One word: OMG!
Well, that's three... Firstly, driving the 3300 Lbs Supra around this very fast track is also very fatiguing. By the end of five, 30 min sessions, I was done! I was in a Kirkey Aluminum Road Race seat, strapped into it by Schroth five point harness, so I didn't have to fight the G-forces placed on my body, while driving the car. In fact I was so tense trying to stay up with the changes on the track happening ever more quickly as I gained more confidence and speed, that I can say I was also mentally done. Braking would hang me off the harness and turning in and accelerating out of the turns on to all too many negative camber turns, just pounded me, both physically and mentally. I need to get into a weight lifting regimen so I can not fatigue so quickly. I don't think I could last 1.5 hours in the seat in an endurance race. I had to take Saturday off just to recover; just completely fatigued...
Next, the Supra was able to stay ahead of the pack until a niggling cooling problem reared it's ugly head. I took it out five times, and each time it did the same thing. The 7M pulling hard all the way to 6K, shift into the next gear and throttle up, brake hard before the corner with down shift, getting the revs at 3K and turn-in at the corner, throttle up getting to the exit of the turn... All the right stuff, but the temp gauge would start climbing, catching my eye and concentration would slip and I'd miss doing something correctly, which slowed me down.
The only item that we changed was to place the oil cooler before the coolant radiator (in the space previously occupied by the AC radiator), which may be causing the problem. My problem is I don't see where else we can place it so it isn't in the stream of air going to the coolant radiator.
I called Wryann at VIP Performance while I was out at the track and he asked that I short shift to see if that would help. I tried the short shifting and keeping the revs down, but that only delayed the rise in temps. By the way the oil temps were consistently below 220 degrees the whole day! So it wasn't a total disaster.
In another vein, the car doesn't get out of shape even when I was not paying attention as I should, to the road ahead. The car is very well balanced, by adding a few PSI in the front tires resulted in very slight push or, take a few psi out of the front tires and the car was neutral. Modulating power over steer is predictable on the throttle with this current set-up. All-in-all, it is a very stable platform. That resulted in being able to drive the car at the limits all the time and as a result, I was the fastest street car on the track yesterday, in my class. I also ran with two race cars, a 5.0 liter Ford Racing 500
and a E36 GT2 BMW.
I was faster down the straights than they were, but the E36 would catch me in the corners as it was being driven by a race driver on race tires, so he would carry more speed through the corners and it is almost 1K Lbs lighter. When I pushed my car to stay competitive, my car would start over heating, so I'd point them bye, for a pass on the straights.
The Wilwoods, shod with Porterfield 4-1, moved by Castrol SRF brake fluid, were just fantastic, never experienced brake fade, and maintained great pedal feel and modulation throughout the day. I was able to dive into the corners with more speed than all the other street cars, braking later, and shorter, to get the right speed for the tires and the suspension set-up, which is: RSR Racing springs (700f/400r), KYB Gr2 and Tanabe Sustec anti-sway bars. 1.5 Lf/1.75 Rf degrees negative camber, 1.25 degrees negative (L&R rear), with a little toe in front and rear (3 Ft/mi), with caster set at 7.75+ Lf and 8.5+ Rf. That set up was very well balanced at the limits, thanks to corner balancing. VIP Performance managed to get all the corners to w/i 15 Lbs. I highly recommend it to all who intend to drive their cars on the track.
One last bit; the BIC DDP. In it’s current form, perfect for the track. As I DD the car, I’m still planning on having it recirculated just before the flange that bolts up to the Cat, to keep the stink in the exhaust and out of the cabin. Also, the new wheels Drag DR-38, 17x9 +38, shod with 255/40/ZR17 BFG g-force Sport Comp2 performed well all day, communicating the track condition through the manual rack.
So, that was my Friday at the track. Now it’s back to the shop for more tweaking of the cooling system… My only other problem is as the car approached 130 Mph, it got light on the front end, resulting in the tires beginning to lose adhesion. The car set up w/o power steering, transmits a lot of information to the steering wheel.
In the near future, the 26 y/o CT26 gets a rebuild of the CHRA, as it is beginning to leak oil.