Back to Sebring last week to run the PCA Sprint Race at the 48 Hours at Sebring. We were testing many new items at the 3.7 mile course including a limited slip diff.,a GT3RSR wing, front splitter, 2wd vs. AWD, Evo V-Flow air box and filter, Evo's Clubsport brake upgrade(larger light-weight rotors and GT2/3 calipers), GIAC Flashloader w/ race gas program, etc.

In order, the limited slip diff. made it much easier to put the power down coming out of the corner's. The car felt completely hooked up.

The wing and splitter made a huge difference in down force, so much that I actually ran a little too much rear wing slowing down the top speed on the straights a bit. But was it ever good through the high speed corner's.

The 2wd vs. AWD test was a bit inconclusive as all we did was pull the dirveshaft out leaving the camber/toe settings, spring rates the same. I firmly believe in order to test this properly one would have to pull the front AWD assembly out, change toe, change camber and change spring rates. All of this will be done for the Road Atlanta PCA Race the end of March, I'll keep you posted.

The Evo V-flow air box was a simple install and seemed to add a little hp as well as a better air box sound. No check engine lights all weekend.

The Evo Clubsport brake package was amazing after going with a slightly more aggressive pad. We started with Pagid Yellow's in the front and Black's in the rear(typical Cup car setup), but because of the extra weight of the TT we decided Blacks would help haul the car down a little better. I believe Yellow's are perfect for the TT's ABS system. My car is w/o ABS.

The GIAC Flashloader system is very cool and effective. I could choose between a stock program, 91/93 octane program ,or the Race gas program. Depending on how hard you want to push your car you can adjust the program accordingly. I practiced in the 91/93 program and qualified and raced in the race gas program. The car ran very strong all weekend with oil temp and water temp staying in very safe ranges at all times.

Finally, we qualified 4th out of some 60+ cars(mostly cups) and finished 4th in the race. We ran both qulifying and the race in AWD weighing in at about 2,880 w/o driver. In qualifying we bettered last year's time running a 2:11.3. In the race we were betterby a second from last year running a best lap of 2:12.5.

I write this info in hopes that others will benefit from my findings.

A big thanks to the "Evolution Motorsports Group" for wanting to push the envelope and for making fast and reliable quality products.

http://www.pca.org/clubrace/2006_res...low-Sprint.htm

Rick
Gilhart Racing, LLC

 

Rick,
I saw you there and actually talked to you about your Turbo for a bit.
Congrats on the 4th place, that is relaly impressive considering your competition.

 

Awesome Rick! Great job!

Boy would I love the LSD as eating up rear tires is getting expensive.

 

AWESOME! I love that you are racing using the Evo products! Congrats!

 

Sorry I missed the 48 Hrs - was @ Sebring last wekend - Sounds like brakes were not an issue for you - Have some questions - Did you run w/SS brake lines? If so what brand? I'm loosing brakes in hard 20 minute sessions @ Sebring PCA DE's - using "stock" Pagid (color?), a very good high temp fluid, and have installed GT2 brake air scoops under the car. Oh and I have huge TechArt mods to engine (turbos, brain, air, exhaust, and also suspension) so I'm conservative @ 550 HP.

 

Good stuff indeed man... Fly the Tubo flag for us all

 

very impressive time. do you have any in car video you could share? always love seeing race car footage. thanks!

 

You might be pushing the brakes too hard. You need to warm them up before you start going fast and then cool them down by taking a couple of very slow laps before parking your car. I don't use the parking brake afterwards as well.

Rick, nice going. What kind of LSD are you using?

 

congrats on the nice finish!

 

Thanks for the kind words! It was good to see some of the people at Sebring that frequent the P-car forums. Tim, Buddy and the rest need to run your cars at Sebring. The track is a little bumpy in a few areas however running your car on the same track that run's the 12 hour is always a cool feeling.

I hope everyone's had a chance to drive and enjoy their TT on the track. The only short-comings of the stock TT are some of the systems that intervene when you start to have fun with the car. In reality the sytems are amazing with the level of safety they provide.

Michael, I've never had a soft pedal on my TT. However I've experienced with both the Pagid Orange and Yellow what feels like a glazing effect. It only seems to happen under threshold braking. To combat the problem I went with Pagid Black in the front and the rear. What I suggest to you is at least try the Pagid Black in the rear and Pagid Orange in the front. The Blacks in the front are a little aggressive and the ABS system and PSM don't seem to like the extra bite in the front. I have some used Blacks and Oranges that I don't need if you want to try them out. I'm using Evo SS brake lines.

Sharky, Sharkster, Alex, I'm waiting for you to join me on the race track. I bet your car would be good!! Now go and start welding in that cage...

The LSD I'm running is a clutch type Motorsport diff. As I mentioned earlier you can raelly put down the power out of the tight corners without wheelspin. When I disconnected the drive shaft I couldn't apply the throttle as quickly as it would light both wheels up. Kinda cool but really inefficient and time consuming on the track.

I'm going to make the leap to 2wd for the upcoming Road Atlanta race. I'll keep the AWD in tact and switch back if I find the car difficult to drive. The biggest problem with switching to 2wd is finding the right width slick for the rear. I'm currently running a 325/650/18 Pirelli and would like to have another 3/4 inch of rubber if at all possible.

I took some cool video and will post first of next week.

Thanks,
Rick

 

Here's a shot that shows us gridded and coming into Turn 17 with the start to follow. I'm gridded right behind friend Norm driving the Blk/Yel/blu 04 car. Leh Keen is on pole driving the Red/Wht GT3RS(R).

 

You are doing great Rick -- Congratulations!! Some questions about the LSD ... Does it make for any problems with the front diff while in AWD? Do you have to disable the ABS and/or PSM when you use it? It sounds as though no problems but these are things I always wondered about. Thanks for the feedback!

 

Wow that is pretty cool! Congrats!

How hard is it to install a rear diff? and is it completely streetable?

 

If I remember correctly, he disconnected the ABS and the PSM on his car.

 

Thanks for the help on the Pagid colors to try. I'll also give the EVO SS lines a try too. As for the other cooling suggestion - thanks - but yes I have bedded-in the pads first, use cool down laps, and never set the park brake. I've been driving Sebring since '86 - know the track very well and going quite fast - tt is one heavy car - just trying to find a set-up that works for track and street. Air scoops did the trick on my '70 911, '93 964, '01 996. Not enough for the tt.