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So far I've only sat for one of the four sections. Results are still a couple weeks out. Taking the next one at the end of August. Depending on how I do on the first test I may try to take the last two sections within the same testing window just to get it over with.
Awesome man - I'll be praying for good results. My business partner took the CPA years ago when it was in one sitting. He still jokes about how people have it easy now-a-days. (he's obviously being being facetious). If you have the time to do it, and the confidence, definitely get it done!
New sensor (went with the Bosch) isn't going to be here until Wednesday, so I guess that is going in Wednesday night! Forecast for the track day on Thursday is 111*. I guess it will be a race to see who dies of heat stroke first: me or the car. (It will be me )
Okay, time for a belated track day AAR. I'd been waiting to put together video and log info, but haven't had time so here comes a wall of text:
First off: I'm hooked! Despite the crazy heat I had a great time. Unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll be able to make any more events this year. Car was rock-solid, as it well should be. Some highlights from glancing at logs:
1). Coolant temps were excellent. High of 190*, with ambient of 105*.
2). AITs were high: 140-150*. Not terribly surprising given the high ambient heat and the filter placement right behind the radiator.
3). Oil temps were higher than I would have expected, in the 250* range. Have a 25-row Setrab in the A/C fan location. Not dangerously high for the Amsoil Dominator that is in the engine currently, but may indicate that I need to relocate the cooler when I go turbo.
As for the driving part, I did end up spinning twice. Both were my fault, neither resulted in any drama or damage, and I learned my lessons. Didn't have a lap timer or anything, but based on my video my lap times in the final session were around 1:46 and relatively consistent (barring traffic hold ups). Not fast times, but I still have lots to learn. Tires (Dunlop ZII Star Specs) did seem to get greasy towards the end of the session, not unexpected given the heat. Some take-aways:
1). I need to worry less about messing up. Both my spins were caused by me trying to recover from different errors, when I should have just sucked it up and accepted that I wasn't going to nail the corner.
2). I need to work on using more of the track. In general I was turning in later and harder than I should have and not tracking out enough.
3). It has been suggested that I disconnect my rear sway bar for my next outing, which should make things less over-steery while I am learning and trying new things.
4). I'm not using my brakes to the fullest extent. Part of this will come with experience and confidence. For reference my car has StopTech Sport (309 prefix) pads, so a more experienced/brave driver would have overheated them over the course of the 20 minute session. As far as I can tell I never even got close.
5). I'm shuffling my hands on the wheel. I should stop that as it shouldn't be necessary around PIR.
All in all it was great fun. Looking forward to next year, and in the interim I will probably start looking into some more safety gear like a seat that gets me below my roll bar.
I don't normally drive in ambient temps higher than 95F anymore, but 90 to 92F is common. I don't have an oil temp gauge yet, but anecdotal information tells me my oil temps are fine--even without a cooler, and even using off-the-shelf oils. Two Blackstone reports have indicated I could run my oil quite a bit longer than the 8 track hours I normally use as a drain and fill interval. Valvoline Synpower 5W30 and Mobil 1 0W40 have both yielded excellent reports. That said, I have the car apart and a Setrab 19 row ready to mount in front of the radiator some time this week.
Yeah, I'm not worried just a little surprised. When the car was coming together I was actually worried about OVER-cooling the oil since the cooler is so big. The good news is that this was pretty much as hot as it gets in my AO, so I am now assured that overheating my coolant and/or oil is nigh-impossible unless something goes terribly wrong. I'll be sending a sample of this fill to Blackstone when I change it out just for kicks.
Did Josh ever get the custom sensor curve setup? Do you know how accurate your sensor is? Where is it reading from?
He said he did.
Honestly, no. At startup it reads reasonably close to ambient from what I've seen, but with that custom curve that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Probably should stick it in some boiling water when I do the next oil change and see how close to 212* it reads.
Sadly it's still on a 2 point best fit line, which seemed to be reading correctly. New sensor is required to make it right, unless we get those custom curves to work.
Nothing really new to add, stuck neck deep in work at the office so little time to do much of anything fun. Finally took the time to put a dyno chart together comparing my baseline run (100% stock) to the final tuning run:
Awesome man - I'll be praying for good results. My business partner took the CPA years ago when it was in one sitting. He still jokes about how people have it easy now-a-days. (he's obviously being being facetious). If you have the time to do it, and the confidence, definitely get it done!
Just got the results for BEC yesterday: I passed! Taking FAR on Monday, need to start thinking about how I can squeeze in AUD and REG before next tax season. Need to pass all all four exams within a 18 month window, so the sooner I know if I need to retake any of them the better.
Not much to update. Just had what will likely be the last event for me this year, a car handling clinic and test-and-tune. Was a good opportunity to mess with my suspension in a repeatable setting with no time pressure. Hopefully this will pay dividends next year.
Speaking of next year, I've decided to only do track days next year. No autocross. Looks like there are a good number of track days scheduled for weekdays, which can save the weekends for family stuff. I'll be keeping an eye out over the next few months for the 2018 calendar for PIR to come out so I can put together my schedule.
Very little to be done over the winter on the car:
Swap in a real oil pressure gauge
Swap out gauge hood
Chase down rattles, including hood rattling against the latch
Work on leaning out my tune
My current tune is resulting in abysmal gas mileage and soot on my bumper. Haven't taken the time to see if it is an AFR Target issue or if the VE table just needs more tuning time.
One thing I am considering is getting seats/harnesses. Almost 100% sure I will be going with a braced aluminum seat, but debating whether to go with a full containment or more traditional road race seat.
concerning the seat choice, I have a Sparco Evo and it is the maximum amount of seat in a car I would take to the store real quick. Base line for comparison.
07-26-2017, 04:27 PM
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