Track Day 48 -- PIR with Track Night in America -- Swapping Back to Less Aero
This event was just a fun little afternoon event with Track Night in America. I made a few modifications to the Corvette and decided I'd test them out at the track, see how everything is working together and have some fun times driving around the track!
Leading up to the Event
So after my most recent time attack event at the ridge, where I ran a PB that I'm pretty sure might just be amongst the fastest times an LS1 powered C5 Corvette has done at that track, and yet still lost by 10 seconds... it occured to me that maybe just maybe my car can't overcome the difference between itself and a modified Porsche GT3RS. The C5 corvette is a killer car, but there comes a point where the $400,000 car with AP racing brakes on it which alone are worth more than my car... is going to have an advantage I can't reasonably overcome with the time and money available to me.
Now I'm not the first person in history to build their car to be as competitive as possible accross multiple classes. So while I love the work I've done on the car and enjoy the challenging of modifying and bulding it... detuning it presented some interesting challenges as well.
With the GT podium looking quite reasonably within the performance window of my Corvette... I got to modifying!
First up, the wing had to go. GT class doesn't allow proper wings, but does allow "GT style" wings, aka brand new Toyota Supras are fine. My best chance... build a spoiler! Infact, build a spoiler that mounts to my already existent wing mount so in the future I'll just undo a few bolts and be off to the case!
Here it is in all of it's glory... covered in Gorilla tape so as not to be reflective. Yep, it's definitely very "DIY", which infact is a generous way of looking at the quality of the build. Still, it's sturdy, big, and should more than do the trick!
With a spoiler in place, I had to remove all front aero. The front splitter simply had to go, as did the canards I had up front. I -hate-removing the splitter, and I've been bugging 9 Lives Racing about their removable front splitter. In the absence of one, I just may have to make one myself this coming winter. Not having it is going to be a massive headache for moving between configurations.
Now without the splitter, I'm back to needing a center air dam / scoop to pull air going under the car up and through the radiator. I don't have my factory one, and the local parts yard also is missing it. I can get one for $125 online but... not in time for the event. So I had my friend Dave help fabricate up a big air dam to direct air up into the radiator.
Other modifications that were performed but not mentioned... I took the QA1 coilovers I have and dropped the spring rates back to 550/650. These are the spring rates I know work well on the Corvette, so I might as well capitalize on them. When I return the car to full aero for other classes like SCCA MAX2, I'll be putting on the new MOD series 4 way adjustable coilovers with the 700/750 springs. I also switched to my other set of wheels with Continental extreme Contact Force's, which I do like as a track day tire, but they are not renowned for having the same level of grip as Vitour P1's.
How The Event Went
So the event itself was BRUTALLY hot. I also forgot to get pictures as it was so hot and I was getting roasted alive in my Corvette due to the coolsuit cooler being tested over in our Lemons Accordion. Car temperatures peaked at about 266 degrees on oil tmperature, which is a new high from the previous spoiler setup. Honestly, I was a bit surprised to seee temperatures that high as I figured going back to not having the splitter would help, but nope... sure enough I'm seeing prety much the exact same temps to even slightly higher! Thank goodness for the oil cooler helping keep my Corvette alive!
Despite the aero removal, I was able to get myself down to 1:27.548 for a best time, which is with .75 or so seconds of my personal best that I had aero AND Vitour P1 tires AND 70 degree temperatures. So I'm either not taking full advantage of those upgrades, or...
A change was made to the track.
Below you can see the former turn 9 layout. There was some massive and very jagged curbing there that you had to juke around. A few different race series insisted it be removed... and so it has been removed and largely smoothed over, though it's still not perfectly smooth. Still, being able to straight line here should yield higher top speeds and improved lap times as this section is now notably tighter.
So all that to say... was I actually faster? Well... I need to get my data downloaded and go over it with AI some to see for certain. Right now, my top speeds are about the same, and without CSV data (Firelaps data downloads are still in beta) I can't really analyze time through a particular segment.... and I changed the car so it would still be apples to a different kind of apples.
