First time @ Lime Rock, some questions
 

Man...i had so much fun yestersday. It was my first track event....i am hooked!!! My adrenalin rush didnt wear off till this morning...who am i kidding..i still get excited talking about it.
I cant believe how much skill can make you faster. Guys with cars that had 100 hp less then me were passing me like it was nothing. I saw miata's and old BMW's with under 200hp passing Z06;s and newer porsche's. Amazing!!

I improved alot. Comparing my first session to my last was like night and day. I can not believe what my car can do...literally! The thing is amazing. I had no idea i could take corners that fast. No over steer like i thought and was afraid of. Once I learned a decent line and to hit the apex then push out with power my day was rocking! I still can not drive my car to its limit's. It will take me some practice and confidence to get there....along with some balls...hahha.
It was a great event. Tons of different cars, intructors were great and rode with me for three 25 minute sessions, and we had some class room time. My last instructor was very aggressive in his teaching technique and that was exactly what i needed.

Anyways..i had some questions. My first session was very cool out (AM). My car was only seeing 92-94 C water temps. But by mid day it was in low, maybe mid 80s. My temps got up there too. I saw 110c (after about 8 laps of full boost) a couple of times and each time i decided to pit to let it cool. Should i have done this? At what temp should i cool down? And most importantly why is this happening? I still have stock rad. Is the stock rad this inefficient? i didnt see any other cars with this type of problems.
Lastly...can anyone recommend a decent camera mount that works on the rear strut brace?

Thanks....anything you would like to add to help out a newbie track addict would be much appreciated!
:D

Sounds like you had a good time.

You did the right thing letting the car cool down with a turbo car, don't want to overheat these cars anyway. You're running boost, heated by a very hot exhaust, through an intercooler (which helps) into an already hot engine, you're going to need more cooling than a normally aspirated car will. The stock rad isn't enough for this. My car runs 210 (~100c) all the time, and I've got the oversized Koyo, and I'm not running boost. So definitely you need think about more radiator. Your early morning sessions problably weren't that hard on the car as well, most of th etime most guys new to the track are really tenative about pushing it, so thye aren't nearly as hard on the car as they could be.

Camera mount, www.ioportracing.com sells the one I use, you can watch my video from Sears point to see how well it works. (look for the thread below this one)

Regards,

PaulC

thanks for the reply...Which rad are you FD guys running. I know alot of people run the koyo on the street and love it. Are you track guys loving the koyo too?

I have the Fluidyne radiator. My temp issues are more boost related than the radiator. Ever since I started running 13psi, I've noticed my water temps are higher than before .... especially at track events. However, I highly recommend upgrading the radiator before the stock one decides to crack the top tank. To truly have 'bulletproof' setup (hard to use that term with RX-7), you need to have proper ducting to the radiator. That's the next weekend project for me.

For a twelve pack of good beer I will trace mine for you so you have a template :p:

why do you need better ducting...the rad sits right in front of the car in the air dam...its in direct flow of air..no?

Matty,

Good meeting you at Limerock. If I knew you were having heat issues I would have shown you my setup. I have the SR Ultimate radiator, which is extremely large. However, along with size one of the most important things for you to do is to FORCE the air to go through the radiator. As I understand it, air will always seek the path of least resistance. This is why it is imperative that you seal everything around the radiator and intercooler. Duct tape is your best friend unless you are mechanically inclined and you can fabricate metal brackets and ducts. Another important task to perform is to lower your AC condensor about 3 inches. You want to minimize the effect of the condensor blocking air to the radiator. This should do for sub 90 degree weather. We (wife and I) were running this setup in consecutive sessions without heat related issues. Hope this helps.


Hopefully we see you at VIR in September (trust me it is worth the long drive).

Ramon

i didnt know this was you...nice!
It was great meeting you and your wife. I complained to my wife all night how great it must be to have a wife as part of your pit crew and actually a great driver....you lucky dog!...hahaha.

I definately want to hit another event this season...i havent decided which one yet though. I qill think about VIR. I know that both the scda and pda have an event at lrp in november. I believe PDA's is a saturday. So that one is looking pretty good. Plus i would like to experience another club. How did you like the SCDA?

In regards to cooling...
I need to do something...i pitted twice cause of heat related issues. People have been raving about the koyo..plus its cheap. The ducting sounds like a good idea. I will have to get in there this weekend and see what i can do.

Lucky I am.....great wife, great driver.

Meanwhile, we have you on video going EXTREMELY wide on the big downhill turn--we almost lost ya there :-)

In all seriousness, it was a pleasure meeting you and hanging out with everyone last Saturday.

Regarding clubs, I'm not sure what to say. The most important thing is that the organization runs the event efficiently and keeps the event on schedule--which SCDA did do.

Hope you can make VIR. The long course allows the car to really stretch its legs out and use up brake pads. You'll see 135-140 mph twice in one lap:)

Also, regarding cooling, make sure you do the fan mod.

later,

R

i would love to see the vid.

I wish you could have seen me in my last session...i improved alot. I was all over the place in the beginning...plus the fact that my car has alot of power = mad instructor.

Glad to hear you had a good time. Ian the guy who runs SCDA is a good friend and is really dedicated to these events and making them run smoothly. In a pinch you can blast the heater inside the car to help with the overheating problem. Gets a bit uncomfortable but is usually enough to keep it down. I will have my race car there for the Nov. SCDA event, hope to meet you guys. If you are interested there is a SCCA national this weekend at LRP and EP, my class looks to be pretty competitive. Hope you can make it.