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It looks like my STX winning time was also good enough to top STU and all of the STX cars at the event but one, as Mark Sipe cleaned up some cone trouble with a hero 5th run (running in Street Mod during heat 3) that put almost 9 tenths on the BRZ. He's a damn fast driver and has been racing that RX8 since about 2006, and it is set up well. Maxcy was fast in his well prepped BMW 328is (running in X class) but also had cone trouble and sat on his 1st run. Since he was in X class and they automatically DSQ the 4th and 5th runs (that class only), and he was a bit closer on his 5th run. Madarash's ESP car was
smoking fast, and even with the harder SMod factor he just out-placed me in PAX results. After watching all of my runs on video, there was clearly more time in the BRZ than we saw in this first event, with better driving and a developed set-up. As usual I complained more about power than anything, and there are some proven power mods on these cars out now, too.
In the end I think this event was a better test point for the "S197 in STU" idea than the last autocross where Mark and I drove his 2012 GT in two different heats on differing courses (mid-event course change, ugh). The times we see in these results show another piece of data supporting the request allowing more tire on the Mustangs in STU. Even with 295s and $100 worth of "cheater" rear suspension upgrades, it was still lacking. Both Mustangs would have gotten killed in the old STX class, especially running on the skinnier 265mm tires, so I think STU is still the right move for these cars. Of course everyone can always drive better and Mark will only get faster as he gets more seat time and mods on the car, but Amy isn't new to this sport and neither of them brought an un-prepped STU car.
Since there is still no resolution in sight on the ESP Watts Link rules debacle (delayed until 2015, for no good reason), see I will continue to not build a car of my own around an SCCA class in 2014. This is unusual for me, as I have almost always had a car built around some SCCA Solo class rules since I started autocrossing in the late 80s. Instead I will try to continue to co-drive cars like Matt's STX BRZ or maybe Mark's STU Mustang, at local events through this year and maybe even into next season. Might do the "local" National level events but I won't travel for them. We have been doing 25-30 race weekends a year for the past 7 or 8 years in a row, and it is taking its toll. Amy and I will continue to concentrate our personal cars and efforts on campaigning our 2011 Mustang in NASA TT (as well as another car we are building) next year, which as a club has been a good bit easier to deal with.
We are also on the list for a 2015 Mustang, as soon as they are released, whatever it looks like or weighs. Who knows how the SCCA will class this car, or if it will be heavier than the outgoing chassis? I think that
all of the rumors out now of it being lighter than the S197 are
wildly optimistic, but I am hopeful that with IRS it might have better corner exit traction. Time will tell. However it turns out we will try to make it better, and track + autocross it to test parts we develop for this new chassis.
More Aero Prep on TT3 Mustang
Now for the stuff most of you have been waiting for - if you even bothered to read the autocross bits above, I thank you. Many of you have been watching the progress of our front aero work from the past two weeks on the
Vorshlag Facebook page. But for the rest of you, let's catch up from where we left off in the last update, where we were just starting to get the new aero development underway. Don't forget that almost every picture I post
can be clicked for a larger rez version.
One big slab of 6061-T6 x .190 sheet makes up the new splitter, and yes, we probably went too thick and this thing has a sizable amount of heft. Its hard to tell in the small picture above (left) how much bigger the new unit really is. The black one is the Leguna Seca ABS splitter sitting on top of our aluminum BMF splitter. The Leguna piece sticks out past the lower fascia by 5.5". The new unit sticks out front by 10.25", almost double the forward length. It also goes back a couple of feet and is wider by nearly 4" per side, and is mounted 1" lower as well. The extra width is there to better line up with the upcoming tire spats/flares that will cover the front of the 18x12" front wheels. Spinning tires sticking out in the air stream are a big contribution to drag, so we planned to cover the leading edges.
The spacer to lower the splitter was built out of is 1" square aluminum tubing, pie cut on the back side and bent to match the curved contour of the lower fascia. This was then TIG welded back together while held in the fixture shown above, ground smooth, drilled for the existing mounting holes, and bolted between the splitter and fascia it becomes a rigid spacer. Ed cut and shaped this thing one night using his portable band saw, then Ryan (who did 90% of all of the work in this aero mod project) welded and ground it smooth, and it came out looking much nicer than any race part should. If we have ground clearance issues we can remove this 1" spacer and adjust the rear mounting eyes upward to match.
The radiator I talked briefly about in my previous post is shown above. Yes, it is a Mishimoto unit, which is a fabricated, all-aluminum radiator that is much larger than the OEM piece. It bolts in place and has the integral mounts for the A/C condenser, which is still on this car. We were going to buy the Ford Racing Boss-S radiator (M-8005-MGT), but at $750 retail (still $650+ at the lowest shipped price) I just couldn't stomach that. We have had excellent results with Mishimoto radiators in the past on LS1 BMWs (I have one in my new E46 LSx build, one in the Alpha E36 making 490 whp, McCall had one in his Z3 LS1, Matt has one in his E36 LS1, etc). Then we realized... damn,
we're a Mishimoto dealer, and they do make an S197 drop-in radiator. We
sell this radiator now for $247, which is a steal. I will touch on how it worked in my coverage of the ECR track test, below (excellent).
Above left you can see the "waterfall" air deflector that we built for behind the radiator. There are brackets that hold it in place (not shown in these pics yet) and it has rubber edging and cut-outs near any radiator hose. This deflector seals to the bottom of the radiator but is open on the sides. It directs the airflow up towards the hood ducting, but isn't part of a 100% sealed duct system. We talked to other race engineers and they agreed - the small incremental improvements from making a 100% sealed radiator-to-hood duct system is not worth the added work compared to what we have done here. We could get 90-95% of the benefit for 1/3rd the work. The upper right pic shows the first iteration of the rear splitter mounts. These are custom made pin mounts that go into small spherical eyes that can be adjusted up/down for a better fit. We have 3 on there, and the outer 2 have latching pins.
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