open track day @ Buttonwillow Oct 14, 2010

[mdpalmer]

Anyone interested in going? Buddy of mine with a zr1 and his buddy with a c6 z06 are organizing it. Will only be 15-20 cars tops, the entire day. There are no run groups, you pretty much do whatever you want within reason. They are a really cool bunch and love to drive fast. I would love to have a swapped car or two come out to run alongside these guys would be a lot of fun to watch. I'll be there with a rotary FD, last track day for some time until I get my swap sorted out and have some money in the bank to do track stuff. Either post here or PM me if you're interested. It's $290, which I know is steep, but consider that you can drive as long or as short of sessions as you want and at any given time there will probably only be 5-10 cars TOPS on the track. Let me know as soon as you can because I think they may have already capped signups...  Even if you don't want to run your car, you're more than welcome to come and hangout, everyone is super cool and will give you rides as long as you have your helmet! They should even have the snack bar, gas pumps, and skid pad opened up. At the end of the day we'll probably do some drag racing just for fun... And, this is for the full track, I think they're going to run it clockwise but we can change that with a popular vote.



Couple of cool related videos:

one of the guys almost running into a wall @ BW


same guy more recently in a c6 z06 chasing his buddy's zr1


zr1/z06 drag race


z06 doughnut @ day's end

[RX7what]

Sounds fun, I might be interested. I will hit up a few guys.

[mdpalmer]

Sounds fun, I might be interested. I will hit up a few guys.

^^ Sweet. Anybody else? Only 3 weeks away 

[mdpalmer]

Less than two weeks away! 

[mdpalmer]

Only a week away... message from the track day organizer:

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Hi all,
 
its just a week away!
 
checked the weather for the 14th, looks like it will be a beautiful day high of 82 and sunny. bring sunscreen.
 
outline for the day. (focus is fun)
 
7:00am gates open ( i won't be there that early)
 
8:15am drivers meeting
 
first group on shortly after that
 
second group on 20 minutes after first
 
we will run a couple 20 minute sessions in the morning to split the group in two, by about ten the track will go 'hot' (open all day, no groups)
 
5:00pm track closes
 
6:00pm gates close
 
so thats the schedule for the day. in the drivers meeting I will go over everything with more detail.
 
Laura May will open the tower cafe for lunch, so there will be food available at the track. (for purchase)
 
as far as saftey equipment, there only requirement is that you wear a DOT or Snell approved helmet.
if you do not have one, you can rent one from the track for 10 bucks.
 
they have available at the track gas, compressed air and tire service. you check buttonwillows website for more info.
 
as always bring plenty of water or what ever your choice for hydration is. no alcohol for drivers until 5:01pm
 
See at the track!

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[mdpalmer]

One of our drivers had to bail and is offering his slot up F/S. He paid $290, he wants to sell it for $200. Let me know if you're interested ASAP, as the track day is TOMORROW.

[mdpalmer]

So it was great fun for all, although we did have one casualty and that would be a hopped up LS1 in the red C5 pictured below. See at bottom for info from owner/driver I finally got to ride in a zr1 on the track, and I thought it was an animal on the street... that sucker ripped on the track, can't even begin to describe the performance on the track.











Some videos:









Well, it wasn't all roses... like I mentioned, a hopped up 490 whp ls1 c5 vette (the red one in pic above) blew his motor up. This is directly from the driver/owner:

All,
Thanks to all those who helped me get my vette off the track and then finally onto the U-Haul trailer for the long drive home. I was very sad to grenade my engine, but it was the original 1998 short block with 78K miles so I probably can't complain too much. For those of you that are interested in what happened, here is what I've found so far as I tear down the engine:
 
I believe one or more rods let go. Cylinders 2, 3, and 4 were totally destroyed with rods pistons and wrist pins laying in the bottom of the engine. Since I had fly cut the pistons to ensure valve clearance, I don't think this was the result of piston to valve contact. All the valves are in place and appear okay. Heads have minor scratches and pits from the aluminum piston multching. I found a hole in the side of the block on both sides right under the motor mount brackets that bolt up to the sides of the block which prevented a lot of shrapnel from flying out of the block. The oil fire did no damage to the car because I got it out right away with my fire extinguisher (you all better get religion on this one!). Otherwise my car could have burned to the ground because the flames were right under the fuel lines and brake fluid reservoir on the driver side. I think what made the oil fire so extreme was that I had a 3 qt accusump and when the oil pressure dropped it electrically pumped 3 more quarts of oil into the engine feeding the fire.
 
It was very fortunate that it happened on the long straight and I had an opportunity to get off the track quickly. Had I made it to the first turn I would have discovered that my oil coated front brakes on the driver side would be useless and perhaps spun the car when the other side grabbed. And then who knows where I would land.
 
In the photos attached, you can see that the two middle cylinders on the passenger side are destroyed and one on the driver's side as well. On the tops of the pistons you can see where they were fly cut when I built this engine several years ago with Tony Mamo's (AFR) help to get me 492 rwhp and 454 rwtq. It regularly saw 7000 rpm.
 
It was a privilege to meet you all and hope to be back to play another day! Get your fire extinguishers mounted in your cars guys!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

SETUP:

Hi Mike,
Stock block, pistons, crank, but installed ARP rod bolts because of the problem you mentioned. Here's the build list and I can send you the dyno graphs as well.
Cheers,
John
 
Baseline
?   1998 C5 convertible 
?   LS1  346 ci aluminum block
?   MN6 transmission
?   342 gear ratio
Engine
?   ARP rod bolts 
?   Fly cut pistons 
?   blue printed oil pump
?   JWIS cam chain
?   Undersize pulley (pinned)
?   Mezzier water pump 
?   LS6 valley tray
?   LS6 PCV breather conversion
?   LS6 valve covers
?   Catch can
?   Cannon 3 qt. accusump
?   DeWitt aluminum radiator w/engine oil cooler
?   165 degree T-stat 
?   MD ignition coils
Valvetrain
?   G5X3 cam 112 LSA 
?   stock  hydraulic roller lifters
?   AFR 205  heads milled to 59cc (11.61 compression) ported by Tony Mamo @ AFR 
?   AFR 8019 dual valve springs
?   Crane Gold 1.7 roller rockers with hardened pushrods
Intake
?   FAST 90  intake ported by Tony Mamo @ AFR
?   LS2 90mm throttle body ported by Tony Mamo @ AFR
?   42 # matched-flow injectors
?   Vararam Cold Air Intake (CAI)
?   High-flow airbridge
Exhaust
?   LG Long Tube headers 
?   LG X-pipe 
?   High-flow Random Tech CATS
?   B&B exhaust with electric cutouts
Drivetrain
?   Exedy twin disk clutch
?   Exedy lightweight flywheel
?   Z06 thowout assy
?   Hurst shift linkeage
?   DTE built differential; 373 gears; hardened left axle
?   DTE strutbrace
?   Clutch-pedal stop
?   Z06 MN12 tranny
Suspension
?   Pfad adjustible coil-over shocks
?   Z06 front stabilizer bars with metal end-links
?   Z06 rear stabilizer bars with metal end-links
?   Lowered
Brakes
?   Front - Wilwood 6-piston calipers and rotors
?   Rear - Wilwood 4-piston calipers and rotors
?   Wilwood stainless steel brake lines
?   Cartek Line Lock (front)
?   Front brake ducts with hub backplates
?   Motul 600 degree brake fluid
Wheels/Tires
?   CCW 18? aluminum wheels front and rear
?   Nitto 555 tires