Newbie - Track Car Opinions?

[Roy]

Dont know about Cup Cars, there is no way i will get near a properly driven one. But 996 GT3s including the GT3RS are no quicker then my GTSt, with me actually being regularly quicker. LOL, one for the battler

[Marlin]

Yeah can't vouch for this particular Cup car being particularly well driven (I reckon it's have another 4 seconds in it), I was more saying that out of a whole bunch of cars, including Evo 9's and 10's , GTR's, rotors with wide guards and wings etc...... the old 32 held it's head up high.

[phunky_monkey]

Question though.... does it really matter if it is a red top or black top SR20.... ?

Not really mate. The red top is better for big power as it has a nicer designed head which flows a bit more, but the blacktop is newer.

If it is an S14/15 black top then it will have VVT which could be good for low down torque production, but is usually lost once cams are fitted anyway so I wouldn't worry too much about which specification you get. The S14 engine also has the T28, but these are getting on a bit now. Just get the freshest possible and you should be fine.

I pulled my '91 red top out after years of running 240rwkw's and 1.4 Bar and it was perfect. Had not lost any compression, with a variance of only 3psi at most. Great engines!

[screamin']

Just stumbled across this so I thought I'd put in 2c.

$7k budget is small, but it really depands on the cost of cars over there (I'm in NZ) and how much you can do yourself. For me, I picked up an RB20DE R32 cheap ($1000) as it was damaged but still rego'ed etc. I stripped it, fixed it, put a cage in it and had it on the startline of my first event for NZ$4,500. Sure, it was basically a stock lightened car, but I was there and racing legally. The car has developed a lot since then, but that is beside the point.

What I would do is pick up an S13 'ish with an SR20DE. Well ballanced car and a better N/A power plant than an RB20DE, should be a good starting point.

For brake upgrades I'd be looking to other Nissan items, like turbo S13 brakes etc. I'm running R33 2.5 N/A front brakes with Lucas pads in the front of the rallycar ($180 + $80 for pads) and have never had brake fade on the track or in rallysprints. And the car does pull up really well. Remember the car will most likely be lighter than stock so big dollar brakes are not important at this stage.

Edited March 23, 2009 by screamin'

[hrd-hr30]

Yeah can't vouch for this particular Cup car being particularly well driven (I reckon it's have another 4 seconds in it), I was more saying that out of a whole bunch of cars, including Evo 9's and 10's , GTR's, rotors with wide guards and wings etc...... the old 32 held it's head up high.

gotta love Lakeside. Its more about the driver than the hardware.

how was the new surface and the modified front straight?

I'm taking the Sil80 out there on the 5th of April for its first run - finally!

[Marlin]

G'day Harry. Yeah, gotta say I was suprised I didn't see you there. Was looking forward to seeing the new track weapon

The new surface it really good, seems to be holding up pretty well. Still no ripple strips though where the tracks been changed, so it's a little hard to really apex well with the fear of cutting the inside wall of a tyre. With the extra layers of bitumen there's quite a drop off now, particularly under Dunlop.

I don't think I was really gaining anything time from the new run onto the strait, the approach is really still the same, there's just a little more feeling of security with a few extra metres of bitumen to run wide onto if you overcook it. I'm not sure if I was really attacking that corner as hard as I could have though, I didn't seem to use any of the extra space, was basically running the same rpm, same gear, and ending up about where the outside ripple strip used to be. Again, maybe I wasn't getting the most out of it, I was really there just ticking off the mods for Targa. Getting a decent time was really a bonus though

Interestingly, I hunted down a few old soldiers who have alot of time there both pre and post track mods, and they all said they didn't feel the track time was any faster, just felt a little safer. Rod Dawson reckons if your car was an understeering pig in the run onto the strait there may be a little bit in it, but none of the three cars he runs changed there lap time! Amazing really.

It may speed up with some rubber into the track and after the oil comes out of it, but I know for certain I couldn't take Dunlop as fast as before, track grip just felt a little down.

Bloody hell..... talk about ramble on! lol

[Marlin]

Finally i vid from saturday practice

http://www.viddler.com/explore/WooManChoo/videos/1/

[Roy]

Watching that vid a few times now i am not convinced my thing wouldnt be any quicker in a straight line and your car is certainly more balanced through the quick stuff where mine would be very unstable if you changed throttle position. Though my car is worlds better with the Teins but i honestly cant remember driving the car at the track with the Teins as it has been so long and all my vids are from the Bilsteins which sucked ass with semi slicks on the hgih speed stuff at PI

[Marlin]

I put a fair bit of it's stability down to a hot new wheel alignment spec from Mark and Russ...... if you like, can email the specs?

[Roy]

Hey if you think it works then save that bad boy and i will give it a twirl when i get back on the track in a few months. Watching your vid makes me want to drop power and just get more mid as no doubt its quicker...its just not as mcuh fun as the lil peaky top end happy RB20 with a TD slapped on its side =)

[Marlin]

Very true, it's linear and easy to drive, but is all over by 7k, nowhere near as noisy, peaky, and importantly exciting as yours Briz

[Roy]

Yeh but people keep telling me its important to be fast, not sound fast Party poopers.

[warps]

Yeh but people keep telling me its important to be fast, not sound fast Party poopers.

pfft - what would they know? Are you out there to win sheep stations or have fun?

It's all about how spectacular you look and sound

which is why I chose a RWD Weberised gravel rally car, rather than any of the infinitely faster FWD or AWD choices. I may be at the back of the field, but I put on a good show at the specce points

[phunky_monkey]

I'll 4th that, go the noise I say!

[Roy]

Thats funny warps. A friend has a genuine Holden Dealer Team HK Kingswood rally car. Its ok on trials, but on rallies its simply too big. But nothing kicks up rooster tails and sounds as good through the bush as the big V8 reverberating off the trees and forest. Always a crowd favourite

When you are in Vic next Ben you do get the keys to my car at Winton, lol even if i am not in the country. I am curious to see the weaknesses of my car vs yours