Hey all,
there was some interesting dicussion about our cars vs others in straightline speed in the C43 vs G8 thread and i thought it was good for me to mention some of the stuff i experienced below...

i had some great 60-120mph pulls against other cars at Road America this past saturday good way to safely see how our cars pulls against other cars in that high mph range. if your not familiar with road America it has 3 different straights or near straights that are almost 3/4 mile long where coming into the straight your doing 55mph and by the end i was hitting 125:

*E38 M3 - couple of them didnt pull on the C43 in the straights, either kept same distance or i pulled from them. one had slicks and was killing me in the corners though, haha, damn...

*scion FR-S - disappeared from my rear view in the straights

*2014(?) audi s5 - about the same in the straights, he didnt pull on me but i dont think i gained on him either. this car was pretty equal with me around the track. a couple times i gave him the point to pass and i found that i kept pace with him when he was leading. bad news though was that he was on the stock tires and i was on 200 treadwear extreme performance tires so on the same tires he would have been faster around the track. that car is kinda similar to the G8 scenario... 333hp but also 3900lbs.

*pontiac solstice- could not keep up with the C43 in the straights, i held my own in the corners against him but had to let him pass he was more nimble in the bends... but near the end of the day his engine blew up... and i drove the C43 home 350 miles... i consider that a win

*2014 VW Gulf R(?) - cound not keep up with the C43 in the straights

*2002 jetta vr6(?) - this thing was fast, he was same speed as me in the straights, i came up behind him a couple times in a straight figuring i would pull on him but we just held the same distance. he was a really good driver killed me in the corners with that thing, he had a nice suspension setup.

here is a link to some photos from the event, make sure you click on the "purple group" filter to see the cars in my run group. if i didnt mention the car its because it was faster in the straights (some obviously were... Ferrari F360, auri R8, etc), or some i never had a chance to be just ahead or behind to compare the straightline speed.
http://redlinephoto.com/gallery/laps...merica-5-9-15/

im only talking about the straightline pulls where skill is pretty much out the window, you just mash the gas. corners are all about skill. most of the superfast cars i was gaining or passing in the corners as they were the fastest cars but beginner drivers.

 

i've never heard of an e38 m3?? e36 you mean?

 

With that much body roll she must be a blast to drive

Btw why is your hood open in some of those shots?

 

I wouldn't worry about the body roll, look at more "sporty" cars in the same corners, they are rolling pretty hard too. They need some roll to help the load transfer on the tyres (grip rather than slide), I stiffened my springs and found it was slower so had to change it back!

I like the way a C43 surprises most people at higher speeds in the way it keeps pulling. I have done a track day with a mate and his R34 GTR. I used to wave at him as I pulled past on the straights

How did you find the brake temps through the day? Did they hold out ok?

 

I was being sarcastic . Body roll can make driving more fun

 

Awesome!! Great to hear the 43 can still hold its own, especially on a track. I agree it needs a bit more grunt, but it's still respectable. Cool pictures brother! I love seeing it on the track. Was your hood open..yikes. Thanks for sharing the comparisons between various cars.

That's interesting to hear the stiffer suspension setup resulted in slower times. I've been considering going lower, but don't know if it's even worth it. I just switched, on my Euros, from Bilstein Sports to Konis & one click from softest is definitely stiffer than the Bilsteins were..I may switch back.

 

how often do you race your car?
not that often right?
it's a hassle to switch back n forth with shox, why don't you leave your car the way she is now, she rides great with koni's.
i don't care if my car got a bit slower from suspension upgrade, my car looks much more nicer the way she is now.

 

A week before this event I put some race pads on the front, porterfield rs-4. They held up well.
Stock pads,... No way. Also last year I had hawk HPS pads but they would get spongy after a few hard stops, too hot. The porterfields I think have a temp range 400* higher than those. Road america is hard on brakes, I didn't go crazy on the 125mpj stops but I did push it a few times to see how the pads held up.

 

I have Porterfield R4-s on my C43.
They are great, I had them installed approx 9-10 years ago on my car, they still have plenty of meat on them after approx 40000km's of driving.
dust is lightweight not dirty like factory Jurids.

I loved the Jurids they had awesome bite but they were very filthy!

 

yes one of the sessions my hood popped up just the latch part, i noteid it and pulled into grid and put it back down... never happened the rest of the day. im sure there was some body twisting going on that amy have caused it to unlatch?? who knows. they posted the rest of the pics so there is some good ones, especially from the sessions where i had all 4 matching wheels on

 

Looks awesome. Ive been debating weather to get black wheels or not for some time.

Lately ive been wanting more sporty rims for my car. Maybe wider in the back