Did you fantasize about stripping it all down?
A c8 KART, that would be so awesome!
Did you fantasize about stripping it all down?
A c8 KART, that would be so awesome!
In reply to OjaiM5 :
haha, no, i think i could live with the C8 just the way it is!!!
may change my mind in 15-20 years.
old stuff is gone. new stuff (Borg delrin bushes, moog ball joints and (used) Z06 leaf springs) is on!
all the bushes (16) and ball joints (8) came off fairly easily with a loaner tool "C" screw drive ball joint press and impact driver. my 8yr old daughter (actually) made the hardware exchange work move a bit quicker by steadying press's collars and adapters while i operated the driver and held the press. would have been super challenging with only 2 hands!!
same story for the new ball joints. the delrin bushes just slip in by hand, they were a breeze.
years ago, i had deleted the front spring height adjustment bolt and its integral pad that touches off on the top of the front lower control arms to make the kart ride lower. The control arms had developed slight wear marks from this metal to metal contact. So, i retained the z06s adjuster and just cut the rubber pad in half to reduce some height.
now, with the kart back on the ground, it is riding 1.25" higher in the front than it did in the previous configuration. not thrilled with that, but going to move on with it for now at least. plenty of adjustability in the rear.
How do you like it with the new bushings??
In reply to jfryjfry (FS) :
i only have ~20 miles on it. did a string line alignment on it and will probably get it to a shop to do a true alignment later this week. So, its hard to say at this point, but it surely feels flatter (stiffer springs) and steering feels touchy (in a good way), less vague just putting around under 45mph...
snuck in there.... lol!
Event 1 for the Jax Solo autocross season was sunday, literally a couple hours after a winter monsoon passed through.
The kart felt great on the stiffer springs and more direct feel from the bushes. My times were pretty consistent all day and i managed to once again cone away an FTD run. FTD was set by our overall champ from last year in a 1LE at 43.1. my times (not including cone hits on runs 1, 5, 6): , 43.6, 44.3, 43.4, 43.2, 43.2, 42.4.
So, generally very pleased with those times, obviously need to clean up the cone strikes, all of which were with the right rear tire...
In other news. i am now a trailer owner for the first time!!! Video and pics later!
A few pics from our club photographer of the day.
Work schedule kept me from joining you for the first event, but I was happy to see you nearly grabbed FTD.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
Bummer! See you in April.
Got around to putting a video of the best run in the kart. not sure why my remote mic didnt work...
Big Day tomorrow. Going to open track day at FIRM. First track day. Ever.
Super excited. feel pretty ready. Put the z06 FSB back on. fresh set of HT10 and SRF brake fluid. A couple sets of scrubbed R88r-es from last year.
One of the factors making a track day finally possible... Got a trailer. Its totted around a circle track car since the mid-80s. Well built. Need the expected maintenance and mods for my tastes.
1st track day ever. Started GREAT.
But. that didnt last long. And as i type this, when i should be still onsite, i feel like i got punched in the gut.
8 laps into the first session my brake pedal was pure mush at the end of the long straight away. exited the track under control (conveniently right where the brakes failed). My passenger rear flexible brake line had abraded on the inside corner of the wheel, it was really probably the wheel weights located there that did the job. i heard an odd faint clicking on early laps that i couldnt identify, but it wasnt concerning enough for me to stop.
could always be worse, so trying to see the positives from today.
-ecoboost and trailer combo worked great, if the computer is to be believed i got 14 mpg.
-got the first time nerves out....
-even at only about 7/10 the kart felt amazing
-was hoping to run under 1:30 min/lap (got to 1:27 on my only fairly traffic free lap)
-got to see JG's MR2 fly around!
otherwise, i would say i wasted a ton of effort, a day off from work, several hundred dollars and a lot of time. -pretty much what motorsports is, right?
Link to short video of my best lap, only lap without significant traffic, then clip of laps 3 through 8....
Atleast the gopros worked!
Even on the very brief track day session i saw water temps higher than it typically runs at... i think the pirmary issue is air flow, maybe the radiator is acting like a spoiler and air is simply passing over it. with that thought in mind i made a simple shroud and epoxied it to the radiator frame. hpefully it does the trick.
Got back to FIRM yesterday to try and get a full, first, track day under my belt. This go was largely a success. A couple pics courtesy of The FIRM..
Highlight laps from Friday open track at The FIRM. A couple low-lights included as well...
Track Day take 2 went a lot longer and better than the first take. It was a big step… So this update/forum post is longer than usual!
Ran 4 sessions and more than 50 laps sharing the track with a variety of cars (and truck, singular) and levels of driver experience. There was even another vette-kart. It was a C4 build, not quite as refined, but fun to see out there too.
It was hot, 89deg, not central FL in August hot, but hot. Somewhat related, the car ran hot too. Common for tracked corvettes, but I am pretty sure my issue is air flow across the rear mounted radiator. I could only run 1-3 laps hard before I would have to run a cool down lap or two. Gauge in the car routinely crossed 230deg and got to 240+ a handful of times. With other cars on track, the sequences of trying to go fast (running lap times faster than all but 1 or 2 other cars there) then trying to not get in other drivers way while cooling down was cumbersome. Lots of gauge and rearview mirror watching on the straights. The cycle did give me a few opportunities to let cars go by on my cool down laps, then see if I could reel them in during the ~2 laps of hard driving I could expend. The gauge in the upper left of the screen in water temp, the clips are the better laps, so they generally start at low temps, ~215deg and end when I started to back off at ~230deg. Also noticed when I looked at the data at home, the gauge in the car seems to indicate high, ~10degs would be my guess.
All other systems were good. Suspension and handling was very neutral, brakes were fantastic (also aided by the cooling cycles) and even the older autocross scrub tires were very decent.
Only went off track twice, both times at turn 4, the fastest corner. My speeds through that turn on better laps was ~70mph. In the first spin, I felt myself kinda freeze and failed to put necessary steering inputs in. Believe I overcompensated on that in the second spin….. Youll see the drastic difference in the video…. lol… Both times the rear was still unloaded from braking when I applied turn in, causing it to come around… probably would have made it through if I had eased back on throttle at entry like I did on other runs… easier said than done though…
Used track addict to collect OBDII data and lap times, its GPS based so accuracy is not perfect… had several laps at 1:23. My best was 1:21. Speeds down the straight reached 111mph according to data, glances at the gauge in car suggest it reads a tad high too. I think if I could have strung 8-10 laps together, without cool down laps, I could have gotten into a rhythm and broke the 1:20 mark fairly easily… Especially considering I was short shifting to fourth at ~5k rpm on the two longer straights to try and reduce temps. Pic of speed data:
Done with track days for this season, will just be doing autocrosses till fall. Going to try and tackle the cooling issue. Believe my first attempt will be a removable rear window like element between my upright roll cage bars that come up from the rear and meet the main hoop. I believe a lot of the air that goes over the car circulates back into the cabin. So an element eliminating that and terminating at the base of the radiator should significantly increase airflow… and provide a bit of protection for the occupant from the steaming liquid behind them..
Very nice! I know you've set up plenty of AutoX events there but what do you think of the full The FIRM at speed? More specifically, how bout that bank turn? :) I saw a Camarao kiss it while I was coming the other way after Turn 4. It's a little bit of a bummer that you won't be running any more track days this year, I was hoping to see you out there when I finally get running again. Although I would not want to overheat out there, even with a trailer it's a good haul to anywhere from Starke.
Thanks! I hope to make it back there 3-4 times this fall/winter/spring, it just gets too darn hot, primarily for the driver. I want to wear my safety stuff and not feel like i am going to die of heat exhaustion!!!
I dont really have anything to compare it too, so its hard for me to say anything other than it was great!! I found T4 to be the most difficult, not just because of the offs, but trying to manage speed and rear grip. T8, entering the banked turn was definitely a bit intimidating, just staring at the wall... . i surely started braking earlier than i had too. Once into the turn, i liked drifting up the bank a bit and coming out of it was fun for sure!
I never look at the wall, that guard rail gives me the willies with the way it gets really close really quick. I like T4 but I take an abnormal line through that I got second hand from one of the staff there. I like the T2/T3 combo, they're fun, and coming out of the hairpin is an exercise in "How much noise can I make". I haven't been there in the summer yet, I'll be taking a well-iced cooler on the trailer and some shade for sure.
Have you considered a cool shirt?
In reply to Error404 :
Go prepared for the heat for sure!
Agree, i think T2-T3 is my favorite section too. Second being T5-T6.
Nah, realistically, 3-4 events , plus the normal autocross seasons is all i can justify for the time being (kids, work, etc)...
Great pics from FIRM by Kyle S!
Going into Event 2, Buck G and i were going to trailer it down and co-drive. It was somewhat of an exhausting morning (i setup course and registration). By the time 3rd heat came around it was hot and i was pretty spent.
The kart felt great!! Tad pushy, but great. Buck ran a 61.0sec run with not having driven it in a few years!! I put down a 59.9sec run, good for 7th raw time of 121 drivers. After Nelson's Locost broke, he jumped in and ran 3 runs in the kart too. He got down to 58.2sec +1 cone and 58.9sec clean, good for 4th overall!
Video includes all our best runs and a bunch more pics. Final video clips are Nelson's and my best runs side-by-side. Easy to see where he hung 1.5sec on me.
Missed some updates from before but nice to catch up.
those temps don't seem too high..... my c6z runs at 210 normally on the street. And if the indicated 230 was reading 10 high, I wouldn't be too concerned.
certainly there's likely air flow improvement that could help with cooling. and definitely put a firewall to protect you in case any part of the cooling system lets go.
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