DaveK

iTrader: (21)

Had a chance to do initial shakedown on the car at High Plains Raceway last Friday. Didn't make it out there until 3pm and the track closes at 5pm, but was just hoping for a few laps.

Went out for the first session and was pretty gentle. Partial throttling it down the main straights, but still seeing 120mph. Came in, poked around the car a little and everything seemed in place. Nothing out of place other than an unconnected wire plug from under a headlight that dangled out into the wheel well.

Second session I started to wring out the car a bit more, seeing somewhere around 145 on the main straight. Towards the end I decided to push a little bit harder in the turns to get a bit more familiar with how the Evo reacts on tarmac. Ended up with a nice spin down thru the Prairie Corkscrew, but was pretty much alone on that section when it happened, so no biggie.

Went out for the third session and went full throttle down the straight. Not one budge in the radiator temp needle so I was pretty happy. All was going well until I decided to try and pass a GT3 in the last third of the straight and the brake pedal went to the floor...oops! Managed to get it slowed and didn't leave the track, but that was a close enough call for me to call it a day. No pad fade was going on, just a classic case of fluid boil I think.



As you can see from the pic, the car is far from ready to race, but seat time is seat time I guess. After looking at datalogs it appears that top speed for the day was 155 according to the ABS sensor data. With the slightly smaller diameter tires, I think that means 153...a new top speed for me.

Lots of stuff to do before the car sees the track again:

-full flush of the ATE SuperBlue fluid for the Motul RBF600
-reinstalling the AMS brake duct kit & adding "headlight duct" to the inlets
-reinstalling the side skirts
-mounting the big rear wing
-mounting the front splitter
-mounting up the new race tires
-swapping springs from 800F/1000R to 600F/800R. New F-spring is 7" instead of the 6".
-allignment (curious if you guys have any recommendations)

I'm also working with the guys from Guru Graphics in Denver on the appearance package for the car, hopefully some details/teaser pics to drop over the next week.

Thanks for following along!!

Dave

DaveK

iTrader: (21)

Got the car up to The Tire Source in Boulder this afternoon for an allignment and holy crap were the settings not consistant before:

----------------------Left-----------------Right
Front Camber---- -2.9--------------- -3.2
Rear Camber---- -2.4---------------- -2.0
Caster--------------5.5-----------------5.5
Front Toe--------1/2" out-----------25/32 in
Rear Toe--------1/16" in------------9/32 out
Front Height-------------13.675-------------(wheel center to fender arch)
Rear Height--------------12.500-------------(wheel center to fender arch)

The car had some understeer that you could easily cure with a boot full of throttle, but it wasn't as neutral as I'm looking for. I can't really fault the parts too much as I didn't make any tweaks with the valving as I was running Star Specs and didn't have any of the aero bits on the car.

New rubber arrived today so I'm excited to actually get down to business of dialing the car in. I finished the spring swap so instead of 800F/1000R the car is now sporting 600F/800R.

New alignment is even from one side to the other:

Front Camber---------- -2.8
Rear Camber----------- -1.7
Caster--------------------5.6
Front Toe-----------------0
Rear Toe-----------------1/16" in
Front Pinch Weld-------7.0
Rear Pinch Weld--------7.5

Was shooting for another testing day tomorrow, but unfortunately my shipment of things to address the brake issues got damaged in shipping and was returned to sender. On a positive note, it looks like the vinyl will start going on the car this weekend!

Dave

DaveK

iTrader: (21)

New livery started to go on the car today. Big shout out to Guru Graphics for all the hard work on a tight deadline. If you're in the Denver area and need vehicle wraps or designs, give them a shout!



Damn, that's bright!

Hoping to have the base scheme done by Monday, then we'll start measuring out for sponsor logos. So, if anyone else wants to support our 2011 effort, time is running out.

Dave

Mikey's RS

iTrader: (5)

Great job Dave.... buy my plane ticket and we can get it done already

DaveK

iTrader: (21)

Like your rally car?

Mikey's RS

iTrader: (5)

Let me use your credit card and ill be done two. Might even make the hill!

DaveK

iTrader: (21)

What a week - working on writeups and keeping an eye out for pics and videos to show up. If you were there, please post 'em up on here!

Short version - we crashed pushing a little bit too hard about half-way up the hill, but still made the summit just 15 seconds behind the class winner. Gotta say I've never been a fan of the guard rails up there since they kinda ruin the view, but after this year, I do beleive they work! We're ok, but the car will need some work (and maybe some upgrades instead of replacing factory parts?).

Need to give a huge shout out to the companies that helped get us there:

AMS Performance
Federal Tyres
Manley Performance
TiAL Sport
ShepTrans
Kelford Camshafts
AST Suspension
SCR Performance
Built-by-Bones
Wright Group Event Services
Guru Graphics
Guru Apparel

Dave

BoostINurI

iTrader: (4)

Good job Dave...at least you finished the race! Not many people can say they raced up Pikes Peak lost a wheel and still finished...Next year you running?

WheelGap

iTrader: (4)

I watched the live feed and timing during the race and I saw your first two splits and you we're smokin', I thought you had an easy class win coming your way. Then I saw your next split and knew something happened, glad to hear you're okay.

DaveK

iTrader: (21)

Thanks! The heartbreak really set in at the summit when we learned we finished just 15 seconds behind the class winner as I think I could've pushed a bit harder. After reviewing the onboard footage, we found we were stuck on the guardrail for 33 seconds. :-(

What's really crazy is that Stephan Verdier also crashed on the exact same corner, but his car took a bigger hit and had to stop. I think based on the splits we were both headed for times ~45 seconds faster than the current record...but to finish first, first you must finish...there's always next year!

Dave

rodent

iTrader: (35)

That sucks to hear Dave but at least you were pretty close even after all of that. What damage did the car have?

WheelGap

iTrader: (4)

Well, on the bright side your record in TA AWD still holds, correct? And that was set when much more of the road was gravel!

DaveK

iTrader: (21)

-headlight & wiring missing
-front quarter panel destroyed
-something bent in front, too much camber on front wheel
-rear door sustained some damage
-rear quarter panel ripped and dented in some spots
-rear bumper has scuff marks and damaged mounting points
-rear tire is missing
-line to remote canister on rear was severed
-front wheel has 2" piece missing on outside lip (tire held air!)
-rear wheel has 6" piece missing on outside lip

Yep our record of 11:48 still stands. Brianne Corn who won yesterday was in a car of similar spec to our car in 2008 (minus the aero), so I'd say she rocked out a pretty damn respectable time of 11:56. FWIW both Stephan Verdier and I were likely on pace to run somewhere around 11 flat, but I think we were pushing each other a bit too hard and both crashed on the same turn.

Dave

rodent

iTrader: (35)

Wow! Rear tire missing??? Must have been quite the drive to make it to the finish!

Found some nice pics here:
http://fullerfotos.net/?p=200

Your car:

RaNGVR-4

iTrader: (4)

Nice run dave, even with the mishaps! I have a video of you at Bottomless pit, Ipost it when I upload it.

For now, check out my Monster Tajima vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggOEo...el_video_title