T-Bar Delete with Roll Center correction and Rod ends. COMPLETE!
12-09-2018, 12:10 AM
#271
Burning Brakes
Kind of a long story. I was running 17 x 9" wheels all around, which clearly were a little lacking in the grip department, so I was on a long search to find something wider, which is a challenge with Porsche's oddball 130mm bolt radius. During my search for a suitable set of wheels, Bruce announced he was making his last batch of bars, so, even though I wasn't ready to install one, I bought one of his last ones out of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Soon afterward, I found a set of used BBS 3-piece wheels at a shop that specialized in assembling these wheels out of used components. But as I was waiting for them to finish their racing season, they sold them out from under me. Scumbags. But it had a happy ending, as I ended up going with a new set of Signature SV103's in 17 x 10.5 (I will NEVER race my own car, unless and until I can afford a pit crew to maintain it for me, and since that's never going to happen, I don't have to pay any attention to whether the mods I do to my car fit any particular set of rules) that I got at a very reasonable introductory price. But at the time, the widest streetable track tires I thought were available in 17" were 255/40-17's, which are more stretched on 10.5" wheels than I had anticipated. The wider wheels lowered my lap times, but not by as much as I had hoped. Then I discovered that the Maxxis RC1 comes in a 275/35-17, which is a much better fit for the wheels, but so far I've only done one session, on the "beginner's" configuration of the track. I didn't even time myself, but the tires feel amazing, and I was easily passing cars I could barely keep up with before, so I think I've finally got the wheel/tire situation nailed. But then the floods hit, followed by Thanksgiving, so the track has been closed for over a month. I don't want to change too many things at one time, so before I go through the extensive (and hopefully final) round of suspension mods that include the install of Bruce's bar, I want to get fully acclimated to the much higher level of grip afforded by the new wheels and tires. A lot depends on the weather, but I hope to tackle this (for me) ambitious project sometime in early 2019.
Oh, and I'm afraid I don't have the foggiest idea what pressure I have in the canisters. One of my struts developed a leak, which I had repaired at a place call Inertia Labs in Dallas (great company - I highly recommend them for any shock or strut work), and I asked them if the nitrogen ever needs to be refilled or topped up (they said it's rare), but I didn't ask about the pressure. But honestly, I want to get all the other suspension settings (front and rear roll center, spring rates, roll bar stiffness) optimized, and see how that impacts the compression and rebound settings. I suspect they will want to move away from their current full soft settings as a result of no longer being my only line of defense against the highly compromised set of settings that I'm living with now.
Oh, and I'm afraid I don't have the foggiest idea what pressure I have in the canisters. One of my struts developed a leak, which I had repaired at a place call Inertia Labs in Dallas (great company - I highly recommend them for any shock or strut work), and I asked them if the nitrogen ever needs to be refilled or topped up (they said it's rare), but I didn't ask about the pressure. But honestly, I want to get all the other suspension settings (front and rear roll center, spring rates, roll bar stiffness) optimized, and see how that impacts the compression and rebound settings. I suspect they will want to move away from their current full soft settings as a result of no longer being my only line of defense against the highly compromised set of settings that I'm living with now.
12-09-2018, 10:06 AM
#272
Race Car
Out of the front engine water cooled classes, probably 90% of all racers, show up alone or at maximum, with one family member.
No crew.
I think venturing outside your normal track would be an important learning experience for you.
Surfaces, conditions, configurations all vary, some fluid, so you learn more to just adapt and drive the setup you have at that given time and place.
There are times where we discuss changes and decide to just leave some settings alone and by Sunday, the track comes to us instead of us chasing settings all weekend.
A driver who can do this will beat a driver who has to have every technical aspect tweaked to the nth degree every time.
There is no way you will ever get a car to be perfect on every entry, every exit of every track.
Not with a whole crew of engineers.
T
No crew.
I think venturing outside your normal track would be an important learning experience for you.
Surfaces, conditions, configurations all vary, some fluid, so you learn more to just adapt and drive the setup you have at that given time and place.
There are times where we discuss changes and decide to just leave some settings alone and by Sunday, the track comes to us instead of us chasing settings all weekend.
A driver who can do this will beat a driver who has to have every technical aspect tweaked to the nth degree every time.
There is no way you will ever get a car to be perfect on every entry, every exit of every track.
Not with a whole crew of engineers.
T
12-10-2018, 12:14 AM
#273
Burning Brakes
Even doing something as (relatively, in racing terms) low key as club racing would be a massive undertaking for me. First, I would have to buy a trailer, and a truck. I don't have room for either, so I would also have to buy a new house. I currently commute in a vanpool, which I would probably have to give up after moving, which means I would also have to by another car to commute to work in, since I wouldn't want to use a large truck for that. I knew all this before I started doing the mods to my car, so I didn't pay any attention to any class rules - I just bought all the best stuff I could afford. I would have to undo a lot of that to make my car class legal, making all those mods a waste of money. So, it would cost me a bare minimum of half a million dollars to get into any form of racing with my car. For that amount of money, I could spend a decade doing what I really want, which is the following:
https://simracewaydrivingschool.com/...g-series-2018/
Ignoring the enormous financial impact of going racing in my car, the even bigger factor is the massive amount of time needed to keep a race car, particularly one closing in on 30 years old, running. I have nothing but admiration for you guys who do this, but no thanks. For me, it's arrive and drive all the way. In the meantime, my car is serving as a training tool, and it fills that role quite well. Most of the cars that do sessions are Driveway Austin are high dollar new cars, and I can keep up with, and often pass, most of them, which is very gratifying, and a ton of fun.
As far as the benefits of going to different tracks, you're about the 50th person who has pointed this out to me, lol. I get it, but at the same time, Driveway Austin is so dang convenient - it's literally two miles form where I work, so I can drive my car to work, and do a session over lunch. It's only 18 miles from my house, making it very accessible on weekends as well. Venturing out to other tracks, as beneficial as I recognize this would be, is a pain in the butt, and would involve very long drives in a car that's morphed into more of a track toy that a street car, and at a minimum would require a new set of wheels, meaning I would have to lug my track wheels and tires to the track, and change them there. Then there are hotels, eating out, etc., which just isn't worth it to me. Even if I stick with DEs only, it just isn't worth the hassle of driving hundreds of miles to try out different tracks. I just got my Aim data acquisition system, which includes analog sensors for throttle position, brake pressure, and steering angle (I built the steering angle sensor myself), up and running, so my focus over the coming months, in parallel with the suspension project I outlined earlier, will be to have a pro driver at Driver Austin set some baseline laps in my car, and use the DA to understand where I have the most opportunity to improve, and work on how to close the gap between me and him.
https://simracewaydrivingschool.com/...g-series-2018/
Ignoring the enormous financial impact of going racing in my car, the even bigger factor is the massive amount of time needed to keep a race car, particularly one closing in on 30 years old, running. I have nothing but admiration for you guys who do this, but no thanks. For me, it's arrive and drive all the way. In the meantime, my car is serving as a training tool, and it fills that role quite well. Most of the cars that do sessions are Driveway Austin are high dollar new cars, and I can keep up with, and often pass, most of them, which is very gratifying, and a ton of fun.
As far as the benefits of going to different tracks, you're about the 50th person who has pointed this out to me, lol. I get it, but at the same time, Driveway Austin is so dang convenient - it's literally two miles form where I work, so I can drive my car to work, and do a session over lunch. It's only 18 miles from my house, making it very accessible on weekends as well. Venturing out to other tracks, as beneficial as I recognize this would be, is a pain in the butt, and would involve very long drives in a car that's morphed into more of a track toy that a street car, and at a minimum would require a new set of wheels, meaning I would have to lug my track wheels and tires to the track, and change them there. Then there are hotels, eating out, etc., which just isn't worth it to me. Even if I stick with DEs only, it just isn't worth the hassle of driving hundreds of miles to try out different tracks. I just got my Aim data acquisition system, which includes analog sensors for throttle position, brake pressure, and steering angle (I built the steering angle sensor myself), up and running, so my focus over the coming months, in parallel with the suspension project I outlined earlier, will be to have a pro driver at Driver Austin set some baseline laps in my car, and use the DA to understand where I have the most opportunity to improve, and work on how to close the gap between me and him.
12-10-2018, 09:57 AM
#274
Race Car
LOL, yep, that's pretty complicated.
It's all about the fun anyway and mechanically sorting it all out to make the most out of what you have and it sounds like you have both of those covered.
The expenses can be pretty hefty sometimes. A run for us to Sebring for example is 4 nights stay, etc. but the way I think about the eating out is, well, you have to eat even if you are at home.
Maybe down the road, you can rent a 1/2 ton truck and Uhaul trailer for a few hundred and venture out.
T
It's all about the fun anyway and mechanically sorting it all out to make the most out of what you have and it sounds like you have both of those covered.
The expenses can be pretty hefty sometimes. A run for us to Sebring for example is 4 nights stay, etc. but the way I think about the eating out is, well, you have to eat even if you are at home.
Maybe down the road, you can rent a 1/2 ton truck and Uhaul trailer for a few hundred and venture out.
T
