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2 weeks ago this car didn’t have an engine.
I threw together a used JDM block I bought in 2017 that has been sitting in the corner of 949 and then in the corner of Tarmac 88 with the cylinder head that actually came in this car when I bought it 5 years ago.
A trip to the Back Street Performance dyno last Friday and a run-whatever-I-brung mentality led to a really fun weekend.
Only making 146whp meant I was allowed to be as light as 1916lbs comp weight(with driver). Reality is, my car is about 2180lbs with driver but no ballast and no fuel, so I was running 250-300lbs heavy all weekend and was one of only 3 cars on 205mm tires. Kutil's best T1 min was ~89.7 on 225/45 R7 and I matched that with 205/50s.
I killed the last two of my spare ARP studded and Amsoil greased OEM hubs on Friday and switched to the BroFab hubs midday right before Race 1. They are a great value, immediately noticeable was that they lessened my pad knockback and even sharpened the steering. The piece of mind they provided me was also wonderful, no longer having to catch a soft growl or vague steering input to prevent a catastrophic failure.
My car has proven to kill new OEM/Centric Premium hubs in less than 3 hours of run time. Doing so with 5 total hubs on a random assortment of tires: 205-225 R7, 225 RT660, 205 AO52, 215 gForce Slick.
Saturday morning I went up to some fresh Prebed GLoc R16s(from R12s) on Danny's advice and liked them alot. They were pretty similar in overall characteristics but felt much more consistent throughout a race. I think some of that might be due to pad thickness, as the R12s I had run down to ~2-3mm of material and they were knockback-ing much worse than the brand new R16s did.
I knew that 146whp was literally bringing a knife to a gunfight, but I know MidO well and believed I could race with best of these guys.
Qualified P16 of ~37.
Race 1: P10 with a 1:37.2 new PB.
Race 2: P12 with a 1:36 new PB. I was able to draft Andy Smedgegard and keep the front of the field in view for most of this race. That felt really good.
Race 3: DNF after a defensive mistake and a voluntary 4 off caused some splitter damage.
Race 4 in the rain: P13 from P37(DFL). 205 RT660 are baaaaad rain tires. I won't be doing that again. I actually have a set of H2Os sitting in the shop, but opted not to bring 16 wheels/tires. They may have netted me a podium or T5, if only...
Race 5: P7 from P13(12 after Marcus left early) in the exhibition race on the 17” hotboi wheels.
I never finished behind my qually pace and only got faster as the weekend progressed. Great success! /Borat
Your car would be a weapon with 225s and more power.
Yea, it was super fun to drive at 163whp, 2250lbs with a splitter and 225/45 R7 last year. I'd like to get that motor figured out and put back in. Maybe try it at 171whp and on 245/40/15 200tw.
160-170whp BPs have won races, but that was in the first year, before Eric and the S2Ks were all K24'd.
I was gonna chop this up into clips, but its actually pretty entertaing from green to single file formation around 10 minutes in, so I stopped it there.
Race 5: Exhibition only, no points. Mixed field, some on 200tw, some on Hoosiers but starting at the back, I am on scrub MX5 Cup BFG gForce Slicks.
Best laps in the low 38s compared to 36.9 and low 37s on Hoosier R7s in the points races.
Fun opening battle with Ryan Kristoff's GTL CRX after a good start.
Eric Kutil bumpdraft at 5:25, followed by Austin Hertle/Emile Tabb/Tom O'Gorman(driving Andy Smedegard's car) freight train. Bill/Riley Griffin splitter slalom at 8:40
I ran what remained of my R12s for practice and qually. Went to the R16 for Race 1-5. I previously was on R18 and stepped all the way back down to R12 for less initial bite and a more realistic/usable temp range for my lightweight/low power. I had some crumbling with the R18s that I attributed to running them too cold. The 16s were way more consistent throughout the sessions/races than the 12s, almost like I was previously just on the edge of what heat the 12s liked. I never had any real fade, but they would get softer or more vague late in races.
The 16s were super confidence inspiring and I was brake battling with several modern ABS/mk60 cars this weekend on my non-ABS 205mm tire TSE DynaPro 11.75 kit.
Wonder how long that would last after someone exploited an n/a 13B in an NB.
Don't think it'd be much of an exploit unless it can make flat power. I'd love 13b in my miata and once I fail at remote mount turbo I'm willing to give it a go, for science. WIth no avg hp formula it's like NASA of old, make your HP for as many RPM as possible. Granted that would be +3% hit vs -1% so I dunno, maybe you could make peaky 13b work.
Don't think it'd be much of an exploit unless it can make flat power. I'd love 13b in my miata and once I fail at remote mount turbo I'm willing to give it a go, for science. WIth no avg hp formula it's like NASA of old, make your HP for as many RPM as possible. Granted that would be +3% hit vs -1% so I dunno, maybe you could make peaky 13b work.
I'm not sure it would actually be peaky. Down on peak torque vs the K24 cars FOR SURE, but i bet you could end up with it making largely the same torque for 5000rpm or so. Then slam a rowdy rear gear in it.
Of course, this is all internet napkin math based upon rhetorical motors.
NASA Paperwork done for next weekend.
My medical is expired, so I am just going to run TT5.
Mid Ohio again.
1:36.474 Pro Course TT5 record is STRONG, having been set at National Championships two years ago. All the Pro Course TT records are pretty strong for this reason.
1:38.835 Club Course record looks reachable. It is held by a good Tarmac 88 customer, so I'll feel kinda bad taking it from him. Kinda.
Like TT6, Sonny holds the Pro and I took the Club last year.
Optimal Lap from GLTC data shows a 1:35.979, but with an outlier sector at the end of the lap that drops a few tenths. I got the tow of a lifetime from Andy Smedegard to run that 36.9 real lap, which lead to the 36.871 rolling, which is where most of the optimal sectors come from. I was ~80lbs under xT5 weight too.
My 146.05 peak run makes 140.75 NASA Average.
2250lbs Min Comp Weight
-.4 for Weight Factor
-.2 for BBK (TSE 11.75" DynaPro front, FlowForce Sport Rotor adaptor rear)
-.7 for A arms
-.5 for 4" front splitter
= 142.41 Max Average Horespower.
That gives me ~2.5whp cushion.
If I want more cushion:
2260lbs gets me to 143.0 avg
2276lbs gets me to 144.0 avg
Watch me throw away a class win AND 3 predicted Track Records in a row.
Current TT5 Track Record: 1:38.835
Best lap on video: 1:38.988(.978 by transponder)
Lap 1: 2nd flyer of the session, OK lap. 2 off Turn 11 into Thunder Valley. Pretty scary spot, but I seem unphased on video. I stayed in the throttle to collect the slide, but a big lift once the car was straight to get back on track cost me ~.5
Lap 2: A missed 4-5 shift in thunder valley before Turn 12. Predicted 1:38.82 briefly visible on the AIM Solo. Pain.
Lap 3: FLYING. This is, by AIM data, the best I have EVER driven the combined sectors from Keyhole(T2) to Carousel(T14). At Carousel, I lock the inside front, which lead me into a spiral. I attempted to "make up for it" with more throttle than possible, a bit earlier than possible, which leads to a 4 off and session DQ. (which turned into an entire day ruiner due to oil down from T2 to pit entrance in session 4 after I missed #2 and #3 to repair my front splitter)
I missed session 2 and 3 while driving back to Tarmac to cut another splitter. Session 4 was ruined by the Thunder race(which also got cut 15 minutes short due to an extreme number of "incidents" and an oil down situation that stretched from T2 to pit entrance.... So, I leave with a big, fat "what could have been"
Sunday was Pro Course, and I ain't touching Samed's National Championship lap record.
I put the black Singular endplates on at Mid Ohio to balance the extra inch of splitter in NASA ST spec vs GLTC spec.
that started a wave of adding black stuff.
CCP doors: pulled 50lbs off the car in an hour.
9LR headlight blanks: pulled 4lbs off the car in about 3 hours over two days.
splitter paint and 2 new mounts: no weight reduction but much more structural integrity and appearance.
I didn’t speak much to the 15x8.5 Hypergram much, but they fit around my TSE 11.75 Dynapro bbk and make the 205/50/15 R7 exactly fit the maximum NASA section width template for cars below 2400lbs.
I think he pulled @afm levels of troll and did a fake carbon fiber wrap on what looks to be real carbon fiber (maybe fiberglass?) doors. Well played either way friend.