Watkins Glen, June 6-7

[PDenbigh]

MM,

I got to drive at Watkins Glen, NY this past Monday and Tuesday. I thought I'd snip parts of writeups I did for some other lists that might interest this group:

list 1 post:

What an awesome event! I was fortunate to have a great instructor and that my car ran wonderfully (well, until the last session.)! We had outstanding weather with a brief hard rain Monday afternoon, but that quickly dried up and the track was green.

IÔÇÖd have to say that my favorite part of the track would be either Turn 5 (downhill Right after the Chicane) or Turn 7, otherwise known as ÔÇ£The toe of the bootÔÇØ because both were long, late + blind apex, and banked, so they were really challenging but also very rewarding when you hit it right.

Another more technical list post:
As for the car and the ÔÇ£Techy stuffÔÇØ this board likes to absorb:

Handling:

The handling felt really good!
My setup is:
Front: 300# Coilovers, Spax Sport Shocks, Stock Swaybar, 245/45/16 Fuzion ZRi Tires

Rear: Spax ÔÇ£SportÔÇØ springs and shocks, cossie rear swaybar, shock tower brace, 245/45/16 Fuzion Tires

Gutted rear interior up to the front seats

(Old setup:
Front: 300# coilovers, spax shocks, Stock Swaybar, 195/14ÔÇØ tires (Falkin Ziex)
Rear: Spax Springs and Shocks, Stock Swaybar, Rear Tower Brace, 195/14ÔÇØ tires
Full Interior)

ItÔÇÖs not a pure race setup but I thought it felt really nice and so did my instructor. No understeer when the line was hit correctly which was a problem I had prior with a different setup. I believe Cliff Walton wants to move to 500#ÔÇÖs in the front, up from #450ÔÇÖs. IÔÇÖll let him chime in here.

So basically the items that changed were loosing the rear interior, the tire widths and the rear swaybar.

My front tires are feathered though, so I need to look into what this means. Probably an alignment issue. IÔÇÖm very pleased with the Fuzion ZRiÔÇÖs. $88 for 245ÔÇÖs is a good deal and they grip plenty well enough for a beginner driver.

Engine:

The car made it through six 20 minute sessions and I was driving it VERY hard. I was hitting the readline (set at 7000rpm) frequently. Max Speed hit was 131ish on the back straight. On the 7th sessions, however, I think I blew a seal in the turbo and somehow I cracked my ÔÇ£RodÔÇÖs Header.ÔÇØ (<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rodsheaders.com">www.rodsheaders.com</a><!-- w -->). So, I only missed one session and it allowed me to hit the road sooner. The crack occurred on a weld I had done to modify the header. The headers themselves held up wonderfully! The welding job on my mod needed to be better.

Header Coating:

Last event I didnÔÇÖt have the headers/turbo/downpipe coated (ÔÇ£Jet-hotÔÇØ type coating). This time I did, and I was thrilled with the result. The underhood temperatures were drastically reduced and the system cooled MUCH faster.

Cooling:

Another issue was cooling, the car got too hot so I need to get a better radiator in it. I think IÔÇÖm going to turn to Dave Godfrey for help on that, he seems to have it under control. Currently I have a SAAB 900 Rad with two Permacool 1500CFM fans. The fans work great, the radiator needs help.

Also the engine hit its 3000 miles-since-rebuild mark prior to this event so I changed the oil to Mobil 1 15w50. It smoked a little as it was warming up, but once it was hot and had been run it didnÔÇÖt smoke. Still working on what this means (and maybe it was the turbo slowly dying and not related to the oil type).

WhatÔÇÖs next?
So, future projects for the car, in order:
Fixing Turbo (and finding out why it happened)
Repairing Header once and for all
Compression check to see how everything held up
Getting a ÔÇ£FlapÔÇØ for the underside of the crossmember, mine has been gone for years and I hear it makes a huge difference.
Better Radiator, manual fan switch of some sort
Putting an inline oil cooler before the turbo
Chipping away sound deadening material from rear interior of car
Rollcage and Harnesses

[ScottyB]

Pete, where can you get/how do you get a jet hot coating? is in something you can apply yourself?

[PDenbigh]

Pete, where can you get/how do you get a jet hot coating? is in something you can apply yourself?

Unfortunately no, it can't be done at home. You take your parts off and send them away - they sandblast adn acid dip, then apply the coating and then bake it at 800+ degrees for X amount of time.

More info on the company can be found at http://www.jethot.com/. I have a video and their sales packet at my house if you'd like to look at 'em!

[white_2kgt]

so you driving summit this weekend?

--chad

[Evan]

Good to hear you enjoyed it Pete. I plan on driving the Glen next month with CarGuys

[PDenbigh]

so you driving summit this weekend?

--chad

Nope, cracked the header and did something to the turbo on session 6.5 (out of 8 sessions). Doh. At least I found the weak spot. Right before that session I was really excited b/c I thought I was going to be able to run @ summit .

[PDenbigh]

Good to hear you enjoyed it Pete. I plan on driving the Glen next month with CarGuys

You will love it!

[Rex4life]

cracked the header

??????

[PDenbigh]

cracked the header

??????

Not sure what you're ?'ing about, but yea, the header has a crack in a weld, spewing exhaust everywhere! Not too difficult to fix I don't think. *fingers crossed!*

[white_2kgt]

cracked the header

??????

Not sure what you're ?'ing about, but yea, the header has a crack in a weld, spewing exhaust everywhere! Not too difficult to fix I don't think. *fingers crossed!*

Well get off the computer and weld the fucker and get your ass up to summit. It's only a 2hr drive!

--chad

[Rex4life]

cracked the header

??????

Not sure what you're ?'ing about, but yea, the header has a crack in a weld, spewing exhaust everywhere! Not too difficult to fix I don't think. *fingers crossed!*

i thought you had a turbo. or are you talking about a header exhaust manifold to the turbo

[PDenbigh]

Oh, yes, I do have a turbo :-).

You're right on - I the header going to the turbo.

http://www.rodsheaders.com/?Page=Products, I have the center mount with external wastegate. I modified the wastegate tube and the weld didn't hold.

[PDenbigh]

Well get off the computer and weld the fucker and get your ass up to summit. It's only a 2hr drive!

--chad

I also damaged the turbo, again . I was going to coem to Summit too. I think I'm still going to work it though.

[Rex4life]

that sucks about messing up your car. and thanks for confirming the header to turbo, i thought i had gone crazy for a second

[white_2kgt]

Well get off the computer and weld the fucker and get your ass up to summit. It's only a 2hr drive!

--chad

I also damaged the turbo, again . I was going to coem to Summit too. I think I'm still going to work it though.

DOH!

--chad

[John]

Good to hear you enjoyed it Pete. I plan on driving the Glen next month with CarGuys

Have you gotten a hotel room yet? I need to do that this week...

Are you going up Sunday afternoon or what?

[Evan]

I havent gotten a room yet

Im still not 100% on it. I need to make sure Snobeck is going first(ie- a guy with a truck and trailer) and see what shape my engine is in after this weekend at VIR

[PDenbigh]

Seneca Lodge is close to the track, depending on your budget. They have unairconditioned cabins for $40/night and some nicer airconditioned rooms for a little more. Also, there is a nice campground just up the hill from Seneca. I spent a night at each and much perfered the camp ground @ $17/night per spot with a 2-tent max per location. They have showers and stuff, like most campgrounds.

[ViPER1313]

KOA Kampground - have stayed there many a time - pretty nice for a campground. Log cabins are also nice.

[PDenbigh]

It's not a KOA, it's funded by the NY State park system.