:bigtup:
Good news. The car is still in one piece!
Mike and I worked friday night getting some last minute items addressed, including re-aligning the front end and adding more camber. I painted the rollbar, added some dual-density rollbar padding, and went through every bolt i could see to make sure everything was still tight.
At Toronto Motorsports Park, the car ran very well. In the beginning, the car felt extremely loose and was a handful to control. With the car being a new build and this being the first time on track, it was difficult to assess whether there was an issue with the car, if the setup was wrong, if the 3 year old tires were junk, if the track was just slick, or if it was a driver issue. As the evening progressed, everything started to settle into place and I started to get more comfortable. The car feels relatively neutral. Running at only 12lbs of boost (car is tuned to 370hp @ 15lbs), we were able to run consistent 1:23’s by the end of the night on 3 year old 245/40 z1’s that have at least 40 heat cycles through them (they are purple). I think that with the new tires, more boost, and a day or 2 more seat time, we will get much closer to 1:20. Pretty good for having no aero and much of the interior intact.
We were able to find a few issues, none of them being too serious.
–The issue that effected lap times the most was the fact that the power steering was cutting out. We believe that the o-ring at the power steering pump inlet is still sucking air, and we were unable to get an adequate fix at the track. This made it difficult to turn a decent lap (pun intended).
-The front ride height is too low, and we have some rubbing in the front strut tower area.
-The front left CV is still leaking. I may take it back to fleet pride and have them disassemble and re-assemble it from scratch.
-The collars for the height adjustment on the coilovers came loose on all 4 corners. This is probably my fault as I did not double check them. There was a clunk in the front, and we are assuming it was this, as we can not find any other apparent cause.
The motor ran strong, the brakes were great, the ABS works flawlessly. Oil temps were steady around 210, so we may try and duct the cooler a bit more in anticipation for the higher ambient temperatures that we will see. Coolant temps were low enough that the radiator fans wouldn’t even be on when pulling into the pits.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with how the day turned out. We plan to get to the track again before OLOA and will probably turn up the boost. We are working on finding a sponsor to corner balance the car.
Ill leave you with this. I should have a couple videos that ill will post later.
Sweet :tup:
:tup:
We have had a good week with this damn thing. I am amazed that a battery powered impact blows these things apart like they are cheese.
My step-dad ended up getting paint given to him by a friend. It was very short notice so we couldn’t get a ton of prep done (theres still some dents and dings). Its not perfect but it looks nice. I have the car pulled into a corner so I couldn’t get any good pics. Here’s a teaser.
Dipped the flares and hood vents black.
I have been talking with NV Auto (http://www.nvauto.ca/) across the border in Hamilton, ON. They are going to sponsor an alignment/corner balance. Headed up there next week to get that done and get her stickered up. The owner of NV is running pikes peak this year in his orange impreza.
giggity!
Clocks a ticking son 
Ready to run against Lehs twin turbo R8 V10???..lol, no neither am I but we’ll give it all.
Is that car not registered yet? I don’t see an r8 on the list.
Im kind of upset. There is another kid running basically the same car as us (sti swapped GC impreza). Mine is a 95 and his is a 2001, so the MSRP puts him in mid priced sedan but me in economy class even though they are functionally the same car. I REALLY want to run mid priced sedan, as I don’t want to “compete” against the civic. He’s definitely a better driver than I am (not to mention that he’s practiced at NOLA, NJMP, Mid-Ohio, and Atlanta already this year).
Its registered. Its leh keen and doug wilkes. Theyve won one lap first place overall the past four years and with no surprise because Top Speed builds amazingly solid cars and Keen is, well, Keen and can drive the wheels off anything. Its his job.
Just keep this in mind…the car and you have to last entire event. Just because someone else has an epic ride, fluke things happen and they cannot finish. Happens every year to some extent.
When you get into South Bend give me a ring. Im going to be out there a few days in advance as usual. 518-225-8384. Stil have a couple things to get one on the hhr maintenance wise but were set to go. My shop on the other hand I have avfew EJ25s to get together for customers if parts arrive in time(internals)
Strange that team isn’t listed on the website. We are planning on leaving thursday night at this point.
7 days!
A lot has been going on, but most of it isn’t interesting enough to post details.
Last week we pulled the gas tank again, as it was not filling from a gas pump. We determined that it was not venting enough, and resolved the issue with brute force.
I went up to NV Auto in Hamilton, ON on Thursday. After being detained at the border for 40 minutes (dont bring tools over the border, they get pissy), I arrived and the guys got to work. They adjusted the ride height, did an alignment (they have a hunter laser rack), and corner balanced the car. I had an excellent experience-- the guys took their time and got everything done right. With that said, I am not pleased with how much the car weighs. I’m just tipping 2900lbs with 3/4 tank of gas and no driver. I have no idea where this weight is, as I was anticipating being around 2750-2800.
I had anticipated going to the track today (saturday), but we have too much left to do to spend the day there. I was looking forward to testing the new setup and reporting back with lap times, but we will get that done in a few weeks once we get back.
We have been working on the trailer. The box is done, got one bike mounted, working on the other tomorrow.
Fabricated a catch can. We didn’t put too much design thought into it, as this is a secondary unit. I am using the ixiz AOS, but Harvey had issues with venting that to the intake (oil was making its way into the intake on track), so instead we are venting it into a catch can.
One of the major complaints with many coilover systems is that the manufacturers use a slotted hole in the rear to adjust camber rather than using camber plates. For a street car this isn’t a big issue, but on a track car, the bolt will move in the hole. One of the techs at NV Auto showed me a whiteline piece that locks the lateral link toe bolt, so I decided to copy the design and make them for the struts. This hole gives me 1.4* camber in the rear. Its definitely not the prettiest piece I have machined-- lots of re-cutting of chips.
Machined some wheel spacers. With 1.4* camber in the rear, the wheel weights hit the adjustment collar on the coilover.
(Road) rally pig.
For the event, all of the updates will be posted to my facebook page. Please take a minute and press like!
Today is the day!
We are leaving for Tire Rack HQ in South Bend, Indiana this evening. The car still need an hour or so worth of work which I will finish this afternoon. Be sure to follow us on facebook (please press Like!). The URL is www.facebook.com/OneLapofAwesome
We plan to update the Facebook frequently so the forum posts may be slow or nonexistant.
Wish us luck!
luck.
Good luck man! Keep us updated when you can.
Good luck!
Have fun!
Very cool.
Take LOTS and LOTS of photo’s and video’s. Best of luck!
This is like an old version of Newman’s STI lol.
Good luck dude, I’m SUPER jealous.
Except this one moves. 
My wife thankfully packed some Advil in our goodie bag.
good luck