ITS at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), 1st event

[Krazydan19]

The weather outside is weather

 

[NoVA_Teggy]

The weather was perfect. I'll post pix later but I had an absolute blast today at VIR.

 

[StingertimeNC]

I think I saw you going back in to the track. I was pulling out and you flashed your headlights. Are you gonna be here tomorrow? I was just there for tech check and registration tonight.

 

[NoVA_Teggy]

I think I saw you going back in to the track. I was pulling out and you flashed your headlights. Are you gonna be here tomorrow? I was just there for tech check and registration tonight.

Yep that was me. Sorry I couldn't catch up with you before I left. I wanted to beat traffic so I took off around 0430 this morning and got back around 0830.

Hopefully the track is dry enough to get the most out of your ITS today. It was raining when I left this morning.

 

[StingertimeNC]

The day was perfect weatherwise, had some problems with my brakes in the third session and spent time at the shop trying to get it sorted. I don’t know how tomorrow’s going to go as a result. It’s pulling hard to one side, which is making it really hard to keep it online at the end of the Front and back straights. The shop thinks one of the rear brakes is locking up under hard braking, causing the rear end to scoot out. So annoying. Had a couple good morning sessions and then shit went sideways. Such is life, you got a pay to play. At least the car’s in one piece and so am I ha ha.

 

[optronix]

The day was perfect weatherwise, had some problems with my brakes in the third session and spent time at the shop trying to get it sorted. I don’t know how tomorrow’s going to go as a result. It’s pulling hard to one side, which is making it really hard to keep it online at the end of the Front and back straights. The shop thinks one of the rear brakes is locking up under hard braking, causing the rear end to scoot out. So annoying. Had a couple good morning sessions and then shit went sideways. Such is life, you got a pay to play. At least the car’s in one piece and so am I ha ha.

I'm sure you will post full details and keep us updated, but I'm very curious to hear what's going on.

edit- I just went back in this thread and checked what brake/suspension mods you've done thus far. Hopefully you get it sorted quick.

 

[NoVA_Teggy]

The day was perfect weatherwise, had some problems with my brakes in the third session and spent time at the shop trying to get it sorted. I don’t know how tomorrow’s going to go as a result. It’s pulling hard to one side, which is making it really hard to keep it online at the end of the Front and back straights. The shop thinks one of the rear brakes is locking up under hard braking, causing the rear end to scoot out. So annoying. Had a couple good morning sessions and then shit went sideways. Such is life, you got a pay to play. At least the car’s in one piece and so am I ha ha.

Awesome that the weather worked out. I was worried for a while with all that rain.

Sucks about the braking tho. Did you turn off all the safety features? Collision mitigation? Traction control fully off? I didn't have any lockup issues and on the straights, I was braking pretty late going into those turns.

 

[StingertimeNC]

The speed shop on site at the Track did a brake bleed and said there was definitely some air in the right front, but they bled all four corners just to be safe topped the fluid off and that didn’t really fix it. I had one of the techs drive the car, and on really hard braking it seems that one of the rear brake pads is locking up or on the verge of locking up, which is causing the tail of the car the move out to the side. It was really difficult to keep the car online. It’s like there were ruts in the road, and it was forcing the car to move Across the track. It sucked. Bottom line is we tried re-bed The pads and couldn’t get it to go away Completely. I’m gonna run the first session in the morning and then go back to the speed shop with my findings.

It’s possible that a combination of pads I have on the front and rear are not jiving well together. Like there’s so much bite on the front the car stands on its nose, and there’s so little weight on the rear that it’s very easy to lock up. ABS is not Kicking in though.

Hawk DTC 30 front, Hawk HPS 5.0 rear.

Last Time I ran DTC 60 Front and DTC 30 rear, and felt like it was more than I really needed, so I tried to step back a bit.

I need to spend some time on the FL5 forum and see what folks are running at the track.

 

[RamVA]

The speed shop on site at the Track did a brake bleed and said there was definitely some air in the right front, but they bled all four corners just to be safe topped the fluid off and that didn’t really fix it. I had one of the techs drive the car, and on really hard braking it seems that one of the rear brake pads is locking up or on the verge of locking up, which is causing the tail of the car the move out to the side. It was really difficult to keep the car online. It’s like there were ruts in the road, and it was forcing the car to move Across the track. It sucked. Bottom line is we tried re-bed The pads and couldn’t get it to go away Completely. I’m gonna run the first session in the morning and then go back to the speed shop with my findings.

It’s possible that a combination of pads I have on the front and rear are not jiving well together. Like there’s so much bite on the front the car stands on its nose, and there’s so little weight on the rear that it’s very easy to lock up. ABS is not Kicking in though.

Hawk DTC 30 front, Hawk HPS 5.0 rear.

Last Time I ran DTC 60 Front and DTC 30 rear, and felt like it was more than I really needed, so I tried to step back a bit.

I need to spend some time on the FL5 forum and see what folks are running at the track.

If you have the stock rear pads with you, put them on and see what happens. There's no reason they shouldn't work with the DTC30 in front, and if they don't then the pads aren't your problem.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Thanks. Of course that's the one thing I didn't bring with me. So, it was likely the bleeding that did the trick. After two laps in the first session yesterday, the braking returned to normal. It's like they all four just started working. I probably had to get some pad material evened out after the bleed.

@RamVA, do you think DTC30 and stock rear or, as I have it HPS 5.0 rear is adequate for the ITS?

 

[RamVA]

Thanks. Of course that's the one thing I didn't bring with me. So, it was likely the bleeding that did the trick. After two laps in the first session yesterday, the braking returned to normal. It's like they all four just started working. I probably had to get some pad material evened out after the bleed.

@RamVA, do you think DTC30 and stock rear or, as I have it HPS 5.0 rear is adequate for the ITS?

I don't really know, so call this a guess:

I wouldn't make a habit of using stock pads on the track, they just won't last. I think the combo you have is fine for now, but I think DTC60 front and DTC30 rear is probably better, if you're OK with switching pads before and after every track weekend. At which point, you might as well do DTC60 all around.

If you see a lot of wear on the HPS, I think you have your answer. I'm not sure how hard this car is on the rear brakes, but I don't think it's a suitable track pad. It can't handle the heat.

 

[StingertimeNC]

I think you’re right. For me it’s probably ok as my best lap was 2:27. Really wanted to break 2:20 but just couldn’t get comfortable pushing myself harder.

The rears have lots of life left. I switched stock pads back on front today. Couple little cracks in the DTC 30 pads, but plenty of thickness left. I probably used no more than 35% of the front.

I do agree, though, DTC 60, DTC 30 is probably the best bet.

Traffic was tough for me. I was slower than maybe two cars in the intermediate group. Lots of point buys given. If I was just driving a little bit faster, I think I would have a better window to put down a better time.

I also learned that I really do need to bleed the brakes before every event, even if I just put the fluid in three or four months ago. And I probably should change the fluid once a year. Do you agree with that?

 

[RamVA]

I think you’re right. For me it’s probably ok as my best lap was 2:27. Really wanted to break 2:20 but just couldn’t get comfortable pushing myself harder.

The rears have lots of life left. I switched stock pads back on front today. Couple little cracks in the DTC 30 pads, but plenty of thickness left. I probably used no more than 35% of the front.

I do agree, though, DTC 60, DTC 30 is probably the best bet.

Traffic was tough for me. I was slower than maybe two cars in the intermediate group. Lots of point buys given. If I was just driving a little bit faster, I think I would have a better window to put down a better time.

I also learned that I really do need to bleed the brakes before every event, even if I just put the fluid in three or four months ago. And I probably should change the fluid once a year. Do you agree with that?

If you're using DOT5 fluid, it really should be changed once a year, as it takes on water more readily than DOT3. With that said, I'm pretty lazy about it. If you're bleeding it frequently you should be able to change it less often.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Dot 4, Motul RBF 660 fluid. I'll definitely be more careful going forward. Thanks for all the tidbits.

 

[StingertimeNC]

OK gang, here's the vid from the best lap. Like every visit, I seem to peak in the second session, first day, then slowly get worse the rest of the event. It's like I get mentally strained and can't quite be at the top of my game. Also, sometimes traffic just works out such that you are either being held up by one or two, or pointing by a whole bunch of Vettes and Porsches. I just need to drive a hair faster and that won't be as rough. I know the car can handle it, just need to work on my mindset and stop being so tentative. Of course being consistent on line will help as well. You'll see a few times where I'm out of position on the track. Turning early is my typical move for some reason. (fear I think, lol)

Had some issues with my brakes as I did not bleed them before the event. Assumed I would just be fine with 5 month old fluid and that wasn't the case, had some air in the line at one corner, that threw off the braking balance and made the car a mess in heavy brake zones. Had some maybe sketchy gas in the car, or let the gas get too low, or maybe going WOT while asking for an additional 4LBs of boost, or a combo of all three caused the P0087 code to pop up, and put the car into limp mode. Was able to clear the code, car returned to normal, but I was essentially one session away from driving home, so I didn't push the car hard at all in the final session.

Happy to discuss results and receive constructive criticism. I also hope to see some more ITS's out there next time!!