Hi all,

2 years ago I got the bug to try road racing finally. Signed up with NASA HPDE 1 and went and gave it a try. I ran our 2006 Eclipse, had a blast. The first weekend I let a hot shoe drive the car to show my how bad I sucked and he ran a 1:56. By the end of the weekend I hit a 1:59 and was pretty happy with my advancement.

I then moved to HPDE2, I used the Eclipse again, gave the Subaru TR I had a shot but had trans problems as the new trans would not shift correctly. Finished the weekend off with the Eclipse.

Then moved to HPDE3 and ran the Eclipse again. My goal through all of this was to get my competition license and I found I had a pretty good feel for road racing, no Pro of course but was doing quite well according to the instructors and such.

I then went for another weekend of HPDE 3 and decided to take the EVOX it was nearly stock at that point with very little done and I ran for 3 days in the rain. I was signed off by two instructors to move to HPDE4 (I wanted a second opinion, haha).

Well that was last March I think, may have been May. I haven't done any road racing since then.

I decided I'd take some weight out of the Eclipse, put a set of coil overs on it and upgrade the brakes. I left the 19" "show" wheels on it and the Kumho Escta ST's on it, which are a non performance all season tire. Not the smartest move but whatever.

So I left Friday morning nervous as hell about running in HPDE4 with the TT cars. I know they are fast, I know they are aggressive I wasn't too sure about it all. I got lucky because this is the first time they combined HPDE3 with 4/TT. So the passing was restricted, no passing from the braking zone to the apex. This made me much more comfortable. First session my nerves went away like normal. The sad part of the groups being combined was they were not using the transponders to time everyone. They did this to keep the group calmed down which sucked cause I was dying to get some times finally!! My son was there and he's pretty damn good with a stop watch so I gave him one. I ran a bunch of 1.50's and a 1.49 and threw one 1.51 in on one session. Consistent atleast so I was happy with how I was driving. Two sessions went like that.

The 3rd session when I came in I noticed the new brakes were pulsing, odd as they were BRAND new I had broke them in but that was it. I figured it was no big deal. The 4th session when I went out the pulsing was pretty bad but seemed to clear up, I finished the session. My son and I were sitting in the trailer eating and I looked out the door and noticed there seemed to be a crack in the rotor, not unheard of in a cross drilled rotor but I wasn't happy about it. I then got out and looked and could not believe my eyes. The rotors wasn't just cracked, it was split all the way through both side of the rotor and 180 degrees from there it was also broke completely through with about a 1/16" wide crack. My day was done, I was not happy at this point. I decided rather than load it up and trailer it back I'd drive some back roads easy and take it home, grab another car and return the next day. By the time I made it home both rotors were completely ruined, cracked in half, the only thing holding them together was the center hub. Brake pads are nearly completely gone. Now, these were the best stopping brakes I have ever run, I'd put them up against the EVO brakes to be honest, but 80 minutes of track time, 20 minute sessions?! I am hoping to get some type of warranty and a better rotor to replace them.

This was not the worst part of my weekend.

I went back to the shop and got the EVOX. I was leaning on the car pretty hard for the drag strip, it had just ran 11.7 at 124 mph. I turned the boost down to about 23-24 psi, put a very low timing map in the car and put a little fuel in it. I also dropped the rev limiter to 7,000 rpm. I had just re-aligned the car to -1 degree in the front, 1/16" toe in in the front. 0 camber, 0 toe in the rear. I was trying to never wear out another set of tires. The car has the 6 year old Nitto 555's on it that were once on Project White. Obviously not an ideal road racing set up but I figured it was better this way, it would keep me taking it easy.

So the first session on Saturday morning we have to grid ourselves. I figure I'd run in the middle of the pack, 52 entries in HPDE4/TT. I've never had to grid before so I follow everyone else, not rocket science but still had never done it. I put myself in the 20th slot. I look down the row of cars and see a TON of Vette's, Porsche's, BMW's and 2 Vipers. Yep this is serious business now. Every car in the first 19 slots ahead of me are on race tires. Most of the cars are on race tires or atleast a proper tire for what is being attempted here, to be timed and run as fast as possible. This is no game anymore, school is over and it's competition time.

I have never driven the EVOX hard in the dry. I drove it in the wet and was fast but that's what the EVOX does.

Transponders were working and I was anxious to see how I was going to do stacked up against all these top notch drivers and cars.

During our meeting before we went out I asked about some clarifications on passing. Signal or no signal? Pass anywhere? Slow car stays on line or off? If a nose gets in to my door on the inside do I have to give up the line? Things like that were covered. The answer was basically, if you want to drive aggressive and rub paint put a cage in and go to a pure race class. Be nice to the other racers as everyone was trying for a best time etc. Sounded good to me. I know I don't want to be held up and I sure don't want to hold someone else up.

So out on the track we go. I turn off the ACS figure I was going to drive this beeatch.

I give the car hell. I feel like I am doing pretty damn good, I pass a few guys, get some nice passes on the inside (safe with lots of room) guys are playing nice. I get passed on the inside after I signal the guy to go in on me in some bad *** GT3 Porsche, took me in the key hole and it was awesome. The car was fast and not being use to how fast it was I was pushing too hard and had a few close calls where I had to save it from going off track. My head gets into "push it you *****, push it push it, go go go go" mode and I stop thinking about "slow in fast out" "look where you want to go" etc. I have to punch the side of my helmet and jar my memory every 4 laps or so! haha

Anyway, I was driving the car as hard as I could I guess, tires were not gripping and it was hurting the corners. Power on the straights was excellent and a few guys that caught me in the corners I'd have to just flat out lift for so they could actually get around me on the straights, but I didn't want to hold them up.

Based on my lap times I am guessing I had made about 8 laps and was coming into the carousel and I heard a misfire, I threw the clutch in and reved the engine, sounded OK but I was chicken to continue and was very close to the pit out, so I moved to extreme left, gave the pit out signal and just then the engine died, I was moving pretty freaking fast trying to carry enough speed to get all the way into the pits. I had to get both hands on the wheel to get it around the carousel and into the pits.

I couldn't figure out what the hell had happened. Then I noticed the "gauges" showing the coolant temp bar and it was completely buried. It was HOT. I popped the hood, no steam, nothing broken, nothing leaking but the overflow tank was boiling.

Not happy at this point, disapointed as hell, kicking myself for guessing on the tune and not taking the time to put it on the dyno. Kicking myself for not looking down (not that the damn gauges in the EVO are worth more than a nickel).

I had it pulled back to the trailer, loaded it up and brought it home. I didn't even try to restart it yet, just dropped it at the shop and figured two cars in two days was more than enough.

I went to the download meeting after the session was over (1 or 2 laps after I pulled off) and then waited for the times to be posted.

The best part of the weekend............I did well. First session I ran a 1:45 and with those tires and alignment I felt was damn good. I qualified #2 in HPDE4, not to shabby, I was feeling proud. I also put myself in grid position #19 for the next session. I would have been directly at the end of a row of some flat out bad *** cars/drivers and tires.

Sucks I paid $600 to run 5, 20 minute sessions, sucks I went through 2 brand new rotors and it really sucks I baked the EVOX and am not sure of the damages yet. You know, there's still a bright side to it all. I put myself in the #2 spot in HPDE4 first session ever in a car that was surely not optimal, I am proud of myself.

Of all the track days I have done at this point this is the first weekend I have had any failure.

The next chance is in August but on the same weekend as the shootout so I will probably sit this year out and wait for next year. It's hard to get really good with a lack of practice.

Speaking of really good. Danny Popp is a bas *** dude. He is one of the Vette guys and he is just unreal. 1:26 was his time, that means about every 5-6 laps he would be passing me..........that is just not right.

Something else, our Time Attack car ran a 1:31 at the Nationals which placed us 2nd in TTU. This was with Robert Fuller driving the car. Now that I have been timed at an official 1:45 I have to say that I am much more amazed with that 1:31, it never really left an impression on me before and now I am impressed.

I don't know that I will ever run a 1:31 and I'm willing to bet I will NEVER run a 1:26.

BTW, this was at Mid Ohio on the Pro Course (no chicane).

Hope you enjoyed my review of my weekend.

 

Good writeup. Sorry about the car, though. I'm a new member to the "It can't happen to me... crap, it broke!" club and know how it feels for your car to take a crap on the track. Hope it's nothing major...

 

Good to hear ya brought yourself back out to the track!

Building a car for the dragstrip and for the road course are completely different aren't they! In terms of tune and build, cooling, etc. What's the determination of the Evo X issue?

And remember; tires are everything on a road course...

 

Uh, yeah, different obviously.....we've built a few for each purpose Not sure why the car over heated. I hope to get into it this week and figure it out. It was a last minute decision to take the car, it was no preparred but I figured it would easily make it through the weekend. The Eclipse was prepared for the weekend (other than me being too cheap to buy good tires/wheels for it) but a poor quality aftermarket rotor ruined it.

 

Yeah.... tracking a car can really beat the crap out of it. I would only stick with solid or slotted rotors for track days. As you've now experienced, cross-drilled just don't hold up. Even the factory Porsche cross-drilled rotors crack when tracked.

My 05 VIII liked 3.0 degree of negative camber on the front. I'm sure the X is similar. I'm not sure if you can get that much just using the factory adjustment. Might be time for some camber plates.

On your X, considering you're making about twice the power, you also need to reject twice the heat. I'd recommend upgrading the radiator and oil cooler. Don't feel bad about not catching the coolant temp, it's rare I ever look at it, though I know I should.

 

That wobble in the brakes was most likely from excessive pad transfer to the rotor. It happens when the pads get hotter than their designed operating temperature - pretty common. Try higher temp rated pads and cooling ducts next time out.

Too bad about the Evo X - but it sounds like you're having fun out there.

 

Wow nice writeup Dave, sounds like you had quite a bit of fun despite going through 2 cars!

Cross-drilled rotors are definitely a no go for hard road course driving like others have said, some HPDE won't even let you on the track with them although a proper set of air ducts will keep them below the cracking point. Slotted seems the best compromise, Girodisc 1 piece for the fronts are my next upgrade and the Raybestos ST43 track pads I use have great wear and stop well.

It does seem odd the car overheated with the 23-24 boost, reduced timing, and richened fuel maps. Reducing my coolant mixture from the factory 70% coolant down to 40% coolant and the rest water and Redline water wetter seems to have kept my temps well under control. Of course that was on the stock Evo X turbo which only stayed at 24 psi for a few seconds since by 5500 it was tapering towards 19 psi by 7500.

Usually higher boost at the road courses has a tendancy to "lift heads" and damage the head gasket slightly to where cylinder pressure is forcing coolant out the overflow and eventually the car will overheat when enough is forced out. My Eclipse GSX had this issue until I installed ARP headstuds and a metal headgasket. I also ended up making sure every scrap of air was being forced through the radiator and got a higher efficiency all aluminum radiator.

Now on my Evo X I'm seriously considering trying to replace the factory "stretch prone" head bolts with ARP studs or some other brand BEFORE it starts getting lifted under high loads and heat. I know that replacing the bolts with the head on the car can be tricky but it may be worth the risk to avoid a situation like you experienced. What sucks is that a compression test won't show that anything is wrong but once you get the car really hot it will start rearing it's ugly head. Eventually it gets to the point where regular driving starts to force coolant out of the overflow which is when you may as well replace the head gasket and make sure the head isn't warped.

Hopefully it isn't anything that major but figured I would share my experiences with road racing and how turbocharged cars need some extra prep work in order to be a bit more durable out there. Let us know what you find!

 

Good to see builders out there doing what we do every month, reality check for sure. Now you'll be that much better at building spec cars

 

Great post. I can relate to the "red mist" mentality taking over rational thought. Happens to everyone on track. It's hard to kick back when your mirrors are full of Vette, Porsche and Viper!

 

I was going to grab Project White when I went back after the Eclipse's rotors failed. I got there and made my choice based on "value". I owe the bank on the EVOX, like most of you. Project White however is paid for, so I looked at it as I had $30,000 in cash with that car if I needed it and if the EVOX crashed I was going to still owe $30,000 on it regardless. haha I kind of wish I had taken Project White, I don't think it would have had any cooling issues and was on a better tire. Oh well.

Don't anyone get me wrong, I'm not crying. I just don't have any car buddies close by to discuss the stuff with and come here to just "hang out".

We'll get it all fixed. I was thinking the same thing on the Eclipse rotors, I want to see if I can get them replaced, if not I need to find just a standard rotors, I've never been a fan of cross drilled rotors for anything but weight reduction. Even then you have to be trying to get every ounce you can off the car and that is not the case with the Eclipse.

The EVOX, I am hoping I go in this morning, unload it from the trailer and it's fine. I don't want to take it apart but if it has to be then that's the price you pay. It will go back together better, stronger and be faster when it's all done. It will then be time to test our ported head and fully built shortblock assembly.

 

Good to hear David, looking foward to your reviews after you put your products through the paces on a road course Start logging everything!

 

Its nice to see the owner of a pretty well known shop whos business takes pride on the drag strip venturing into road racing as a driver. Sounds like youre progressing pretty well through the HPDE ladder. Best advice i can give you is to be patient. Everyone learns and progresses differently. Keep an open mind, and dont rush yourself. TT sounds like a blast when youre a noob, so most people do whatever they can to move up the ladder just to move up. What they dont realize is that comes with a sacrifice. That sacrifice is their education as a driver. I see it happen all the time. People get so caught up working on trying to move up through the ladder that they forget to slow down and focus on themselves. I sort of had a similar experience. I didnt actually rush myself, but knowing what i know now i wish i could go back and focus even more on myself as a driver. I understand that perspective will never provide enough fulfillment, but because im racing now i realize more and more how important everything is. Amongst my racer friends, initially im always a little bit slower on track with my approach. I now find myself slowing down even more, and going back to the basics. Beyond that, i started instructing this year. I dont feel like im worthy of instructing, but i enjoy it. Besides it being rewarding to help instruct beginners, i also end up learning along the way. When i see HPDE 3 guys eye-ing the TT field i know what theyre thinking. You cant make people understand what you have learned. And its not like i can stand in their way. Sometimes people need to rush their way through life to learn how valuable certain things are. Its like a forward-back-forward process of evolution. Not sure if thats coherent, but thats the best way i can articulate that thought right now. Well, if you ever make it out to Socal, drop me a line. Unless, if you actually start racing someday, ill see you out there.

 

Yeah hopefully it was just running out of cooling capacity from being run hard on a road course and adding a little water/coolant will get it back in action. I still recommend running a 40% coolant/60% water mix with Redline water wetter and consider a radiator upgrade if you are bringing it out on a road course again. Based on what you experienced I'm definitely upgrading mine before my next road course trip as a preventative measure.

 

David,

Good to hear that you have had a fun weekend, despite the hardships with your cars. You don't have to wait til next Mid-Ohio.

You know there is always Nelson ledges!

 

Stretch prone? You make it sound like a pretty common problem...

I've been running 37psi (prototype AMS Cast manifold 750R turbo kit) on the original 100% stock 4B11t longblock (including untouched OEM headstuds) for 8,606 miles on track...most recently at Buttonwillow w/114* track temps with no signs of these "stretch prone" OEM headstuds. Weird.

Anyways, cool to hear you had fun on the track Dave.