Where's the airflow for the rear mounted diff cooler coming from? Window scoops? very nice.. starting to look like a serious race car.


Also, you should start playing with your sideskirts. They can add some df and stability with little aero drag cost.

Looks good travis. Nice talking to you yesturday.

Wow! That has come a long way! Been a while, looks like your staying busy. Good job bud!

Thanks guys

Raul, yes, scoops... will play around with side skirts and under body next year

Lou, yup, here's a better picture from this weekend of the little guy hanging out in daddy's trailer
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...jb/Grant_5.jpg

Man, it seems like he is giving you "the look" in that one! The car looks great Travis, it would be really cool if you found a functional design for the rear splitter.

I smell wind tunnel time...

ha. I wish! We had a wind tunnel at my undergrad university but I have no idea where I could get reasonably priced access to one in Arizona

Umm, one of the biggest weapons development firms is there. They do a whole lot of aero testing on their rockets and such, I'd check there. I have a friend that used to work there until recently...maybe he can give me a better idea. Company is Raytheon Missile Systems.

I know them... I'll check in with my aero expert at work and see what he thinks

Like the "Drives: into tire walls!" haha

Got pics of the damage?

picture a scraped up silver fascia with silver duct tape! lol... the good news is that there was no damage beyond the fascia itself... on an airplane using gogo right now, so no pics

hey redline time attack just announced their new schedule... very much a western us thing this year... firebird is 10 mins from my house... not sure my car is compatible with any of the new series rules but I'll be sure to check it out

Willow Springs Raceway March 5th-6th
Firebird International Raceway April 9th – 10th
Auto Club Speedway May 28th – 29th
Thunderhill Raceway June 18th & 19th
Willow Springs Raceway July 2nd – 3rd
Buttonwillow Raceway July 23rd – 24th
Miller Motorsports Park August 27th & 28th
Portland International Raceway September 23rd – 25th
Auto Club Speedway October 8th & 9th
Las Vegas Motor Speedway November 5th – 6th

I seem to comply with these rules
Latest Draft of the Rules - MotoIQ - MotoIQ - Forums - Motorsports (No lame *** street racing stories) - MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship

in fact, the rules seem to fit my car to a tee! I can't find a single modification I'd need to make except would just need to get some 245/275 tires to run it... I would have to ballast about 250 pounds to meet the "TU" weight/power ratio of 12:1... there'd be no way I could get down to the 8:1 ratio of "TO"

scratch that... this one may be an issue

"The suspension cross members cannot be replaced, repositioned or altered beyond the scope of these rules."

Big thanks to Pete at BC Racing! He's hooking me up with a new set of 16kg rear swift springs that will allow me to drop down the rear ride height and hopefully get control of the ABS ice mode situation... also received new F3R and Mintex Xtreme pads from the boys at Stillen! Hope to have all these installed for this weekend's event at Inde Motorsports Ranch in Wilcox, AZ http://www.indemotorsports.com/site/

very nice!

I stumbled across this post and have spent the last week reading it. Wow! Thanks for sharing this was incredible!

Question. In your search for power to weight ratio what is the hesitation to forced induction. For me I see a big price tag, but with what you probably have in this I am curious as to your reasoning?

Appreciate you reading it all!

To sum it up, one of my main goals with this car is to have a reliable racer that I can use to learn on, and have a shot at being competitive, and to progress with the car at a steady pace / with my own skills. I'm nearly there at the amateur levels of time trial... forced induction is sexy and would allow me flexibility to move up into higher classes, but has drawbacks... first is reliability - my racing mentors tell me that I would need to keep a spare motor and plan to use it within a season if running a TT setup. I'm not interested in spending $10K per year on motors. second, maturity... the TT and SC setups will continue to be refined and some folks are already blazing the trail of testing them at the track... there are kinks being worked out in the tuning software, fuel systems, etc... third, respecting my limits... I think a lot of amateur drivers jump too quickly into high HP cars b/c they want to go faster... but the reality is higher HP doesn't make you a better driver... bottom line, I'm not ready for a 500 whp and <3,000lb racecar! it's fine on GT5, not yet in real life

One final note, I'm usually running with NASA... my car just barely fits into the "TTA" class... it's a good spot to be in and I plan to tweak the living --- out of the car until it can win there... eventually, will move into "TTS" which has no limitations on aero or other mods (basically) except a power/weight cap that should allow me to run ~325whp and ~3,100 lbs with driver, on race slicks. I'm at 300whp now - I believe I can get to 325whp without FI.

My mind is not entirely made up, but you can see where my head is at right now

Happy holidays all!

Thanks. I hope to be getting into amateur driving this year myself. Though staying way more stock than you. Not planning on being real competitive just something to enjoy a few times a year at local events. I don't really know the classes but have picked up some things from this thread.
Good luck to you!

good... you've got the right idea - first couple years at the track focus on learning and fun... and as you suggest, this car is fine stock plus add oil cooler, brake pads, high temp brake fluid, and at some point you might think about having a dedicated set of wheels/tires for track - otherwise you're ready to roll! have fun!

Had a few sessions at Phoenix Intl Raceway over the weekend... changes for this weekend were

- lowered 0.5 inches front and 1.25 inches rear to try and shift balance rearwards (and help with ABS icing issue)
- switched pads... less aggressive mintex xtreme in rear, again to help with ABS icing
- unfortunately also in the process of first two, ended up with malfunctioned ABS and so did my sessions with no ABS!
- ran in TTA trim - no aero except rear wing

I ended up a second off my pace from the last visit to same track... without ABS, I was driving just a bit more conservatively... but times were consistent, fast laps in each session were all within 0.2 seconds

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5202/...56e3f996_z.jpg

Next steps... I found a mechanic I trust that is going to go through the car meticulously and shave weight off the car - I can take about 125 pounds off the car and still make class... I also need to continue working through the fuel starvation issue - need to continue to work this with richard at nohotwire... I had to carry 8+ gallons the whole time and got starvation near end of every session... may also try tweaking alignment and suspension setup a bit... other than that, I'm running out of ideas to make this car go faster in "NASA TTA trim"!

okay so not really "hot journal action" but here's some hot virtual racing action! :)



this is "iRACING" and I just realized that they have my "home track" of phoenix international raceway... may have to try this out! any of you our there using iRACING - would appreciate if you'd chip in your thoughts

I use iRacing to learn tracks and even to refine my skills at a given track. The tracks are incredibly accurate, but the problem is there isn't much in the way of production race cars. I like driving the C6.R around, that thing is such a beast. The steering feedback is a little lacking, they could do better in this department given that in a simulator it is one of your primary senses.

I use GTR2 sometimes. iRacing is fun too though.

I race in a GTR2 league which is a lot of fun. GTR2 has better car choices but mostly international tracks, not as many accurate US tracks to learn from.

Nice to see some fellow iRacers in here. I'm one of the poor souls in the 100% Club. :icon17:

Chris, I have a buddy that does GTR2 leagues too, he's pretty good. We should all play together one night. I usually host the server. Do you have any mods for it installed? We were racing JGTC cars the other night on Suzuka. We use ventrilo to chat while we play.

I have a clean install for the league racing as they use their own car and track pack, and have a couple of other side by side installs with various mods. Haven't tried the JGTC cars, will have to check it out. I'm set up for Ventrillo too. Biggest problem lately has just been time :(

Same here man, I have everything but time.

Do you have the Champ car Lola mod? That is my favorite. Champ car + nurburgring track from GTR Evo = win.

you probably realize this but they are talking up a forthcoming upgrade on the 'tire model' that should make steering response and car physics much more realistic... more of a bottoms up model based on physics of tire compound vs current empirical approach to modeling car dynamics... video



PS Travis 79,561 Raul 79,557 :icon23: :icon17:

PPS picked up freshly painted Stillen fascia and powder coated rear diffuser tonight! :)... I think I'll run the next PIR event in TTS trim with full aero and sticky tires - just for kicks

Chuckwalla raceway this weekend as well... pics forthcoming

When you get it on let's do a blog post!

That'd be great. Just so you know the dive planes / canards were permanently attached so may not be the best for marketing purposes

pictures or death.

Dude it's a race car.. we love race cars.. let's do it..

I'm betting half of each thread is travis and raul looking at each others ****.. :icon18:

um, pictures please alex! lol

deal!

in which case he's winning?! damn!

hahaha, I've, admittedly, been in here once or twice before.

Terrific day at the track! one of those days that makes me really love this Z! For starters, I was able to shave ~4 seconds off my time at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. Dropped from 2:03 to 1:59 and change, finally breaking the 2 min barrier! :) I believe the course record for a production car is held by a new Z06 w/ slicks is 1:53.xx. My 1:59 was on NT01s, so I think it is feasible that I could close that gap with the right setup. How sweet would that be for a 370z to own a track record?! Slicks should be worth 3-4 seconds, then perhaps 1 second in weight and 1 sec in balls!... :tup:

As a bonus, there were some really cool cars at the track... I got to pass a fleet of mustang challenge racecars... credit to the drivers, they were on street tires, so must have been frustrating to have me buzzing around them... a couple of them wanted my group to hang out until the next day when their Porsche cup cars would show up so they'd have a better shot at us... I also go to drive with and overtake the new Ferrari 458 Italia and a Lotus two-eleven. Yes, I realize this is useless without video! Sorry!!! My traqmate is at the factory being repaired... I'll post some pictures up later once they are processed by CaliPhotography.

Got lots of compliments on the new Stillen fascia. Some folks recognized it by name - so clearly Josh your magazine ads and what-not are making an impression. I'm very happy with it overall. Pros: the front hangs just a bit higher than OEM which leaves more clearance for my splitter, creates a lot more room for cooling components - helpful even for NA cars, perfect setup to create brake duct cooling, looks great... The only con is that it weighs ~4-6 pounds more than OEM, but I would recommend regardless

The rear diffuser is now powder coated black and I trimmed down the vertical fins to a rounded 5" max... before they extended as much as 7.5" It now looks much more integrated on the car...

I have to say that lowering this car works wonders on a fast track. I am now dropped about as low as you'd ever want to go and will prob bring it back up 1/4" in rear, but it has definitely helped with carrying speed through corners and corner exit speed

Next up... a shop I trust has agreed to go on the hunt for the next 100 pounds! that would be so sweet! we have some ideas on where to get it - I'll be reporting back on that soon... will be gutting the hood / latches and replacing headlights with blanks, for example... all NVH stuff is going to be nix'ed

The AP Racing brakes are still great... and the new pads are fantastic... but I'm not getting the most out of them for two reasons... 1) my ABS is disabled right now, which given my improvement in time maybe I should keep it this way??? 2) one of the front rotors is severely warped and when I brake there is a major shimmy through the steering wheel... going to need a new set of front rotors... Josh!!!!??? :)

Also, given the planned weight reduction, I am very tempted to get some Hoosier 80s and run my next PIR event in NASA TTS trim... goal would be to get into the 1:05s... we'll see!

For those that want to learn more about this great track...

CVR is the first new California road course since 1961. Designed as a private club (think Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch), and situated on 1,100 fenced-in acres, the final build-out will include 2 additional tracks, a clubhouse, pool, lots of garages, viewing stands, RV parking and every other amenity a private club should have. But all that fancy stuff is still in the minds of the builders. At the moment, all you’ll find when you drive through the front gate is an open paddock area, the foundation for a fuel farm (diesel, unleaded & race fuels, to be up and flowing in 2 weeks), hot pit and a 2.7 mile ribbon of perfect, black asphalt. The track surface is a marvel of modern engineering, 40 feet wide and absolutely seamless. It was graded and compacted and constructed of materials meeting or exceeding FAA runway standards. The entire 2.7 miles was laid and rolled in one day by 3 machines running abreast. Hence, no seams. Boasting safe operations in either direction, the track has 4 decent straights, 17 turns, lovely curb rolls, a few elevation changes, and abundant safe run-off areas when things get hairy. The track is not super fast, but it is technical enough to keep things interesting. Running clockwise and coming out of a 1000 foot straight, Turns 8-9-10 are tricky/technical, with a blind, uphill late apex off-camber turn that quickly captures a driver’s attention and demands precision if he wants to a) stay on the course; and b) fully exploit the track’s longest (at 1330 feet) straight that immediately follows. Turn 13 is a 10 degree banked bowl with a radius much more generous than Buttonwillow’s, and is a good test of car and driver as you set up for a few finishing high-speed turns and your run to the front straight. (I can’t wait to someday read Billy Johnson’s “driver’s notes” on this track. Cricket would be very happy here.) CVR President and Co-Founder, Mickey Grana, claims the track record (1:53:xxx) in his banana yellow Z06. But the track is still brand spanking new, so I have no doubt his record will fall before too long. CVR is located outside Desert Center, the approximate geographic epicenter between L.A. and Phoenix west and east, and Las Vegas and San Diego north and south. I’d be lying if I said Desert Center was anything other than a ghost town. During WWII, General Patton trained his troops here in anticipation of the invasion of North Africa, and I suspect the place has been going downhill ever since the last tank departed. But if CVR’s build-out proceeds according to project projections, Desert Center could well rise from the ashes and become a destination resort location. Well, maybe not “resort,” but at least decent enough to spend a comfortable racing weekend.

Congrats Travis! The track sounds beautiful.

I'm glad that new tracks are getting built, it's a risky business in this economy. Despite that though there is a new one 50% complete 100 miles from my house and another one in the planning phases. Most of them seem to be getting built as private clubs unfortunately, which reduces the ability for other racing clubs to rent the facility once they reach full membership. That just happened at Monticello Motor Club in NY. Oh and to apply for membership you get turned down unless you have a net worth over $1m. At least the new track that is getting built doesn't seem to be targeting the super rich.