JMortensen Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 So he said shocks then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobramatt Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 So he said shocks then? Why did I pay him when all I had to do was ask you? Mike said the first thing was to add real good adjustable shocks. We have not even had an opportunity to discuss how we could accomplish this. This is where I wish I had just done a tube frame car from the beginning. I also know that a real good pair of Moton adjustables with remote reservios' are around $12,500 for a set, (I'm presently open for all donations). The front splitter, he said would work better if we were to extend it out another 3 inches, he also said that if the underside of the car had better aero, etc.....He does realize that this is a Vintage car and not a Porsche so certain things that can be done to most newer race cars don't apply to the Z. The fact is that we have reached a plateau with the car and these changes will make it faster, but not a huge step forward. It seems that the ultimate performance threshold for this particular car is not far off. I could build another one and make it faster by re engineering everything from the start but thats not what I was trying to do with this car. I am very happy with what we have done and feel confident I will be able to continue winning in this car with the present set up. Some cheaper ideas were to go with much stiffer spings up front to keep the car from porpoising as much. I just replaced them a month ago. I am going to put together a budget to put a sequential gearbox (20k), a 9inch rear end(4k), vents for the positive pressure in the fenders(2k), adjustable shocks (???) and some additional undertray aero(???). I will then be able to make an educated decision on whether the juice is worth the squeeze. I'm alraedy aware that I'm one of the only human beings dumb enough to consider it much less do it. I wonder if I should have just figured out if I could have fitted a Z body on a corvette frame a long time ago. On another note.........The new wing endplates worked great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Mike Skeen got your car down into the .28s??? Amazing. Mike drove Matt Callahan's Z06 (the car Jim Mcnemar had and a deal I worked between the two to move the car for Jim) to win the Ultimate Street Car Challenge last year. Mike was at Summit Point Last year and was really taking an interest in my Zcar. Last year he was a guest coach with Trackdaze.com often. My guess is this year he wont be available as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobramatt Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 (edited) Mike Skeen got your car down into the .28s??? Amazing. Mike drove Matt Callahan's Z06 (the car Jim Mcnemar had and a deal I worked between the two to move the car for Jim) to win the Ultimate Street Car Challenge last year. Mike was at Summit Point Last year and was really taking an interest in my Zcar. Last year he was a guest coach with Trackdaze.com often. My guess is this year he wont be available as much. The Callahan car. I was talking with the crew from Freedom Autosports at one of our races. They manage the car for him and said they were interested in our new sequential gearbox and paddle shifters for that car. Small world......... Mike did a 1:27.9 in my car on an open track qualifying line. My best time at Road Atlanta is 130.3. This is why he gets paid and I pay other people. The difference on this level of two seconds is huge. To some people that may not seem like much, to me its light years. Its not like he was going to show me how to be much quicker on the track it was to get his data and set up input. He test drives cars for loads of teams and manufacturers and I found his input dead on. I fell it was money well spent. Here's a great video......... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtPG3CaeGa0 Edited March 21, 2013 by cobramatt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zack_280 Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 That was impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Oh yea, 2 seconds is a sea of time. You spent your money well. The Callahan car... I remember when Jim bought that car in January 2008 from the dealership in Warrenton Va. He put break in miles on the car and shipped it off to :LG mototsports. They did a bunch of suspension/brake/driveline mods, and added their aero package and sent the car back. The #7 cylinder liner unseated itself after less than 1100miles and GM voided the warranty because of the headers, if memory serves. Anyway, after that, Jim sent the car BACK to LG and they installed a former Texas mile motor and a world challenge transmission, along with all the coolers. It was unfortunate that the car caught fire during the UTCC last summer, but a rod let go and hot oil hit the headers. That car was a street car still, so there was no fire system to save some of the damage it suffered. I hope Matt builds that thing to winning standards this time around. Back when Jim and LG built the car in 2008, the depth of knowledge on those new 427s was shallower than it is now. I'm sure whatever they built will live longer. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Matt-you said 9" rearend. Did you mean solid/live rear axle or just a 9" center section preserving independent rearend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Matt-you said 9" rearend. Did you mean solid/live rear axle or just a 9" center section preserving independent rearend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datz44 Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I know we haven't finished the body work or a host of other items, but I had to just bring her home and enjoy looking at her for a week. I'd say she fits right in and holds her own just fine. Matt awesome garage, nice classic cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobramatt Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 (edited) I am very humbled for the NASA magazine to have done an article about our most recent race at Road Atlanta. It does feel good when someone other than those directly around you take notice of my teams hard work and make some very nice comments. I was having a conversation with Mike Skeen today before he left for Barber Motorsports Park where he is piloting the Park Place Porsche in the Grand Am race this weekend. He agreed that most pro drivers take for granted that they can tivo the race and come home and watch their race on the TV. Someone like myself or 99% of all grassroots level racers dont have that luxury. A simple article in a Nationally published magazine means the world to me and the efforts my guys put forth. Its our 5 minutes under the spotlight and well deserved. http://www.derdizmedia.com/publication.aspx?pid=16&pkey=yqtbafxce&pageid=74 Edited April 4, 2013 by cobramatt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobramatt Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Putting the fender vents in and I really like the look as well as the functionality of them. They are carbon fiber and aftermarket replacement hood vents for a new Shelby GT500. Only $149 for the pair. I am actually putting the unfinished side up and the shiny clear coat side down to make them function better, (the opposite of how they were designed to go in). When the vent or louver is extruded it creates more of a vacuum over the vent and thus not just letting the positive pressure out but pulling it out. I am surprised that no one has commented on the article that the NASA magazine did on the car. I was sorta proud of it and it really shows off what, with a little effort, fabrication and money a HybridZ can be pretty formidable. If you like racing, the magazine has lots of great articles. One of which is on my dear friend and Z enthusiast John Evans. He races and is the race director for the Spec Z race group. Next race is next weekend at Roebling Road. I have a 427 928 Porsche, a 914-6 Porsche and a badass firebird to deal with in my group. The 914-6 is going to very hard to beat as he has 400hp with only 2100lbs and a ton of aero. All my cars strengths have been nullified by the slower tight track and his car sets up better. I'll give it my best, but I have to be realistic. The following weekend we are at Barber Motorsports Park. Wish me luck.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Nice!!! I plan to order a set as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 Hey Matt, what alignment settings are you using on your set up. i am starting with the settings from John C this week but wondering what yours are. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobramatt Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 Hey Matt, what alignment settings are you using on your set up. i am starting with the settings from John C this week but wondering what yours are. jimbo Jimbo, I would love to tell you the particulars of my setup but I cant. I have a non disclosure agreement about data sharing. I can tell you mechanical pieces on the car or what we have fabricated but it gets touchy when my competitors know how I set up my car. I know this seems very stupid and personally I dont think its a big deal but Ive gotten in trouble for this sort of thing in the past and I'm sorry. If I was the only person on my team I would share the info...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madovic Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 As sad as it makes me, I completely understand that. In software development we end up in a very similar situation. I for one am thankful for all the information you do share. I hope you have another successful season. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobramatt Posted April 15, 2013 Author Share Posted April 15, 2013 (edited) As sad as it makes me, I completely understand that. In software development we end up in a very similar situation. I for one am thankful for all the information you do share. I hope you have another successful season. Tim Thank you Tim. If someone comes to one of my races and hangs out for the weekend and has a few beers with the guys I'm sure they will know everything they need to know. Hell........we'll put 'em to work. This past weekend was special. We had our Sat. and Sun. NASA SE races at Roebling Road in Savannah Ga. The weather was perfect and the track was fast. We did our warm up Sat. morning to scrub a pair of stickers and get a feel for the conditions. When I came in we noticed a pool of fluid under the car. The remote Tilton reserviour for the brakes had dumped. We had to disasemble the entire piece, rebuild it and install it and we barely made it to the grid for qualifying. Qualified on pole. We jumped out to a 20 second gap over second place, a very fast 914-6, but with four laps to go my clutch went to the floor and stayed there. I managed to get it into fourth gear and did the last 4 laps in fourth and just squeeked out the overall win. When I came off track I just shut it off and we pushed it back to the trailer. It took a while but figured out that the Tilton master cylinder had crapped out, each pedal has a small remote MC right above the pedal. We removed it and realized it was pretty much over for the weekend without a Tilton rebuild kit or a new MC. There are a few teams that have some extremely talented mechanics on them. I had them look at it and they tried but said it was a lost cause. Thats where a little redneck engineering comes into play. My guys took Bic lighters and heated it up as best they could without melting the rubber seals inside and broke it apart, all while holding a beer in the other hand. They cleaned every little nook and cranny and reset the seals. It seemed as if a minute sliver of teflon had worked its way next to the seal and was allowing air to work around it comprimising the hydrolics. We reinstalled it at 2am and they all said they thought it was good to go. Thats going from the outhouse to the penthouse. The next morning the car wouldn't start. The heat shielding around the starter had somehow pulled the ground wires off and that was not hard to fix but when you have 30 minutes till qualifying it isn't in the morning game plan. We qualified on pole again. We won the race and set a new class track record and personal best 1:14.3 I dont think its possible to have that much fun with your clothes on anywhere. Edited April 16, 2013 by cobramatt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobramatt Posted April 15, 2013 Author Share Posted April 15, 2013 (edited) I also have had a few people ask me to put a camera in the footbox to show the activity. This is from this weekends race. Edited April 15, 2013 by cobramatt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 tuff z Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Reminds me of a Hans Stuch [spelling?] pedal box video I saw from when he was racing the Audi Quattros! Nice dance moves Matt!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zack_280 Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Congrats Matt. Always nice to taste the fruit of your labor. I'm planning to do the Road Atlanta enduro in June in an STR3 prepared late model. We tested at an SCCA event at TGPR this weekend and the car was pretty fast, but we have some oiling issues that are going to keep us away from the NASA event at NOLA the first weekend in May. I'll try to look you up at RA and say hey. Zack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobramatt Posted April 16, 2013 Author Share Posted April 16, 2013 A fellow racer just sent me this pic of the start of the race this past weekend. Gotta love a HybridZ on the front row. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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