Thanks guys. Problem with the tire warehouse and they didn't get on the truck until this morning. It's going to be close, will let you know.

The problem was that they couldn't find the tires. All they had are tires with a 2013 manufacture date. Apparently Dunlop hasn't been shipping new tires out to anyone I contacted for some time, at least in these sizes (thought I had found a place with new rubber, but unfortunately they were just mislabeled). Kind of a bummer because rcomp rubber doesn't usually age well, although these have been kept wrapped and in a climate-controlled environment. Hoping for the best, at least I got them to knock them down to about 35% off.


Thanks for the tip. Maybe start at 33-34? Morning temps 45, afternoon 60, dry and sunny is what I'm assuming (hoping!). I'll take some measurements with my pyrometer to dial it in.

 

Yeah, give that a go and see. I am just worried about sidewall flap. I can't remember what width wheels you have again. At those temps I am not sure if they will heat cycle, but you will have a better gauge then I when you're out there. Have fun and take some photos.
I also wanted to talk to you about your Valve Body and TCU Upgrade if you like it or not.
Anyways have fun out there.

 

Yeah that's what I heard about the Dunlops too. They're going on 8.5"F/10"R rims. 285 is as big a I'm comfortable going on a 10".

Wish I had some feedback for you on the VB/TCU so far, but haven't driven the car much since. To be honest, I'm not seeing a huge difference on the street. I'm sure the track will show me if it was worth it or not - stay tuned.

 

Well, they fit. Sort of. Hahaha. The 285 Dunlop Sport Maxx Race are pretty wide. You can't see in the pics, but the fenders were rolled pretty aggressively. Im still rubbing on hard highway dips, albeit with a heavy car loaded up with stuff. Should be fine on track. Am going to need a respray anyway, so Harry's going to do some real work on them when I'm back from VIR (and the 440 Cooling Package is going on too). Can't say enough good things about Harry and his crew at Bergen Imports - he's truly a master craftsman.

 

I did the fender rolling a while ago because the 26 x 10 slicks was rubbing. The guy charge me like $100 and use the same tool Diabolis posted. He use a blower to heat the paint first so it won't crack. It looks perfect.

 

Nice. My fender paint is cracked right along the edge. Fenders need to be pulled a bit more anyway so I'll just have it resprayed. These 285's are more like a 'normal' 295 in their width.

 

Enjoy the track day, and let us know how the tyres perform.

 

Quick update. Car feels great overall. Best lap so far of 2:13.xx which is 7sec faster than my best last year. Played around with an 800hp Z06 for a few laps, passing and switching places - was a lot of fun and happy I could hang with him. Also got some good video of Wobble64 spinning off track in his new track toy.

Tires are pretty good, sidewalls are stiff, tread is sticky but gets real squirmy when hot. It's 80+ degrees out now, and by the third session I was seeing oil temps in the high 270's, power is being reduced and the trans stops responding to paddle inputs and defaults to S+. Can't even change to another mode until temps drop below 265. A little disappointing but 440 cooling package will fix that. Temps should be in the low 70's tomorrow after the front moves through, so I might just call it a day.

Oh yeah, and no rubbing.

 

 

7 seconds a lap... now THAT is what I call a massive improvement! That's over the MPSS I gather - not another R-comp tire (I don't remember what you were running previously)?

The 44O cooling package makes a huge difference and finally allows the C63 to be a true weekend track warrior. If you're going to be installing the kit yourself, make sure you account for the difference in oil capacity (top it up first) and then flush the oil and replace the filter after you've run it for 30 minutes or so hot with the old oil in case there are contaminants (mechanical or chemical) in some of the new components, and then take it to a dealership and get them to reflash the ECU for the package. AFAIK it disables the aux oil cooler fan (which is removed in the 44O) and modifies the main rad fan setpoints. If should not interfere with a tune if you have one, or if it does you can always reflash the tune back after the 44O coding has been changed.

Glad to hear you had a great time and that the tires held up well. I am doing my first track day of the season tomorrow, but I'll take the P-car out as it now has about $18K worth of customs cams, head and exhaust work which I am itching to properly test, plus I haven't driven it in over a year while it was sitting in the shop. It is likely going to rain which puts a bit of a damper on the whole thing, but a track day is still a track day!

 

Thanks man, yeah she's moving pretty good now. Last year was my first with the car on track, so it's not all down to the tires but also more comfort with what the car can and can't do. For example my Watkins Glen time 2 weeks ago was 13sec faster than last year on the same PSS's, but that was also my first trackday in the car last year and they just repaved the track this year etc etc...... so what I'm saying is that there are more factors than just the tires (and the work to the brakes, trans and suspension etc). With that said, by the time I got to VIR last October I was pretty comfortable with the car. Either way, I'll take it.

Second day started out wet for the first session, but by the end of the second the racing line was basically dry. Ran a bunch more clean laps in the 2:13-2:15 range. Noon came around, it was getting hot again, so I decided to get on the road early and not push my luck. Had enough brake and tire to get home, everything was still working great, and I wasn't going to go any faster with the heat.


Thanks for the tips. I'm likely to have it installed rather than take it on myself. Just don't have the time or the facilities to really do it right. Good looking out on the ECU programming reminder, thanks.


Nice! How did your day go? Seeing Wobble64 show up with a trailered dedicated track toy definitely got me thinking that is probably the way to go long-term. But these cars are so much fun on track even if they are a little heavy. I'm almost there in terms of where I think it needs to be. I have actually resigned myself to the fact that it's basically become 100% "track rat", I haven't even washed it for weeks since before The Glen.

 

Here's a teaser until I can get the videos sorted. In case you can't tell, he's not pointed the right way.

 

I dunno, looks like a shortcut to me...

 

Look at the beautiful curvature of the skid marks. True pieces of art!

 

Which set of skid marks are you talking about

 

I see several straight-through-the-corner-awsh*t skid marks, but only one set of artfully scribed curves from the oversteery guy who managed to slide off into the inside of the turn! Wobble, are you finding a bit of a different power/wt ratio with that thing? And is the shorter wheelbase quicker to spin if you lift throttle mid-corner?

 

I thought he might have been talking about the ones in his pants

If you don't know VIR, that right hand turn is just after the back straight, where you're hitting 145mph over a blind crest, then hard braking all the way through a 45deg fast left, then into the right hand turn you see here. He would have still been on the brakes halfway into the apex of that turn....

 

^That was too good!

 

OK, let me add some perspective.....


The car is a Nissan 350Z with 6.2 l Corvette engine. It has 430 whp (nominal 480-500 crank) and weighs 3100 lbs. Power to weight ratio is similar to my C63, maybe a tad better.
This was my first day on track with the car. It is the first manual transmission car I own in 15 years. It was also the first time on Hoosier slicks, ever. I also had only been on VIR once before and only for one session. So I had my hands full, way more than full, actually, it kicked my *** on day one.


So, literally on lap one, I was the first car entering the track and got surprised about how tight turn 4 was (a 120 degree turn). So there I learned, that cold Hoosiers have no grip. They are great when hot, but worse than normal street tires when cold. So, the car oversteered, and I was able to correct. Pulse 180, LOL....


The picture from Blkrkt came from a moment later in the same session (Blkrkt, the sadist, was following me filming while I was learning, laughing all around the track, I am sure). Halfway through session 1, a Corvette lost it after the back straight and parked his car against a tire wall. As a result, we were all called to the pits (black flag). After we were sent out again, I totally blew the line after the back straight and spun the car as the picture shows. Idiot operator error, plain and simple. I kept one or 2 wheels on the track, no big deal.


I had another spin later in the day out of Oak Tree (slowest turn on the track), also no big deal. Slowly was getting my act together and started making better times without excursions into the adjacent fields. Even kept it clean on a session with wet track on slicks, after a front had passed through.


So, I am getting there, I am just a bit slow. Day 2 I had a great time running with a bunch of well prepped and driven Corvettes. I ended up running times 3-4 seconds slower than Blkrkt. The car is not realy difficult to run and the wheelbase is very similar to the C63. The Nissan has 4 double wishbone suspensions and is a good platform for tracking. Parts are available from multiple sources and way more affordable than Mercedes - that applies to both the car and the GM drive train. The manual transmission is less efficient than the C63s MCT. It does not have the right gear ratios and gear changes are slower. I'll change the gear ratios at some point (as mentioned, you can get any set of parts you want - it will cost around 1000$ to do that).


In summary - I knew I was going to start over on many fronts and am actually very happy with how it went. After making a few adjustments and learning, I think I can be just as fast as in a C63 in this car. Running cost (brakes, tires) and repair costs/cost of mods will be way lower. I am where I thought I'd be at this point.


All that said, tracking is about having fun, getting the adrenaline going, and also camaraderie - we all had a great time and made new friends. We also learned a lot and are already planning our next track day..

 

Trying to learn a brand new course AND a brand new car at the same time is a handful. Sounds like you made great progress!

 

One step at a time - it takes commitment and focus. Anybody want to come to Mid-Ohio in June?

 

Blkrkt and I at VIR

 

Great shot. Put that on aluminum. I have a couple of 24x30 prints on aluminum and they are detailed, vibrant track pics that pop and will last forever. Check with your local professional photo lab.

 

That's a great idea. I'll try that with a picture or two - my man cave can do with a bit of sprucing up!

 

Great pic and nice to see you and BLKROKT enjoying the track.