[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by RUQWIKR

FYI, rear hoses are the same, J6M (SS 1LE) to J6H (ZL1) as you mentioned, but the front flex hoses must be changed as you pointed out. Can't wait to see your on track thoughts.

My initial hunch is my feedback will be something like they work just as great but don't get as hot. That's really all I'm looking for, an incremental durability improvement.

[carguy55]

Those ZL1 brakes are sick! Should shorten your stopping distance. Did you happened the weigh the difference between them?

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by carguy55

Those ZL1 brakes are sick! Should shorten your stopping distance. Did you happened the weigh the difference between them?

The primary reason is to reduce the heat in the front calipers and rotors during track sessions. Stopping distances don't usually change from the brakes once the brakes are powerful enough; that's down to the tire. Given I'm moving to the Supercar 3R, it's likely that those will allow for shorter braking distances and thus the extra torque of the ZL1 brakes can be utilized, OR, the extra torque of the ZL1 brakes won't be needed and the surplus capacity will mean they'll operate at a lower temp, which is my hope.

I didn't remember to weight the ZL1 rotors. In all honesty, it doesn't really matter. I was cooking the J6M setup so something had to change, and me driving slower on-track isn't going to happen.

[Ryephile]

I just want to share a brilliant slice of wisdom from one of the best drivers on this forum:

Originally Posted by Provoste

Thanks Ryan, that's the goal... maximize the friction circle and keep the car accelerating as hard as possible up the track. A techncial track like NCM really rewards smoothness. I was just having this discussion last week with some fellow NCM instructors that it is the only track I've driven (and I've driven a LOT of tracks) where there is a 10-15 second lap time delta in advanced run groups with like cars. Guys that overdrive corner entry, corner after corner, then are down 5-10mph on entry on 3 straights that are pretty long... all the sudden you have a guy who thinks he's driving the wheels off the car who is 10 seconds a lap off the pace.

The take-away here is smoothness and understanding the limits of the car at all times, in infinitely changing conditions. This gets deep into "unconscious competence" where you can dance and flow with the car as an extension of your soul.

[Mountain]

Originally Posted by Ryephile

Next track day is Memorial Day weekend at Grattan!

I need to get mine out to Grattan to see what I can do over the SS. I ran a 1:32 with the SS, stock, two years ago.

A 1:24 at Waterford early last summer, but I didn't want to push the car too much there. As you know, Waterford has limited margin of error.

It's also been a while since I've driven a fast car on Gingerman...

Been driving a lot of shitboxes at tracks around the Mid-West/East Cost the past couple of years.

Looking forward to seeing your results on the ZL1 brakes. I suspect it will be as expected: better heat management and slightly more confident braking. No significant annoyance to ABS and not really much increased bite (which is more-so related to disc surface configuration and brake pad material).

[Ryephile]

That's a good lap time for a stock SS. Hopefully we'll cross paths this year and I'll get to see that 1LE you just picked up.

I'll also be at the NASA summer Gingerman weekend. Their HPDE program is top shelf; they really push for quality learning and improving competence every time you get behind the wheel. Very inspiring.

[Ryephile]

Car is prepped for track now. Drained and refilled the rear diff with OEM ACDelco fluid #88862624, and ditto the trans fluid. On Mountain's recommendation, I swapped in Redline D4 ATF (Dexron III), and it's a noticeable improvement over the AMSoil Syncromesh, which was already better than stock. It's now a far cry from the rock-crusher T5 shifting in my old Fox-body Cobra.

A subtle note; I set the car on jackstands with the rear stands one notch lower than the front. This appears to let more fluid drain from the trans and cooler, to the tune of about 0.8 quarts. 3.5 quarts to "full" versus 2.7 quarts last time. YMMV.


I quite liked this moody lighting after giving the car a wash last week.

Spring 2018 by Ryephile, on Flickr


Just a random shot of it clean.

Spring 2018 by Ryephile, on Flickr

[Mountain]

Originally Posted by Ryephile

Car is prepped for track now. Drained and refilled the rear diff with OEM ACDelco fluid #88862624, and ditto the trans fluid. On Mountain's recommendation, I swapped in Redline D4 ATF (Dexron III), and it's a noticeable improvement over the AMSoil Syncromesh, which was already better than stock. It's now a far cry from the rock-crusher T5 shifting in my old Fox-body Cobra.

A subtle note; I set the car on jackstands with the rear stands one notch lower than the front. This appears to let more fluid drain from the trans and cooler, to the tune of about 0.8 quarts. 3.5 quarts to "full" versus 2.7 quarts last time. YMMV.


I quite liked this moody lighting after giving the car a wash last week.

Spring 2018 by Ryephile, on Flickr


Just a random shot of it clean.

Spring 2018 by Ryephile, on Flickr

3Balls? Grattan? I’ll be there the 27th.

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by Mountain

3Balls? Grattan? I’ll be there the 27th.

Awesome! See you there.

[carguy55]

Can't wait to hear about how your new setup works on track

[JoeP@TeamBeckyD]

Awesome Pic!

....@ Grattan Raceway - Today!







.............


Becky

[Ryephile]

Thanks Becky & Joe! As always it was a pleasure to see you.

^^^That's my Mom driving and I'm passenger/instructing, this was her first ever track experience. I flew her in from Colorado to take part in this HPDE co-driving the 1LE. She had a blast. She drives a MINI Cooper S, so with the Camaro having nearly 3x the power I'm thankful the PTM modes in the 1LE let me dial the PTM to Wet for her to acclimate and we got her comfortable with the car and progressed her up to Track: Sport 1 by the end of the weekend.

Here are some other pictures of the weekend, the on-track pics are with my Mom feeling comfortable enough to run solo.

RYE_1694.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

RYE_1764.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

RYE_1749.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

RYE_1799.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr


I'm a big fan of the Viper, and this example is simply gorgeous.

RYE_1717.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr


And here is Becky out there putting down all 650 HP! Hearing her ZL1 roaring down the straightaway is awesome!

RYE_1724.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

RYE_1704.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

[Ryephile]

So how did the car do? Running back-to-back and then 40 minute breathers, the car went through a LOT of fuel this weekend. Not a single hiccup though, the car ran flawlessly.

The ZL1 brakes are thermal overkill. The stock HP1000 pads however have a long and squishy pedal feel. The front calipers only registered the lowest box of 250 deg F on my caliper temp stickers. What I think I've learned here is, the SS 1LE brakes are perfectly fine as long as the pads have a thermal insulation layer, like stock. That means the SS 1LE brakes + titanium shims + track pad of choice = perfect.

Speaking of thermal, this was a HOT weekend. Air temps about 90F, and intake temps in the 120's. The car was noticeably down on power. Another problem was the track (Grattan) was green, greasy, and dirty. Saturday morning in particular meant everyone was way off the pace. It appears the track crew blew off the surface Saturday night, because from the first session today the track was much grippier.

The anti-roll bars worked great. The balance was spot-on perfect. The car will understeer if you make it, and oversteer if you make it. Drive it clean and it's neutral. This is with the Hotchkis front in the middle holes and the BMR rear in the middle holes. If you need more dynamic wheel rate, I highly recommend this combo.

I managed to crush my personal best using the Supercar 3R's, stiffer anti-roll-bars, ZL1 brakes, and Track mode "off-off"; a 1:24.59. It's not 100% roses though. The Supercar 3R's aren't magical. They lose a bunch of steering feel and have that sort of stick-through-porridge feel that Hoosier R7's do, but don't really feel any grippier than the Supercar 3's. My datalogs do show a bit more lateral G, but not much. I think the take-away here is the Supercar 3's are better than we're giving them credit for, and the 3R's aren't the final word in any way. The 3R's do maintain the same really wide window of communication at the limit, including the tire squealing, and in those regards they're definitely not Hoosier-esque. In the end I'm not sure I recommend the 3R's, and that's before I even take a look at their wear-rate. Sure I was able to go quicker, but it took a much more aggressive but precise style to coax the time out of them, whereas the 3's are overall more enjoyable. I'll have to think about this more.

I'll post my PDR data tomorrow.

[carguy55]

Good pictures and feedback on the setup, car looks really good. Were you able to tell how much of the handling improvements where from running a square tire setup? I'm still looking for a source for titanium shims. Cool to have your mom out there driving with you.