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Last year at Watkins Glen.



Here are a few pictures of the on going developement being done by Charlie North Function First Motorsports http://www.ffmsd.com/. The areodynamic balance of the car needed to be changed and the brakes upgrade has been planned over the winter. The exhaust heat needed to be removed from under the car so a side pipe, built into the side skirt, was the best way to proceed. The side skirts used last year were rough prototypes that we are using to pull parts or peices of parts. The bottoms of the rough skirts are being replaced with balsa wood core, cloth/resiin flat bottom structures that we created on a glass door to obtain a perfect flat finish. We had problems with weather (humidity) and learned more about working with current resin products. The passenger side skirt will be a combination of metal and fiberglass while the left side will remain a single fiberglass or carbon fiber strucure. Without a master engineer/ machinist like Charlie I would never recommend this level of creating. The brakes alone would be way over most shops ability to design and construct.















Our first race weekend is July 15-17th at Pocono International Raceway.

boomn29

iTrader: (47)

Ah, ya should be at Mid Ohio that weekend with NASA GL!

Seriously though; good luck. Be sure to get us a sweet pic once it's on track! I'd also like the details on the brake setup when you've got time.

goforwand

iTrader: (132)

Charlie is a great guy; incredibly knowledgeable, a pleasure to talk to and always willing to help. David has a great partner to help develop his Evo beyond the "off-the-shelf" solutions.....plus tell Charlie to feel free to bring whatever parts that didn't quite "make the cut" to Mid-O in August....I can always find a use for them

AlwaysinBoost

iTrader: (17)

coming along nicely...

I remember seeing that car @ Pocono (I think, or maybe it was NJMP) a little while back, looking forward to seeing the finished product.

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Planning to see you guys at Mid Ohio in August. Staying closer to home for the first weekend hoping everything works well. We have some parts that might be of use I can bring. rotors ect.. I purchased a Race Technology video/data system so from now on we will have record of car performance and driving. I expect the brake performance slightly better the stock size Brembo brakes, but will last longer. Wish I could have gotten data before we made the change. I'm waiting to test the brakes at Lime Rock later this week.... possibly,, if were ready....and can reveal more. The cars the calipers were designed for brake at 2 g's

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We finished our test day at Lime Rock yesterday and gained valuable data and experience. The Race Technology video/data system worked well. Charlie http://www.ffmsd.com/will be evaluating the data through the analysis program and I will have some great video with data overlays to share later this season. The brakes worked well but I found the pedal pressure to be much greater than I was comfortable with. We will probably change master cylinders to increase line pressure and go to Pocono with a easier pedal.
OK, the brake system I collected together and now developing started with a set of AP WTCC mono block 4 piston calipers. These came from a Spanish SEAT World Touring Car Championship team. Retail about $4,000 a set. They use a pad that is similar to the AP size pads in the new Essex package but are much longer. The WTCC rules limit rotor size to 332mm. We are using a set of AP 36 vane 356mm rotors (retail $1200) which max out this calipers specification. They would not fit in the Enkei 17" wheels so a few mm were macined off to fill the wheel with as much rotor as possible. About 13 3/4". The caliper mounts act as air guides with twin aluminum 2 1/2 " tubes machined and welded into the caliper mounts. The four
2 1/2 " hoses will pick up air from a custom alumium air box under the intercooler.
The rear are a different creature... I looked for a suitable AP rear caliper but cost were high. Charlie directed me to buying a set NASCAR Performance Friction rear mono block calipers. These are the pro set cost $2400 new. I made a offer on a brand new mis matched set for $450 on E bay. Its amazing what comes on the market from the top NASCAR teams at a fraction of the cost. These were set on custom ordered Coleman rear NASCAR rotors. While Charlie custom machined all the caliper mounts and front floating rotor and bells, in the back we reused my BAER centers with E brake hardware. Purchased several sets of Performance Friction 01 pads front and rear. I waited to find all these componants at great savings but you need a real professional engineer/machinist to make the system correct.
The brake balance bar control cable was not finished so Charlie manually changed the brake balance in the pits during the 1st session. I instantly felt the change of more rear brake which helped rotate the car at corner entry. Hope to learn more when I can adjust balance while driving. At Lime Rock I was driving at 7/10ths turning 58 second laps after bedding rotors. We worked late on the car and arrived late in the morning. Used 1/2 tank of fuel, loaded the Evo on the trailor and headed back to Function First for another round of work preparing for the NASA Grand Slam race weekend at Pocono International in 2 weeks. [IMG][IMG]

Lime Rock SCDA1 test with ALMS cars on track




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Unfinished right side skirt

Robevo RS

iTrader: (16)

looking great!!!

Balrok

iTrader: (15)

Very cool. Keep us posted.

hamflex

iTrader: (18)

Looks good, and hard core! I went them stoptech route. And should have the car together for Autobahn this weekend.

I'll be in st2 in August at midohio as well. Are you racing nationals?

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The brake cooling duct increased in size from 2" to 2.5". It was possible with the larger rotor diameter and having more room with a narrow profile caliper mounted furthur from the hub. The volume of air is much greater and I hope this is the solution to the brake fade issue with the stock brembo system. The stock system with upgraded rotors and twin 2" ducts was very very good but only for 15- 20 minutes. I tried loading a picture of the new Mclaren GT3 brake ducts which are similar but made of unobtainian. The pro touring cars will have the ducts built into the upright's



The old set up

honda-guy

iTrader: (55)

great work, i love all the custom work being done. i remember seeing this car at the Glen last year when i was running my s2k. I'll be at pocono in July 16/17 for time trials in the RS.

with that rear diffuser, i don't think the rear wing is even needed.

apex electric

NASA 2011 Championship. Finished 2cd place in ST-2. Car built by Charlie North - Function First Motorsports http://www.ffmsd.com/ in Vermont

goforwand

iTrader: (132)

Very nice

Balrok

iTrader: (15)

Ah so you did get the KSport cylinders, cool. Questions:

1. Do you pull the air off all at once or bleed the air out of the KSports?
2. Like the shifter height, but does it make the throw super long?
3. With that aero sticking out of the back, what happens when, not if, you get rear ended hard? I'd be afraid it'd fold up and cause a tire puncture or worse fall off and fly at someone's head in an open cockpit car. Can't see the details.
4. With that in mind...it almost looks like you have a flat bottom at this point?
5. Hows the manual brakes working out?
6. What kind of data/logging you using now?

apex electric

The Ksport air jacks have worked well and are very usefull. They ended up being the best cost effective way to raise the car. Fabricating side jack points and building stands would have taken too long. There is a industrial air coupling and valve under the hood that connects to a air hose and nitrogen bottle with a 600lb regulater. Cheaper than a air lance mounted outside the car.
The shifter is short at the top. Charlie' custom worked the ratio. It is very quick compared with reaching way down away from the steering wheel.
The material holds up well. The tire is much stronger than the composite which is mostly plastic. I was forced off into the gravel a bit side ways and the rear extension bent in. I just pulled it back into place. The mounting is very secure. All aircraft fasteners and hardware used.
The construction is ingenuously designed. A complete flat bottom that is fairly seamless. The steering was even shortened to fill in more underbody area tight to the front tires. The lower plastic sealing the wheel wells still needs to be extended forward. A simple job using some aluminum angle and plastic material mounted against the inner step along the side skirts. That should drastically increase the tunnel performance.
The brakes never felt correct. I never had much time testing the car and did not really get a feel until the wet conditions at the nationals. There changing brake balance was obvious sensing which end was locking first. They still didn't have good performance. I had seen some dirt getting on the left rear caliper but never saw any issue. Then after the qualifying races I knew something was really wrong. The wheel inside was really dirty and almost wet looking. Rear master was low and then I spotted the leak coming from the inside of the Performance Friction caliper's bypass line. I replaced the stainless line with a Autozone store 8"line and the brakes finally worked! They lasted the entire 40 minute race and the pedal never got low. The pad use is so much better than the Brembo DTC pads and no pad taper. These pro AP brakes are incredible now. I ran a day at Watkins Glen last week and I still can't get use to how hard you need to push at first entering brake zones. I have a bit more to learn now to use them correctly. Front AP rotors are wearing uniformly. Rear's are wearing a bit more towards the hub. I believe it is because the Coleman rotors are solid to the hub and the temperature is hotter towards the outside of the rotor. Charlie wanted the largest rear rotor he could use with the small NASCAR Performance Friction monoblock calipers and these did not have cut outs where they mount to the hub.
I am not happy with the Race Technology system right now. It was absolutely a great system until a problem started with the GPS. I replaced antenna cured it until the championship event were it failed to work and I don't have video to share. I am not happy about that where ever the fix is. I had no support at the national event were other Race data compinies had representatves and support for their products. I wish I could recommend it. I was so impressed with the original performance. I have a call to make and hopefully I can share future races with a rock solid system I can endorse.
Right now I have a very good race car that will get better as I get more time on track. I made some correct shock adjustments which are making the car faster. Time to mount race tires and fill the tank. Hoping a pro series for turbo AWD cars starts and I can find a sponsor to help the car make events. Maybe some day before I sell the car I can buy a 500hp motor and put on a show at a time attack event!