that is driver error.
This is my 3rd event to run the Hoosiers and 6th or 7th on the SPL arms. Previously I tracked on my street wheels and tires-275/40/17 Kuhmos and Falkens on 17x9.5 5zigen ProRacer GN+'s. I had heard horror stories of tearing up r-compounds in little time without sufficient camber so saved the hoosiers till after I got the front camber arms installed and dialed in. I tested them for 3 or 4 events on street tires and then threw on the hoosiers-first at Motorsport Ranch for ZCON, then Hallett and then again last weekend at TMS. The Hoosiers are the older r3so3's that I've had for a few years now but had only run one event on them with the Z32. They take a few laps to warm up, but once they do hold on! You can throw the car into turns with a ton of speed and it just sticks. The tires don't give any audible warning when you've reached and/or exceeded their limits but the breakaway is very predictable and easily corrected.
The Stoptechs are a huge improvement over stock. As I mentioned, I wasted the stock front calipers in no time(got maybe 3 events out of them with Hawk Blues till the caliper blew).
I've tried a few different pad combinations so far since upgrading to the Stoptechs. Originally I tried out the Ferrodo DS2500's up front and Hawk HP Plus in the rear. This is a sufficient steet/track set up as I didn't experience any major fading, but I did have some pad transfer to the rotors up front causing a nasty vibration and pulsation. I tried the DS2500's twice with the same results. I switched to the HT-10s which I drove on the street for a few days as recommended by Hawk to wear off the pad deposits. I then bed them in and ran them the past two events with no issues and great braking ability. I also used Hawk Blues in the rear as I had an extra set in the garage. The blues wear out quite fast but have great bite. I hope to try HT-10's front and rear next time out.
Verdict: hp plus/ds2500 ok for street or beginner track. If your an aggressive driver, go with the HT-10's or Blues. I will have to try out the Ferrodo DS3000's soon so I can report back on them. They are rated for much higher temps so hopefully they can take a little more abuse than the 2500's. The Stoptechs have allowed me to brake very late and very hard-I now gain a lot of time on people in the braking zones.
I recently added a carbon fiber race seat as I was sick of having the sides of my knees bruised up from trying to hold myself in place in the turns. Now I can sit tight and concentrate on driving vs sliding all over the place. No more using the steering wheel to hold me in place-I can now use it to steer! I plan on adding a roll bar or cage and getting harnesses to hold me even firmer in place. Another highly recommended mod if you track your car.
I love the tossabilty and responsiveness of this car. Whoever thinks the z33 isn't a suitable track car is dead wrong. Admittedly the car wasn't this quick and agile when I first bought it, but I'm very impressed with it's performance in it's current state. The camber arms really helped with quick and precise turn in and have allowed me to get a nice even wear across the tires. I can easily dial the camber out for the street(fronts anyway) so I don't tear up my street tires. The adjustable sway bars and shocks have allowed me to tune out the oversteer and get the most grip out of my tires. The car has very little body roll and is comfortable to drive on the street with my track settings. It always surprises me when I can out corner Elise's, spec Miata's and such and pretty much keep up with vette's in the straights-seems to surprise a lot of them.
I know when I first started taking my z32 to the track I searched endlessly for good info on track setups so just thought I would share my experiences and impressions so far.
Here are a few other pics from the event at TMS.
couple pics of the seats
Last edited by sfarrah; 09-29-2006 at 11:33 AM.
09-29-2006, 07:00 AM
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Originally Posted by Vamos_Rafael
what kind of seats are those?
09-29-2006, 09:00 AM
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I use the seat daily so yeah I'd say it's comfy enough. I drove 9 hours to and from Oklahoma and it wasn't bad.
Seating position is lowered from stock but you can adjust the angle and height somewhat depending on which mounting points you use on the brackets. This gives me a little more headroom with the helmet on and would also lower the center of gravity a little.
Yes I have sliders.
Seating position is lowered from stock but you can adjust the angle and height somewhat depending on which mounting points you use on the brackets. This gives me a little more headroom with the helmet on and would also lower the center of gravity a little.
Yes I have sliders.
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09-29-2006, 11:34 AM
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Originally Posted by mario60185
wtf? You say your set up at full stiff front and full soft front stabilizers? and a few other things dont make sense, double check the specs you posted.
My bad, it should have read "-Hotchkis Sways set to full stiff front and full soft rear."
It was 2am when I finished the post-I've corrected it now.
09-29-2006, 12:36 PM
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Originally Posted by mario60185
Thought so, how did the car react from the change to those settings from the recomended med-med?
