johnc

They have to do that for safety and insurance reasons. Don't take it personally. Once you run with them for a while (or with any other group) and they get to know you they will back off. Until then they consider every newbie a complete screw up. When I instructed for Aaron at Speedventures we were pretty hard on the newbies because our thinking was that if an inexperienced (new to the group) driver is already putting wheels off then its just a couple laps before they wreck. Also, I noticed the hood pins on the front of your hood are back on the core support. If its a fiberglass or CF hood you should put hood pins up near the headlight buckets. Just make an angle bracket that bolts to one of the 6mm bolts that go into the headlight bucket. Over time any composite hood will fatigue and fail if its not supported father forward, especially at speeds over 120mph.

BTW... since you have an in-car video camera you should be describing the car's behavior and what you're feeling out load while driving the track. That helps a bunch when you review the video and helps you remember what went on.

Oh, and don't be afraid of going off the track. Its going to happen if you're trying to improve. Front spoilers are consumable items on a track car - get used to it and get used to lots of dirt in the interior from time-to-time.

No criticism, just advice. Don't coast through the kink on the back straight at Streets. Get the braking done and drive through on the gas. In general get your braking done and then be back on the gas earlier then you're doing. You should be using the throttle to drive the car through the corners. Squeeze the throttle and give it a 3 count (say 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi out loud) and your should be foot to the floor at the last Mississippi, but NOT before. So its: 1. Brake hard and with determination. 2. Slowly trail off the brake as you turn in. 3. Pickup the gas and start your 3 count. 4. Apex the corner between the first Mississippi and when you say "Two". 5. Keep squeezing on the gas and exit the corner. If the car steps out at turn in under braking, you broke too late or you held on to the brake pedal too long. Squeeze off the brake pedal. If the car pushes on corner entry at turn in, you've carrier too much speed or popped off the brake pedal. Brake more and squeeze off the brake pedal. If you can't pick up the gas before the apex then you've either apex'd too early or carrier too much speed into the corner, turn in later or brake more. If the back of the car gently steps out as you pass the apex, stop squeezing on the throttle but don't lift, counter steer. If the back of the car suddenly steps out as you pass the apex you've picked up the throttle too hard, squeeze. If the car pushes out to the corner exit you've carrier too much speed, brake more. If you have to pinch off the corner exit, you've apex'd too early, Turn in a 1/2 second later. If you have room on corner exit you broke too much. Brake less. If you just about drop two wheels off on corner exit (it scares you) then you've done the corner correctly.

Do you want any driving suggestions?

You should do some more reading and get the FSM for your car. Are you wanting to replace the gears or the differential or both?

Those coupes are generally referred to a E9s in the BMW world. Here are a few places to get started: http://www.bmwcsregistry.org/ http://www.e9coupe.com/ The CS Coupes are wonderful cars but very, very rust prone. Repair is extra expensive because all the body panels were welded on by Karmann.

I see people post this on the Internet all the time yet, in all my years of racing, working the corners, and Tech, I have never seen anyone injured in a wreck in this way. I don't think its ever happened. Even this extreme example where the roll cage structure failed and the roof completely collapsed resulted in only minor injuries to the driver and passenger: I'm calling BS on this Internet myth.

Works great! Much more stable oil and coolant temps, it brings the oil and coolant up to temp much quicker, lower pressure drop across the oil cooler (its pretty small), much simpler packaging, and you can reduce underhood airflow to help with aero. Its just a matter of matching BTUs.

Yes you do. Per the 2010 SCCA SOlo2 rule book: You are not allowed a non-OEM fuel cell in Stock or ST. SM, Prep, and Mod specifically require that a non-stock tank be sealed off by a separate bulkhead. In SP your fuel cell install must meet the requirements of the GCR.

2 to 3" of total travel on a race track is about right for a production based sedan. Now, if curb hopping was your style then you would need more bump travel.

Does it matter?

I'll repeat myself...

Dave Jarman Racing in the UK.

Its just aluminum. Hacksaw, band saw, cutoff wheel, etc.

Oh hell no! Do a Google search on Hennescrewed.

If my 350Z sells, I'm thinking about picking up something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Kawasaki-KZ-1000a1-KZ-KZ-KZ1000-KZ900-Z1-collector_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6710QQitemZ280604180262

A lot of dedicated road race cars do not run a fan unless the rules require it.

Its a typical non-US LSD R180. Should hold up fine.

Honda S2000.

No, the fan is bolted to the the two vertical aluminum "L"s. I later removed the fan completely because it wasn't needed on a pure track car.

FYI... the match is not 1 to 1. Remember, you're expelling combustion gasses (air and fuel) which have increased volume and energy compared to the the air that came in the intake.

I lean against because powder coating tends to hide cracks. I've seen cracks in a customer's powder coated front diff cross member only after blasting off the powder coating prior to modifying it. Same on a rear lower control arm.

Download the factory service manual and go through the basic tune-up procedures. Also, get this book and go through the diagnostic procedures. http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Fuel-Injection-Engine-Management/dp/0837603005/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292169880&sr=8-1

The one I ran in the ROD was about $1,200 but it had a Niagra water/oil heat exchanger built in and was a very custom two pass from Visteon. Except for a bypass sizing problem which took a couple events to solves, I never had any water or oil cooling issues even at WSIR on a 110 degree day.