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It has been a couple of months worth of track days and with the cooler weather the car has been performing and feeling pretty amazing. I do have to say that the new gearing has made the car a lot more fun, but certainly has not benefited lap times at Laguna...too many spots where you run out of gear. The Penske suspension has also been fantastic but is not as strong as Tractive at Laguna, at least not the way it is setup.
Most recent track days included open track with PDC at Thunderhill, running the bypass configuration. This was my first time driving "quickly" through this configuration and I ended up with a 1:55.1 on old R1S tires. For comparison, I ran a 1:55.2 with Cyclone (slower version) with new R1S. Here is a video for those that want to see the bypass.
Right after that, we had a glorious Sonoma day with HOD. Sonoma is by far my favorite and I was using new RE71R. In the first two sessions I got the time down to 1:46.2 when my cat O2 bungs fractured, which ended my day. My best at Sonoma on RE71R is a 1:45.1.
Arrival at Sonoma - not as scenic as Laguna, but excited anyway.
It takes quite a bit of effort to squeeze into the Recaro HANS seat at 6'4.
Ended up doing some fun battles with my bud Dave in his GT4. His alignment and setup was not great for this particular day, so had to let me pass!
Battle rages on!
Navigating the "esses" always exciting!
Traffic was amazing on this day. Not many cars and aware drivers.
Special treat! Daughter came to visit and check on my alignment spec!
Oops, something is missing here?
I will say kudos to the Fabspeed guys. They promptly repaired the headers under warranty. Unfortunate incident that ended my day early, but great service non the less.
Last, my video of the 1:46 lap. Watching it now makes me want to go back and try some more!
Next up three projected days to wrap up the year. 1. Speed District at Laguna on November 22, 2. HOD at Sonoma on November 29 and 3. again Speed District at Laguna on December 5.
Having the kids come along is certainly a lot of fun, and they are really into it right now. Ironically they also may be the reason why I may need to take a break from it all
My daughter has been coming to almost every event she she was little. I'm heading to Sonoma on Black Friday and it's the first time she opted not to go. Although, she did come go karting with us and had a blast. There's still hope for a DE kid.
Having the kids come along is certainly a lot of fun, and they are really into it right now. Ironically they also may be the reason why I may need to take a break from it all
I suppose there could be much worse ways of living!
Speaking of tracking, the Speed District event at Laguna was pretty spectacular as always. Low car count and nice weather. I was surrounded by fast GT4s, so was a blast driving together. Here is a quick video of a session chasing each other:
The special treat of the day was my friend Dave getting a new personal best of 1:35.6 on RE71R. For reference Randy Pobst did 1:37.7 on a stock GT4 and I have yet to see a stock-ish GT4 do below 1:37 in general. Dave's car does have the guards gearing and LSD, which obviously has helped the lap times, but still blazing fast! I know it's not GT3 content, but worth seeing the driving.
Hey Adi! Been awhile since we met. Stay safe out there at Sonoma and have a blast. 7 laps in a Flying Lizard RSR scared the crap out of me and ended my driving days at Sears. Too much stuff too hit. I don't have kids to worry about but I also don't want my wife to have to peel me and my car off the wall. Every day I've done at Sears 1 or 2 cars leave on flatbeds headed for parts car heaven. And I don't have the F40 money I used to have when I could write cars off without breaking a sweat. BTW I still keep dreaming about your insanely cool steering wheel. Best JBO
Hey Adi! Been awhile since we met. Stay safe out there at Sonoma and have a blast. 7 laps in a Flying Lizard RSR scared the crap out of me and ended my driving days at Sears. Too much stuff too hit. I don't have kids to worry about but I also don't want my wife to have to peel me and my car off the wall. Every day I've done at Sears 1 or 2 cars leave on flatbeds headed for parts car heaven. And I don't have the F40 money I used to have when I could write cars off without breaking a sweat. BTW I still keep dreaming about your insanely cool steering wheel. Best JBO
Definitely nice meeting you man. Sonoma is a really "manly" track, really need to take risks to go fast; always my favorite. If you still have your car, you get dibs on the steering wheel setup if I ever sell the car. Really like it.
Well this last Sonoma day with HOD in November was pretty unique and "fun". I had used R1S tires and the temperature in the morning was a balmy 28F; I don't think I have ever experienced that kind of cold at the track, at least not here in CA. The first session was more than an adventure as the car generally did not respond to any inputs whatsoever. I think the best time was something like a 1:59.
Session 2 warmed up to mid 40s and the tires found grip, resulting in 1:46 lap time. Unfortunately Sonoma simply does not like my Fabspeed headers and this happened cutting the session short.
Last event my 02 bung fell apart and also cut my day short. I was not pleased as I think a 1:44 was possible on this day due to the cold weather. Regardless, car was loaded back on the trailer!
Fortunately my wife came to visit and brought the Panamera e-hybrid. Jokingly she suggested we take that on the track...and well, don't have to tell me twice! HOD was kind enough to give us some neat numbers.
And we were ready to go!
I was really surprised how well the car did for a 4000lbs + hybrid. In the open passing advanced group the best time was a 1:58 with normal tires. The car handled very well for its size, greatly assisted by the rear wheel steering. Unfortunately once the battery was depleted the fun stopped, as you lose 140+ lb/tq and about 100 hp, but it was a fun experience overall. I will post a video of the session later.
Since I did not want to miss any more days due to exhaust issues, I re-visited my friends and Dundon and ordered a set of catted headers. Jamie, Dundon and I go back a few years and I must say that the quality and fit and finish of the product is much improved, and quite frankly very good at this stage. More importantly for me, they were able to fabricate the set in a timely fashion!
As always Alekshop did the work on the car and did a nice job installing without issues.
I also obtained the COBB tune from Dundon that goes with the headers, but have not had a chance to drive the car yet, so will post impressions later. as well as sound recordings on the track and passing (?!) sound at Laguna.
I will post about a few more maintenance items later the car is prepared for the 2020 season. Cannot wait to get back to the track as it has been 2+ months now.
As a side note, I purchased the Fabspeed headers used from a Rennlist member a while back and I simply think the metal heat cycled out and started to crack/break from the track driving. The Fabspeed guys were very accommodating and have made a number of timely repairs in the past, so I cannot complain about the level of service and attention the part received. At this stage I decided to try something new, similar to switching from Tractive to Penske shocks earlier in 2019.
I regularly track my 997.2 GT3 RS at VIR. My son and I also competed in One Lap last year. We won Stock GT and finished 6th overall.
Late in the summer and fall, I began to see my oil temps creep higher and higher, to the 225-230 area. The car clearly cut power at these temps.
i am planning to address the oil cooler and thermostat later this month, but I was wondering if anyone had tried the Bilt racing sump that adds 2.5 quarts to the oil capacity. Pelican has a 10% off special right now. Anyone with any experience out there?
09-20-2019, 12:29 AM
cutting the session short.
