Re-Cap: Redline Time Attack 12-3-06
12-04-2006, 08:41 AM
#1
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Re-Cap: Redline Time Attack 12-3-06
Well, late last night I got back from a weekend at the fabulous Buttonwillow Raceway for the Redline Time Attack finals. The event was pretty fun, although my car probably didn't think so. I arrived at the track early Saturday morning for a practice day. My car was running all three classes; Street RWD, Modified RWD, and Unlimited RWD, with Scott Bush from VRT driving in Street and Modified and myself driving in Unlimited. So my first session out was on some Toyo RA-1 R-Compound tires to see if the sizes would rub under stress. Well, while it didn't rub, the tires had too much sidewall and the car wasn't very fast on them. After that session, I came back in and we put on the Hoosier race tires for me to try out. This was my first time ever driving a car on a track with Hoosiers and this particular set was brand new. They felt pretty good, but I quickly learned that they do not talk back to you like an R-Compound or street tire would. There is basically no warning if you are approaching the limits of the tire, whereas street and R-Compound tires will make noise. I learned this about the Hoosiers while going around the sweeper just before the esses. The back end came loose and I went off the back of the sweeper sideways into the dirt. The dirt was loose and thick and completely encompassed myself and my car. I got the car back on the track and headed immediately to the pits to see what the damage was. My brand new C-West front bumper and side skirts were toast, but luckily, only a half a roll of duct tape and we were back on the track. I ran another session on the Hoosiers and started to get the hang of them and then we put the RA-1s back on for Scott to run.
Sunday rolled around and it was time for the Time Attack. The mornings started out with a few practice sessions. I did one on the Hoosiers with my girlfriend Kelli in the car and ended up running a faster time than the previous day with a 2:02.8xxx. Then we put the street tires on and Scott took to the track to get a feel for those. Before we knew it, practice was over and it was time for Scott to get in line for his first Time Attack run in the Street RWD class. He found himself behind a first time driver in a Lexus IS300 that had absoluetly no buisness on the track. He held up nearly everybody in that group and was absolutely stupid. Scott followed him up to Lost Hill waiting for a time to pass. The guy went off course over lost hill and stayed in the gas spewing dirt and rocks the size of your fist all over the track. One of those rocks further destroyed my front bumper and my driver's side skirt. Scott came back in afterwards and I though he was going to kill the guy. He immediately parked the car back at our pits and took off running for the driver of the IS300. Scott yelled at him pretty badly while the rest of us applied more duct tape to the C-West pieces and quickly changed the tires to the Toyo RA-1s in time for Scott to go drive in the Modified RWD class.
It came time for Scott to take off in the Modified RWD class on the RA-1s. Scott ran a 2:05.xxx on his first timed lap and on the second timed lap, the car put itself into limp mode, which basically limits the car to 30mph. The fix for this is to turn it off for a few seconds and re-start it to get it out of limp mode. He shut it off on the straight after turn two and got it out of limp mode by turn 3. When he turned it back on and ran his 3rd and last timed lap, he thought he had really hurt the car, then towards the end of the last lap, he realized that the reason the car felt funny was that he forgot to turn the traction controll off after re-starting the car on lap 2. So that session was pretty much toast for him.
Scott came back in from his Modified RWD run and the car was immediately back up in the air so we can switch to the Hoosiers in enough time for me to drive in the Unlimited RWD class. When that time came I was off and on the track feeling pretty good. I ran some ok laps, but had one mistake each of the first two laps. The 3rd and final timed lap felt really good, but was screwed up by a 240SX who cut back on the track right in front of me on the racing line through the esses after he went off track. This forced me to slam on my brakes, lay on the horn and downshift to 3rd gear in what should have been a wide open 5th gear section. Needless to say that ruined that lap and I was very upset. My best that session was a 2:03.xxx.
After the first round of Time Attack they held another practice session for all classes. We decided to sit it out and give the car a chance to cool down and rest a little and gave us the chance to put some more gas in it and take our time switching back to the street tires for Scott's second attempt at a fast time in that class. When that time came Scott went out and ran 3 timed laps without any major mistakes getting a best time of 2:09xxx. After his runs it was back in the pits again to swap to the RA-1s for the Modified class.
Just as we had the car in the air ready for the RA-1s, Scott decided he wasn't going to try the Modified class again because he, and the car weren't really liking the RA-1s and he knew that the car would not be competitive with those tires. So the car got another break and we put the Hoosier on for my next attempt at Unlimited RWD.
The sun was starting to go down and track conditions were awesome for my second attempt at Unlimited RWD. I had 3 laps that felt really fast, but unfortunately the announcer decided not to announce my times that session for some reason. We will have to wait for RedlineTimeAttack.com to post the official times for everybody, but I know that it was slower than the 3rd place winning 2:00.5xx. I am guessing that it is somewhere in the 2:00.8 to 2:01.8 range, but we will wait and see.
So what did we learn? First off, something is seriously wrong with my car's chassis. We compared and drove VRT's Yellow 350Z which has the same power output, same suspension, same tires, but had a full interior. Given those circumstances, my car should have been pretty close or a little faster than that car with the same driver. Well, it wasn't. We could tell immediately that the yellow Z handled much better and was much more stable than my 350Z. The yellow Z took 2nd place in Unlimited RWD with a 1:57.xxx. Second, we learned that C-West aero parts are not for track racing unless you have a lot of money to burn. I was severely disapointed in how fragile and flimsy their pieces were and will not be running their kit a second time for the simple fact that I can't afford to replace it after every off-track excursion.
So my car is back down at VRT getting torn appart in an attempt to figure out why it isn't as fast as it should be. When it gets back, the demolished C-West kit will be in the garbage and the stock bumpers and side skirts will take their place. Sadly, I am at a point where I will need to spend a lot of money to make my car competitive in the Unlimited RWD class and I can't afford to do that right now so I have a decision to make. I will do one of two things; First, is to put the stock bumpers and interior back in and make the 350Z a streetable track car again, dump all of my sponsors, and just go back to having fun with racing at my own pace. Second, is to leave the Z in its current condition and retire it from all driving and store it to show my grandkids one day. If I do this I would also trade the G35 in for an EVO to use as a track/daily driver since I also learned that they are hands down the best choice for quick lap times on a budget. I realized this when I watched a local EVO with 350whp, coilovers, sways, and a good driver run a blistering fast 1:59.xxx on street tires.
Some quick highlights:
- Fastest time of the entire event was a 1:51.xxx set by AEM's pro drifter Tanner Faust in the Unlimited RWD JIC-Magic S13 Silvia.
- Local driver in mildly modded EVO on street tires ran a 1:59.xxx which was good for 1st in the AWD street class by over 16 seconds.
- VRT took home 3rd place in Modified RWD and 2nd place in Unlimited RWD with their yellow 350Z equipped with full interior, Stance coilovers, Eibach sways, and a stock motor JWT BB700 Twin Turbo kit. Aaron Bitterman from SpeedVentures was driving in the Modified class and another pro driver, whose name I don't remember, was driving in Unlimited.
- Total blown motors = 4: XS Engineering 350Z, Scion Pro Racing TC, Stillen Supercharged VRT G35, random white EVO.
- Total wrecked cars = 2: White EVO, White 240SX
Photos to come soon. I didn't take any so I have to wait until they start popping up on the internet.
Sunday rolled around and it was time for the Time Attack. The mornings started out with a few practice sessions. I did one on the Hoosiers with my girlfriend Kelli in the car and ended up running a faster time than the previous day with a 2:02.8xxx. Then we put the street tires on and Scott took to the track to get a feel for those. Before we knew it, practice was over and it was time for Scott to get in line for his first Time Attack run in the Street RWD class. He found himself behind a first time driver in a Lexus IS300 that had absoluetly no buisness on the track. He held up nearly everybody in that group and was absolutely stupid. Scott followed him up to Lost Hill waiting for a time to pass. The guy went off course over lost hill and stayed in the gas spewing dirt and rocks the size of your fist all over the track. One of those rocks further destroyed my front bumper and my driver's side skirt. Scott came back in afterwards and I though he was going to kill the guy. He immediately parked the car back at our pits and took off running for the driver of the IS300. Scott yelled at him pretty badly while the rest of us applied more duct tape to the C-West pieces and quickly changed the tires to the Toyo RA-1s in time for Scott to go drive in the Modified RWD class.
It came time for Scott to take off in the Modified RWD class on the RA-1s. Scott ran a 2:05.xxx on his first timed lap and on the second timed lap, the car put itself into limp mode, which basically limits the car to 30mph. The fix for this is to turn it off for a few seconds and re-start it to get it out of limp mode. He shut it off on the straight after turn two and got it out of limp mode by turn 3. When he turned it back on and ran his 3rd and last timed lap, he thought he had really hurt the car, then towards the end of the last lap, he realized that the reason the car felt funny was that he forgot to turn the traction controll off after re-starting the car on lap 2. So that session was pretty much toast for him.
Scott came back in from his Modified RWD run and the car was immediately back up in the air so we can switch to the Hoosiers in enough time for me to drive in the Unlimited RWD class. When that time came I was off and on the track feeling pretty good. I ran some ok laps, but had one mistake each of the first two laps. The 3rd and final timed lap felt really good, but was screwed up by a 240SX who cut back on the track right in front of me on the racing line through the esses after he went off track. This forced me to slam on my brakes, lay on the horn and downshift to 3rd gear in what should have been a wide open 5th gear section. Needless to say that ruined that lap and I was very upset. My best that session was a 2:03.xxx.
After the first round of Time Attack they held another practice session for all classes. We decided to sit it out and give the car a chance to cool down and rest a little and gave us the chance to put some more gas in it and take our time switching back to the street tires for Scott's second attempt at a fast time in that class. When that time came Scott went out and ran 3 timed laps without any major mistakes getting a best time of 2:09xxx. After his runs it was back in the pits again to swap to the RA-1s for the Modified class.
Just as we had the car in the air ready for the RA-1s, Scott decided he wasn't going to try the Modified class again because he, and the car weren't really liking the RA-1s and he knew that the car would not be competitive with those tires. So the car got another break and we put the Hoosier on for my next attempt at Unlimited RWD.
The sun was starting to go down and track conditions were awesome for my second attempt at Unlimited RWD. I had 3 laps that felt really fast, but unfortunately the announcer decided not to announce my times that session for some reason. We will have to wait for RedlineTimeAttack.com to post the official times for everybody, but I know that it was slower than the 3rd place winning 2:00.5xx. I am guessing that it is somewhere in the 2:00.8 to 2:01.8 range, but we will wait and see.
So what did we learn? First off, something is seriously wrong with my car's chassis. We compared and drove VRT's Yellow 350Z which has the same power output, same suspension, same tires, but had a full interior. Given those circumstances, my car should have been pretty close or a little faster than that car with the same driver. Well, it wasn't. We could tell immediately that the yellow Z handled much better and was much more stable than my 350Z. The yellow Z took 2nd place in Unlimited RWD with a 1:57.xxx. Second, we learned that C-West aero parts are not for track racing unless you have a lot of money to burn. I was severely disapointed in how fragile and flimsy their pieces were and will not be running their kit a second time for the simple fact that I can't afford to replace it after every off-track excursion.
So my car is back down at VRT getting torn appart in an attempt to figure out why it isn't as fast as it should be. When it gets back, the demolished C-West kit will be in the garbage and the stock bumpers and side skirts will take their place. Sadly, I am at a point where I will need to spend a lot of money to make my car competitive in the Unlimited RWD class and I can't afford to do that right now so I have a decision to make. I will do one of two things; First, is to put the stock bumpers and interior back in and make the 350Z a streetable track car again, dump all of my sponsors, and just go back to having fun with racing at my own pace. Second, is to leave the Z in its current condition and retire it from all driving and store it to show my grandkids one day. If I do this I would also trade the G35 in for an EVO to use as a track/daily driver since I also learned that they are hands down the best choice for quick lap times on a budget. I realized this when I watched a local EVO with 350whp, coilovers, sways, and a good driver run a blistering fast 1:59.xxx on street tires.
Some quick highlights:
- Fastest time of the entire event was a 1:51.xxx set by AEM's pro drifter Tanner Faust in the Unlimited RWD JIC-Magic S13 Silvia.
- Local driver in mildly modded EVO on street tires ran a 1:59.xxx which was good for 1st in the AWD street class by over 16 seconds.
- VRT took home 3rd place in Modified RWD and 2nd place in Unlimited RWD with their yellow 350Z equipped with full interior, Stance coilovers, Eibach sways, and a stock motor JWT BB700 Twin Turbo kit. Aaron Bitterman from SpeedVentures was driving in the Modified class and another pro driver, whose name I don't remember, was driving in Unlimited.
- Total blown motors = 4: XS Engineering 350Z, Scion Pro Racing TC, Stillen Supercharged VRT G35, random white EVO.
- Total wrecked cars = 2: White EVO, White 240SX
Photos to come soon. I didn't take any so I have to wait until they start popping up on the internet.
12-04-2006, 10:20 AM
#2
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 525
Sounds like a hell of a weekend! I think that you should return the car to the street. Rehang the door panels, put a mild sound system in it and have fun. We can drive our cars here year round, unlike the guys back east and up north; take advantage.
12-04-2006, 10:29 AM
#4
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I don't know why everybody thinks I have removed my door panels lol. They have been on the car since day 1 lol. Interior and stereo will be going back in the Z. I may even retire it from the track all together and get an EVO for a daily driver/track car and keep the Z around for weekends and the occasional track day. Who knows...
12-04-2006, 11:03 AM
#6
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Aw man, Im really dissappointed to hear about the Stillen Supercharged G35, after spending the entire night convincing myself to buy the supercharger today. I think its the only unit that will give me a decent piece of mind of not blowing my motor.
Then to wake up and read about that...sucks lol
Then to wake up and read about that...sucks lol
12-04-2006, 11:10 AM
#7
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Originally Posted by Nforce1
Aw man, Im really dissappointed to hear about the Stillen Supercharged G35, after spending the entire night convincing myself to buy the supercharger today. I think its the only unit that will give me a decent piece of mind of not blowing my motor.
Then to wake up and read about that...sucks lol
Then to wake up and read about that...sucks lol
12-04-2006, 01:24 PM
#11
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Before the damage, with the hideous Axis wheels that we had mounted with the street and modified class tires...
Duct tape 4 life!!!! This was before the second round of damage to the front bumper...
Again, before the second and more damaging round...notice the side skirt
Duct tape 4 life!!!! This was before the second round of damage to the front bumper...
Again, before the second and more damaging round...notice the side skirt
12-04-2006, 03:56 PM
#14
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A good amount of Zs and Gs there...
Scott Bush (WA2GOOD) Stillen charged G35 - Practice only.
Bob Sauer (NavyGolf13) Built JWT TT 350Z - Practice only.
Steve Mitchell M-Works XS Engineering 350Z - Blown motor during practice.
Mike Alvarez (mraturbo) JWT TT 350Z - Modified RWD 3rd Place, Unlimited RWD 2nd Place
Ed Reiser (Eagle1) Built JWT TT G35 - Modified RWD
Me
- Built JWT TT 350Z - Street RWD, Modified RWD, Unlimited RWD
?????? - Street RWD
Avo - Procharged G35 - Practice only.
Steve Mott (knight_white99)- JWT TT 350Z - Street RWD
Scott Bush (WA2GOOD) Stillen charged G35 - Practice only.
Bob Sauer (NavyGolf13) Built JWT TT 350Z - Practice only.
Steve Mitchell M-Works XS Engineering 350Z - Blown motor during practice.
Mike Alvarez (mraturbo) JWT TT 350Z - Modified RWD 3rd Place, Unlimited RWD 2nd Place
Ed Reiser (Eagle1) Built JWT TT G35 - Modified RWD
Me
- Built JWT TT 350Z - Street RWD, Modified RWD, Unlimited RWD?????? - Street RWD
Avo - Procharged G35 - Practice only.
Steve Mott (knight_white99)- JWT TT 350Z - Street RWD
12-05-2006, 08:29 AM
#15
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 525
Originally Posted by 350ZNV
I don't know why everybody thinks I have removed my door panels lol. They have been on the car since day 1 lol. Interior and stereo will be going back in the Z. I may even retire it from the track all together and get an EVO for a daily driver/track car and keep the Z around for weekends and the occasional track day. Who knows...
12-06-2006, 10:07 PM
#16
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Well, the final results are up. Looks like my fastest time of the weekend was a 2:02.010 which is not near as fast as it felt, but thats usually the way it works. I ran a 2:02.850 in practice with a passenger so I thought that a good lap without a passenger would be close to a 2:00.XXX, but I guess not.
The good news is, that I can justify my slow times now. Seems that I had some serious suspension issues with my car that were probably costing me a good 3-5 seconds. We knew something about my car wasn't feeling right and upon inspection after the event VRT has found already found a few problems, the biggest being that somehow my toe adjustment on the rear wheels was 3" in. Thats pretty substantial and explains why the car had a "floaty" feeling to it. This makes me feel a lot better about only being able to pull off a 2:02.010.
The good news is, that I can justify my slow times now. Seems that I had some serious suspension issues with my car that were probably costing me a good 3-5 seconds. We knew something about my car wasn't feeling right and upon inspection after the event VRT has found already found a few problems, the biggest being that somehow my toe adjustment on the rear wheels was 3" in. Thats pretty substantial and explains why the car had a "floaty" feeling to it. This makes me feel a lot better about only being able to pull off a 2:02.010.
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