GT400: Winter Testing-CLOSED

[fndrbndr]

It's an early morning.  Fndr is just rolling out of bed when his cell rings.  It's a familiar voice on the other end, but it takes a second for it to register.

Fndr:  Hello?

Voice:  Hey, how's life in Tally?

Fndr:  Pretty good, how are you?  Wait...what?

Voice:  Haven't gotten to hang out much lately, how ya been?

Fndr:  Wait..um....Doc?

Doc:  Yeah.  Figured you'd recognize my voice sooner or later.

Fndr:  I'm good.  How are you?

Doc:  Oh, I'm good.  You got your shop set up yet?  I saw something about you doing some spec racing.

Fndr:  Yeah, I ran in the Clio Cup.  What have you been up to?

Doc:  Oh, not a lot.  We're headed into town for a few days over the break, and I got to thinking.  Do you remember that Open B-class car we built up?

Fndr:  The 2000GT?  Yeah.  Bit of a trial by fire, but I had a blast.

Doc:  How did you like running endurance racing?

Fndr:  I liked it fine, if you mean that Maple Valley race we ran over spring break.  Why?  What are you up to?

Doc:  Well, right now, I'm beer shoppin', but in about an hour, we can start looking at stuff on Craigslist and try and find us a donor.  I heard you were running some kind of A-class car.  Going pro?

Fndr:  Not exactly, but kinda.  I figured after spec racing, it would be good to go to cars we can build however we see fit.  It's RWD, A-class, 300-400 hp.

Doc:  No weight limit?

Fndr:  It's kinda baked into that A-class limit.  You can only be so light and still hit 300 hp.  I thought about that.

Doc:  Well, I tell ya what.  Meet me over on Tennessee Street, and we'll ride around a little while.  I wanna pick up a few cars and start working.  You still like those monster burritos?

Fndr:  Wait, does that mean you're in town now?

Doc:  Either that, or I got way more ponies than the salesman let on in this F150.  Yeah, Janice is on a winter cruise with the Red Hat Society, and I just got out of an interview.  I finished up that MA, and I'm gonna do policy work with the state for a while. 

Fndr:  Hell yeah, man.  So what's all this about testing?

Doc:  Well, we're both off for a while.  I figure we pick up a couple of donors, give 'em the ole Tiny Terror treatment, and take us a little road trip.  How's Sebring and Daytona sound?

Fndr:  Sounds fine to me.  Gotta get dressed, and I'll meet you at the mexican place in an hour.

Doc:  No shoes, no shirt, no service.

Fndr:  Yeah, I guess pants are kinda implied.  (rummaging through hamper)  Maybe an hour and a half...

The Spec:
RWD
A850
300-400 hp
Yes, the cars must have a minimum of 300hp

The tracks:
Sunset Peninsula (AKA Daytona)
Sebring Full

[Open2nd]

Its looking like the Holidays will be a bit busier than I'd expected here, but I hope to have a few cars show up sometime today.  I figure its roughly a 12-13 hour trip from here to Daytona, maybe 9 if I boogie.

[bimmerlovere39]

Oh lordy... we're gonna need a bigger trailer!

[fndrbndr]

Yeah, this is why pro racing is so expensive.

Well, one of the reasons, anyway...

[Open2nd]

I got to run the Rain-X RX-8 on a four lap race at the 'Ring yesterday.  Even after a shunt from a 22B set me off-course, I was able to track down and pass a PLOP tuned 300ZX from a 2,000+ meter lead.

That session gave me a pretty good idea of what tire wear and fuel consumption looks like.  I was able to pit after the first lap to repair engine damage, and ran the last 3 pit-free.

It was a nice bit of change in the ole pocket too, recouped a little bit of the money spent in the testing of the final build. 

I've got to admit though, that I'm a bit worried about a few of these Euro rockets that have entered.  They're really going to test my own and the 8's mettle.

[bimmerlovere39]

E46 M3 - Heidi
Sebring: 128.425
Sunset: 90.705

[fndrbndr]

The guys are in the paddock at Sebring.  Fndr is under a new Mustang GT while Doc goes over some telemetry on the laptop.

Doc:  Ya know, that thing just doesn't like the curbs.

Fndr:  What's that?

Doc:  The RX-7 just doesn't like the curbs here.  Maybe we should take a look at the shocks.

Fndr:  Sounds good.  I'm just about done here.

Doc:  Good.  That final drive is just a little tall.  Did you switch to a taller fourth while you were in there?

Fndr:  I'm gonna try it like this first.  Just switching the final drive may fix the problem.  I wanna have peak hp at the end of the straights.  If I'm under about 5600 RPM's, then I'm just wasting time shifting.

Doc:  Good point.  Now about the RX-7...It may be the choice for the series, but it's not too hot here.  You need to get a longer fourth gear.  You're hitting the limiter at the end of a couple of straights.  I'll get it while we're out for lunch.  I don't want to mess with the final drive, though, because the launch out of the slow corners is beautiful.  You might be losing a tenth to that limiter.  What do you want to eat?

Fndr:  I don't, really.  I guess I should, though.  Grab me a burger while you're out, if you don't mind?

Doc:  Sure.  I'll make a call about those gears we need, too.

Fndr:  See if you can find out why the RX-7 isn't getting beaten worse at Daytona.  I can't figure it out.

Doc:  Drag?

Fndr:  I dunno, maybe.  Oh well.  I'll get the RX-7 Hoisted up, so we can get everything switched out as soon as you're back.

Doc:  Bacon and Cheese, no onions, right?

Fndr:  That'll work.  Thanks.

The times:

RX-7
Sebring 129.952
Daytona 90.984

Mustang GT
Sebring 128.537
Daytona 91.160


As an aside, thanks to Spiny, Pete, and Bimmer for a great test/tune session.

[Open2nd]

Rain-X RX-8
Sebring: 128.225
Sunset: 90.438

I hate the warmup period for these Pirelli slicks, they don't come in until around lap 4-5 on most tracks, and in the normal random room, that's the last lap.  This car is solid just about anywhere really, enough so that it should be winning more in these shorter races, but the tires just aren't there.

[fndrbndr]

Have you tried going to a heavier rim and a grippier slick for online racing?  I almost always use Goodyears for my online racers and hotlappers. 

[bimmerlovere39]

I run light wheels and grippy tires 

[sk15kev]

Only managed Sunset so far, was finishing off on Maple Valley.

My E46 Ralf on a low aero setting went around Sunset at 90.080. Will update when I do Sebring.

E46
Sunset - 90.080
Sebring - 128.654

Also would like to run Masarati GS, Toyota MR2, 350Z GT, Ferrari F355, Shelby Series 1 & Supra RZ which are built and ready to go.  Don't know how much time I will get over XMas though.

[Open2nd]

I've not tried a different build combo with the current setup, but I may build out another version for the shorter sprint style races I typically run.

I'm always iffy about changing a build that's working well for me, even if it doesn't fit certain needs.

Besides, this whole situation would be easily solved if more hosts ran longer races, but its quite rare to find a room ready for more than a 10 minute race...

Anyways, I love my Pirellis.

[Spiny Anteater]

As fndr said above, we had a good testing session with Bimmer and Pete (and later Snyder) - it certainly gave an indication of how the cars performed. Pete's GTO is certainly looking strong at Sebring - I really struggled to hold onto it around there. That said, I think the GTO with it's stock 395bhp will always be strong in this spec at the fast tracks, but I suspect that it will be slower on the twisty stuff. Certainly mine ran a good half a second a lap faster than the Miura which more usually ran 2:08's and had a best in the mid 2:07's. But my GTo will get eaten alive on tracks like Laguna so I think I'll stick with it. It can't keep up with Snyder's R5 on the twisty tracks either, but seems to be a good all-round car which must be a good thing on enduro races.

One thing which did surprise me was the performance of the Miura at Sunset. For the first race I forgot to change the aero, so ran it at 80% of maximum as at Sebring. The best time was a 1:29.4. Then I "improved" the aero tuning by setting it to 50% of maximum. While i wasn't losing as much time to Pete on the straight I ended up much slower over the whole lap with a best of 1:30.6.

That surprised me immensely as I would have thought the long main straight at Sunset would have overcome any losses though the corners for the lower aero. Granted I was well above the red-line in 6th with the 50% aero, but even so a second a lap is a lot to be losing. With the car being easier to drive at 80% and the race being long enough to mean consistency is key, I think I'll be running mroe downforce rather than less on most tracks. Even Sunest, which is not what I had planned to do before last night.

[sk15kev]

Porsche 996 GT3

Sunset - 90.085
Sebring - 127.647

Def a contender for me.

[Snyder005]

Ran the Renault as a ghost to try and find a car to match it, and it laps amazingly fast, though gets stomped on at Sunset Infield.  Still pretty fast if I can get a clean lap.

Sunset/Daytona: 89.893