Note: This event took place on 30 July 2015, just getting caught back up with posts.
My last test day at Carolina Motorsports Park ended prematurely when my radiator popped off its mount and the belt cut into the coolant expansion tank. With the car back home I pulled the plugs to check the compression since it saw temperature spikes over 250F. Fortunately the numbers came back good, actually matching the numbers I had taken when I first installed the engine.
I put the car back together, this time with a new CSF OEM+ radiator and a cooler 80C thermostat while ditching the stock fan, and headed back to CMP to get some testing in. I knew the car needed some chassis tuning after its first race post-crash.
It was a low turn out at the track, so we were able to double up on track time. That’s 8 full 30 minute sessions. That’s a lot of driving in a single day, so I cut a few sessions short and skipped the last one. What I did discover was that I needed a little more rear end grip. The week prior I had done some ride height adjustments and corner balanced the car at a friend’s house. The first couple sessions were a mess, I either spun or got into some serious tail out action.
I brought the car in and decided to stiffen the front bar one notch. This had an immediate positive impact, the car was much more neutral, at least as much as I could get it on CMP’s slick surface. Either way it felt much better and gave me more confidence going into my upcoming NASA race at Road Atlanta.
As for the engine temps; the car ran much cooler. I was seeing a high temp of around 202F, albeit in completely clean air. Looks like removing the stock fan and shroud allowed for better flow through the radiator. I also had done a little work with foam rubber insulation to force air through the radiator rather than around it.
No Comments