RR98ITR

I thrashed heavily to get ready. After nearly 6 months on jackstands the car was driven for the first time just a couple of days before departure. Inexperience and incomplete thinking had cost months of screwing around with Shocktek custom Bilsteins (this did allow alot of time to carry out many other interesting and/or beneficial studies and modifications though), prompting me to order Mugen N1's so as to increase my chances of having something that would work in time to use it. That couldn't go smoothly either. A subtle deficiency in the dyno mounting on the Mugens led me to believe I had a malfunctioning damper. Scott Zellner at King Motorsports, despite some reasonable scepticism, hustled a replacement out of Japan. Two days before leaving for the Expo it arrived and upon dynoing it we discovered the real problem. Apologies to Scott and Mugen were obviously in order and offered promptly. Their service was world class - I really can't speak highly enough about either of them. I was counting on them in a crunch and they came thru like champions. I on the other hand came off looking a bit diminished.

So I set up the chassis around the N1's (alignment around my best guess ride height based on an analysis of the lowdown rates, ride height, wheel travel, and calculated dynamic weight transfers). I cornerweighted the car with the bars hooked up even though that is verboten - the links are the stock non-adjustable and there was some preload - I felt it was better than nothing. Then I set up the Bilsteins to the same ride height, but didn't have time to cornerweight that setup. Then I bolted on the stock rear shocks and Bilstein fronts for the trip down (I got reasonably lucky in that the rear ride height with about 200 lbs in the back of the car was about right). Consequently the car drove fine and tracked well. Street tires were BFG something in 195/60 - it really drove nice on the highway.

Loading: 6 race tires, 1 full size spare, air bottle, jack and jackstands, tool box, tool bag, helmet bag, box with 6 shock/springs, spare front & rear rotors and pads, complete 23mm front brake setup just in case the Legend stuff developed unexpected problems, 2 butterfly chairs, a small cooler, timing beacon tripod. Fit real nice with pretty good weight distribution.

The drive was not the worst - just 850 miles each way: about a day and a half drive. It was hot without AC, and I got to smell everything along the way: cattle stockyards, pig trucks, diesel. Yuck.

I stopped at Willows the first night, and visited Thunderhill the next morning. Nice looking track, really nice people in the office. The track Manager/CEO was very engaging and gave me lots of advice on how to hit track days there. Sounds like people either love or hate Thunderhill. Up to a point if I can drive a car around it fast I like just about anything. I will definitely be making that easy one day trip within the next year.

The drive from Thunderhill to Buttonwillow was pretty easy. I got there by about 2:00 - so I went to the track and hung out at the BMW club day that I found in progress. The chief instructor for the day was an Australian guy named Carl who was very interesting. He has instructed all over the world and has over one thousand laps on the Nordschliefe

The gates at BW opened Saturday at 7 we were told, so I had an hour and a half to unload the car, swap dampers, brake pads and tires as well as attend the drivers meeting. I made it with just a few minutes to spare, and without forgetting anything like damper settings or air pressure. At the drivers meeting I was surprised to learn that we would be going clockwise around the course. Not a big deal really as I hadn't had time to study my NSX Files tapes anyway. But I was absolutely lost for my first couple of laps - and that was an interesting experience. I don't think I really started putting on decent speed during that first session. I don't remember if it was in the first session or the second that I ran with Robby Montinola, but that was the session that I started putting it together better. Robby was behind me just a short distance and wasn't making moves and I wasn't getting passing flags, but after a couple of laps I let him by so I could watch his lines. Within a couple of laps I had it down better and then started ******* him hard - it was alot of fun. The weekend just got better and better from there.

For those of you who weren't there, BW is an interesting track. I liken it to an overgrown kart track with a couple of the turns run over some artificial hills. At first glance it seems hokey - especially if you compare it to something like Laguna or Sears. But I found the track to have reasonable challenges, outstanding safety and alot of fun to offer. The course was like this: top of 4th straight into a nice 3rd gear left sweeper that I never once succeeded in taking fast enough, tap out third, brake thru a curbed left kink (touching the curb under braking pulls you up the inside curb here as elsewhere), quick down to 2nd for a tight cambered uphill right that falls away over the top (I was slamming this with an early apex since the camber provided alot of extra grip), run out the exit and shift to 4th tapping it out before a 3rd gear right left kink (I turned in and apexed late for the right to set up a late apex for the left to get a better line for the following right over the top of a minor elevation change (this was cool because you're full throttle over the top and down the other side out to the curbing just before a minor rise that unloads the front of the car), then its shift to 4th and still flat out into the bus stop chicane (funny huh - a flat out 4th gear chicane) - so then a right, straight, left, then you've got plenty of revs in 4th and its time to brake and downshift to 3rd for the tight left that ends the chicane. It's tricky because there's a steep curb on the outside of the braking zone waiting to suck you to the right when you want to turn left (it really wasn't too bad). I was hitting the curb on the inside alot and using all of the exit curb (and occcasionally a little more), but I was working on getting more speed without running over the inside curb (Andy and I had slightly different experiences and opinions on this one that may have had something to do with our cars weight differences), anyway then upshift to 4th and head for Talladega a nice intimidating medium revs 4th gear right sweeper (I came off the throttle a bit for entry here and eased back into full gradually by just before the exit apex), then flat out into the next left kink and up Magic Mountain (a third gear right laid over the top of a twenty foot high hill). Magic Mountain (in this direction) has a roller coaster in the braking zone that makes for interesting turn in, but you'd have to work very hard to doom yourself. Dancing the car up and over Magic Mountain was really fun - I'm still giggling about it. Up to 4th on the downside, left kink, then a short straight to a third gear right sweeper with a final decreasing radius bordered by very steep curbs - bounce of the inside and bounce into the outside (I did go up and over once - just needed to straighten the wheel and leave the throttle down), then full throttle out thru the Esses shifting to 4th halfway thru, then tap out 4th to the braking point for the final turn: a weird third gear cambered hole with a steep curb on the inside. It liked a late turn in with alot of speed, but the exit was kind of a bounce out - weird but interesting. It was the only really dangerous spot on the track if you screwed up - it kept inviting me in with more speed and never bit me - very interesting.

So that's the track. I liked it. The only disappointment was that Andy had me by 1-2 seconds so we couldn't play hard together. I felt that I was chipping away to the last session, but he had surprise handling problems and so I never learned if I could hold him to one straight over twenty minutes. I think Andy is a really good driver and a nice guy. Glen and I had a great time joking about how good Andy is and provoking Andy into yelling at us to shut up. But I was really impressed - he knows how to put the throttle down and drive the car around the course. As a driver it was a real pleasure to work at chasing him. As an ITR owner it was Catch-22: I couldn't humble this prey. Naturally I'm ok with that in this case. I took Glen and Paul out as passengers, and it was nice to get their input. Poor Paul put down a full soda before he hopped in the car - he had to get out before it came back up, but we had a pretty good run.

About the Mugen N1's: with Scott Zellners recomendations on rates, settings and camber, I put a car on the track that I had never driven, and over 8 sessions made minor changes to tire pressure only, and had the best ITR I've ever driven. The car was well balanced, extremely responsive, surprisingly forgiving - in short plain impressive. I have had so many people tell me that these rates are crazy - my personal experience now says that that is simply not true. I could feel the car working thru it's travel, rolling, taking hits that did not upset the instantaneous balance of the car. There are tricker setups, there are cheaper setups, there are different colored setups - but Andy and I agree: the Mugen is a pretty straightforward way to get directly to a working solution. I'm still going to screw around with my Bilsteins over the next year or two as I attempt to learn the setup craft, but I am very satisfied with the working baseline the Mugen N1's provide. At this very moment I can't drive them to the point where I can find anything to criticize. Last year I was driving the tires past the limits of the suspension. This year I'll be trying to drive the suspension to the limits of the tires.

Brakes were not tested much at BW with the braking zones well distributed around the course. The Legend rotor setup gave no problems. I ran my a-arm mounted duct/diverters also. I'll need a hot day at PIR to test them against past experience. The best test would be a hot day at Laguna, but I doubt I'll be doing one of those too soon.

I ran the upper a-arms in the high caster postion. I have nothing negative to say about them and I anticipate leaving them there.

The drive home was uneventful sorta. I drove Sunday night until I had to stop because I was hallucinating. Then I wished I was hallucinating - because I got out of the car and was surrounded by billions of mutated insects - turned out that that's normal at night in California cattle country. I muttered "what the hell kind of place is this" and got back in my car and drove another 30 miles - I was nearly delirious.

I love this car so much. The motor truly is the Terminator (as one of the British car mags called it). Ergonomically speaking I think that very few holistic physical/mechanical experiences can match driving this car. I'd go on but you probably get what I'm saying.

To those of you that say that it was just a track day and a little banquet so you didn't miss much - you couldn't be more wrong. This was an ITR club meet, not the second coming. Seriously: what else could the event have offered? A bikini contest? Free drugs? An orgy? I just don't get this kind of criticism - in fact I think it's invalid. Only 50 cars (or whatever it was)? Thats 50 winners.

To the people who put on the Expo: your hard work is appreciated. To Andy and Glen: thanks for turning out to be such great guys. To all you people I didn't meet: I hope you had as much fun as I did - and I'm glad you made it.

Scott, who must now get on with other parts of his life....like Corvette Club next Monday....

Spunkster

I agree it was a great weekend and I had a great time....I don't regret a thing, except being more prepared myslef....like extra parts and beter tires. But hey this was my first track event so I don't think i did to bad after coming from Tucson.


THANKS GUYS (Robert, Kelly, Ross, Austin, Chris......the list goes on and on)

D

wow, helluva review.

wish i could have made the trip

D

slowerthanu

A bikini contest and an Orgy would have kicked *** though

I was gonna setup a booth so people could bob for apples but for some reason no one was interested.

Chris

Scott,

It was nice to meet you, If you ever want to get out on Thunder Hill let me know...I have a friend that rents it al the time (unfortunately its on Thursdays). I think if you were to be there, then it would be worth it to go....

Glad to see you made it home safe.

itrhybrid

WOW
That's one hell of a review.
I can only hope that I'll be able to set up the suspension on my civic that wel once I move into that area of racing. The only drawback I see is the chassis itself. With a rollcage and proper suspension it should run pretty good though.

James

Big Phat R

Nice review Scott! Almost like being there......sniff sniff. Maybe next year for me.

Austin

Nice review, very thorough on the track description, I'm still having flashbacks on the last corner going into the front straight, I keep seeing my car turning sideways while looking out the windshield at the only concrete at the track(the car still has dirt inside it from that spin)...that's what happens when you early apex a corner that didn't want to be early apexed.

yoshi234

darn, I missed out on a ride w/ scott b/c darn 234 kept bugging me to go get her gas

yoshi - who was glad he was finally able to meet Scott