12/26/15 Streets of Willow & Tune+ Review

[RAAMaudio]

Too keep this a bit shorter bullet format.

1) harness: Either get the Schroth designed for this car or get a roll bar with harness bar, fixed back seats or seat brace for stock seats then a 5 or 6 point race harness, 6 point is best. (CG lock can help as a lower cost alternative but still not quite the same)

2) unless racing for points contact John Berget, JBracing tires and get take off race tires, I have happily saved a ton of money using them for years, especially when I had a Vette with really fat tires!

 

[Pete]

Too keep this a bit shorter bullet format.

1) harness: Either get the Schroth designed for this car or get a roll bar with harness bar, fixed back seats or seat brace for stock seats then a 5 or 6 point race harness, 6 point is best. (CG lock can help as a lower cost alternative but still not quite the same)

2) unless racing for points contact John Berget, JBracing tires and get take off race tires, I have happily saved a ton of money using them for years, especially when I had a Vette with really fat tires!

I was thinking of a four point with the ASM, they are technically certified for the road since they have a break away patch which allows the body to rotate like in a 3 point seat belt. Thank you for the recommendation on the tires! I will for sure give them a call! But at my rate the harness will come later as the wheels, tires, radiator and intercooler are on the top of my list.

 

[RAAMaudio]

I had a mint set of the harnesses out of an M3 that I took the time to figure out and get proper BMW receivers for and had them ready to go then found a section on the NASA rules that specifically said I could not use them..... They would of worked perfectly as well as the specific ones I now must buy for a lot more money

The rules require both seats to have have the same setup if giving a ride and with my proven but broken history on track I end up having to have an instructor that signs me off in a lap or two.

I do prefer to have a well designed roll bar or going further a cage but it just does not fit in the use for this car. I know it is a very solid platform with high strength steel, small overall size and weight, it is quite strong and only the hardest hit which is a happenstance in most cases would crush it so I am comfortable with the Scroth, I just have to pay the price to buy the ones approved.

 

[Siestarider]

Only thing I have done to effect cooling is opening up the grill with a modified crash beam to allow full airflow, changed the coolant to water and purple ice, and added a skidplate which changes the airpressure under the hood. No overheated here but I am still going to order that new radiator from mishimoto!

Not sure if e30 runs cooler as I am having an intercooler problem with my charge temps being up in the 130's! On a 45 degree day. My engine temps were about the same as last time I was on track.

The tires I am running right now are 16x7 205/45/16 re71r and they are great tires. I just want a dedicated track set up as I am tired of buying tires every 2 months since I also daily my current set up. I want something wider for track days but I don't want to gain too much weight doing so.

Thank you for the conpliment! I am sure a racing harness would help improve my times as well because I have to hold myself in my recaros when I am braking. Its also my second time at streets and was my first time going counter clockwise. I was trying to perfect the racing line at the bowl but that is seriously scary as you feel like you are going to launch your car off the track. Haha

The little aero testing I have done suggests closing that first opening between engine and air dam is the most useful first cooling mod. I checked my datalogs from Sebring in September in 90 F ambient and my Cobb IC CAT maxed at 107 F, most of lap closer to 100 F. Engine coolant maxed 235 F end of back straight. Stock coolant and no aero revisions.

Those RE-71's are reportedly as close to race tires as street tires get, so there goes my idea about sticky tires precluding LSD. I had to have one.

From the little bits I read about S of W, you are already quicker than fast cars costing 2-3X what Fist costs. Being addicted to setting my own personal bests on track, if a harness becomes the next limit, whatever, its all fun.

 

[Brick]

That was lewis in the yellow ST. He's done some work to his car.
[MENTION=1650]Pete[/MENTION] Great report and glad to see you had another great track day.

Can we expect vids?

That viper is pretty sweet. I likey.

 

[Pete]

That was lewis in the yellow ST. He's done some work to his car.
[MENTION=1650]Pete[/MENTION] Great report and glad to see you had another great track day.

Can we expect vids?

That viper is pretty sweet. I likey.

Sorry no video's my Gopros are having issues for some reason so I need to sort them out for the next track event. That Viper was stupid fast. I would have loved to seen it out on Big Willow.