Wanted to add that overall it was a great weekend because Pete came for support Sat (we left the track for a nice lunch) and Morgen, Erin and the dogs came to cheer me on Sunday so although the driving wasn't my best the rest of the weekend was AWESOME!

Hey man , sorry to hear about the turbo issues that sucks ! , but glad you found out that the suspension settings was the issue with the car not being able to put the power down .

Atleast the loose car will make for an interesting video hah .

And if it seems like car was behaving much better on sunday with those old tires ! , I'm looking forward to your next event hopefully with the new A6's and a well dialed in setup.

Still sounds like a great weekend overall . I'm looking forward to seeing the videos tonight .

But it sucks to go back to the turbo issue , is it bad enough that it would be a good idea to replace before the next event?

Yep it was indeed a great weekend and vid is up:


Will follow up with a fun lapping vid

After the results etc.... I'll go c71 next time out unless they again can't be found along with an alignment. One of my camber bolts had slipped when I was driving on the south course with the mod mag gang so I took a best guess/compromise and tightened it down.

The way it's smoking there's a problem so something must be done before the next event. Next up Pete and I instructing with BMW 11/22

PS yep it's pretty loose in the vid but nothing usual for me it's just more about less gas/slow versus more gas/fast hehe

Fun lapping vid is up.

Link won't work so just go to you tube if interested :)

After over 10 years of racing, I have learned that some seasons it just fights you the whole way. Got no doubt you will iron it out tho. Definitely enjoying your videos and every time i watch one i get that little itch for a track day car.... :blush:. Keep up the good work, looks like your enjoying yourself too. :icon_tup:

Why ruin it with music lol.
Nice video's thanks for sharing.

car seemed alot more drivable in the second video after fixing the issue with the suspension settings . great videos as always , I'm looking forward to the next event do you think you will have a new turbo by the 22nd?

Thanks man and ABSOLUTELY having a great time. There are very few cars this fun to drive. I'd love to race an FD or a GT3 but currently barely have the time and money to do the TT HDPE thing.

LOL.... my musical taste isn't for everyone but thanks for viewing :icon_tup:

Yep softening up the susp definitely helped me pick up some grip which allowed for smoother corner entries. Turbo won't be a problem for the 22nd.

Here are a few shots of the track warrior still going strong after 7 great years. This is the longest I've ever kept an FD and this car is truly one of the greats!

After 15k plus track miles It's been through several:
engines (3rd)
turbos (going on 4th)
manifolds (too many to count)
diffs (3rd)
trans (too many to count hopefully the cooler will solve the problem)
Mid pipes and down pipes (4th)
oil coolers (3rd... problem fixed with rubber bushings and better brackets)
etc....

Still has the original Tein super R racing susp though and one was even straightened after the lower mount was bent pretty bad and it also still has the original RSR single tip exhaust which I love. If anyone sees a low mileage one for sale let me know :)

See pics of some nice fab work on the turbo piping by PFS (The famous Ray Wilson fabricator tuner extraordinaire) and the custom trans cooler fab work done by werkstat (The famous Kenny Shreeves of the flying lizard race team). Some skilled hands have helped to make this a reliable FAST car :nod: Ray's assistant Andre was responsible for getting the front bumper patched up and good as new after the driveway grading incident and he's also a very good all around mechanic and alignment guru so thanks GUYS for everything you do :icon_tup:

Along with the manifold and turbo work both Kenny and Ray have done lots of custom duct work (more than once lol) etc.... and it's what's on the inside that counts :nod: However she's long over do for a some paint work which should happen over the winter.

Her bad side :blush:

Nice run on taking 2nd Fritz! I was about to ask what class TTZ was... ;)

Thanks Kyle :icon_tup:

Yeah I could use a little help with my tape work hehe Maybe one of these days I'll be like the rest of the kids on the play ground and Have real #s etc.... there is some serious hardware at these events. Not many entries but some pretty cool fast cars. Typically the TT cars are a second or two faster than the full race cars on any given weekend. Half the TT cars are probably full caged race cars including Joe Moholland's c6 z06. He's also a worthy competitor for sure and I'll have to seriously step up my game next year to compete. He runs 2 flats on the VIR full course.

I may also put in a full cage this winter which should help me some but I'll need to pull out all the stops if I want to win any events next year or like on Sunday get lucky and not have any fast cars running LOL

http://timingscoring.drivenasa.com/N...s_By_Class.pdf

http://timingscoring.drivenasa.com/N...s_By_Class.pdf

PS I should of run in TTU Sat I could have gotten some wood and tires :(

The Man and machine (plus some other car). Good times man, bumming around the track watching is still better than most days someplace else.

Whoa, I can't figure out why the pic is upside down. The original isn't. I even made it upside down on purpose and it still turned out the same way?!

Yea, TTU in most cases is just the folks that either just got promoted into TT so they haven't classified yet, or the ones that are just too lazy to classify themselves. ;) The downside is most of the time you won't have enough folks in that class to win contingencies, but it looks like you would have on Saturday. ;) Every now and then, you'll get some of the crazy 'true' TTU cars out there but it seems most regional competitors try to stay in TT1 or TT2 to make sure they can run for contingencies.

I had to run TTU in our last event as my car has an engine swap (of sorts) and I haven't dyno'd it yet to properly class it. I'll be running TTB next year (with the dyno reclass).

http://mahjik.homestead.com/files/ho...tt_IV-0557.jpg

U is much easier to tape. ;)


Hopefully this attachment works for you.

No doubt and thanks again for hanging out :icon_tup:

Your car is looking good but most importantly running like a top; smooth, good torque and FAST!!!!

Looking forward to BMW :nod:

Nice, lots of S2Ks on track these days you will have a blast tracking that car :icon_tup:

PS yes U is easier but as mentioned there's nobody to run with these days and if there was a strong unlimited field I'd be the back marker for sure. A big field for us is 4 or 5 cars but the times are usually respectable.

Thanks for the regular updates and knowledge sharing Fritz. It helps the rest of us mortals iron out our track setups and use your experience.

Have you had better luck with differentials after changing to the Greddy cover to help cooling/fluid or did you go with an aftermarket diff instead?

What are you using to pump the trans fluid to the cooler? Is there a fan setup or anything back there?

The whole rear end was pretty much junk after the accident so I swapped over pieces from various cars I had laying around.

The diff came from Carols old car and after driving with the clutch type diff (can't remember exactly what's in it but it's a 4.4) I prefer the stock torsen 4.3. Not sure how this diff is holding up but the car seems to be over steering a lot so it's possibly already wearing out. In my GT3 I just replaced a worn out diff that I think was causing some over steer.

I also have delrin mounts which I don't like either but they don't need replacing every 3 years like the stockers. I think the stock bushings are much smoother and easier on the drive line so it's worth replacing them.

The trans cooler is definitely doing it's job because I don't have to slow down my shifts after say 10 minutes or so on track. Before the cooler install the trans would get hot and I'd have to slow down my shifts to prevent grinding. The syncros really aren't the issue though it's the top side of 3rd gear that has always been my problem. It seems that because the 3rd gear is in the middle of the case it allows the gears to stretch and separate and all hell breaks loose. Hopefully the cooler will help keep the bearing from wearing, the metal cooler etc... and that will be enough to keep the gears from separating. I don't have a fan but the trans now takes about 1 gallon of oil so just pumping all the fluid around is easily enough cooling.

I've only worn out one torsen diff and it likely had some miles on it anyway. The accident cracked the case on my 4.3 :(, I replaced a 4.1 to go 4.3 and one just got old/loose and starting making noise oh and the original one from this car had a slow leak and I cooked/overheated it because the fluid slowly drained out. After changing your diff fluid or installing a new diff etc.... be sure to check the diff for leaks after your 1st few sessions. They won't leak until they get really hot and then it's just a slow drip.

PS I'm sure the extra capacity cover can't hurt so I'd get that but mine was a real bitch to get the drain bolt to seal properly. Again it would heat up and leak so I suffered for about 3 track events with greasy tires and stinky ass ;) PFS finally put a better sealing bolt on it that did the trick.

The car is fun. It's obviously slower than the FD was, but at this stage I'm just looking to be on the track more than the garage. It has fulfilled that for me so far. However, we are going to Road America this year so I'm sure I'll be re-thinking that decision as I'm (slowly) going down the main straight. ;)

I'm actually surprised some of the east coast regions haven't merged. It seems most of the eastern regions are centralized around one or two tracks. I can see that giving you a ton of time at those few tracks, but sees odd with at least compared to what the Central region attempts to do with their schedule.

Hopefully, with the dual championship races in 2014, it will attract more drivers out in general. I know the Great Lakes and Texas regions typically have huge fields for their events. Central is still relatively new so our numbers are similar to yours. They try to add in cross-over events with other regions to make sure we have enough events during the year for drivers to earn contingencies in their classes.

Yep the S2k is awesome it's like an SM car with some balls you will have a blast with it. The GT3 is like an S2k with some balls hehe ;)

I think lots of folks in the mid atlantic region just don't bother running because they will get smashed by the top 3 and won't have a chance at tires etc..... or like in TT2 there just isn't enough cars but whatever the reason I wish more folks would TT their cars it's a blast and it will lower your lap times more than anything else. Nothing motivates like competition.

Pete and I had a great time with the BMW tarheel and toe club last weekend, thanks to Paul, April and the rest of the great team at the BMW club for all their dedication and hard work to make things go smoothly even though we were forced to use the S paddock because the N is getting paved YEAH!!!!! (it's about damn time, i'll never get all the pea gravel out of my car hehe).

VIR is also repaving the entire track which isn't really needed but they want to widen it in certain sections to allow for some nascar racing etc......

It was nice Friday, a little colder sat and literally freezing Sun morning but you know how the FD loves some cold air :D Pete was able to match his best time (several 2.08 laps)on literally bald tires (4 day old A6s) which is impressive to say the least :icon_tup:

I still had alignment issues and was eating the right edge of the right rear tire but after another adj Sun morning I found the sweet spot which balanced out the car nicely. My tires were decent but my times sucked because I'm old (the older I get the faster I was :blush:) and the traffic was terrible. My lap times were between 2.05 and 2.08. The car is running really strong I'm seeing 175 indicated speed on the back straight and 170 front which is easily 150 plus real speed front and back. Once VIR paves giving me more room, I have fresh tires and good alignment with a car making more power and a full cage etc.... in it I might be able to match my best time LOL

That's right I mentioned full cage which is going in NOW :nod:

I just have to mention that the passing in the instructor group was straight up AWFUL!!!!!!.... I don't think I had 1 clean lap the entire weekend and many many laps of not 1 not 2 not 3 but 4 corner point delays and so did Pete :(

See vid of BMW race car who apparently was missing a left arm "COME ON MAN!!!"



Here's the last run of the day and I'm taking Pete's student for a ride (a good driver in a nicely set up miata)



Here's a vid of Pete and I doing some lead follow. We were out on track for about 40 minutes during this session, just tearing it up, it was like an enduro race and Pete was also supposed to shoot vid but apparently his gopro wasn't charged up but we'll get it right next time.


Until next year :icon_tup:

I loved the second vid looked like alot of fun guys

thanks man!

We had a blast for sure :icon_tup:

I drove 350 miles and Pete probably went 300.