1st Event in the LS Coupe Sunday the 8th

M

mmarshall

Member #053
Location
Florissant
First Name
Mike
Last Name
Marshall
Well the car has come together enough for me to be comfortable running it this weekend. I have put about 30 miles on it and it is really fast. The car now pulls in 3rd like the 302 pulled in 2nd. I have had the back get loose in 2nd and 1st is a handful. I have had it out in 105 degree heat with no overheating. I am not sure about the balance yet, but the car feels really good. The weak point is the brakes. I switched back to a manual CNC master and the brakes are not quite as good as they were with the hydroboost.

I run 2nd heat and work 3rd so I will be running sometime after 11:30 if anyone wants to brave the heat. Remember that rides are free!!!!

DSC_2897.png
 
Any chance it will take six months to get the kinks worked out? (Like my Wile-E-Coyote style upgrades).
It looks like my adjustable strut rods are only going to be helpful if I take them off the car and use them as clubs. And I can't us my original air dam / wind deflector. It doesn't fit around the new brackets. I'm aero-challenged until I can get some plastic and metal to make a new one.
And no chance to practice driving with the middle and right pedals both pressed to the floor. Those people at the industrial park never go home from work to leave that nice, wide, smooth pavement available.
 
Mike's Competition said:
Any chance it will take six months to get the kinks worked out? (Like my Wile-E-Coyote style upgrades).
Click to expand...

Yes 2 chances...slim and none! The only issue with it running is the idle is a bit rough. Other than that the engine is a beast. Other than the brakes and the larger/lighter engine my car is pretty much unchanged. Remember it might rain which is the great equalizer. I will be on slicks this time rain or shine.
 
No. The requirement is out the side or behind the driver. The stock exhaust was not even behind the driver. I actually have far less fumes in the cabin now.

BTW there was a last minute change to the running order. They are only going to run 2 heats so right now I have no idea what time I will be running. My guess is anywhere between 9-1.
 
Hey Mike, Looks like the car runs pretty good. Glad to see it out on the track. Hope to see it out and about.

Rick:)
 
mmarshall said:
That being said I wasn't very fast today...]
Click to expand...

It looked more like a competition to see who could get a clean run and not hit any cones, than a race. I keep hearing a chorus of "Three Blind Mice" every time I think about it. And I still can't figure out where that cone was called on my last run.

Without the cone penalty, it would have been about average for me, nowhere near the progress I have been chasing. With that cone, it marks what I hope will be the lowest point of the year. What was that about predicting if you will run well or not? Put me in an event I need to do my best, and I'll bring my worst.
 
Bill looking at raw times your car is still much faster than last year. If you had gotten a clean run in you might have taken it. Outside of the smoke screen, the LS ran well. It took most of the event to heat up and only reached a peak of 210 which is pretty good considering how warm it was. I did not have any confidence in the brakes with the manual master cylinder. Because of that I did not run as deep into most of the corners. I also had too heavy of a fuel load which negated the weight shift forward I had made. I changed out half of the valve seals last night (on the smokey bank) so now to do something about the brakes. I also have to see about not hitting so many cones!
 
The Index numbers show it was a pretty slow event for both of us.

8189 for me. Without the cone penalty it would have been an 8560. I was hoping not to dip below 8600 or 8700 all year long. Definitely not below 8500. If I had managed to match my driving in the third event, I should have been able to run a 43.053 second run without a cone.

You ran an 8288, down from an 8685 in Jeff's Trans Am. You were up over 9000 last year.

Unless the pavement got slower with the heat, we all drove lousy. And someone had to be throwing cones at my car from the side of the course.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top