For those who don't surf the motorsports forum, here's a quick video from my outing today at VIR in Virginia. I ran the Full course today and run the Grand course tomorrow (Car and Driver Lightning lap layout for those who know about that yearly outing. Anyways, fun, fast track. I have opportunities for more speed but was learning the course today. I'll load up the video chasing down a new Z28 when I get home... awesome driver, awesome guy and super fun laps

 

so . . . . what's the story on the studs?

oh and yeah cool vid, nice driving . . . ;-)

 

 

3.7:1 Rear end?

 

As I swapped wheels during lunch on Friday to the ones with my good tires, a stud galled essentially seizing the lug to the stud. Had to break it to get it out

And yes I bring spare studs and lugs with me for the off chance I break one! Had it fixed in a couple minutes

Thx - the track was awesome!

 

Yeah 3.73's. I need taller gearing and/or higher rev limiter. But I am still enjoying my powertrain warranty!!

 

And a couple laps of the longer Grand Course! For those who read car and driver, this is their Lightning Lap configuration. I have it my best shot at keeping pace with the NASCAR I let by the lap before

 

Looking good Derek! Does that rear wing help you put power down, earlier on corner exit? Also, I thought I heard some wheel hop, under braking, at the end of the straight?

 

The wing does very little at lower speeds for putting power down. Where I notice it is really only above 90 or so where it starts to make the car feel planted. For instance, on the last turn coming onto the front straight, I would actually go faster if I kept my foot flat on the floor and dialed in more steering as speeds built. Somewhat counter-intuitive, especially on that corner, but my fastest exits there were when I entered feeling like I was going too fast already, but just kept my foot in it.

Then also on the climbing esses - those back and forth transitions were completely un-eventful. The car was just planted. Very different from my experiences last time at Watkins Glen in the esses where the rear just wanted to rotate. I could have pushed harder, but it was pretty intimidating entering at indicated ~133-134 (where I was at by the last session) and carrying 125+ up through the turns. Extremely fast, but very very stable feel.

As is, the car has more in it. I had just 1 day on each layout, and during the Grand course (2nd day) I could tell I was quicker through parts of the Full course layout that overlapped, so I'm confident the car can go faster. This course rewards big power too, so when I finally do headers, exhaust, tune, intake and intake manifold and maybe get some nice lightweight wheels, it'll be significantly faster. Oh and gearing so I stop running out of revs...

 

Not much wheel hop, the tires held well. I'm starting to be a bit limited by the stock Brembo setup, but I still saw -1.1 g's braking regularly!

 

Thanks for the reply. It's amazing to see what the car is capable of, with a stock motor and the suspension and brake upgrades you've made to it.

 

Derek, well done! What a fun track with lots of elevation change.

Good job keeping up with the NASCAR and the Viper with ACR Aero! Now you just need a Voodoo swap to keep up on the straights

 

I'll get right on that engine swap! Haha

Yep track was awesome, I want to go back!!

 

Thanks for sharing the videos! You really have the car dialed in nicely with your mods. Nice driving too!

 

Thanks! The videos get me through the winter off season! Haha

Just bought custom valved double adjustable Koni's to support the race oriented suspension mods for this winter. Headers, tune, intake are all coming for the spring too. The car should be a beast for 2017!!

 

what intake, tune and headers did you end up going with?

 

Gonna go Steeda for tuning. And not sure on the intake and headers yet. They will be purchased by Feb. It's too cold to install anything now!!

I'm watching the parts for sale forums for headers deald