VR6 no fluke...

[Bildon]

Don't have time for a long report but here's the skinny...

Sat:
ITS Corrado in Q2 sets track record (1:06.9) on one lap that came out of nowhere... never did do a lap anywhere near that quick again the whole weekend.

Sat Race: Sun/Rain/Sun/Rain
Finished 3rd. DJ10 here (Dan Jones) should have walked away with it but he had some mechanical problems.

Sun:
Qualified on Pole in a pretty sparse field as we lost too many cars through mechanicals during Quali.
Race: Went flag to flag in an unfortunately uneventful ITS race. I was dicing with a few ITE BMWs (no SIR) and ITA CRX but let them go sinece my crew told me the ITS field was not cacthing us.

ITS VW finally wins after years of development and failure...

[Greg Amy]

Where were you racing?

Congrats!

[lateapex911]

Nice job!!! More details...do you run data??

[Bill Miller]

Where were you racing?

Congrats!
[/b]

Based on the lap time (1:06.xx), I'd guess Beaver Run.

Nice job Bill, way to go!

[JeffYoung]

Awesome. Glad to see the hard work paid off.

[Bildon]

>> ...do you run data??

Yes but it wasn't on Sat. Forgot my CF card!

[RSTPerformance]

Track record was in Qualifyng, what about the race???

Great job!!! :figo:

Raymond

[dj10]

Track record was in Qualifyng, what about the race???

Great job!!! :figo:

Raymond [/b]

Bill didn't mentioned he almost took me out when one of his tires failed in a qualifying sesion going into turn #10 on Sat. he did a great job saving it & NOT hitting me! To which I'm thankful.

It's nice to run with a good driver, sportsman and competitor. Good job on your win Sunday, Bill. I hope to be back on the track soon.

dj

[lateapex911]

DJ, I've always gotten the impression Bill is a good sportsman. What happened to you and your car?

[matt batson]

I know this is slightly off topic here....

But, I am very interested in your statement about the really fast lap on saturday...you mentioned it was way faster then all the other laps..
How much faster? 2 seconds? More?

After that session, where you able to reflect back on the session and remember doing anything different on one of the laps? If it is a significant amount of time difference, I would imagine you did more then one thing differently that lap? That, or you really improved through a very fast portion of the track....Maybe kept the throttle pinned through a really fast sweeper?

Just really curious...as I'm sure a lot of people on here would be.

Always in search of more speed secrets.

[Colin@KW_Suspensions]

Great job Bill!!!! You have convinced me to go with a VR6!!!!

[Bildon]

Matt,
Yes normally it would be easy for me to tell you what I was doing. I've been racing VWs for over 15 years and can usually describe well what happens out there. However given that we had no DAS in the car and given that I have yet to see my lap times for that session, I cant tell you whether the fast lap came from the "charging" laps or from the warmup "smooth" laps.

Speed "secrets"

There are no secrets. Car prep aside (critical) I'll say the same thing any good book on driving will. Be SMOOTH!

Historically I do my best times on laps 3-4 right after I've warmed the tires/brakes and right after I've found a clear spot on the track.... and MOST IMPORTANTLY...right BEFORE I try to go FAST.

Yes pushing too hard in a FWD car is usually fun but far less fruitful. Having said that my definition of "not pushing hard" my be someone elses OMG! ...afterall we are usually pretty far up the grid.

I'm not trying to brag, I'm trying to say that smoothness and calm driving, while still using 100% of the track, the curbs, the proper drift angles, slip angles, braking early, power early... are calm and smoothly executed early on. No dramas.

(edit: ok here is one speed secret. Proper tire slip angle is about 3-5* more steering input than what feels like maximum grip in the wheel feedback that you get. This slight additional input generates max lateral adhesion with MOST modern race tires) If this has changed over the last 5 years of tire development somebody please correct me!

After those first few laps I then usually try pushing it... deeper into corners, more cornering speed, sometimes more slip angle, popping curbs too much (wheels in air not pulling), etc etc.

When you watch the best FWD drivers on TV (Pobst, Cunningham, Curren, etc) they are not all arms and elbows... After all these years I really feel that if most of us out there that run quickly would "slow down" we'd be faster. I know I am. As an aside.. I beat Randy pobst (barely) YEARS ago at Roebling Road...these guys are not gods... I see many IT drivers that are as good as the Pros. I see far too much "wild driving" in IT. Calm and Smooth is fast...as long as you get the power down early... that's #1 priority.

[matt batson]

thanks
good read

still trying to master the whole locked diff on a fWD dealeo.

I tend to be pretty smooth, and have reached the point where I need to work on the little things and refine what I've got. With my car I have found that, unlike what I am used to in FWD...I can alter the understeer with the throttle. Still trying to figure out which lines work best for my set up. And still trying to figure out the set-up
I built the car myself...and really had no idea what I was doing.

I know my next step is Data acquisition. I am looking at the DL1

[zracre]

I usually get my fast one on lap 2 or 3...tires and traffic can't sustain a fast lap after that. there is a fine line of fast vs. over driving that your fast lap on fresh tires would be over driving on hotter tires longer into the session. I also like to save the car for the race. the only time I usually do a complete qualifying session is if it is a new track I'm trying to learn.

[Bildon]

>> still trying to master the whole locked diff on a fWD dealeo.

I by locked you mean "welded or spool" then you really can't be as smooth as you should. To drive a locked diff you have to be aggressive and slide more and toss more. Until the clucth diffs became available again your only options were open, torsen or locked. Open = slow, Torsen = better, Locked = fast but very hard on axles and hard to drive well.

Now there has been strong debate here before about locked diffs in FWD. And yes I know Albin has won many races with a locker but I bet if even he tried the clutch type LSD we have he'd love it. After all, under heavy power application it does lock in all but the most extreme cases where it will allow "limited slip" which is what you want when you are turned very tight etc.

The LSD diff wil put more power to the road due to its ability to still be "open" under light or lower load throttle applications. Go look at what Hewland and XTrac put in their FWD touring car gearboxes.

[matt batson]

>> still trying to master the whole locked diff on a fWD dealeo.

I by locked you mean "welded or spool" then you really can't be as smooth as you should. To drive a locked diff you have to be aggressive and slide more and toss more. Until the clucth diffs became available again your only options were open, torsen or locked. Open = slow, Torsen = better, Locked = fast but very hard on axles and hard to drive well.

Now there has been strong debate here before about locked diffs in FWD. And yes I know Albin has won many races with a locker but I bet if even he tried the clutch type LSD we have he'd love it. After all, under heavy power application it does lock in all but the most extreme cases where it will allow "limited slip" which is what you want when you are turned very tight etc.

The LSD diff wil put more power to the road due to its ability to still be "open" under light or lower load throttle applications. Go look at what Hewland and XTrac put in their FWD touring car gearboxes.
[/b]

Ah, I feel so much better now!
When I switched to the welded diff. I immediately found that the car was "fast" but was also very difficult to drive "right on the edge" while still being "smooth".
I have always been a smooth type driver, even in autocross...never much excessive sliding...and always nice to the tires.

But with the welded, your exactly right...I cannot "feather" the steering and gas like I am used to. And I seem to be abusing the front tires unnecessarily all the time. It is more of a "pitch it in and floor it" kind of driving style...

The only reputable lsd I have found for this car (Suz. swift GTI) is the "grabber" made in england, which I think is a clutch type. I have also spoke with ekerich (sp?), who builds the diffs for OPM? He said he could do it...
But, I have heard so many bad things about the clutch type lsd's (I originally had a phantom slip in the car, and would get wheelspin in fourth gear corners!!!! With 83 wheel hp!!!1)

Quaife doesnt make one for my car.

[Bildon]

>> The only reputable lsd I have found for this car (Suz. swift GTI) is the "grabber" made in england,

It's "Gripper" and good luck getting one. Tom makes them in his backyard shop and we tried for ayer to work with him but he can not deliver. Yes htey are a copy of the Gemini clutch type.

>> I have heard so many bad things about the clutch type lsd's (I originally had a phantom slip in the car, and would get wheelspin in fourth gear corners!!!! With 83 wheel hp!!!1)

Whoa! A clutch or plate or Salisbury diff (call it what you want) has absolutely nothing to do with a Phantom. The Phantom is a POS.

Clutch type diffs are used in all forms of Motorsport and are almost the only diff you find in a Touring car.
The best diff manufacturers, Hewland, XTrac, Drexler, Gemini/Ricardo, Kaaz, ZF, etc etc all sell this type.

Here is some info we have on the various types:
http://www.bildon.com/catalog/about/diffs.cfm

What other cars share your differential?
We can get you a Drexler for the Suzuki as they made them for the factory rally cars.
Email me at sales @ bildon com for info.

[OTLimit]

And yes I know Albin has won many races with a locker but I bet if even he tried the clutch type LSD we have he'd love it. After all, under heavy power application it does lock in all but the most extreme cases where it will allow "limited slip" which is what you want when you are turned very tight etc.
[/b]

The difference is that welded only costs me some welding materials and Chris' time to do it. Your toy would cost me real $$. With running a full schedule with two cars, there has to be more incentive then your bet.

Sorry.

[Bildon]

>>> There are no secrets. Car prep aside (critical)

OK well that previous comment was prophetic
For those intererested in the progress of our VR6 ITS Corrado here is a little update.
Car = good, Crew = bad.

We replaced all the axle shafts, diff seals and tie rods on the car after the WGI crash. BeaveRun resulted in a win. So of course we became complacent and left everything untouched for this past weekend's Glen race. I KNEW we should tear the gearbox down and go through it. I KNEW we should replace the steering rack. But due to the time constraints of running 2 businesses it was left alone assuming that the BR race was a good omen for the future. Wrong!

2 laps from the end of the race the transmission packed it up and we lost all drive. Have not torn the box down but the 78mph impact with the Armco from 2 months ago broke BOTH axles... so how do you think the force from the wall got transferred to the other axle? Yup...through the gearbox.

The silver lining is that this will force us to go through the whole car now that we have to. It will be properly repaired and prepped for the final NYSRRC race of the year which will also be the test event for the ARRC which we are planning to attend for the first time in years.

[Tristan Smith]

Geez, Bill, I may have to pop over and say hello if you are actually coming to the ARRC!