Dumpster Firebird - my ratty track toy

Catmaigne said:

My Fleetwood is basically a truck lol.

crew cab medium box with front-hinged bed cover 

Half cage in and harnesses installed.

Got to demo everything at NJMP Lightning a couple days ago and managed to slash 1.5s from my old PB with a best of 1:14.6. These bridgestones rock. I'm testing out  a new camera and lap timer as well. The audio is a little goofy since I left the wind noise suppression on, my bad.

Traffic at this Track Night was really bad and there were a bunch of black flags. My best lap came later in my 3rd/final session, but I know I can break into the 13's if I do a full trackday with more time and get lucky with no traffic on the first 2-3 laps (when these tires are the fastest). Optimal was showing 1:14.1.

Vid here: https://youtu.be/vqhyIsf5z3E

I found some cracks in the spokes of my track wheels, so I picked up a set of Spec Corvette 18x11s to finish out the season. The old C5z reps had about 30 trackdays worth of abuse complete with curb hopping and plenty of street miles so I'm not suprised. I was planning on replacing the wheels over the winter anyway.

I drove the car to Pittrace last weekend and had an OK time with Gridlife, but brake fade, tire cording, and debris from drifters kept me from getting the sub 2:00 I wanted. I did manage this 2:01.46 on my 2nd session. https://youtu.be/rTjfHj_wJvU

I ordered some C6z brake ducts I'm going to rig up.

In reply to Catmaigne :

brake fade huh, what pads/fluid are you running?

btw wheels look great!

In reply to StuntmanMike :

I'm still running EBC SR-11s with Castrol SRF fluid. The pads seem acceptable at low-medium speed tracks, but they definitely can't tolerate faster ones like Pitt and WGI with my current deflector style cooling. My plan is to fab some 3" spindle cooling ducts before the season starts which will hopefully cure it, otherwise I'll have to swap pads.

I've got some maintenance to do on the car but should be back on track by late April hopefully. Trying to get to some new tracks this year like Lime Rock and Summit Point main. Also eyeing up some TT events for E36 M3s and giggles. SCCA has a TTNT event at Pocono in July and GRM UTCC is at Pitt in September, although I might be too slow for the latter lol.

Here's a pic from an NJMP Thunderbolt day last November. Was hoping shave some time off my 1:29.8 PB, but my optispark started acting up during session 3 lol. Typical LT1 behavior.

Chucked an OE Mitsubishi sensor into a $50 Amazon Opti and the car seems to be running fine. I cleaned the sensor lenses with aerosol 99.9% isopropyl and compressed air, plus checked both high and low res circuits with the oscilloscope.

Also rigged up some spindle brake ducts using BRZ parts from Verus. The outlet of the pancake duct is smaller than I'd like at 2.5", but we'll see how it does. I had to use some PS rack limiters for a Mustang to clear my massive 18x11 wheels, but it fits with minimal rubbing.

Had to relocate my coolant reservoir and battery for these ducts. Nothing is easy lol.

Battery tray I welded up...

Also did some deglazing of my brake pads with 120grit sandpaper on my milling table and bled the brakes with fresh SRF. The pads were wearing pretty quickly on my car so I was definitely cooking them. They were also tapered pretty badly so I flipped them to extend their life.

Signed up for a track night at NJ in a week. Fingers crossed that the shakedown goes smoothly so I can start registering for other events.

This is so awesome. Love that you have matching LT1 cars. 

Man, i miss my 97 Formula.  The LT1 4th gens are definitely underrated.  You are doing God's work, keep it up!

In reply to maschinenbau :

Thanks guys!

I actually own 2 more LT1 cars so I'm fully invested in the platform lol. One is a 95 Roadmaster sedan with a T56 swap and the other is a 96 Z28 with a forged 383, procharger, moser 9", etc. I've thought about buying an LS1/T56 car many times, but they've always been considerably more expensive in comparison. All LT1s also comes with the added benefit of hand-me-down performance parts and spares I can easily swap around.

Shakedown at the track night went smoothly and I unexpectedly set a new PB on the 3rd and final session! About 0.8s cut from last year's best.

1:13.75 at NJMP Lightning: https://youtu.be/vO6Mz8jl4EY

Earlier, I was on a flyer in the 2nd session for a low 14 when I got blocked by a C8 Z06 on the final corner. You'll hear me get very upset as the delta shrinks to nothing lol. This went on for a couple of laps where he'd rocket off on the straights and I'd catch him in the twisties. https://youtu.be/RiPBpfAFLM4

I didn't mention this, but I also upped the rear spring rate from 160->200lbs and added an extra click of rebound in the rear shocks over the winter. Car feels a lot more planted at entry now and it doesn't feel like I gave up anything on exit AFAIK. I don't feel like I have to wait nearly as long for the back end to settle at turn in, so I definitely want to do a longer event at this track so I can get more ballsy in some spots.

Brakes felt good so far. I'm gonna have to make a trip up to WGI or Pitt soon to really torture test them though.