[Checkmate1]

I've been on the fence about the AG batteries. Please let us know your thoughts on whether you can feel the car is much lighter and more importantly - street and track durability.

The other aspect to it is whether the much lighter AG battery messes with the near 50/50 weight balance of the car as it sits.

[RamAir02]

Originally Posted by Checkmate1

I've been on the fence about the AG batteries. Please let us know your thoughts on whether you can feel the car is much lighter and more importantly - street and track durability.

The other aspect to it is whether the much lighter AG battery messes with the near 50/50 weight balance of the car as it sits.

I've been keeping the AG battery on the Optimate 4s 6A when the car is not being used. So far so good -- did a 260 mile round trip this weekend to Hudson Valley and she started up fine the entire trip. I don't have any concerns there.

I'll follow up with feedback on if I can tell weight difference. However, I don't expect to feel any difference at all. I also don't expect the ~30 lb difference to upset the weight balance of the car. We'll see.

To be clear, street durability is not a concern of mine. The car is rarely street driven and is primarily a track car. A weekend cruise once in a while or a small road trip like this past weekend, but otherwise she stays in the garage on the Optimate.

[RamAir02]

Ok, she's ready for track season. Got the last few bits done yesterday; first event is at VIR April 14-16

- Diff flush with 10-4034
- Installed and adjusted Schroth Profi II ASM Harnesses
- Gave her a quick bath

[mlee]

Originally Posted by RamAir02

Ok, she's ready for track season. Got the last few bits done yesterday; first event is at VIR April 14-16

- Diff flush with 10-4034
- Installed and adjusted Schroth Profi II ASM Harnesses
- Gave her a quick bath

Nice Plate...

[RamAir02]

Originally Posted by mlee

Nice Plate...

Attachment 1124044

The carbon fiber weave plate is quite the upgrade from yellow NJ plates

[RamAir02]

First time at VIR last weekend. Overall, a pretty disappointing weekend, especially after an 8 hour drive from NJ. I got food poisoning or the norovirus early on Friday morning and didn't do any sessions on track. I was feeling probably 60% on Saturday and decided to go out on track, but it's tough to have your head in the game when you're under the weather.

Started to learn the track a bit through Saturday, but then my supercharger belt decided to shred during the final session of the day. It took a PCV hose and the thermostat housing with it. Thread with some more info here.

I was super lucky to find parts that evening after calling around to a handful of different auto parts stores. Drove an hour to get the thermostat housing and found a new supercharger belt. Also grabbed some fuel line and hose clamps to fix the PCV hose temporarily.

Fixes worked for the most part, although the car did overheat when I went out on Sunday. At first I thought the belt shred must've damaged some wiring or a coolant temp sensor, but I now believe the aftermarket thermostat is no good. It'll be replaced.

Here is the session where the belt let go. It's not a quick session -- I still felt brand new to the track and was learning the line & corners before really pushing.



When I got home, I ordered the following parts:
- DMS Billet Thermostat Housing
- Lingenfelter 174 degree Thermostat (LS3 style)
- Gates K080828RPM Supercharger Belt
- OEM Positive Crankcase Ventilation Hose (P/N: 12687313)

Carnage & fix pics below. She also turned 12,500 on the way home.

[MightyBobo]

Shame, VIR is such a fantastic track. Sorry you missed out on it.

[RamAir02]

Damn, it's been a few months since I updated this thread...

Anyway, HPDE season has been going pretty well after the belt issue at VIR in April. I've done three events since then and have another one coming up at the end of this month. My next event was at NJMP - Lightning with PCA NNJR in June. Car ran great and I was a second quicker than last season at that track. I was in the Blue run group (lower intermediate) to start the weekend and got promoted to White run group on day 2.

In July, I did two events at Watkins Glen. The first one was with PCA Riesentoter. It was not the best event. I was in the White run group (upper intermediate). The run groups were far too big (WGI can support a lot of cars on track, but this was too many) and there were too many drivers that were either unaware and gave late point bys, didn't know the track or didn't belong in this run group. Lots of trains, no clean laps, but still a fun weekend overall.

The second WGI event was with PCA Metro NY. This was an awesome event, if not partly due to a checkout ride with the Chief Instructor on Friday that got me promoted to Black run group (lower advanced). This was great news for my progress, but more importantly it moved me into the same run group as some of my buddies who have been doing DE much longer than me. I had probably the most fun I've had at a DE event in the sessions in Black that weekend. I'll put a video below of one of the sessions with my buddy in the 991.1 GT3 in Gulf livery.

Only negative from that weekend was the car started misfiring at high RPMs on Sunday. She was breaking up above 4.5k or 5k RPMs and I got the flashing CEL. Put in NGK plugs, one step colder. Grabbed a spare coil pack to have on hand trackside. Hoping for the best!

Next event is August 25-27 at Watkins Glen (again!) with PCA NNJR. They honored my promotion to Black from PCA Metro NY which is great. And this is always a great event. Paul Miller Porsche sponsors a dinner one night. There's a group of guys, collectively known as Scungilli Racing, that put on Scungillifest for dinner another night (some great pizza & Italian food!). It's one of the highlights of the season.

[RamAir02]

NGK one-step colder plugs fixed my misfiring issue. I was probably overdue for new plugs anyway at 14k+ miles and most of them on track.

Car was fantastic this past weekend at Watkins Glen and I was able to turn a personal best, even if only by a tenth and a half. It was a very crowded event and the Black run group wasn't particularly great given it's an advanced run group -- lots of late point bys, trains and folks holding others up for multiple corners. Even so, it was an awesome weekend.

[Checkmate1]

I am living vicariously through you! Traveling in Europe now and love this thread!!

[RamAir02]

Originally Posted by Checkmate1

I've been on the fence about the AG batteries. Please let us know your thoughts on whether you can feel the car is much lighter and more importantly - street and track durability.

The other aspect to it is whether the much lighter AG battery messes with the near 50/50 weight balance of the car as it sits.

Wanted to follow up on this question since I've been running the Antigravity battery all season. My conclusion is -- it's rock solid. I'd even say it cranks a bit more quickly than the OEM battery. I also have not noticed any issues with the lighter battery affecting weight balance or stability on track.

The car is never off the Optimate for more than 4-5 days, so I can't say how it'd be on a daily driver, but it shows no signs of weakness with multiple days disconnected from the maintainer.

When I was having misfires in cylinder 2 in July, my mind did stray to the AG battery as the potential problem. Thought I may end up with an AGM battery again. However, it was clearly that I needed new plugs. The car has been strong since the new NGK plugs. The battery has been perfect.

The Antigravity battery is 2-3x the price of an AGM, but is supposed to last 8-10 years which helps alleviate some sticker shock.

Originally Posted by Checkmate1

I am living vicariously through you! Traveling in Europe now and love this thread!!

Oh, and THANK YOU! Having a blast Enjoy Europe!

[RamAir02]

I purchased DBA rotor rings from KNS Brakes for next season. I have one more event this season in October at NJMP, but I think I'll do this last event on the rotors that are on the car. Believe it or not, I'm still running the OE rotors that came on the car when I purchased her new.

I also received some pretty awesome track pics from my last event at WGI in August. I'll throw a few into this post. I think they're some of the best shots I've gotten -- the photographer (Brad from etechphoto.com) did a great job.

[RamAir02]

Welp, yesterday was the first day of a 3 day track event at NJMP Thunderbolt. Unfortunately, I had to come home last night...

I'm 99.9% sure the cats disintegrated. I was coming down the front straight and heard a loud sound and saw a big puff of smoke in my rearview mirror. I immediately let off the throttle and then a corner or two later, she went into limp mode (service rear axle, flashing CEL, etc.). Once I got back into the paddock, I still wasn't sure exactly what happened and I wanted to check for engine damage. I started her back up, no lights, engine running smoothly... But I can hear a rattle coming from the exhaust under the driver's side and the left tailpipe was completely white. Heck, the entire back of the car was covered in a fine white dust. I shined a light into the exhaust and found some little bits.

Not sure if only the secondary cats blew up or the primary cats as well. I dropped the car off at the dealer this morning. I asked them to check both sides and also expressed concern that there could be bits stuck in the muffler case. Ideally, I'd like them to replace the entire exhaust from the manifolds back, but I'm sure that won't happen.

On the bright side, I pumped in a new personal best lap in the second session of the day -- 1:30.10. This was my second time at Thunderbolt -- my first time was last May and the best I could muster was a 1:33.30, so it's a nice improvement. Still need more seat time at this track. The lap was sloppy, I missed a few apexes and I was overdriving the car a bit. Thus, I do think there's a good bit more time in me and in the car.

[Zl1+911]

Great time 1:30. Sorry to hear about the car - haven’t seen this type of an issue prior. Hope they do take care of it - also curious about what might have caused it as you are stock engine wise right?