Building a $50K Track Tool to beat $500K Track Tools

........that should be steverino:wink:
 
whats great about you....you don't mind minor thread derailments...very nice trait which i wish others could embrace:encouragement:
 
So are you swapping tires on your wheels every time?

Which sways are you using exactly? I am confused now. Did you get rid of the Dali ones you first got?
 
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Key word is 'minor' derailments and I try to keep it lite.

back on topic: :wink:

They let us try the NASCAR / Indy Car configuration which is actually a longer but less technical course. It bypasses the carousel and I didn't care for it. Lap times are approx. 15 sec. quicker even tho its a longer course. They kept to that course for G4 only so I had to switch to G3 to get the carousel back. Not quite as many Miatas but still just as many 'moving chicanes'. I doubt I had one clean lap all day without traffic.

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So are you swapping tires on your wheels every time?
Yes - pricey but until I sell all my other wheels and get another set of RSII's, what's a budget weekend track rat to do?

Which sways are you using exactly? I am confused now. Did you get rid of the Dali ones you first got?
Same ones I posted about last week; Dali 1" Trophy bars - front and rear - inner hole front, middle hole rear. Love them!
 
That sounds like an awesome day at the track, good on you for playing the game after the drivers meeting. Instead of slaying the track you could've easily been packed up and cussing the whole way home in time for lunch.

Im excited to try the Dali front trophy bar (thanks again RYU) with the dali 1" rear track bar Ive set it up in the middle hole to have some adjustment either way, tending for more oversteer. Its encouraging to hear your thoughts on the set up, makes me think ill be at a good starting place when i get everything back on the car and can finally get back out there.
 
That sounds like an awesome day at the track, good on you for playing the game after the drivers meeting. Instead of slaying the track you could've easily been packed up and cussing the whole way home in time for lunch.
It took every ounce of restraint on my part to not go 'scorched earth' on that director. The day could have gone so much differently. If that had happened to me 20 years ago, I'd still be banned from NASA events today :mad:

Im excited to try the Dali front trophy bar (thanks again RYU) with the dali 1" rear track bar Ive set it up in the middle hole to have some adjustment either way, tending for more oversteer. Its encouraging to hear your thoughts on the set up, makes me think ill be at a good starting place when i get everything back on the car and can finally get back out there.
That's the same configuration I started the day with and at no time did I feel a need to adjust it. Down the road I will probably increase my spring rates but it is not a priority and I doubt it will have any affect on my lap times.
 
What spring rate and camber are you running now, if I may ask?
You may!:wink: No need to be so formal:very_drunk:

Spring rates are original KWV3 = 350lb. all around.

Camber front: -3.2 deg.
Camber rear: -2.2 deg.

this is my Infineon set-up. For Thunder Hill or other horsepower tracks, I'd back the camber off to -3 deg. & -2 deg.

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I'd hate to see what happened to me, happen to you (destroyed engine from oil starvation in a corner). :(
Sorry to hear about this. what track & what corner? T2 @ Willow Springs come to mind. One of many reasons I don't run there anymore.
 
Sorry to hear about this. what track & what corner? T2 @ Willow Springs come to mind. One of many reasons I don't run there anymore.

No worries...gave me a reason to get my engine rebuilt. It happened at Hallett in Oklahoma in a turned called the "The B*tch." Tough corner.
 
1K2GO - glad to see your set-up is working. The greatest reward after tinkering is to drive a hooked car; those occasions tend to be rare given track conditions etc.

RYU - I agree with you regarding the more often common wisdom posts here noting to go with much softer rear sway bars even some suggesting no sway bar! I transitioned from OEM to Comptech adjustable and now for the last 4 years to the Dali 1" track front/rear with full stiff front in conjunction with Type R braces (upper and lower), middle hole rear. I am using Comptech Pro suspension. The set up is good for my needs and I couldn't be happier for a street/track scenario. And minor changes due to track, or tire compound are noticeable but that is the challenge.

I am not sure going to 1" trophy is warranted if one doesn't have some of the other go fast race goodies that Roberto has .
 
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Hrant you've worded things in a confusing way. What do you mean full stiff front with type R bar? Are you talking about the chassis braces? Are you running your Comptech pro with the springs that came with it?
 
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No worries...gave me a reason to get my engine rebuilt. It happened at Hallett in Oklahoma in a turned called the "The B*tch." Tough corner.


I remember that corner. I almost lost it there in the tl last time I was there. I was on 5th or 6th Lap and I boiled the brakes. tcs saved me on that one.

Ik2go are you using any external oil solution or just the factory oil pump?
 
Hrant - agree! I do like your street/track compromise in your setup. It's really what i'm after. Thanks for everyone's input on here. It's been super helpful. I was telling illwillem, next year I hope to stop tinkering in exchange for more seat time.

For those interested, i'm running on 9k (504lbs) Front Spring Rates and 11k (616lbs) rear spring rates. The manufacturer of my damper actually recommends 14k (784lbs) rear rates. Right now, on the softest setting they ride like a cadillac but when stiff.. they're stiff. Lots of great range to play with. It's also only got one knob (because i'm not smart enough to play with independent rebound and compression settings lol). I think the design goals was similar to how the KW V3s were developed but the implementation is much different. Have all the Type R bracing and R front sway bar but have yet to install the rear non-compliance goodies. Still need to get the alignment locked in and then I think i'll fine tune with sway bars next year.

Talking about Shad...Here's something fun some of you new guys may not have seen yet :)
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_EoiRW1hB-4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

There are a couple more episode with Shad in it. If you search for "American Touge" the Comptech NSX won several early showdowns (episodes 1 or 2 I think..)

BTW.. the suspension i'm using is the brain child of Tsuchiya-san's company. He designed it for his Type R NSX. I really subscribe to his approach to street car tuning which is not to sacrifice street driveability for all out track performance. You'll see this in their amusing cooky way the crazy Japanese score their "showdowns" lol

Can't wait to join you guys on the track soon! I need all the help I can get!
 
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1k2go are you using any external oil solution or just the factory oil pump?
I have an external oil cooler mounted in the right side, rear fender inlet, along with an Accusump and baffled oil pan. Scroll back in this thread to view detailed pics.
 
......

Talking about Shad...Here's something fun some of you new guys may not have seen yet :)


If you look at 13:50 into the video you will notice that this was pretty much all of Comptech's goodies, with Comptech Pro suspension and most likely at the time Comptech's adjustable sway bar (not even the 1" track bar). The blower was the larger Whipple if my recollection is correct. Check the tire selection 225/45/17 with 285/30/18 ...

This red NSX was Kip's second NSX - he originally had a silver one that he was pouring money into but it was giving him fits; perhaps that explains why he used to park at the other end of the paddock alone j/k ... very few know this tidbit LOL!
 
Yep, that's our man Shad. He gets around, doesn't he?

No surprise those Japanese drivers enjoyed his work. That red NSX eventually morphed into the track beast that Shad is patiently piecing back together for Kip.

Btw, they changed out those 7/8ths" CT bars for 1" track bars later. Shad is now fabbing up some 'much larger' bars for the next version of this car. Somewhere north of 1.25".
 
I have an external oil cooler mounted in the right side, rear fender inlet, along with an Accusump and baffled oil pan. Scroll back in this thread to view detailed pics.



My apologies for not reading the whole thread. Do you still drop oil pressure/ worry about starvation with the acusump setup? I guess the only real way to alleviate that setup would be a full drysump?
 
As a rule, I am not looking at my gauges when I'm in sustained g-load, but now you're making me nervous! :confused:

I've tried to take every precaution to sustain the life of my motor. The car ran flawlessly this past weekend. Although oil starvation is always a concern, but so far she's still very happy.
 
Weighty Issues

While she was being tech inspected at the track, I put her up on their SCCA certifird scales. I hadn't weighed her in over a year, just prior to the CTSC install.
She came in at 2850 lbs. with 1/2 tank of gas and all other fluids toped off. Thats 42 lbs. more than she weighed before the CTSC.

I would love to lose another 200 lbs. but I'm not willing to delete my A/C, heater, audio, interior. This is still a "street legal" car and my philosophy of 'drive to the track, kill them all, then drive home" still goes.

Everything else is on the table including:

airbag (wheel & bag are deleted)

TCS

ABS

Suggestions?
 
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