The Good news:
Been waiting to get a chance to edit a LOT of footage from my last day at Infineon Raceway a few weeks back. AWESOME DAY. My CAR was putting up some serious lap time (IMO) all things considered. With lots of Blaine Fab love on the car, it was kicking ass and taking Porsches names. It seemed to understeer and its response to feedback was sort of inconsistent I felt.....but somehow I was ripping off 1:56s, in my FULL WEIGHT+ street driven car.....with a passenger, and a bit of traffic on most laps. I think the understeer might have been due to the fact that I was pushing the car a lot harder than I was on my previous outing here....and its a pig.


The Ugly:

Hurt the motor coming around the carousel near the end of the day. My best friend/mechanic was driving and the car lost oil pressure (25psi at idle) after coming around it. I noticed throughout the day that if I had the entry just right, and the car was biting real hard.....the pressure would dip for a split second at the end of the run-out.... and then shoot right back up. Guess the ol' LS1 got tired of that shit by the end of the day. It likely spun a/some rod bearings. It was knocking GOOD by the time we limped it back into the pits.


Anywho, here is a couple of teaser clips before we compile the full days edit:

Carousel-->double pass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bcqonLzyEg...;feature=relmfu


Camaro > GTR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d5CZW2mjUs&feature=plcp

What does your current setup look like? You were rolling out there!

Cliff Notes
360rwhp
3.73 gear
Nitto NT01 275/17s all around

Koni 4/4s
Strano springs
Strano sways
Unbalanced Engineering TQ arm
UMI roto-joint rear LCAs with brackets
UMI roto-joint panhard
Global West upper control arms
6pt cage
Kevlar seats/5-points

Stoptech 13" kit up front, Carbotech XP12 pads, Hawk HPS in rear
Blainefab brake ducts

That's a real solid setup you got there! How do you like the Stoptech (what helped you decide on those versus say barrel or wilwood etc). What wheel are you running? What is your race weight? With 360rwhp you were rolling on that GTR for sure.

Never heard of Barrel. Stoptechs were much cheaper than the other options, and my buddy has them on his road race '04 Cobra and I was very impressed. I use the stock 2001 SS 10-spoke wheels for the r-compound duty.

Haven;t scaled it but I'm sure my car is much heavier than a stock one. Only removed the spare tire and jack.....and switched to lighter seats. My aftermarket suspensions likely adds a few pounds, as does the 6-pt DOM cage. If i had to GUESS, I bet the car would have weighed about 4k lbs with myself and the passenger in it.

To defend the mighty GTR, the kid driving it didn't seem to know the line very well, and I was definitly on the gas much sooner than him coming out of turn 11. I have footage from a rear camera as well that I need to look at to see if I run away from him I bet my car would run a low 12 at the drag stip on a perfect day, on a good tire, with a good launch (if the 10bolt survived).

Oh! And I am VERY happy with the stoptechs. My main issue with braking is what I perceive to be the inconsistency of the factory hydraulics. They do seem inconsistent with exactly how hard they bite. They are always there, and work well.....but sometimes they find some extra muscle in the heavy braking zones and I think to myself "Whoa.....where the fuck did that stopping power come from???"

Might be a mismatch in the pads, race front and street rear. I tried the HPS on my Vette and didn't care for them. If the Carbotech are working for you in front you might ask them what a good match for the rear would be.

Did the telltale stay on the TA?

Yes, got the tq arm adjusted perfect according to the zip tie....it didn't hop unless I downshifted aggressively during braking. The brakes were inconsistent before I swapped to the HPS in the rear. Carbotech recommended the XP12 in front (still have them in....but they probably saw their last day), and the XP8 in the rear....but it hopped pretty bad with those. They did mention some guys run the 6 in the rear. I just didn't want to risk spending big coin on another set of "race" pads only to have it still hop....so I decided to go with the HPS. I really think its the ABS system or something.

You can use more pad in the rear with the EUTA, but Ya, it can get expensive buying pads that don't work. If you are replacing fronts anyway, you might try the Raybestos ST41F/ST43R from Porterfield. Good combo. Probably need to rebed the pads when changing brands, or use a disc brake surface conditioning pad to get all of the old transfer deposits off. Other stuff - check that the rear caliper pins are sliding free, bleed, bleed the ABS, bleed again, check that the rear shock fasteners are tight - 80#ft on the big bottom nut, and plenty of squish on the top rubbers.

Thanks Alan. Process for Bleeding ABS?

The LS1 cars do not have bleed fittings, so something that has worked for me is to bleed all 4, drive the car for a bit and get into the ABS - water or gravel will help, then rebleed all 4. I always bleed front the furthest to the closest, ie RR, LR, RF, LF.

LOL sorry spell check on my phone corrected Baer to Barrel. Just curious with all the brake choices and the extreme variety of pricing its kinda crazy for brake chioces. Baer, Wilwood, Brembo, Stoptech, Alcon, CTS-V, C6, C6Z06 etc. Then wheel choice can sometimes dictate brake choice...Just trying to get to some fair consensus on a reasonable road race front brake setup that won't break the bank!

I run Carbotech XP12/XP8 setup with C6 brakes on front and Blaine Fab ducts.....I like this setup.

Your car is ROLLIN'!

NT-01's are the next tire for me, will kill one more set of NT-05 first.

Ditto on the XP12's in the front and XP8's in the rear. I have the C6 set-up on all fours with brake ducts in the front... no wheel hop on the rear and the car stops very good...

Nice run...

I just switched from the Raybestos race pads and the Carbo's are way better!

Speaking of Tire chioce...I noticed you were on 275's...How significant a difference in performance would one expect 275 vs 295 vs 315 **IF** you are limited to 200 treadwear MINIMUM? On an NT05 between the 295/35 18 and the 315/35 17 their is around 3/4" width difference. For the purposes of fenderwell clearance, and bumpstop clearance the smaller tire would be desireable...ONLY if the performance difference wasn't a killer...Can anyone who has made a tire size switch using the same tire comment on any laptime improvements?

Paper clip shaped "squish", or just slightly oval shaped?? (ALWAYS wondered about this, never knew exactly.)

I think I saw you discussing this in another thread. I'm running the 275 because they fit on the stock wheels. 315s will DEFINITELY SHAVE LAP TIME at any treadwear rating. They will go on my car at some point. I don't want to use the the ZR1 boat anchor wheels though. I'm going to run them on some Weld RTs or Bogarts, 17x11s.

Try both and see if there is a difference.

The thing is that if you do the math your car does not need a 315 tire. I sat down with Larry Pond (raced with Bob Bondurant and Carol Shelby) and we did the math, based on the weight of the cars, contact patch, and the speeds we run in Arizona a 255 tire would keep the proper heat in the tire. At 275 I can keep about 185 degrees which is on the low side of the tire rating, 315 would be even cooler. ASA Truck series runs a 10.5 inch tire on a full tube frame chasis so that is something to think about.

So the long and short of it is that the size of your tire should be based on the proper heat range to excite the tire compound, not necessarily bigger is better...

While I agree that bigger is not always better, and you need to make the tires work perfectly for maximum performance, what car would need 315's if a full weight f-body doesn't? With 2 passengers that's close to 4,000 lbs. Plenty of cars come from the factory with less weight and larger tires than an f-body, like a Z06 or a 911 GT3, and I refuse to believe the engineers put those on for shits and giggles.

The ASA trucks run a spec tire, don't they? I bet they would run a larger tire if they had the option, especially on the right front.

Good points guys. The issue IMHO is if you are gonna have all this issue working out clearances...put it on, hammer this roll that, drive (RUBS), hammer more, cut this, drive (RUBS), repeat etc. Is the damage to the car and the hassle in all that really going to produce supeior lap times? versus installing say the 295/35 and while you "might" have to clearance some in the rear, should fit pretty much guaranteed. While Asthetics matter, IMHO a combination of Asthetics, Performance and ride all have to be considered..at least for the intended us of my car. I agree I don't know why companies would put out OE stuff that is huge, if they didn't find performance benefit...Look at the new ZL1...IIRC its tires really aren't that big for the 4100lb weight and performance category of the car.

That car should have MUCH MUCH wider wheels/tires on it, with 18" MAX diameter wheels!!

They could have fit ALL the brake it needs under the right offset/backspace/'stepped' wheels.

Because it looks cool, thats why they do it, and the general public has fallen into the "super size me" mode. If you want to drop $350 a tire for every 4 events have at it, just saying that I would be on your bumper and passing you with a smaller tire at the right tire temp, cars equal. Easy enough to check, get the car on the track, and let us know the results!

Enjoy!

That's why I'll never have a 5th gen. Heavy as hell and huge, expensive tires.

It's too bad, because I like how it looks, love the LS3, and like the price.

If I were ever to own one, it would have to be with unlimited resources (spelled COIN!!!), in order to strip EVERY gram I could off of it with prohibitively exorbitant lightweight parts made of; carbon fiber/kevlar, titanium, aluminum, unobtanium, etc. (As well as a budget for Pedders/Moton/Penske suspension pieces, and 17" or 18" CCW/Fikse/HRE/etc. wheels and race rubber!!)

If Chevy does what they are suppose to the 2016 rendition should be a keeper...lower curb weight, room for a small block V8, IRS, and great build quality. I'm saving already!

I haven't heard about this. Do you have any more info?

They were rumored to be considering the platform of the new, smallest Caddy as the basis for the 6th gen f body, but I have not heard anything confirmed/definite yet.

If they could do this, and then offer a REAL 1LE/stripped/FULL delete/'body in white' type option, along with that (proposed for the C7, but not solid yet either) 5.5 screamer Gen 5 (?) LSwhatever engine, it would be one GREAT package for our uses!!

How much rotor life do you get with the carbotech pads? I was burning through a set of rotors poer set of pads...

Yes more aggressive for sure, a set of rotors per pads is about right, but the stock (no holes or slots) rotors for the Corvette C6 setup can be had at Rockauto for a whopping $20 a piece, good trade off for the decreased braking zone. I can make up a bunch of time on corner entry with these pads and it rattles the competition when you close in on them on the turns...

They have GOT TO BE 'Sino-cast' rotors for that price, even on Rock Auto, no?!