Cool Article about the 05 SCCA wagons floating around still.. :)

[Drew888]

That is hilarious and awesome at the same time.

 

Soliciting donations may take a long while but we could kill time by putting together a scale model.

[Drew888]

Did we just go 7 days with no activity here? Sacrilege I tell you.

[AMileHighLGT]

Crowdfund your donations. Or fund me. Or any of those websites will work.

[BoozeRS05]

That wind tunnel is in my backyard! I've heard of it, but never knew it was that close to me. One of my good Audi fan boi friends mentioned it on FB awhile back now that I think of it.

 

I'll take my wagon up there and report back

[Sgt.Gator]

Did we just go 7 days with no activity here? Sacrilege I tell you.

 

I expect an update tonight!

[Sgt.Gator]

Drew's Spec B has officially joined the Colonel Red Racing stable of high performance cars! It was nice driving it back from LA to Bend Saturday and today, even with the spare long block in the trunk! A little scary at 1:00 AM when I ran into a wall of fog a little south of Stockton and had visions of famous I-5 fog multi car-truck disasters. Luckily I already had hotel reservations in Stockton.

 

This will allow me to build a quick swap motor for the Silver Eagle race car if the current engine has issues. I won't lose a month or two of the season rebuilding the engine, I should be able to make a swap over a weekend and be back in the game. The Spec B also gives me an emergency swap 6 speed tranny, drivetrain, axles.....even a second emergency engine swap. And ultimately if I hit the wall and bend the wagon beyond repair, well I guess I'll have a Spec B race platform!

 

And besides, a Legacy Spec B is the perfect performance car in Bend.

[Drew888]

Nice meeting ya Gator. The car went to the right person.

 

So when is the next event?

[Sgt.Gator]

Great meeting you too!

 

March 8 is a test &tune at Oregon Raceway Park. That will be for the race car. Early March is very iffy there, it could snow on us!

 

March 28 is an Instructor training day at ORP, I'll be taking rthe Spec B to that and really finding oout what it will do!

 

April 4 is an ACCO track day at ORP, I could have either one there.

 

First race is May 2 at Portland International Raceway..

 

Here's a short training video for the track folks:

 

"There’s probably no better way to get your feet wet in racing than by driving in a production-based car.

 

While these cars have strict technical limitations, there are some key things you can do to gain the “unfair advantage”.

 

And there’s no better person to help give you that advantage than John Heinricy, who's career combines engineering excellence with racing talent. He served as Director of the GM Performance Division and assistant chief engineer for the Corvette, while also driving a number of GM products in SCCA competition, eventually claiming 12 SCCA National Championships. Heinricy was also a lap record-holder at the Nürburgring.

 

In our latest video, he explains the secrets of driving a production-based race car. Check it out at http://go.safeisfast.com/racing-production-based-cars-with-john-heinricy

 

I promise you’ll pick up more than a few tenths."

 

Bobby Rahal

http://www.SAFEisFast.com

[Sgt.Gator]

My AP Racing brakes are here. I'll be documenting the entire install on the LGT race wagon when it's completed with full pics over in the Technical-Brakes forum. But here's a little racingbrakeporn:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Essex- AP Racing is a great resource to learn more about brakes, swapping street pads to track pads, bedding in is especially good stuff. .... http://www.essexparts.com/learning-center

 

And if you can't wait for my installation write up here's more on this brake package. One note, they have adapted it to fit both size hubs, but I don't think that is reflected on the web page yet. You can see the drilled holes on the hat for both in the pics. This will be the first install on a Legacy.

 

http://www.essexparts.com/shop/complete-brake-systems/competition-brake-systems/essex-competition-brake-system-subaru-impreza-wrx-sti-bundle.html

[cww]

sweet mother of god, that rotor...

[wicknetzel]

Very jealous of your AP brakes. This is my hopeful setup for someday when I have disposable income. It would be really nice to be able to run a 16 inch wheel sometimes (though less for you, because racecar, not rallycar).

[Sgt.Gator]

sweet mother of god, that rotor...

 

Pretty much what I was saying when I left the track at 90 mph and went for a rally car ride at ORP last fall.

[Rhitter]

I'm curious about your wheel bearings. Boxkita seems to cook them whenever he gets on the track.

 

I imagine the front are fine because of your ducting, but what about the rears?

Edited February 6, 2015 by Rhitter

[Sgt.Gator]

I'm curious about your wheel bearings. Boxkita seems to cook them whenever he gets on the track.

 

I imagine the front are fine because of your ducting, but what about the rears?

 

I replaced one front last year before the season started. Since then none....but unlike Boxkita my car sees zero street mileage. The rear brakes and tires really don't get hot, nothing like the front.

 

Perhaps this year with some rear downforce that will change, I'd love to have enough rear downforce that the rear brakes are actually doing something!

 

I suspect excessive camber/toe settings may contribute to some of the bearing failures. And of course the quality of the bearing. I know in the Corvette C5-C6 race community bearings go out regularly, most guys switch to upgraded SKF bearings.

[boxkita]

I'm curious about your wheel bearings. Boxkita seems to cook them whenever he gets on the track.

 

I imagine the front are fine because of your ducting, but what about the rears?

 

I replaced one front last year before the season started. Since then none....but unlike Boxkita my car sees zero street mileage. The rear brakes and tires really don't get hot, nothing like the front.

 

Perhaps this year with some rear downforce that will change, I'd love to have enough rear downforce that the rear brakes are actually doing something!

 

I suspect excessive camber/toe settings may contribute to some of the bearing failures. And of course the quality of the bearing. I know in the Corvette C5-C6 race community bearings go out regularly, most guys switch to upgraded SKF bearings.

 

The Silver Bullet has brake ducting. My wagon doesn't. My suspension guru called me all kinds of stupid for putting my money into fitting 18x9.5 wheels instead of brake ducting. The wheels never fit and I still overheated the brakes & bearings.

 

I ran out of money before finding a better bearing. Mostly because I put in a new set before every weekend.

[Rhitter]

The Silver Bullet has brake ducting. My wagon doesn't. My suspension guru called me all kinds of stupid for putting my money into fitting 18x9.5 wheels instead of brake ducting. The wheels never fit and I still overheated the brakes & bearings.

 

I ran out of money before finding a better bearing. Mostly because I put in a new set before every weekend.

 

For HDPEs, do you think just removable ducting from fog lights to the wheel wells would be enough. Or without the backing plate is it worthless?

[Sgt.Gator]

For HDPEs, do you think just removable ducting from fog lights to the wheel wells would be enough. Or without the backing plate is it worthless?

 

Not worthless at all! The C6 Corvette Z06 comes with oem ducts that terminate probably a foot from the brake rotor, but aimed at it. An upgrade is the Lambert Automotive Quantum brake duct kit that provides hose and a backing plate. Most Corvette HPDE people don't do that upgrade for quite a while, if ever. At the Ron Fellows Spring Mountain Corvette school they run totally stock Grands Sports and Z06s all day long without issue because the students aren't maxing the brakes out. Although they certainly run race pads!

 

I did notice the other day that Lambert is now making a kit for the 02-07 Impreza WRX & 02-04 STi, which I would think should work for our LGTS too. They will even sell you just the backing plate attachment for $85 if you have the hose and other stuff. http://www.lapponline.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=69_72&zenid=csf5phs5d8blt2lue3hbibunu1

 

http://www.lapponline.com/images/wrx2.jpg... http://www.lapponline.com/images/brake_ducts/0206wrx.jpg

 

Notice their routing is different , more bends, longer hose than in mine. But this solves the tire crushing the duct issue that can happen with my more direct route.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Sgt.Gator

[Rhitter]

I would be really interested to see the flow of air going in and around in the tube. Looks like it would dump significantly less air than your routing.

 

Curious for the weekend warrior type who wants to keep their fog lights. I wonder if I could just mount Naca ducts in the lower grill. The license plate already blocks some of the lower grill, and with a TMIC not sure how important the air flow is through there.

http://photos3.automanager.com/020199/03a8958c54d4d4459a353947b14031bb/ae198b9325_640.jpg

 

Something like two of these

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/images/uploads/2141_4882_large.jpg

Edited February 6, 2015 by Rhitter

[shralp]

Another option here, (but not as good as Gator's since his goes all the way to the rotor hat). These are Roo Ducts. 3D printed intermediate ducts from a rally team out of the east coast. Its up to you to figure out how to plumb to the bumper and if you choose to go all the way to your rotor hat. Of course you do lose your fogs.

 

I noticed less heat checking on my rotors and picked up one more day on pad usage until needing to swap out. One of these days I'll get it to the rotor hat but I foolishly cut off my dust shield entirely a long time ago. Should have left a section to mount on to .

[Rhitter]

Another option here, (but not as good as Gator's since his goes all the way to the rotor hat). These are Roo Ducts. 3D printed intermediate ducts from a rally team out of the east coast. Its up to you to figure out how to plumb to the bumper and if you choose to go all the way to your rotor hat. Of course you do lose your fogs.

 

I noticed less heat checking on my rotors and picked up one more day on pad usage until needing to swap out. One of these days I'll get it to the rotor hat but I foolishly cut off my dust shield entirely a long time ago. Should have left a section to mount on to .

 

I just found that site. Thanks for actually posting up pictures of how they install.

 

I think these

http://www.lapponline.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69_72_73&products_id=186

 

take the place of the backing plates and you could get your ducting up against the rotor using them?

 

Sorry Gator. Didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Rhitter

[boxkita]

For HDPEs, do you think just removable ducting from fog lights to the wheel wells would be enough. Or without the backing plate is it worthless?

 

Miata use a simple inlet in airdam to fill the space with cooler air. It's enough of a difference that everyone runs the airdam to get that duct. However, small, lightweight, slow car.

 

Here's another source for ducting - https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/advcat.asp?CategoryID=BRAKEDUCT

 

I would put the duct in the backing plate, and add the foglight swap. You could even run the ducting from the foglight down the framerail and put a 90 degree bend in it. This is still far more cooling than is normally available.

 

When we were spec'ing my wagon, I didnt' want to give up the foglights. So I got a set of these (https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productselection.asp?Product=3628 ) to mount on the underside of the skid plate. As noted above, I never did it.

 

However, I did remove the backing plate altogether. Which provided some relief

[Chris GTO TT]

Miata use a simple inlet in airdam to fill the space with cooler air. It's enough of a difference that everyone runs the airdam to get that duct. However, small, lightweight, slow car.

 

 

yeah now that I bought an 01 i'll have to figure out the ducting once I get serious about tracking it.

[boxkita]

yeah now that I bought an 01 i'll have to figure out the ducting once I get serious about tracking it.

 

Hawk Black's is my solution this year. Hawk Blue's are like hockey pucks for most of the race. Blacks are useable sooner in the heat range.

[nm]

I'm curious about your wheel bearings. Boxkita seems to cook them whenever he gets on the track.

 

I imagine the front are fine because of your ducting, but what about the rears?

Apparently wheel bearing wise, I am very lucky. I've done a bunch of track days and 138k mi and the only rear wheel bearing I've replaced was because of an ABS sensor ring. Meanwhile, my fronts last ~2 years or something stupid (and my engines seem to last about as long). Maybe using small light wheels helps?

[Sgt.Gator]

Apparently wheel bearing wise, I am very lucky. I've done a bunch of track days and 138k mi and the only rear wheel bearing I've replaced was because of an ABS sensor ring. Meanwhile, my fronts last ~2 years or something stupid (and my engines seem to last about as long). Maybe using small light wheels helps?

 

NM+ are you running R tires or street tires? My guess is that the R rated vs street tires has a lot more to do with bearing stress than the weight of the wheel, but I'm certainly no suspension fatigue engineer.

 

IMHO: R rated tires + Competition Camber Settings + No Brake Ducts all combine to cook wheel bearings at a rapid rate.