GT Live VIR 06
Oct 13, 2006, 07:24 AM
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Well it took me a week to catch up on all of my stuff so sorry for the delayed race report!
First of all a huge thanks to (in no particular order) Justing Wylde, Mark Daddio, Jon Krolewicz, and everyone helping us out.
Rain rain go away...
That was the motto for the week. Justin and I left the Chicago suburbs at 10pm on Tuesday evening. After spending 2 hours in traffic barely moving, blowing out a trailer tire, and taking turns driving while the other slept, we finally made it....21 hours later! Since all the hotels filled so quickly because of the Grand-Am race, we where left with a days inn in Yanceyville. Let me fill you in on this little gem of a town. While looking for a place to eat we conveniently stumble on a prison a few miles from our hotel. From a distance all I see is rows of tall fences with razor wire all over the place, armed guards, bright lights everywhere...sweet! After driving around aimlessly through country roads all we can find is a McDonalds and a Hardees, which by the way is way too popular down here. Everywhere we go there is a Hardees around the corner. So, we take a trip to Danville, about 10 miles away. Ahhh....civilization and a Ruby Tuesdays! After ordering out food our waitress asks us, "Why are you guys in Danville?, this place sucks, the people suck, the town sucks, the movie theater sucks, ect.." ...interesting. After 21 hours in the car and munching on animal crackers & ham sandwiches the warm food hits the spot. Returning to the hotel we can't wait to get some sleep. Fortunately for us, we can't figure out how to turn the lights on in the room, it's almost like the circuit breaker is tripped. A quick trip to the front desk and I'm told you have to stick your room card in a little box on the wall & leave it in there to turn on the power in the room, WTF?? With the power on we settle in and turn on the AC to cool down the room and interestingly enough that doesn't work either. Another trip down and they say, "Oops, sorry" and flip a switch on a panel to turn on our AC. At this point I'm expecting to see a timed shower in the room with a spot to insert your quarters. Oh, no, it doesn’t stop there! Free wireless internet!, awesome let's log in and check out the weather for tomorrow. When prompted for the password, we call the front desk and they tell we have to come down in person to get the password, ridiculous. Can't they see that we're calling from a room? I guess they’ve had trouble with rouge hackers tapping into their phone system, pretending to call from a room, and then stealing their mediocre at best bandwidth.
Ok, now for the race report. I just needed to vent a little and we're stuck in miserable rain for the past 4 days in the middle of nowhere.
Each event we progressively change the car for the better. Alignment settings, weight reductions, suspension tweaks, ect. This time we took a step backwards. The goal was to have a true race developed low drag wing on the car for this race. We had the APR GT 300 (500?) wing and we where not sure if it provided much down force for the amount of drag it created. From the specs it says it's recommended for below 120mph, and we're regularly crossing over that threshold. We sold the APR wing and we couldn't get the new wing in time. With no choice left, we installed a stock wing back on the car. We tweaked it a bit by installing a .5" high aluminum gurney lip. We didn't think our aero would change that much over the APR wing. On our first practice session we quickly learned this was not the case! Mark came back in and immediately said the car was much different. With our front splitter generating a good amount of down force the back end was very light, especially at high speeds. The back end literally skating around trying to swap ends with the front. Setting a car up to be quick around a track is tricky, it has to be able to rotate and go in and out of corners well but it must be somewhat predictable. Our car was setup for the down force of the rear wing and now that down force was gone. This little change meant the complete alignment had to change on the car. There also a weird shimmy in the front that concerned Mark and contributed to the cars twitchiness. With only one practice session on Thursday, we had to wait till Friday morning to test the changes. Friday brought rain that never left us for the entire weekend. One of the first few laps Mark came into turn one at 130-140 and hit the brakes at the 6 marker, well ABS kicked in a never let go. It took forever to slow the car down and despite Marks best efforts, he decided to go straight off instead of trying to make the turn. The car was only going about 20mph when it went off but the splitter caught the grass and almost ripped it off. The splitter proved to be troublesome, our fixes marginal and the splitter mounts kept breaking/flexing at speed after that. Finally Justin & Jon went to town and got the correct hardware to fix the problem permanently. Unfortunately this process & the new alignment tweaks took the better part of our practice sessions through out the week.
Sunday was race day, and guess what...rain! Fortunately it stopped an hour before the race, but the track was still very wet. For rain we put on the narrower 235 Toyo RA-1's to get more bite and heat them up quicker. They worked very well with Mark running a low 2:15 in the first 15 minute session. The Cyber EVO piloted by Tarzan turned a 2:11.73. Our tires where brand new so Mark was pumped for the next session as the mold release was wearing off and the tires where starting to come in. I downloaded the log and see that Mark is doing 157mph on the back straight...in the wet! The next session starts 5 minutes later and I wait to see our black beast come around the first lap. I get a terrible feeling in my stomach as I look at my watch and I know the car should be in view by now. 30 seconds later it's limping back into the pits. Mark yells, "something broke in the back, something bad". I run over to the back and see the drivers side rear tire is flat, Oh crap! Then Mark tells me something happened to the exhaust and it was really loud. I look under the car and it takes me a moment to realize, where the hell is the exhaust!! The complete thing is gone!! It broke off at the downpipe are and disappeared. When the exhaust came off it hit the tire and put a hole in the sidewall, and all this happened at 110mph in a tricky part of the course called the climbing esses. We later figured out that exhaust must have fallen off it's rear hangers and swung into the tire. At that point the tire ran it over and ripped it off the car, conveniently putting a hole in the tire. This was a custom one off piece that we did on the car for some weight savings and I think with all the rain, and not using stock rubber hangers, they got slippery and the hangers slid out of the exhaust. So now with the second session over we're trying to figure out how to get back on the track in the next 5 minutes. We throw on a set of Hoosier R6's like a NASCAR pit crew and Mark goes out for third session. Even though a dry line is starting to develop on track, the Hoosiers are like skating on ice in the wet parts. Mark makes one lap and comes in knowing that the RA-1 where our only hope, no sense in putting himself and the car in danger. We watch as the Tarzan clocks off a 2:08 in the cyber-evo in the last moments with the track getting dryer. Earlier in the week when it was dry the best time had with all sorts of problems in the beginning was a 2:04 with Mark not pushing the car at all. Mark honestly thought the car had a 1:58 or 59 in it if he drove it hard. It was fast but not as fast as the Cyber EVO which turned in an amazing 1:55 Why amazing? Well the top qualifying time for Gran-Am GS cup race cars (Porsche 996) where a 2:03.7, while the Rolex GT cars (tube frame factory race cars) run 1:58-59's. If that's not impressive then consider this. Look online and check out an SCCA GT-1 race car and then consider that the VIR record for that class is around 1.54!! We're talking full tube frame, light weight, mega horsepower, full slicks, ect, and the Cyber EVO almost beat that on a DOT approved radial tire. We never ran our car on full power as we where fighting other issues but in current trim the car might have squeaked out a 1:57 with.
The Japanese teams where great and there was no drama, no crap talking or grudge holding. It's racing at its best! I have to thank GT live and I highly recommend the event. It's an amazing deal for the $250 entry fee, it included 4 days of track time, three meals a day for three days for our crew, premium parking (next to Grand-am teams), ect. The GT live people are great and very accommodating. I think many teams are discouraged because they think the Cyber EVO is unbeatable. It's not, and we plan on trying to. If you want to run, run with the best. By running with top cars you will learn a lot and in turn make your car quicker. I really hope to see more teams participate next time.
First of all a huge thanks to (in no particular order) Justing Wylde, Mark Daddio, Jon Krolewicz, and everyone helping us out.
Rain rain go away...
That was the motto for the week. Justin and I left the Chicago suburbs at 10pm on Tuesday evening. After spending 2 hours in traffic barely moving, blowing out a trailer tire, and taking turns driving while the other slept, we finally made it....21 hours later! Since all the hotels filled so quickly because of the Grand-Am race, we where left with a days inn in Yanceyville. Let me fill you in on this little gem of a town. While looking for a place to eat we conveniently stumble on a prison a few miles from our hotel. From a distance all I see is rows of tall fences with razor wire all over the place, armed guards, bright lights everywhere...sweet! After driving around aimlessly through country roads all we can find is a McDonalds and a Hardees, which by the way is way too popular down here. Everywhere we go there is a Hardees around the corner. So, we take a trip to Danville, about 10 miles away. Ahhh....civilization and a Ruby Tuesdays! After ordering out food our waitress asks us, "Why are you guys in Danville?, this place sucks, the people suck, the town sucks, the movie theater sucks, ect.." ...interesting. After 21 hours in the car and munching on animal crackers & ham sandwiches the warm food hits the spot. Returning to the hotel we can't wait to get some sleep. Fortunately for us, we can't figure out how to turn the lights on in the room, it's almost like the circuit breaker is tripped. A quick trip to the front desk and I'm told you have to stick your room card in a little box on the wall & leave it in there to turn on the power in the room, WTF?? With the power on we settle in and turn on the AC to cool down the room and interestingly enough that doesn't work either. Another trip down and they say, "Oops, sorry" and flip a switch on a panel to turn on our AC. At this point I'm expecting to see a timed shower in the room with a spot to insert your quarters. Oh, no, it doesn’t stop there! Free wireless internet!, awesome let's log in and check out the weather for tomorrow. When prompted for the password, we call the front desk and they tell we have to come down in person to get the password, ridiculous. Can't they see that we're calling from a room? I guess they’ve had trouble with rouge hackers tapping into their phone system, pretending to call from a room, and then stealing their mediocre at best bandwidth.
Ok, now for the race report. I just needed to vent a little and we're stuck in miserable rain for the past 4 days in the middle of nowhere.
Each event we progressively change the car for the better. Alignment settings, weight reductions, suspension tweaks, ect. This time we took a step backwards. The goal was to have a true race developed low drag wing on the car for this race. We had the APR GT 300 (500?) wing and we where not sure if it provided much down force for the amount of drag it created. From the specs it says it's recommended for below 120mph, and we're regularly crossing over that threshold. We sold the APR wing and we couldn't get the new wing in time. With no choice left, we installed a stock wing back on the car. We tweaked it a bit by installing a .5" high aluminum gurney lip. We didn't think our aero would change that much over the APR wing. On our first practice session we quickly learned this was not the case! Mark came back in and immediately said the car was much different. With our front splitter generating a good amount of down force the back end was very light, especially at high speeds. The back end literally skating around trying to swap ends with the front. Setting a car up to be quick around a track is tricky, it has to be able to rotate and go in and out of corners well but it must be somewhat predictable. Our car was setup for the down force of the rear wing and now that down force was gone. This little change meant the complete alignment had to change on the car. There also a weird shimmy in the front that concerned Mark and contributed to the cars twitchiness. With only one practice session on Thursday, we had to wait till Friday morning to test the changes. Friday brought rain that never left us for the entire weekend. One of the first few laps Mark came into turn one at 130-140 and hit the brakes at the 6 marker, well ABS kicked in a never let go. It took forever to slow the car down and despite Marks best efforts, he decided to go straight off instead of trying to make the turn. The car was only going about 20mph when it went off but the splitter caught the grass and almost ripped it off. The splitter proved to be troublesome, our fixes marginal and the splitter mounts kept breaking/flexing at speed after that. Finally Justin & Jon went to town and got the correct hardware to fix the problem permanently. Unfortunately this process & the new alignment tweaks took the better part of our practice sessions through out the week.
Sunday was race day, and guess what...rain! Fortunately it stopped an hour before the race, but the track was still very wet. For rain we put on the narrower 235 Toyo RA-1's to get more bite and heat them up quicker. They worked very well with Mark running a low 2:15 in the first 15 minute session. The Cyber EVO piloted by Tarzan turned a 2:11.73. Our tires where brand new so Mark was pumped for the next session as the mold release was wearing off and the tires where starting to come in. I downloaded the log and see that Mark is doing 157mph on the back straight...in the wet! The next session starts 5 minutes later and I wait to see our black beast come around the first lap. I get a terrible feeling in my stomach as I look at my watch and I know the car should be in view by now. 30 seconds later it's limping back into the pits. Mark yells, "something broke in the back, something bad". I run over to the back and see the drivers side rear tire is flat, Oh crap! Then Mark tells me something happened to the exhaust and it was really loud. I look under the car and it takes me a moment to realize, where the hell is the exhaust!! The complete thing is gone!! It broke off at the downpipe are and disappeared. When the exhaust came off it hit the tire and put a hole in the sidewall, and all this happened at 110mph in a tricky part of the course called the climbing esses. We later figured out that exhaust must have fallen off it's rear hangers and swung into the tire. At that point the tire ran it over and ripped it off the car, conveniently putting a hole in the tire. This was a custom one off piece that we did on the car for some weight savings and I think with all the rain, and not using stock rubber hangers, they got slippery and the hangers slid out of the exhaust. So now with the second session over we're trying to figure out how to get back on the track in the next 5 minutes. We throw on a set of Hoosier R6's like a NASCAR pit crew and Mark goes out for third session. Even though a dry line is starting to develop on track, the Hoosiers are like skating on ice in the wet parts. Mark makes one lap and comes in knowing that the RA-1 where our only hope, no sense in putting himself and the car in danger. We watch as the Tarzan clocks off a 2:08 in the cyber-evo in the last moments with the track getting dryer. Earlier in the week when it was dry the best time had with all sorts of problems in the beginning was a 2:04 with Mark not pushing the car at all. Mark honestly thought the car had a 1:58 or 59 in it if he drove it hard. It was fast but not as fast as the Cyber EVO which turned in an amazing 1:55 Why amazing? Well the top qualifying time for Gran-Am GS cup race cars (Porsche 996) where a 2:03.7, while the Rolex GT cars (tube frame factory race cars) run 1:58-59's. If that's not impressive then consider this. Look online and check out an SCCA GT-1 race car and then consider that the VIR record for that class is around 1.54!! We're talking full tube frame, light weight, mega horsepower, full slicks, ect, and the Cyber EVO almost beat that on a DOT approved radial tire. We never ran our car on full power as we where fighting other issues but in current trim the car might have squeaked out a 1:57 with.
The Japanese teams where great and there was no drama, no crap talking or grudge holding. It's racing at its best! I have to thank GT live and I highly recommend the event. It's an amazing deal for the $250 entry fee, it included 4 days of track time, three meals a day for three days for our crew, premium parking (next to Grand-am teams), ect. The GT live people are great and very accommodating. I think many teams are discouraged because they think the Cyber EVO is unbeatable. It's not, and we plan on trying to. If you want to run, run with the best. By running with top cars you will learn a lot and in turn make your car quicker. I really hope to see more teams participate next time.
Oct 13, 2006, 08:53 AM
#63
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jesus man who has time to read that novel. btw the place to go in danville is the wing joint or some **** next to the movie theater. Leh and i found it during the VIR Grand AM rolex race. Plenty of Crown Nascar on 20 TV's and BOY ARE THE WOMEN HOT!!!!!!!!
btw saw a picture of you guys up there under a pop tent working on the car in the mud. that sucks.
btw saw a picture of you guys up there under a pop tent working on the car in the mud. that sucks.
Oct 13, 2006, 09:34 AM
#64
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Well we had 16 hours to kill on our trip back so I wrote most of it then, it just took me this long to proof read and fix it up!
Yes, working conditions where horrible. Doing alighments and fixing stuff in the mud/wet gravel is a joy! We were jealous of the Japanese teams, they had nice clean garages to work in.
Yes, working conditions where horrible. Doing alighments and fixing stuff in the mud/wet gravel is a joy! We were jealous of the Japanese teams, they had nice clean garages to work in.
Oct 13, 2006, 11:49 AM
#65
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Originally Posted by racerjon1
Turbo is custom.. not sure ont he # or something, suspension is Tein, I am sure with custom valving and lots of spring testing. What rates they are are not going to help much unless you are producing the same downforce.
I guess it has the c-west kit on it.. but it is tweaked, the front bumper, and splitter is all custom, and VERY well done. No real rear diffuser, just a panel to keep the bumper from becoming a parachute. There are also some trick sideskirt add-ons that you can see in the pictures.
Other than that they have what looks like a custom, but OEM-based intake manifold, duel element rear wing, not sure what model, or if it even a model and not a custom job.
I guess it has the c-west kit on it.. but it is tweaked, the front bumper, and splitter is all custom, and VERY well done. No real rear diffuser, just a panel to keep the bumper from becoming a parachute. There are also some trick sideskirt add-ons that you can see in the pictures.
Other than that they have what looks like a custom, but OEM-based intake manifold, duel element rear wing, not sure what model, or if it even a model and not a custom job.
Oct 13, 2006, 02:49 PM
#66
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Originally Posted by JondemandSales
The CyberEvo is running GarageHRS/Ohlins Suspension.
Oct 13, 2006, 03:08 PM
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I hope it grows - so that US teams will be building Time Attack cars and going faster than all of them anyway.
Of course.. then we will probably have factory vettes, factory backed Porsches, etc.. and will be fighting million-dollar budgets. Ah racing.
Of course.. then we will probably have factory vettes, factory backed Porsches, etc.. and will be fighting million-dollar budgets. Ah racing.
Oct 13, 2006, 08:54 PM
#69
martin... im not readin all that...
but since we are posting random pics...
heres a pic of greg dale Jr and me at the wing house in danville VA... ...
if theres ever a time attack at watkins glen.. we will take u guys out to the strip club... its a double wide... hahhahahha
but since we are posting random pics...
heres a pic of greg dale Jr and me at the wing house in danville VA... ...
if theres ever a time attack at watkins glen.. we will take u guys out to the strip club... its a double wide... hahhahahha
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