It's been a while since my last post in this thread, mostly because not much of building or journey-ing has happened. I finished residency in peak COVID (yay me) and I have a little more time to play with the car.
Annoyingly, the car has developed a slight click with clutch release and subtle variability in the clutch bite point. I bled the clutch with minimal improvement, but functionally, nothing has been off (no slippage or anything).
In the interim, I bought a new bike though...
IMG_3207.jpg
And took it off-road with my wife.
IMG_3173 2.jpg
Then took it to Bondurant (now Radford), because why not beat on someone else's Hellcat for 50% of the cost????
IMG_2871.jpg
I do have to say, I would have been unhappy if I paid the full amount for what I got. The training really seemed aimed at people who had never ever been to the track before and was painfully slow for the first day. Second day was fine. I guess I came in with different expectations. The Skip Barber school I did a while back was similar and cheaper (not sure if the cost difference is because they were running Miatas at Skippy). The car is gigantic. Feels like the passenger door is in a different zip code. V8 is crazy powerful and the transmission feels super loose and almost sloppy. The gates just seemed like suggestions.
Somewhere in there I did a rainy track day at a tiny circuit in Tucson (Musselman Honda), which is more of an outdoor go-kart and drift track. It was fine, but it basically felt like autocross. Car control learning in the rain was fun though.
Annoyingly, the car developed a slight click with clutch release and subtle variability in the clutch bite point. I bled the clutch with minimal improvement, but functionally, nothing has been off (no slippage or anything). Seems to prefer being warm and being driven aggressively.
The car drove great at my most recent track weekend, but I managed to boil the brakes. I went with the popular recommendation of Carbotech XP8s front and rear, which were great and really didn't fade too badly. Day 1 was up to 90F ambient and Day 2 was ~88F and my oil temp never went above ~250F.
IMG_4428.jpg
My buddy in the red C7 Z06 got popped for sound on the first day sadly.
Went ahead and sprung for a Coolerworx shifter that I had been eyeing for a while. I do wish they had a "pro" version for the Z to get the stiff centering spring, but I'm sure something can be adapted later. And since it's chassis mounted and I was already in there, went for the Z1 trans mount also.
IMG_4463.jpg
IMG_4464.jpg
IMG_4465.jpg
65925337830__1E1454F7-ED61-4A04-9973-7559B6576175.jpg
The shifter w/ the trans mount feel really awesome. Really tight engagement and after sorting out the reverse lockout, it feels great. Definitely some increased NVH, but I don't mind it. It almost feels like you get better "texture" from the throttle/engine. Reminds me of the vibration you get from a motorcycle (a little bit).
Next move is going to be the Enkei RS05RR and some coilovers and all the SPL links and FUCA and such to get the camber and toe back to spec. I don't drive much and want to put some Hankook RS4s on the new wheels for track use. We'll see how this goes.
Edit:
Forgot to add, I threw in the MTEC stiffer shifter springs which made a *very* small difference.