Track Day 45 @ PIR -- New PB and a Finally Happy Car
So after my last event at PIR, I was happy the car was better but concerned I'd created new problems to go with the ones I'd solved. While the transmission was together and everything seemed happy... I now had ABS issues and power issues. The power issue I was able to fortuantely resolve with a quick adjustment from my tuner on his laptop. Nice and easy and we're now back in business.
The ABS issue however let me with more questions than answers. So I decided I'd start with the simplest approach I had in front of me. A speed sensor was failing on the back right wheel. I replaced that hub right before the previous event where the failure occured as a wheel stud snapped off. So, let's put new studs in the old hub that was fine and swap it back in.
The above is what I saw when I removed the old HUB. Looks like MPI is still working out some issues with their V2 hubs. All the grease came out, it developed one heck of a bad noise, and it took out the speed sensor with it as well it would seem. I got ARP wheel studs put in the MPI V1 bearing, reinstalled it... and everything was happy again.
...until my car came to an absolute stop and wouldn't move anymore at an intersection on my test drive. I spent about 5 minutes there not sure what to do... and then thought to try reverse. The car was fine after that... so I drove home and pulled the other side off. Turns out the parking brake stuff I'd only partly removed from that side was causing issues and had bound up against the rotors. No time like the present though to finish removing the parking brak components and reduce the weight of my car a bit while I'm at it.
How the Event Went:
With the C5 Corvette hopefully complete, I was able to drive to the event. Imagine my surprise when I found a C8, C7 and C6 all lined up next to each other! I popped in to a spot next to them and we were able to get a picture of the 4 most recent generations of Corvette!
After navigating a few headaches with the Lemons Accord yet again running afoul of the SCCA TNIA race care stipulations it was time to track the car! I went out for a few sessions and everything was coming together. There were no engine complaints or codes, I was able to reasonably get in and out of gears, and ABS was indeed working! NICE!
A friend grabbed some great pictures of the C5 Corvette out there. It was doing well. Finally... back at it with this car!
As an added bonus, I set a PB! Given the weather was a perfect mildly overcast 70 degrees I don't think conditions could have been more optimial to put down a good time. Plus the Vitour P1 tires finally had some decent heat cycles on them and I was starting to get used to the way they wanted to drive.
As you can see from the Racebox Mini above, I was able to put down a 1:26.72 on 25hz GPS. I have even faster times on GoPro, but I'll stick to the validated GPS stuff.
Speaking of video, I switched to a DJI Cosmo Action 5 to try it out and took some video. Here's the session in which I got that PB:
Takeaways from the Event
The car is ready for some time attack events!
After having to take time off due to issues, it seems good to go, which is great as there are som July events I am really excited about doing.
Oil Cooling and Coolant temps are great!
Oil temps hold steady at 250f even at my new personal best time here, with many flying laps equal to or greater than my previous PB. So the pace has increased and tempreatures have come down with the smaller oil cooler. That's a win!
I got some stuff to look at with Turn 12 Entry and My Line there.
Talking to my friend Shane who has a K swapped CRX his line and most folks line is straight line brake to deeper in the turn, then turn for the Apex. My line however is to dip into the exit lane instead of straight line break there, and turn in for the apex, doing trail braking all the way out to a slightly earlier apex. I always make up a lot of distance on folks here, especially higher power cars I struggle to reel in anywhere else on the track.
Reviewing lines and checking it all out... we may actually have our lines swapped! My line is more of a momentum line that favors keeping your speed and getting a decent mid turn speed. His favors stable entry and being able to get on the throttle sooner. Anyways, something to play with my next time here!