TravisJB Track Video

travisjb

Location/Event: 13-June @ Firebird International Raceway - East Track... NASA AZ event... ~85F... HPDE4 run group
Mods: Stillen (G3 Intake/Headers/HFCs/Cat-back/UD Pulley/Sway Bars), BC Racing ER Series Coilovers, JWT Flywheel and Clutch
Wheels & Tires: Stock/Street
Sponsors: Redline Motorsports, Forged Performance, Doubledown Motorsports

Had 3 very enjoyable track sessions today! FIR East is a short twisty track, with plenty of run-off room, so it is great to run while tuning and getting used to a car. Of which, you may notice a couple missed shifts etc, so let's just keep that to yourself huh ?! Fast lap of the day was 1:06.4, which I am very happy with. A 911 GT3RS ran ~0:59, which was the fastest car at the track today. Fastest car in the race group I will eventually run with (NASA PTA) was 1:02. Overall, I think with weight reduction, sticky tires, and some tweaks to improve braking, I should be competitive at this track. NOTE: my camera is currently in a less than ideal location, so you may be a little disappointed with the video. Will be fixed by next track day. If you want to skip to my fastest lap, go to video 2 and find lap #4. AND TURN YOUR SOUND UP!!!!

In reverse order, here is my 3rd and final session:


2nd session:



1st session:



IMPRESSIONS AND NEXT STEPS:

• Oil cooling... this continues to be a problem, even with the single core Stillen setup... good news is I never went into limp mode... bad news is I routinely hit 280 and peaked near 290 in a later session... really looking forward to my dual core setup, which is coming soon !!
• Suspension... coilovers are performing well... and the car is cornering very flat... I played with the rebound settings a bit but didn't put effort into tuning today... next time out will be corner balanced and perfectly set up and that'll be the time to try and dial in the settings
• Power... for this short track, I had ALL THE POWER I NEEDED... when I timed it right, had no trouble keeping up with newer M3s and various race cars... I'm going to address the power/weight issue through further weight savings and will prob stop investing in +HPs... I think with 200 lbs off, I could have saved 1.0-1.5 seconds
• Brakes... continue to be an issue... I'm confident that with ideal braking I could have dropped 1.0-2.0 seconds
• Tires... remarkably good and controllable for stock tires... these are fun to drive... I'm sure I don't have too much left though ! ... move to sticky tires should buy me 2.0 seconds at this track
• Carbonetic diff... very pleased with this! I'm still new to mech diffs and trying to learn how to use it well, but when I played around with my corner exit speed, I found I was able to pretty much floor it coming out of turns and at worst I had very controllable oversteer, at best it sailed out of the corners!
• JWT clutch/flywheel... this is a no-brainer... if you have the $, do it... makes driving much more smooth!
• Summary... feeling pretty good about the car... I think with just a little more work, I may be able to turn a 1:02 or better at this track

__________________
2009 370Z #104
*For Sale*

RCZ

• Quote:

  Oil cooling... this continues to be a problem, even with the single core Stillen setup... good news is I never went into limp mode... bad news is I routinely hit 280 and peaked near 290 in a later session... really looking forward to my dual core setup, which is coming soon !!

I had a similar experience...although I dont remember any 290's. More like 260-270. Lots of WOT at that track though..

• Quote:

  Suspension... coilovers are performing well... and the car is cornering very flat... I played with the rebound settings a bit but didn't put effort into tuning today... next time out will be corner balanced and perfectly set up and that'll be the time to try and dial in the settings

Good to hear the BC's are doing their job well!

• Quote:

  Power... for this short track, I had ALL THE POWER I NEEDED... when I timed it right, had no trouble keeping up with newer M3s and various race cars... I'm going to address the power/weight issue through further weight savings and will prob stop investing in +HPs... I think with 200 lbs off, I could have saved 1.0-1.5 seconds

Same experience here. Most cars couldnt pass me outright on the straights, it was the corners that were the issue haha. I kinda want to start taking some weight off myself... Will focus on that once my suspension is done. How did your alignment settings behave? What were they? What would you do differently?

• Quote:

  Brakes... continue to be an issue... I'm confident that with ideal braking I could have dropped 1.0-2.0 seconds

+1

• Quote:

  Tires... remarkably good and controllable for stock tires... these are fun to drive... I'm sure I don't have too much left though ! ... move to sticky tires should buy me 2.0 seconds at this track

+1 But my car isnt ready for racing compounds yet. Nor are my skills

• Quote:

  Carbonetic diff... very pleased with this! I'm still new to mech diffs and trying to learn how to use it well, but when I played around with my corner exit speed, I found I was able to pretty much floor it coming out of turns and at worst I had very controllable oversteer, at best it sailed out of the corners!

Good to know.. will think about this one in the future.

• Quote:

  JWT clutch/flywheel... this is a no-brainer... if you have the $, do it... makes driving much more smooth!

This is my next mod after suspension

• Quote:

  Summary... feeling pretty good about the car... I think with just a little more work, I may be able to turn a 1:02 or better at this track

+1 on feeling good about the car. Mine gets more solid and confidence inspiring with every mod I do to the suspension.

ChrisSlicks

If you're going to do anything to this car, do the suspension work first as it will be the most rewarding.

I'm fighting with the brakes at every event to try and get them to work correctly. I'm convinced the problem is electronic at this point, their fancy electronic brake force distribution software isn't working for crap. At the next auto-cross event I will be pulling the ABS fuse (a challenge in itself!) to confirm my theory.