In reply to maschinenbau :
Private track rental events are the absolute best for maximizing seat time, which also makes them the absolute best for testing and trying out different setups. As you can take a half hour to hour to adjust suspension and still get all the seat time you could ever want. A ten minute wheel/tire change without batting an eye at it.
What an amazing day at The Firm! Will do again next year as soon as we have dates for the next challenge. Took the Taurus SHO Police Interceptor and what a BEAST! 4,000 lbs is a lot to hustle around but it did an amazing job. Ended up with a 1:42 flat on the bus stop and a 1:32 flat on the long course. Only bummer was we kept overheating after 4-5 10/10th laps. I think it needs a lower temp thermostat and the fans to come on earlier. Having the exhaust dumping out right under the engine bay doesn't help much either. I got a short lap and a half video before my phone ejected itself to the back seat from it's holder on turn 1. Hope others can post some video as well. Thanks again to Richard for setting this up!
Video link: Taurus SHO Track Laps @ The Firm
Definitely had so much fun driving Vtec-Slow, my low power civic.
Best drag pass was a 17.3, and that's with some short tires that came off of one of Stampie's Miatas. Very slow car, but it had good grip due to the H Street setup and old but serviceable Yokohama tires.
My best time on the full track was 1.31.788.
I'm watching my videos now. I'll get them up tomorrow.
It was great to come hang out with all of you. Next time I plan to have a running vehicle.
Rich, thank you so much for letting me drive your rocket ship. It is so fast!
The bmw kart had a really great showing as well.
It's been a long time since I've had much time on anything other than a kart track, so it took me a long time to start to feel comfortable and find my groove again. But by the end of the day, I was able to hustle this beast down to a 1:28.0 without the bus stop. (And that's on the 560 treadwear Walmart donuts!)
I had so much fun, and all we did all day was beat on the kart while it handled everything like a champ. I hope we do this again. Thank you gameboy!!!
I will Echo the extreme fun had by all at this event. The FIRM is a great facility, the track is pretty smooth and the staff is super Friendly and helpful.
The LMP360 seems to do okay on track. The behavior at Autox of generally neutral remains and the Aero seems to really do something allowing for huge confidence in the rear end staying behind you in high speed sections. There are definitely some changes and adjustments that need made that resulted in less then 10/10ths efforts.
-The cooling system that seems adequate for Autox is most definitely not sufficient for Track. I believe it just needs a better fan/shroud arrangement to ensure adequate Airflow. The car was HOT after every run and I probably hurt the head gasket, but It started right up this morning and isn't blowing Air out the water so maybe it's okay.
-BRAKES, or Should I say lack of them after >2 stops. The brakes that where marginally okay at Autox where atrocious at the track. I had ordered "decent" brakes to replace the donor car brakes/pads that are on the car before the challenge. Everything arrived in time but it was all wrong. They sent me WRX front calipers/pads instead of Outback (They are ALMOST identical but the pads don't fit the Outback Calipers) so I was forced to run the stuff I had. Braking was a, Coast, check brakes before 300' cone, heavy brake around 2, then coast into corners after you are sure you are going to stop.
-General lack of trust of the rear pullrods. During the challenge 1 of 4 rear rod ends decided it was done being a rod end and failed. I thankfully had spares and was able to get the car back going. But it definitely impacted the confidence on the track. I tried to stay away from curbs, didn't really push hard around the high speed corners and was constantly aware of the amount of runoff available when I did push a bit more. I'll be upgrading from 3/8 to 1/2 rod ends in the rear to restore faith.
Still despite this I ran a Transponder recorded 1:23.870 on the full track. This time was with a estimated 200lb passenger in the car (Which is >10% weight increase for the Me+Car package). That puts it near many fast cars on the GRM leader board. With optimization and a higher level of confidence particularly in braking and ability to attack curbing substantial time could be cut. Following this session after I found I had ran my fastest lap of the day I knew if I had went out again I would do a Dumb and push way harder then I was comfortable or then I had all day and broke something so I shut it down.
Here is incar from 2 sessions. The first is some 1:25/26 laps during the 1st Shoebox-less session with a fixed camera view. The second is a "First Person View" with the camera strapped to the helmet and has the fastest lap I ran. I know FPV bothers some people so I included videos both ways.
In reply to nocones :
I would like to see you be able to run 10-15 laps in a row. Following you that car can easily shave off a couple of a couple of seconds. I'm betting a 1:18 is possible
Thanks for posting the video, it looked really stable out on track and the video confirms it. If i were you I would consider a Hans device if your going to push it hard. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of an energy absorbing crush zones in the front. Can't wait to see how quick it goes next year!
Finally had time to cut and upload videos (and the uploading was a looong process that started this morning!).
What a great day out, one of the best track days I've done. This was my first time doing a track day with the 86 so I was worried something would fail and was keeping a close eye on oil temps. I did have some failures but nothing that ended the day or delayed my drive home - a weld in the exhaust let go giving me a something like a side-dump exhaust, and the rear brakes had wrecked themselves by the end of the event but they lasted just long enough. Coolant temps peaked under 200F and oil temps peaked under 250F.
I felt like I was one of the fastest cars out there, with nobody coming up behind me for point-bys, reeling in car after car until I reached Toot in his winged NA. Oddly he was running away from me in the straights and I was reeling him back in through the braking zones and corners. You can see this around the 27min mark of the 1st video of session 2. I was turning 1:27s like clockwork and got a 1:26.2 registered on TrackAddict when I was low on fuel, around 4:30 in the 2nd video from session 2 (can anyone post the times from Speedhive to confirm? It won't work on my phone). As you can see my AE92 has left me with a strong muscle memory to check my window cranks:
I also had a go in rich911s' Taurus SHO Interceptor, and while it went into limp mode after less than 2 laps, if I move the start line to get an estimate of a flying lap it's in the 1:41 ballpark, similar to what I was getting on the same shoebox course in my 86. With some cooling improvements this could've been one of the fastest cars out there:
Also went for a ride-along in the LMP360. We were specifically told not to do ride-alongs while holding cameras which is the only reason I wasn't holding a camera 
In the corners it already seems to be approaching the performance of a Radical SR3 and another 30~50hp would put it on par in the straights. It also has a bit more interior room as my shoulder wasn't jammed directly behind nocones' armpit
Some more pics I took. Who has the group pic?
Thanks for posting all these! What an awesome time. I cannot pull up the speed hive results either, it's like the event has disappeared from the list. Next year maybe we'll get the transponder issue sorted out, though it seems that TrackAddict is pretty accurate.
This definitely needs to be a tradition. If I am driving 17 hours, staying an extra day and spending a few hundred extra makes this a no brainer to do again. Thanks Rich for the seat time in the Taurus. That thing is bonkers.
rich911s said:Thanks for posting all these! What an awesome time. I cannot pull up the speed hive results either, it's like the event has disappeared from the list. Next year maybe we'll get the transponder issue sorted out, though it seems that TrackAddict is pretty accurate.
Rich - Your Taurus was so cool! Do you have a build thread somewhere?
Started to do some data analysis. First I wanted to see how accurate the "digital twin" I've made is. It seems that although they have similar lap times around the FIRM the virtual car is better on the corners and weaker on the straights, may be a bit less powerful or perhaps geared a little higher (more likely the power is off because it's an educated guess while the gearing looks perfect on paper). I knew the virtual tire I was running was somewhat stickier than a PS4S so no big surprise there.
https://viewsync.net/watch?v=olpWoROJ9U8&t=619&v=4X4Up6j3GVc&t=5.5&mode=solo
Dunno if I shared this yet, thanks for the sweet sticker!
In reply to GameboyRMH :
That is awesome! I had heard Asetto Corsa had The Firm track available, I'm definitely going to have to try that out. I've been working on building a motion sim rig for the last 6 months on and off. It's a 2DOF w/traction loss similar to the DOF reality P3 rig. I should have it finished in a couple of weeks, just waiting on new motor controllers. I plan to post
build thread on it soon. 
Speaking of the Firm, now that dates are posted for the challenge in May, maybe we should look at booking the track again soon so we don't lose the date. I'm in for sure!
In reply to dyintorace :
Just posted one! 2013 Ford Taurus Police Interceptor $2000 Challenge Build
In reply to rich911s :
That sim rig's looking good! You should join the unofficial GRM AC league once it's done. Is that a subwoofer or some kind of shaker on the back?
It also looks like the GRM staff are very interested in organizing this for next year 
That could give potentially lower entry costs and much better cancelation options, plus the word can get out a lot more with advertising beyond this thread.
This sticker's gonna confuse the hell out of gearheads by me next season! 
That sounds great! Just hope people who participated this year get first dibbs on a spot! And I hope spots are limited to about 25. One of the things I enjoyed most was the low key nature of the event.
That thing on the back of the race seat is a tactile transducer, used in home theater seats or "bass shaker". I have one in the back and one under the seat. You can really feel the rumble strips, etc and adds to the realism quite a bit.
Nothing is official yet, but just wanted to pop in here and say that we're chatting with the FIRM about formalizing this a bit for next year. The goal would be to keep the same small crowd and great vibes, but without GameboyRMH having to foot the bill and take all the track rental risk. I'll keep everybody updated as things develop.
In reply to Tom Suddard :
That's awesome Tom, thanks. If it doesn't look like it's going to work out I'm more than happy to pay for it and collect the cost from entrants at the event. Just don't want to lose the date.
In reply to rich911s :
We are definitely in for next year
Did some more data analysis last night and put together a video of my fastest lap of the day with data:
Good news... THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN!
Full details to come soon, but registration is open now if you'd like to get a head start.
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