Nissan GTR

No – I haven’t any seat time for my self, but I did get to talk with an HPDE instructor that spent a weekend with a student that brought one to CMP.  His reaction was that it was an amazing car.  It was very powerful, but not in the neck wrenching style of a ZR1 Corvette. 

Yes, it had to be released from the factory speed limitor prior to going on track and that allowed it to reach phenominal speeds at CMP.  The owner was in the novice class an blew by everything else on the track.  Unfortunately this is not a car that you should use to learn proper driving technique.  It just has so much computerised assistance that you can make constant mistakes and still bow past every other car on the track.

The instructor described it as a car that you could drive as if the brake and accelerator were simply switches.  Just slam on the brakes and turn and the computer sorts it out.  Jam on the accelerator and the computer sorts it out.  It doesn’t let you over power through a corner no matter how hard you press down.  Unfortunately this allowed the student to drive off line and not develop a smooth driving style.

With so much automation the experienced instructors clucked dissaprovingly at the car, but they had to admit that in the hands of an experienced professional this car would lap far faster than an ordinary super car.

Here is an episode of Top Gear with the GTR:

GPS and All

A few years ago GPS devices to aid in navigation became available in cars through add-on devices such as Garmin put out that were rather large and clumsy by today’s standards, but seemed to be a miracle at the time.  Rental cars were often people’s first introduction to GPS navigation as Hertz and other rental companies equipped selected cars with aftermarket versions.

Today most cars priced above $30K come with them built in to the car’s dashboard.  Glowing screens that warn you not to use them as you drive or to do so at your own risk. 

One of today’s most sought after supercars, the Nissan GTR comes with GPS to control your speed.  That’s right your speed.  At a recent event at CMP one owner brought his GTR to the track to run in the two day event, but prior to showing up he had to go to the dealer and have the speed limiter disabled so that he could run wide open at the track.  GPS confirmed his location was truly at the track so that the speed limiter was removed.  The computer on this supercar also records everything the driver does which is one reason that an attorney decided against completing his purchase.

GPS was not the first method of navigation assistance as told in this entry of Strange Maps.

Weekend Dissapointment

This weekend was a bit of a disappointment for me.  I had been anticipating for months the event at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC.  Friday was the day I had set aside to do the final preparations on my car and then drive down in the afternoon.

Part of my preparations is to change out my street brake setup for a track set of rotors and pads.  I use a Raybestos set of pads that was recommended to me by the folks at Porterfield Brakes in California.  They have consistently been a source of good advice on brakes for track use. 

I pulled my wheels and then drove the pins out so I could remove the pads.  Then I unbolted the Brembo calipers so I could swap out the rotors.  With the Brembos bolted back in I slipped in the Raybestos pads and pinned them in with the normal hardware.

The next step was to make sure that my wheels were back on with the proper torque and the tires were inflated to the proper pressure with nitrogen.

Then it was on to the alignment rack.  Over time all cars alignment changes and I wanted to be certain that the Evolution was set for the track.  After mounting the targets on the wheels and taking the initial reading It was clear that I needed to tweak things.  When doing an alignment you start with the back of the vehicle first so I brought the lift up and set the camber in the rear.  Next was the toe.  Then as I snugged down on the lock nut for the driver’s side toe adjustment it just spun.  I carefully backed off the nut and then removed the bolt.  The threads were ruined. 

This bolt wasn’t just a normal bolt that I could easily replace either.  It had a cam welded to the head and a flat spot over the threads so that another cam would be kept in place on the other side of the suspension.  I called my friends at Mitsubishi and talked with the parts department.  The earliest I could expect it would be on Tuesday.  I went ahead and ordered it, but I knew that was the end of any track time this weekend.  I tried to look on the bright side and be thankful that I had discovered it on the rack and not the track.  If I had been cooking it around the track and the threads had allowed the nut to come off it might have meant that the rear would have had a sudden toe-out situation on the driver’s side.  That would have been disastrous.

I was still frustrated as I called to cancel my hotel reservations and the track steward to let him know that I could not attend.

So what to do?  Instead of moping around the house I focused on my other vehicle, a 1992 Toyota Pickup.  It has about 200,000 miles on it, but is very reliable and my daily driver.  I put it up on the lift in my garage and changed out the oil and filter, and greased the fittings on the front end.  Then I changed out the spark plugs and cap and rotor.  The battery terminals were showing signs of corrosion so I disconnected them and got them all cleaned up.  I checked the battery fluid level and then re-connected the terminals.  While the truck was up in the air it was also a good time to rotate the tires.

There will be another opportunity to go to CMP, but I wish it could have been this weekend.

Time Attack at VIR

It was nice weather this weekend so I took a drive up to VIR (Virginia International Raceway) to watch the GT LIVE series event on Saturday.  The event started on Friday and goes through Sunday, but Saturday seemed like a nice day to go up and see how the events were going.

I have been up to VIR several times for track days, but it is a little different to just be a spectator.  Instead of being all focused on what I had to do to prepare for my own time on the track I could wander about the pits and take photos.  Occasionally I would get a chance to talk to some of the support team members and learn what they were going through.

 

As is often the case, a setup that puts your car on the pole on Friday doesn’t seem to work on Saturday so many of the teams were re-checking alignments, tire choices, pressures, etc. trying to get back to where they were the day before.

 

Drivers were practicing how to quickly swap from one to another because over a six hour period they would have to do that at least a couple of times.

There was also a time attack event for several levels of modification from street to unlimited.  This was being held on the smaller Patriot course so that the 6 hour event could use the full course. 

The Patriot course was also being used for racings version of pro wrestling – drifting competition.  There was lots of tire smoke and squealing at that event.  The contestants were pro/am so you didn’t see the finesse that I’ve seen when the pros do it, but the crowd really enjoyed the show.

 

Here are some photos from Saturday.