GTM roll cage modifications and race car build log

[kabacj]

Nice John, you've been working hard I see! Love the engine details; that canister looks great too.

Thanks Tino. Still lots to be done but itst progress.





Saturday started a beautiful sunny day. I breezed through tech and was out on the track by 10am. First laps were a test if I had fixed the clutch and master cylinder. All was well. I can put the power down. The car REALLY takes off now. The hardest thing is keeping the motor on full boil without upsetting the car. Smooth is the operative word here. I'm definitely not used to driving a car on the track let alone a car like the GTM. It's only my second time on the track in a car I own, however by the end of the weekend It was starting to feel more normal to have two extra wheels.

A few basic observations. I'm not going race pace yet but i am going much faster then you ever could on the street. The car is very neutral and forgiving. The front suspension anti roll bar and spring rate are a great starting point. The rear seems a bit soft. In a quick right left chicane. The front carves a turn without any push but the rear slides slightly then take a set and sticks. I ll try adding some preload in the rear and also make sure the cars alignment is correct.

So far I'm just out there lapping not changing anything. I keep going faster as I learn that the car is not going to put me into a spin without warning.

Saturday ended with a mad dash to fix my buddies rear brakes .




it's pretty common for the corvette active handling to over use the rear brakes and build so much heat it melts the aluminum pistons in the calipers. That groove you see is actually the impression the back of the pad made in the piston! We could not find anyone with extra calipers at the track. All the salvage yards were closed. He went home for the weekend. See I knew I did not like those safety systems for a reason.

Saturday was looking to be a wash out. Steady rain and standing water for the first session. I'll pass. My car does not have the front splash guards installed yet. Just the trip to the gas pumps had water splashing in the leading edge of the doors.

By 11 am the rain was tapering off and the standing water was minimal. I had the inner conflict of do you really want to go off the track without anybody here to help? I don't have windshield wipers... I have little kids... Oh please John take your skirt off and get out there. So I did. It was wonderful! The rain was a perfect way to check the brake balance. The brakes that Stop Tech custom built are perfect. Tons of power. Easy to modulate and I never needed to touch the balance bar. Rain ex solved the wiper problem.

The wet laps were very productive. No unexpected spinning. i locked the brakes a few times and had quite a few white knuckle moments. But again great car. I could easily hook up exiting out of the corners. Once I got pointed WOT was no problem. I clearly have lots of setup to do yet, but for a car that has not been cross weighted or aligned very well I'm very happy.

With a car as radical as the GTM. Everyone wants to measure their car against yours. Even in the rain I had something for the WRX drivers and even the guy in the nissan GTR. Nobody could keep up once I was on pace even in the rain.

Lots of people went home due to the steady rain.




The after noon session had a dry line. Going much faster now that I have a better feel for what the car does at the limit. Rain is such a good way to learn the cars limits. You are going so much slower there is much more time to recover from a situation. Getting the car slowed down is a little scary however. It was just a matter of trusting that the car would actually slow from 130 in the wet. No technology to bail you out on this car. I love that.

The final session was fully dry and I was really cooking. I had dropped 7 seconds from my former fastest dry lap on this track in my friends c5. My top speed was 139 vs 121 in the c5. I have tons of time to gain with a clear lap , suspension setup as well as a proper alignment.

Here is a comparison of my c5 and GTM lap

Yellow is +1 G. Red is + 1.15G.


The c5 lap




The GTM lap




Things on the list to fix, improve, and finish

I need telemetry with CAN info from the ECU
Install the accusump since I am starting to pull more then 1G
Front splash guards
Transaxle cooler
Oil cooler
Install diffuser
Trim out the rear wing. (On full downforce currently)
Make a new front splitter and add canards

Still far from finished but having a GREAT time testing.

John

[carbon fiber]

awesome, but you need to add an in-car camera to that list!

[kabacj]

awesome, but you need to add an in-car camera to that list!

I have some onboard video. Just need to download and create a nice short clip. Should be done this week.

John

[crash]

Track reports are always great to read. Glad everything has come together for you. Looks like you are working up to the limits. Personally, I don't find the GTM, or any mid engine car, easy to catch once the limit has been passed with the rear grip. I have done it, but, for me, it is many times harder than a front engine car. One has to be VERY quick in response times. Hard to do that and also be smooth. Sounds like the wet track was a good experience. If there is not much to hit on a particular track, take advantage of as much rain time as you can get. As you said, things happen at slower speeds in the rain, and it is GREAT car control practice.

[kabacj]

Track reports are always great to read. Glad everything has come together for you. Looks like you are working up to the limits. Personally, I don't find the GTM, or any mid engine car, easy to catch once the limit has been passed with the rear grip. I have done it, but, for me, it is many times harder than a front engine car. One has to be VERY quick in response times. Hard to do that and also be smooth. Sounds like the wet track was a good experience. If there is not much to hit on a particular track, take advantage of as much rain time as you can get. As you said, things happen at slower speeds in the rain, and it is GREAT car control practice.

One of the reasons I chose NJMP to debut the car is there is nothing to hit (relatively). There are very few areas where you can get out of shape and hit somthing. During this weekend we had one guy roll his car.. that sucked, but he was fine. And 3 cars into tires after long trips across the grass. Sure wet grass seems like it speeds the car up, but for the most part this is a safe track for testing.

Regarding spin rate. Note that I have no basis for example regarding how hard it is to catch vs front engine cars. My only basis is motorcycles where in 11 years of racing I avoided crashing 2x in the rain by pushing myself up using my knee puck. (both times were just a reflex and I could not belive I was still on the bike) Every other time I was down before I realized I was crashing. So with that comparision I guess everything gives you plenty of time. I cant wait to go out in the wet again. I have lots to learn.

And regarding the limits again I have learned the hard way how easy it is to cross the limit lose control and bin it. I did it all the time back in the day. In my invincable twenties a crash during practice would cost me a few dollars in fiberglass and paint and I was back out on the track the next weekend with a shiny new paint job. I truely belived that if you were not crashing you were going too slow. Course I would only go 10/10 in the race so I would be sure to finish..usually.

Now that im older and wiser. Creeping up on the limit is much cheaper and better in many ways.

Limerock has a skid pad that I can use when I visit later this year. I can try to spin the car there all I want Till then im not going to get it too out of shape as most people I speak with agree with you. After a certain point in a mid engine car spin, you are just along for the ride.

I would really like to get a good picture of the GTM crossed up with rear tires smoking front wheel on curb as I round a corner on the track for my new avitar.. but im still working up to that.


John

[Dave Smith]

I'm playing catch-up here John and I am simply SLACK-JAWED at what you've done!!!!! HOLY CRAP brother, that is AMAZING. You have built yourself a ticket into any FFR venue you choose (Im thinking SEMA will have a LONG line of companies wanting that car).

Huge congrats on some truly impressive work. I told my wleders about your kind comments as they take their responsibilities very seriously in welding, understanding that a soul travels within their steel tubes.

GREAT GREAT job!

Dave Smith

[fastthings]

I'm playing catch-up here John and I am simply SLACK-JAWED at what you've done!!!!! HOLY CRAP brother, that is AMAZING. You have built yourself a ticket into any FFR venue you choose (Im thinking SEMA will have a LONG line of companies wanting that car).

Huge congrats on some truly impressive work. I told my wleders about your kind comments as they take their responsibilities very seriously in welding, understanding that a soul travels within their steel tubes.

GREAT GREAT job!

Dave Smith

Holy crap, how nice.

[kabacj]

Huge congrats on some truly impressive work. I told my wleders about your kind comments as they take their responsibilities very seriously in welding, understanding that a soul travels within their steel tubes.

GREAT GREAT job!

Dave Smith

Thanks Dave. The journey has been aweome so far and I am just getting started! You,your team, and all the folks on the forum have helped me get here. As I have said before I stand on the shoulders of giants. It would be impossible to do alone.

I am far from done, but I will see you at the open house.

John

[sk7500]

DUDE!!!
You just received the most coveted compliment I have ever seen on this forum. A well deserved CONGRATULATIONS! 👍

Steve

[Kalstar]

There is nothing I can say that would even come close to acknowledging what you have created. It is almost a sin to put a body on that frame. Well done is a big under statement!

Like the old days on your bike, Does the GTM= fountain of youth?

[kabacj]

Thanks for the thumbs up Steve.

Like the old days on your bike, Does the GTM= fountain of youth?

What I can tell you is that turning a lap I am proud of is like no other feeling. It's Something I have not been able to do for many years. It brings me back to my younger days for sure.

As a gear head adrenaline junkie, it's a dream come true to complete fast laps in the GTM I built. I sure feel alive when I roll off the track.

If the fountain of youth introduces you to great people, teaches you new skills, and makes you feel more alive.. Then yes.

It's a fun car too.

John

[VD2021]

I am still amazed by what you have done and will continue to do. It is a work of art and I echo what J said.

I was thinking,..... I am even more impressed that you have chosen to share all of this with us. From the brainstorming, to the functional product, to the road testing of it all. At times, I feel as it I am in your garage or at the track.

Thanks and Job well done, John.

"GTM-R"?

[kabacj]

I am even more impressed that you have chosen to share all of this with us. From the brainstorming, to the functional product, to the road testing of it all. At times, I feel as it I am in your garage or at the track.

Hi Vidal,

I am sharing my experiences as others have shared theirs. I am glad you can ride along. I love riding along with everyone else and following progress. These builds are so much fun they must be shared.

I had promised a video of my last track visit.

Of course my budget iphone telemetry failed as it ran out of space on the phone on Sunday, however I go this clip from Saturday. Its not bad and gives you a flavor for the GTM on the track.




Camera position was bad, it was raining a bit... but its still fun.

Next time ill have a better setup.

John

[sk7500]

That's an awesome track. Every track around where I live is in the middle of the desert. You drift a little wide you are cleaning for days. So grass and trees sure look inviting. Thanks for taking me for a ride in your car.

[fastthings]

Nice, I wanted to watch the mph go up more, the vid stopped before the end of the stretch.

[claybags]

Vid is superb!! Do you find yourself still leaning into the turns? LOL
Cheers, Jeff

[VD2021]

John,

More great stuff.

Where did you top before you had to slow again, there at the end of the video?

[fastthings]

Oh, I see now, that was the end of the straigt.

[carbon fiber]

nice vid, especially with the graphics in the lower left of the screen. the engine sounds great.

[kabacj]

Unfortunately for this lap I was not really driving in anger as it was starting to rain, and I had not had the pleasure of driving the GTM in the rain yet. On Sunday I learned how I could really get the car moving around without any major issues.

John,More great stuff.

Where did you top before you had to slow again, there at the end of the video?

HI Vidal,
There are a few drawbacks of this Iphone lap timer. The first is the GPS does not keep up with the car. You can hear the motor revving up but the MPH never indicates the true speed.

Right now the best way to tell how fast the car is going is using the rpm of the motor. To that end I am adding a video logger that has a CAN interface. This way both the video GPS, wheel speed, RPM and a bunch of other stuff are overlayed with the video data. Makes it a better datapoint.

For now however, since the GPS is equally inaccurate all the time I can tell when I go faster. The G sensor is actually quite good in the phone so that is also a good measure of faster laps as well.

What was my top speed? Prob between 140 and 145. Another thing about this phone lap timer is that it shuts down the top speed when I cross the finish line. A bit annoying...

On the other hand . I have a reasonable lap timer with video for 20 bucks in the app store. its going to cost me 100X that to get much better.

John

[crash]

140-145 is pretty darn fast on a closed course. We just recently did 145 at Thunderhill and that is considered really fast for a club raced car. If we break 150 we think they may want to add some restrictions to us as the speed differentials are pretty great between us and other cars.

[kabacj]

Vid is superb!! Do you find yourself still leaning into the turns? LOL
Cheers, Jeff

Its funny you mention that. I am far from comfortable driving a car as I am still learning. I get off the track and hop on the scooter and I said AHHH! This is what I should be riding. .. not the scooter of course, but everything is automatic for me on a motorcycle on the track. The track is so much smaller in a car. As the driver in a car you have so much less to do with which tire sliding as my weight is no longer a variable going around the corner. Having a ton of steel around me is kind of nice however.

John

[kabacj]

140-145 is pretty darn fast on a closed course. We just recently did 145 at Thunderhill and that is considered really fast for a club raced car. If we break 150 we think they may want to add some restrictions to us as the speed differentials are pretty great between us and other cars.

150 is pretty fast for sure. Im not sure how the sequential mendiola is geared, but I still am not getting a good run out of the corners. I am sure with the factory five mendiola setup there is more speed to be found. 4th gear is well placed to really put the power down. I can easily carry 10mph more onto the straightaway then start accelerating. With the stop tech brake setup slowing is no problem. It's funny people have said I want a six speed. I was one of those people that was worried 5 gears would not be enough. Besides highway cruising a four speed would be fine.


John

[crash]

I'm told Mendeola really is in development of a six speed and I was also told that we may be testing something for them soon.

That said, as you stated, I think the GTM could get away with a 3 speed if the engine is an LS3 or better. In other words over 420 FT/LBS of torque.

[kabacj]

Some how in my hurry to address all of the finishing touches needed on e GTM I neglected to verify the ride heights. The front looked high but I thought it was just because I spent 5 min installing the hood. In fact, my front ride height was way too high at 5.5 inches where the rear ride height is 4.5 inches which is ok.

With the stock springs I had expected more compression at static load in the front. Since i only got a half inch or so of spring compression my ride height was a bit too high. That left me operating in the upper half of the stock travel.

To fix this I swapped out the 8 inch stock spring for a 7 inch eibach at the same 450 lb rate.



Now I have the required 4.5 inch ride height

The spring just rattles free with about 1/8 inch gap at full droop when the front is jacked up. I can either send the shocks back to install droop limiters, leave it as is, I can move the Lower shock mounting hole slightly so I can preload the spring and still get the proper ride height. I could also shorten the spring again and install tender springs that expand under no load conditions and compress flat under static load. I need to speak with the experts at performance shock to see what they recommend.

I don't think I need any stiffer springs in the front as the anti roll bar keeps the car very flat. The 450 lb springs support the car well under max braking . Maybe when I switch over to slicks ill need to stiffen things up but for now I'm happy with the stock rate.

John

[Roger Reid]

John
Try helper springs or also known as 0 rate springs. All they do is take up the slack so your spring doesn't rattle at full droop. I use these on my vette and work great. Pegasus has them.

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...p?Product=1876

They also have the spring deviders.

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...p?Product=1877

Roger

[kabacj]

John
Try helper springs or also known as 0 rate springs. All they do is take up the slack so your spring doesn't rattle at full droop. I use these on my vette and work great.

Roger

Thanks Roger.

Great idea.

I spoke with performance shock and we decided I would go with a 6 inch 450 lb rate springs with a 3 inch helper and coupler.

With this setup I get a 6.5 inch spring pack when you include the fully compressed helper spring the Torrington bearing and the coupler. Which will allow me to use the adjuster on the spring body to lower the car to 4 inches or what ever ends up working.

Ill have a setup that will not rattle free at full droop and the shock will be very close to centered in its travel.

Thanks for the great suggestion.

John

[kabacj]

The UPS man came yesterday with new suspension parts. Included in the packages were 6 inch 450lb springs, helper springs and couplers.

You can see the comparison of the stock setup vs the new setup.



With this setup i can lower the car to the point that I cant get a low profile jack under it anymore with roughly 4 inches of clearance between the frame and the ground. That puts the radiator surround nearly 3 inches off the ground. I think I am going have issues hitting curbs on the track if I go much lower. Its not like these parts were engineered to skid along the ground, so I think i will just keep the car at 4.5 inches and see how it runs. Maybe drop it to 4 to see if there is any improvement. At 4 inches of ride height I would not be able to drive out of my driveway which has an almost flat apron forget about getting gas at a gas station or entering any parking lot.



here is the setup at ride height.






I only have a few working days between now and my next track visit on the 23rd of June. As always lots to be done.

John

[kabacj]

Now that the ride height is setup, I can spend a little time on the alignment.

First step was to establish the baseline I used on my last track visit. I am new to alignment, so this weekend I spent just as much time understanding what I was setting, why I was setting it, and how it effects the car as actually making changes. As wood workers say measure twice cut once. I measured 10 times set and remeasured another 5 times.

In my opinion one of the reasons the GTM has a reputation for tricky handling is the fact that many shops don't set the car up properly and builders discount the importance of learning about and focusing on this step. I know I made some mistakes. Lucky for me my mistakes did not end badly.

Here are the settings I used on the last track visit.

Chassis setup for 5/19

Left Front Right front
castor 3.2' castor -3.0'
camber -2.8 camber -3.2
toe -5/32 in toe -5/32 in



Left Rear Right Rear
camber -1.7 camber -1.9
toe 7 /16 th toe 7 / 16ths

From my research and correct me if you disagree I was in the ball park on for my quick and dirty front end settings. I know some have used front tow out to gain on center stability. I think I have a little too much toe in. Camber and caster I think were ok.

The rear setup was not as good. I set the rear camber at what i guessed would be a good starting point. I set the rear toe at the track very quickly before my first run on my first day out.

Before setting the rear toe, driving around on the access roads around the track at 30-40 mph on my first track day I could feel that the rear end had something funny going on. Turns out the rear was way off.

I brought the car back to the pits. We put the toe plates on and sure enough 3/4 inch! of toe out the rear tires were not parallel to the front either. Oops. Clearly overlooked that setting. I am pretty good at eyeballing angles so I used the toe plates on the same side of the car to get the wheels close to parallel. No time to get the strings out to do this properly.

Then we set the rear toe with my buddy measuring while I adjusted the toe links under the car with the goal of 1/8 toe in. Whoops missed that setting too. I was still pretty far off the correct setting.

The thing I found interesting was that the car was not terrible to drive with the rear with almost a half inch of toe out. I'm not saying it was good. Left right transitions I could feel something was wrong. But it was still drivable.

Here are my current settings I am going to use for my next track day.


Left Front Right front
caster -3 castor -3
camber -2.8 camber -2.7
toe -1/16 toe -1/16




Left Rear Right Rear
camber -1 camber -1
toe -1/16 toe -1/16

I started with all the wheels are parallel to the frame so I know this time I actually have the settings I think I have.


The tools I used.

Toe plates. I used longacre

Caster/camber gauge. Again a longacre part

Home made turn plates.
A few linoleum tiles with glass bead as the lubricant. I used a straight edge and a protractor to measure the turn angles. Worked well.

Strings to verify all the wheels were parallel to the frame. Then set toe with the strings and verified with the toe plates.



John

[crash]

Actually small amount of toe in helps tracking stability. Toe out helps the car during initial turn in, but can make the car "darty" down the straights. The 1/16 toe in looks about right. If you get too much toe in it will also become unstable, but what you have there looks good. Looks like you have quite a bit of camber, but if the tires are wearing and heating properly then that is what you need to go by.

[KeithBoden]

Kabacj: one Monday, after returning from NJMP, my friend started describing your car; he was surprised that I knew a little bit about it. I was hoping to see your GTM at the track sooner than later, but looks like I'll miss you at NJMP by a day this time! (My #388 won't be there Saturday, just my Camaro.)

On the topic of alignment, I noticed your camber numbers. I recently found, after adjusting lots of other things in search of the answer, that too much camber will also cause high speed stability issues, especially with any amount of braking (even without noticeable dive, and my Camaro has minimal bump steer.) I had overlooked it in my last read of Race-Car-Vehicle-Dynamics (1000 pages of awesomeness if anyone is looking for a good book) and backed the camber off from 2 degrees to 1. I believe the wider tires on the front of my Camaro (275's) accentuate the camber sensitivity, so 2 or more degrees might be fine for GTMs, or the tire you are running. However, if you find a stability issue that feels like the back end is swaying, or the front is darting, see what a degree less camber does for you. I'm excited to find out how much is different and how much I have to learn when I finish my GTM, but you never know, some things might be similar!

[kabacj]

Hi Crash and Keith

Thanks for the feedback.

Regarding the camber. According to Toyo, the RA1s like lots of camber. The fronts seem to be wearing evenly. The rears look to be wearing slightly more on the inside. Thats why i took some camber out. I really need to get temperatures across the tire to know for sure. That is on the list for this track visit. I don't have any stability issues going straight, but I did have some weirdness in quick right left transitions at around 70mph. I suspect that was due to the rear toe misalignment.

Keith the GTM is such an awesome track car. Although I will enjoy driving the GTM on the street it's impossible to even scratch the surface of its capability. You are going to absolutely love it.

One of the things that I found surprising was the information overload that I have been dealing with on my first few track events. Each time out I'm focusing on either teething issues with the car on the first weekend or the weather on the second weekend. Two tracks that I am still learning the fast line around. All that combined with learning how to drive a very high horsepower car with no real track experience.

I finally decided that a Stack DVL video and data logger would help me record more information for review later. Although I did have some issues capturing video and telemetry last weekend. When the system did work I got very useful data. What I thought was happening and what really happened we not always the same.

If all goes well ill have 3 cameras as well as a full log of the ECU, GPS coordinate data with inertial G meters.

I should be able to capture some good data.

John

[flotowngtm]

John,
What size tire are you running? The biggest RA1 tire I see on tire rack is a 275? I thought you were running the FFR wheels 12" wide?
(picutres dont show up on this network)

[kabacj]

John,
What size tire are you running? The biggest RA1 tire I see on tire rack is a 275? I thought you were running the FFR wheels 12" wide?
(picutres dont show up on this network)

245s in the front 335s in the rear. Yes I have the FFR wheel package. I got my tires soon after the earth quake in Japan. Almost immediately after the earthquake, there was a shortage of Toyo tires here in the US. I was lucky enough to find a supplier on EBAY who had plenty of 335 rears but the fronts were very hard to locate. I ended up calling 15 tire suppliers on Long Island until I found a place that had them in stock on the shelf. I don’t know what the availability is now, but I agree it does not look like many places have 335s in stock.

I chose the Toyo tires because unshaved they are an OK dry tire and a good rain tire. Since I only have one set of rims I wanted a set of tires that I will be able to pass DOT inspection for the street as well as drive in any track condition. I am sure there are other tires that meet this specification. Best of all I got both rears for 270 bucks! Both brand new. The inside of the tires had small indentations on them as if they were laying on a metal wire rack. That did not bother me at all. They work fine.

John

[kabacj]

On my first track day I built a temporary dash out of duct tape and cardboard.




It was very functional but not exactly pretty. It was time to make a more respectable temporary dash.

I cut and welded some aluminum into this frame. I then sprayed it with some wrinkle paint.



I added a bracket on the back so I could bolt the gauge cluster to the frame and steering column.



Next I drilled and tapped the frame and steering column to receive the same 1/4 20 stainless allen bolts as used on many of the interior parts.

I buried the wires in loom as best I could until I can make a shroud for the gauges



With this new setup I was able to move the gauges lower so I can see them all at once through the steering wheel even tho I am nearly sitting on the floor pan.



The top position is open for the transaxle temp gauge. I left out the gas guage as thats unnecessary on the track.. Ha I say that after I ran out of gas the last track visit. I figured I had enough gas for one more 20 min run. Little did I know I did not. The car shut down 100 yrds from pit in. The good thing I learned is that my tow hook works. The pickup, flapper/ sump setup in my custom tank gets every last drop from the bottom of the tank. And the car does not sputter at all before it runs totally dry... I guess that,s good.

John

[kabacj]

Tons of fun. Monday and Tuesday at the track.



It was exceptionally hot. With air temps in the mid 90s and very high humidity.

This was a great test for the cooling systems. I'm happy to report that everything worked perfectly. The motor hovered between 220 and 230 while the transaxle was between 180 and 190 degrees.

My iPhone on the other hand did not like the heat inside the car. The phone shutdown several times due to the heat. Hot rod black does not make for a cool car!

The alignment changes made a world of difference. The car is very neutral now. I was able to push the front and slide the rear without any uncontrollable results. I maxed out at 1.4 G verified using two telemetry setups. That's pretty good on unshaved toyo RA1s I think.

My buddy and I were having a blast chasing each other around.

To make the challenge between a 630hp GTM and a 350 hp c5 corvette fair I could only drive in 5th gear. He could use any gear. Fifth gear in the mendiola is super tall. This makes 5th a great cruising gear, but it kills acceleration out of the corners. My buddy was faster off most of the corners as well as having higher speed on the straight bits.

Running a tall gear around the whole track turns out to be very good practice. Since the track was open I could just concentrate on carrying corner speed. I have tons of experience carrying momentum in the corners from my 125 gp bike days. It's much more satisfying to go fast with less power as you need to work for it.

This week I learned how well the GTM carries speed. My best laps using only 5th gear was 2 seconds faster then my fastest lap last weekend at the track using all the gears!

Here is a map showing the difference in G loads comparing last weekend and this weekend.
The map below is a 5th gear run vs using all the gears.

Yellow is +1 G. Red is + 1.15G.

This is the lap before the alignment shifting as necessary



here is one of the laps I did with the car in 5th gear only.



I got some great video of the GTM on the track. I am working on editing that and will post it soon.

John

[rev2xs]

Very cool! I'm looking forward to your video

So just to clarify, these are the alignment settings you had?


Left Front Right front
caster -3 castor -3
camber -2.8 camber -2.7
toe -1/16 toe -1/16




Left Rear Right Rear
camber -1 camber -1
toe -1/16 toe -1/16

[kabacj]

Very cool! I'm looking forward to your video

So just to clarify, these are the alignment settings you had?

Left Front Right front
caster -3 castor -3
camber -2.8 camber -2.7
toe -1/16 toe -1/16

Left Rear Right Rear
camber -1 camber -1
toe -1/16 toe -1/16

Correct rev2xs. These are the settings I used at the track. Note that I have power steering. I have the electric MR2 pump on a manual switch. With the pump turned off, but using the power rack its driveable, but its tiring. I am not sure how this setup would feel using the manual rack that comes with the kit.



John

[kabacj]

I have lots of great footage from my last track day , but these were two particularly fun laps.

The rules of the game were. I could not shift the car and my buddy could use any gear he liked. We swapped lead follow all day long. Each of us had a our moments. It was great practice for me as the GTM has so much power I can just motor by whom ever I want. Without the benefit of a powerful motor the only way to go fast was to carry corner speed. My best laps in 5th gear only were 2 seconds faster then my fastest time last visit.

Worst I had was two wheels off. He had 4 that another awesome video. Always in good fun. No damage was done and everybody had a blast.




John

[RumRunner]

John,

Great video! I like the 5th gear only approach to driving on the track --- sure keeps it simple. Looks like you and your friend had a great time paying cat and mouse. Can't wait to see the videos when you get to use all the gears.

-Michael