just a heads up. This group is always a good time to race with.
Almost positive I’ll be taking the TT out to this. Anyone else planning on going?
You can go to nelson ledges on any scheduled fun day for $130
http://www.nelsonledges.com/GOTfunDays.aspx
I would be interested in getting to one of those this summer
he usually provides lunch. nothing crazy but it really hits the spot.
bump for anyone that wants to go
I’ll be there in my Silver Mk4 GLI with a friend and his Black 911…
where are you driving in from?
as always autointerest had a outstanding event. Turnout was low with only 18 people registered to race. This left us with 2 run groups. After lunch there was only a few people out racing so I started running in both A and B group. With only a few min between groups to cool down. By that I mean 1 cool down lap. exit track and idle it through the pits in first back to the staging lanes and back out on course. I will have to check the odometer for exact numbers but I am confident I have over 200 miles on course and since it is a 2 mile course I have over 100 laps at nelson ledges!
about the track. That is a very high speed track once you get the hang of it. There are some sections of the track that are pretty rough so I had to modify the line I would run on the track a bit to avoid some of the worst of it because it would throw the car up a bit and loose a lot of braking zone. Early on it the day that nearly caused me to loose it. Once I modified my line this was no longer a issue.
How did you car hold up? This track makes me feel that my koni struts are not sufficiently stiff to control the weight of the wheels and tires. In the high speed left I would hit bumps and you can feel the wheel hit a few bumps and start hopping and I would have to increase steering input to maintain my line because the tire did not have good contact with the ground. Just like at road america I never got the car into 4th gear. If I shift into 4th it would only be for 3 or 4 seconds and back into 3rd to brake. Rather than shifting into 4th I just left it in third and would just wind it out. 7200-7300 rpm. I thought I was going to finish out the day without failures, I was pretty pumped. My brakes had been on the edge of what they can handle all day, and the cracks in my rotors are definitely larger than they were and there is a substantial amount of pad material on the rotors, but I kept a close eye on it so I could change my driving accordingly.
Black flagged: in the middle of the day. One of the corner workers claimed he saw my hood shaking about and was unsure if both latches were caught. I hit a deer last year and the hood was twisted pretty good so while it does properly latch it does not look right. Better to double check. pulled in the pits for a quick inspection by a track worker and I was back out.
Black flagged again! 20 or 30 min left in the day and I am really giving it hell. My buddy has a heavily modded s2000 and he was running easy so I could keep up and we were trying each others lines just to mess around. He was behind me trying my race line (which is completely different than his) and my passenger said black flag black flag. I checked my mirror and there is a huge blueish cloud behind me. I was nearly at 7000 RPM in third so I threw it in neutral I kept looking and nothing was making it to the track so coasted all the way into the pits. gave it a quick look. My timing belt, battery, bottom of the intake, frame rail, all covered in oil. The oil was burning off the cat before it could hit the ground which is what was causing the smoke. I didn’t look too much into it but I think I either lost a crank seal or a cam seal. Big thanks to the corner workers for flagging me when they did. While the car was not down on oil by the time I got to the pits who knows how it would have been after a few more corners at redline. Just putting it around the pits onto my trailer it left a hell of a puddle on my trailer. a couple cans of engine bright and a few bucks in a seal and it will be back out overheating brakes in no time!
There were no off courses by anyone the whole day which is great, and the only failure was mine as far as I know. I think jason’s mustang killed another set of pads and there was accura TL that boiled his fluid in his brakes. That is about the normal stuff for a road course though. I am really happy with the way the event turned out. I had more track time then I could use. There were a couple hours I actually didn’t race just to relax. My body is not adjusted to that kind of workout. My upper back, shoulders, and arms are pretty sore today. I feel like I was running up and down stairs all day, my legs are jello right now.
I had a great time thanks Autointerest!!!
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:tup: Sounds like a good time.
EDIT: Other than the part about tracking on cracked rotors. :ham:
3rd gear? Is that still an auto? What’s top speed in 3rd?
What spring rates are you running? Tires? And hot tire pressure?
100 laps, sounds like the first 3 hours of a 24 hours race with 121 cars of traffic 
What club is autointerests associated with? SCCA? NASA?
What race class does the SHO fit in? Or is it an open class sorta deal?
It was a AWESOME time!!!
The crack are not that bad at all for having 4 events on them. It is common with the 11.6" rotor. it is too small. I am working on a set of 13" brakes with vette calipers. That should solve that issue. I kind of like having this lighter setup though which is why I still run it. Change rotors a few times a year when the cracks get bad. I have tried to be more aware of how had I am on the brakes so minimize wear/damage. I run hawk HT-10 pads and they will rip these rotors to pieces in a matter of hours if I drive like a ass hole.
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No it is a manual. 7300rpm is the rev limiter. Third gear will get you 107-110 (not exactly sure) I tried getting into 4th a couple times but I only gained a couple mph on the 1 straight because I would just go right back into 3rd a couple seconds later. Coming out of the last turn before the front straight I really should be in second but 2 and 3 are pretty far apart so you only get 2500rpm to power on in second before going back into 3rd. So instead I just lug it up from 3500-3600rpm to about 92pmh into turn 1 tap the brake to set the front end and hold on.
I don’t know what the spring rates are in the car honestly. They are eibach springs with tokico struts. Hot pressure were 48 LF and LR and 45 RF and RR. I only adjusted them after the first cession because I was scrubbing a bit of sidewall. I was playing with my friends tire gauge and the outer edge on both fronts was about 10 deg higher than the middle and inside consistently. My camber is maxed out. If I slot the strut towers any further the spring will hit the tower. I was thinking about getting coilovers so I can gain more camber (currently 1.5 i think) but I don’t think I want to sink any more money than I need to into this car. As it sits it is a blast to rip around the track and has proved very reliable so far other than the oil seal that let go. I want to keep working on the drive mod as much as possible this year. The car turns well and stops well. It is pretty slow but I do have a M80 blower and all the brackets to mount it. I just am not sure I want to add forced induction to it. Then I will need a new double core radiator and clutch, and I am not certain that adding power will add fun so it may be money best spent on tires and brakes.
I would love to do a 24 hour event in this car. I just don’t want it to get trashed because it is still too nice to send to the scrap heap in the sky. Other than the oil leak I have no reason to doubt its reliability. That will be handled asap so I can race at VIR next month for the SHO convention
autointerest is not associated with anyone. The owner of it cross posts to many of the popular forums in his area when he is having a event. I do not know what class the SHO would fit into. I raced my 1994 auto SHO in G stock and later in SM because I had alum subframe bushings. I usually did extremely well in G stock, but once I was in SM I did well for a fat 4 door sedan and that was about it. SM is a very competitive class and the SHO does not handle well on tight tracks. At least not the way mine was set up. This event was a open event with no classes. Just a novice run group that starts off at a slower pace for people that have never done this sort of thing before and a intermediate/advanced group.
If they are street “pro-line” or whatever the rates are going to be too low (sounds like too much tire for the springs). Ebay sleeves and used “real” Eibach springs will help with the hopping. Easily could be done for less than $200 total for all four corners. Yes, you should run a better strut, but I have gotten away with running 3 to 4 x stock spring rate on cheap struts.
Ahhh… this SHO is pretty close to stock (I thought it was turbo) ? Then 110 through the kink is pretty good, this is about where the lemon was. But that tall gearing is a killer.
The pro line is the only spring available through them. Intrax just discontinued their springs for the SHO so my options outside of coilovers are extremely limited. I do believe you are right about me having too much tire for the spring. It cannot control the weight of the 245/45/17 rubber very well. I thought that was more of a strut problem rather than a spring problem. I have not had this issue at smoother tracks in the past. when you say ebay sleeves what are you referring to?
LOL no this one is stock engine. Has a stage 1 clutch and 8lb flywheel and a dynomax exhaust. I didn’t maintain 110 through the kink. I would lift just slightly before it and power back on about half way through it to keep the rear end from sliding out when I turn. In a competitive environment I would have run it flat out but I didn’t want the added risk just tooling around at a open event. The car had the grip I was just playing it safe. I tried and tried and tried to run turn 2 without lifting but I could not make myself do it. I would always partially lift. With the right line I know it could be done in my car but I need more track time to feel comfortable doing it. The tall gearing is not the best but fortunately the car has a very flat tq curve all over so I like to think that I make it up by not having to shift… or at least that is what I keep telling myself. The truth is I just don’t want to burn up the clutch.
If you really like lapping days that much, you really have to pick up some saftey equiptment and get into jeremys lemons car. Wheel to wheel is soooooooooooooooooooooo much fun.
I was there too, This is my Jetta and a friends 911.
So much fun was had! I’m def hooked!
Chris
Sounds like autox classing, I thought you meant you were “racing” at Nelson Ledges, that’s why I got confused.
What kind of lap times, did I miss it?
oh you were the two guys that parked way down there all by your selves. Your WV sounds awesome. I went out in a B group session to see If I was faster than you or not. I was gaining on you a little bit each lap but it ended before I would have caught you. That thing moves out pretty good. The porsche :tup: to you for being great at letting people pass. You should have come up and said hi!
I would love to get into wheel to wheel but I don’t know much about it and I really don’t want my car to get smashed up
on the lap times I don’t remember I want to say 1:23 for some reason. I could be wrong though I should have video up by the end of the week
Yeah, we came up Friday night and camped at the track. That was a fun weekend!
Thx, I love my car.