Track Day Report - 6 Speed, Headlights, Suspension Bottoming

[Dave 53]

After over 10 weeks of my car up on jack stands, my The Driveshaft Shop axles arrived on Thursday, I got them in Friday and made it to Thunderhill West CCW yesterday. After towing my 818 home from the previous 4 track days, I was ecstatic to drive home at the end of the day!

My goal for the day was to simply figure out the new 6 speed. I had yet to have more than a couple of laps or street miles with it. It took 3 sessions of experimenting, but I finally got the shift points figured out. The LED shift light bar on top of the dash is a huge help and kept me from unnecessarily over reving the engine. But I still had problems finding gears. Especially 5 - 4 down shifts which multiple times ended up being a 5 - 6 upshift. And two 4 -3 money shifts. Hard to find neutral when stopping. The 6 speed shifting feels so different than the 5 speed, and not in a good way. Anyone ever try fabricating shift lever gates like on a Ferarri? I was 2 seconds off my PB, but that's okay. Missing shifts and hitting cones tends to slow you down some.

Without the long explanation, I hit a cone at about 70 mph. It just missed my headlight. No body damage, but it was enough to knock the Hella headlight fixture out of the bucket. Unknowingly, I had left enough slack in the wires for it to dangle down, hit the pavement and get all busted up. I'd suggest you assume your headlight fixture will someday fall out of the bucket and take precautions to make sure it stays contained. For aero reasons, it's been on the to-do list to mount a splitter type panel under there. I'm thinking about a wire connecting the fixture to one of the bucket to body bolts. For a similar or other reasons, I'm certain this wasn't the last time it falls off.

Thunderhill West has a couple of high speed low curbs that we bash that cause my rear suspension to bottom out. Especially with a passenger, of course. I've been incrementally raising the rear ride height which has helped. I am now at max ride height (limit of Koni adjustment) and still bottom out at exit of the Dorito turn 3. And Sonoma turn 1. And a couple of other places. Other than missing the curb which is impossible, any advice? Stiffer springs?

First time out with the new Konig Dekagram wheels. I did my lunch time checks and every single lug nut was seriously loose, all 20, one nut ready to fall off! Not sure if this was a onetime new wheel thing, but I will be retorquing after every session for awhile. I went from 75ft/lbs to 85 and it seemed to be okay after lunch.

I didn't take any video and the only picture I took was an unflattering picture of a friend recovering from a ride-along.