wstar's Journal

wstar · 01-17-2014, 03:49 PM

Related pics:

The 2x12 board config (a 4 ft section with a 2ft section nailed on top at the end, so I can step up in increments), setting about where I want to nail them down at. Plus the hook attachment stuff mentioned above:

All the rest of my tools and install-related junk currently sitting in the front. All I've managed to install so far is the pitpal cabinet on the right and a pair of front D-rings closer to the car.

This worked out well - a set of RaceRamps made for trailer doors with notch cutouts. I got everything down at a low enough angle to allow for a future splitter:

Megan370z · 01-17-2014, 04:17 PM

lucky you !!!

still waiting to find a good deal on a similar trailer

wstar · 01-17-2014, 04:47 PM

I hear you. From what I've seen so far, the best idea is to trawl racingjunk.com, craigslist, nasa/scca forums, etc. Eventually you'll see a used one that's already all decked out about the way you want it for $5K or less. I waited and searched ads for a month or two, but all the ones I saw at the time had something wrong with the trailer or the deal one way or another (or maybe I'm just too picky!), and I got impatient and just bought a new one to set it up myself so I can get going on other things. I definitely could've gotten more trailer+setup for less cash+labor if I waited longer searching all those ads, though.

wstar · 01-17-2014, 04:51 PM

Oh I had a nifty idea about hooking up to those OEM front tow eyes. The main problem clipping into them isn't so much ground clearance, it's just that the trailer walls are kinda tight around you. If you could lay on the ground next to the car, you can reach them no-problem...

What I'm thinking about trying next time I load the car is clipping the front tie-down straps onto those before I load the car, while it's out on the pavement, and running them up front and hooking them to the car's own front tow hook and take the slack out. Then drive the car up into the trailer and just move them to the trailer D-rings.

SPOHN · 01-17-2014, 07:02 PM

Yea I'm going to be working on a setup also. Course I have a open trailer but it's all the same. But my trailer has a open center, thus easier to work with and getting up under there to work. With the Stillen fascia and wind splitter I'll need a double hook system to keep strap low till the exit the height of the front clip. I'm also about crossing the straps.

travisjb · 01-17-2014, 09:48 PM

perfect! you pretty much have the same setup as me now... i'm actually 2x12 also, misspoke earlier... and have them stacked the same way. i added a bezel the front to make it easier to drive up each "step", by routing a 45 degree angle... i also built a little ramp at the end to ensure i don't run over. this is important, you're going to be tired at the end of track day and makes it easy if you can just bump up against where it needs to be without worrying about running over.

might consider screwing them down with cabinet screws instead of nails

travisjb · 01-17-2014, 10:15 PM

btw, not sure how athletic you are but once you get used to it, becomes very easy to reach under and hook up the car at the oe locations... one knee on the ground and reach your arm behind each front tire... so long as you have the hooks pre-positioned, you'll be able to easily pick those up and muscle memory takes over. really should become a 2 mins job hooking up over time

wstar · 01-17-2014, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by travisjb

might consider screwing them down with cabinet screws instead of nails

Definitely

I did the nails for now because I'm just not 100% confident yet that I won't be moving or removing them. They'll get screwed in eventually.

I did find some Floor-Tex-like stuff and I think I might coat the remainder of the floor, but all the ones I saw wanted 50F+ temps for curing over a period of days, and it's colder than that now and I have events coming up 1 and 3 weeks out. So I guess I'll just let the grey paint wear down a bit until it gets warmer and I have the time.

wstar · 01-27-2014, 06:08 AM

Had a fun weekend at TWS. We had a couple patches of ice on the track Saturday morning, but as the weekend progressed it turned out to be mostly perfect weather. Sunny enough to keep the track reasonably warm, cool enough to not sweat much in the car.

I switched over to my new 18x10 square wheel setup (+34 offset, w/ 10mm spacers on the rear, thanks Travis+Mike for offset info!), and broke in a new set of Hankook RS3's on them. My Saturday sessions were an exercise in traffic management (how fast can you throw out passing signals?), as the brand-new tires were slippery, I hadn't figured out my pressures yet, and I still had to develop some feel and confidence in them to boot. It was definitely a learning experience

My last best time at TWS-CCW was 2:08.49 back in March, and in these good conditions I should've been able to improve on that substantially by now, but, all of the above. My best time Saturday morning was 2:16

, but by late Sunday I had worked it back down to a 2:06. I still wasn't being aggressive enough with my braking, but that will come with a little more time learning to trust how this new rubber feels.

My overall impression of the RS3 is that I wish I had switched up to it sooner. After hearing about how R-comps and slicks have a finer knife-edge of traction, I thought they would be harder to drive than my old high-treadwear Conti DW's, but they were much easier once I got used to it. The breakaway is more linear and predictable, and they don't get suddenly greasy overheating late in the session the way the Contis did. I think I'll end up adding a little more camber all around to keep up with how hard these push out mid-corner, but I want to feel them out for another weekend or so before making any more changes.

Trailer stuff: I ended up adding another layer of 1x12 under the ramps from earlier (so 1x12 + 2x12 + 2x12 for front height), putting 45 angles on them all and a backstop, and also putting in some shorter rear ramps (1x12 + 2x12). Might be my suspension/tire setup, but more likely just my trailer wheel wells are taller than travis's. In any case, this is what I had to do to reliably open the door under all conditions:

Also, strapping the tires to E-track about a foot off the floor (and then another strap through the front of the tires to keep them together) worked out really well:

While I'm at it, random picture of my car+shop+lift. I'd like to say the complete mess in there is temporary, but it's been temporary for a long time now

And video of my fastest lap for the weekend. I think my ego trying to chase down that Audi gave me some extra oomph

(But really, the only reason I caught him is because he lifted to let the silver car that was kicking both our asses pass him).

wstar · 02-10-2014, 09:22 AM

Had a great weekend at COTA! MVP TrackTime ran this event as a 3-day weekend. Friday morning was mostly lost to weather (ice started coming down during my first session, and then all the second sessions were cancelled while the track was slick), but COTA gave us an extra hour on Sat+Sun to make up for the lost sessions, which was really awesome of them. Got to meet Mike (the Powerdercoater) for the first time, guru came up from Houston Saturday and brought us BBQ for lunch, and then he brought back some of the local Z-club crowd on Sunday to hang out.

The track is ridiculously technical and complex, and has both faster straights and tighter corners than I've seen before. It was pretty scary until I started getting comfortable with it. The elevation changes are dramatic as well. Even after staring at videos of the track for hours, I wasn't prepared for how those look and feel in person. It would probably take many more weekends there before I really started to get the nuances of this track down, but that's unlikely to happen given how expensive events there tend to be. Still, it was well worth going once and giving it a spin. Every sector is exhilarating when you nail it just right (or at least, as just right as I was going to get for this weekend!). The only remotely boring part of this track is the back straight from 11 -> 12, but that flies by quickly and it's a good chance for tons of passing to sort out trains. Honestly, I think I really need that straight as a breather between the complex stuff happening before and after it anyways.

No instructors, so I watched Mike Skeen's video from some practice laps last year in a Porsche over and over to try to have some idea about my lines. I eventually got down to 1:41.76 on a clean traffic-free lap, and that's about as good as I can do COTA currently. I had a back-to-back pair of clean laps on the session after that one and they were also high 1:41.xx's.

I kept it on the pavement all weekend, and I only had one maybe-spin in my final session Sunday that I blame on getting tired and sloppy. I thought it qualified as a spin, but they didn't flag me, I guess because I didn't quite get fully perpendicular to the track during my mad rush of poor over-corrections? Who knows, but no flag so I kept on trucking

No true equipment problems, but lots of things were showing signs of abuse - notably my trans fluid was fairly burnt out by the end of Sunday, shifts were getting sloppy. And some of the little surface checking on my front rotors was turning into real cracks after my final session. I don't think I can go another full weekend on these rotor rings. COTA is tough on brakes, be prepared if you go!

Anyways, all I've exported for now is my fastest lap. I plan to edit up a highlights/incidents video later as well with the interesting stuff from my footage.

JARblue · 02-10-2014, 09:43 AM

Looks like a great weekend. Thank you for allowing me to live vicariously through you track guys

This is the first and, so far, only track I have experienced in the Z. Although it was at the Nismo Performance Academy, and I wasn't really able to go full speed, it was an amazing track and a great experience. Maybe someday I'll actually have the money to buy another DD and the time to track prep the Z

For now, y'all's videos will have to do

SPOHN · 02-10-2014, 10:04 AM

Sounds great. I talked to Mike last night. Those times are still great in my book based on Mikes. Mike has a lot of track time so he adapts quickly. Did ChrisSlicks track also?

wstar · 02-10-2014, 10:08 AM

No, I think Mike was confused between two different Chris's. guru on the forums here is the Chris that brought us BBQ

sig11 · 02-10-2014, 05:23 PM

Awesome! I'm jealous... I would love to take a trip down to COTA.

Y'all are pansies for not running in the ice! Get the tires warm and it's pretty close to rain.

Mike · 02-10-2014, 05:39 PM

Great meeting you Brandon!

01-17-2014, 03:49 PM	#691 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Related pics: The 2x12 board config (a 4 ft section with a 2ft section nailed on top at the end, so I can step up in increments), setting about where I want to nail them down at. Plus the hook attachment stuff mentioned above: All the rest of my tools and install-related junk currently sitting in the front. All I've managed to install so far is the pitpal cabinet on the right and a pair of front D-rings closer to the car. This worked out well - a set of RaceRamps made for trailer doors with notch cutouts. I got everything down at a low enough angle to allow for a future splitter: Megan370z and Mr&Mrs like this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

01-17-2014, 04:17 PM	#692 (permalink)
Megan370z A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Canada Posts: 1,156 Drives: 370z Rep Power: 24	lucky you !!! still waiting to find a good deal on a similar trailer __________________ Megan Journal Click Me ....................One Man Team Motorsport Click Me

01-17-2014, 04:47 PM	#693 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	I hear you. From what I've seen so far, the best idea is to trawl racingjunk.com, craigslist, nasa/scca forums, etc. Eventually you'll see a used one that's already all decked out about the way you want it for $5K or less. I waited and searched ads for a month or two, but all the ones I saw at the time had something wrong with the trailer or the deal one way or another (or maybe I'm just too picky!), and I got impatient and just bought a new one to set it up myself so I can get going on other things. I definitely could've gotten more trailer+setup for less cash+labor if I waited longer searching all those ads, though. sig11 likes this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

01-17-2014, 04:51 PM	#694 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Oh I had a nifty idea about hooking up to those OEM front tow eyes. The main problem clipping into them isn't so much ground clearance, it's just that the trailer walls are kinda tight around you. If you could lay on the ground next to the car, you can reach them no-problem... What I'm thinking about trying next time I load the car is clipping the front tie-down straps onto those before I load the car, while it's out on the pavement, and running them up front and hooking them to the car's own front tow hook and take the slack out. Then drive the car up into the trailer and just move them to the trailer D-rings. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 01-17-2014 at 04:56 PM.

01-17-2014, 07:02 PM	#695 (permalink)
SPOHN A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Covington, GA Age: 45 Posts: 14,844 Drives: Waiting on next Z Rep Power: 221	Yea I'm going to be working on a setup also. Course I have a open trailer but it's all the same. But my trailer has a open center, thus easier to work with and getting up under there to work. With the Stillen fascia and wind splitter I'll need a double hook system to keep strap low till the exit the height of the front clip. I'm also about crossing the straps. __________________

01-17-2014, 09:48 PM	#696 (permalink)
travisjb A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: GSO Posts: 2,803 Drives: VIR Rep Power: 188	perfect! you pretty much have the same setup as me now... i'm actually 2x12 also, misspoke earlier... and have them stacked the same way. i added a bezel the front to make it easier to drive up each "step", by routing a 45 degree angle... i also built a little ramp at the end to ensure i don't run over. this is important, you're going to be tired at the end of track day and makes it easy if you can just bump up against where it needs to be without worrying about running over. might consider screwing them down with cabinet screws instead of nails __________________ 2009 370Z #104 For Sale

01-17-2014, 10:15 PM	#697 (permalink)
travisjb A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: GSO Posts: 2,803 Drives: VIR Rep Power: 188	btw, not sure how athletic you are but once you get used to it, becomes very easy to reach under and hook up the car at the oe locations... one knee on the ground and reach your arm behind each front tire... so long as you have the hooks pre-positioned, you'll be able to easily pick those up and muscle memory takes over. really should become a 2 mins job hooking up over time __________________ 2009 370Z #104 For Sale

01-27-2014, 06:08 AM	#699 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Had a fun weekend at TWS. We had a couple patches of ice on the track Saturday morning, but as the weekend progressed it turned out to be mostly perfect weather. Sunny enough to keep the track reasonably warm, cool enough to not sweat much in the car. I switched over to my new 18x10 square wheel setup (+34 offset, w/ 10mm spacers on the rear, thanks Travis+Mike for offset info!), and broke in a new set of Hankook RS3's on them. My Saturday sessions were an exercise in traffic management (how fast can you throw out passing signals?), as the brand-new tires were slippery, I hadn't figured out my pressures yet, and I still had to develop some feel and confidence in them to boot. It was definitely a learning experience My last best time at TWS-CCW was 2:08.49 back in March, and in these good conditions I should've been able to improve on that substantially by now, but, all of the above. My best time Saturday morning was 2:16 , but by late Sunday I had worked it back down to a 2:06. I still wasn't being aggressive enough with my braking, but that will come with a little more time learning to trust how this new rubber feels. My overall impression of the RS3 is that I wish I had switched up to it sooner. After hearing about how R-comps and slicks have a finer knife-edge of traction, I thought they would be harder to drive than my old high-treadwear Conti DW's, but they were much easier once I got used to it. The breakaway is more linear and predictable, and they don't get suddenly greasy overheating late in the session the way the Contis did. I think I'll end up adding a little more camber all around to keep up with how hard these push out mid-corner, but I want to feel them out for another weekend or so before making any more changes. Trailer stuff: I ended up adding another layer of 1x12 under the ramps from earlier (so 1x12 + 2x12 + 2x12 for front height), putting 45 angles on them all and a backstop, and also putting in some shorter rear ramps (1x12 + 2x12). Might be my suspension/tire setup, but more likely just my trailer wheel wells are taller than travis's. In any case, this is what I had to do to reliably open the door under all conditions: Also, strapping the tires to E-track about a foot off the floor (and then another strap through the front of the tires to keep them together) worked out really well: While I'm at it, random picture of my car+shop+lift. I'd like to say the complete mess in there is temporary, but it's been temporary for a long time now And video of my fastest lap for the weekend. I think my ego trying to chase down that Audi gave me some extra oomph (But really, the only reason I caught him is because he lifted to let the silver car that was kicking both our asses pass him). travisjb, Boost_lee, Mike and 3 others like this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 01-27-2014 at 06:12 AM.

02-10-2014, 09:22 AM	#700 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Had a great weekend at COTA! MVP TrackTime ran this event as a 3-day weekend. Friday morning was mostly lost to weather (ice started coming down during my first session, and then all the second sessions were cancelled while the track was slick), but COTA gave us an extra hour on Sat+Sun to make up for the lost sessions, which was really awesome of them. Got to meet Mike (the Powerdercoater) for the first time, guru came up from Houston Saturday and brought us BBQ for lunch, and then he brought back some of the local Z-club crowd on Sunday to hang out. The track is ridiculously technical and complex, and has both faster straights and tighter corners than I've seen before. It was pretty scary until I started getting comfortable with it. The elevation changes are dramatic as well. Even after staring at videos of the track for hours, I wasn't prepared for how those look and feel in person. It would probably take many more weekends there before I really started to get the nuances of this track down, but that's unlikely to happen given how expensive events there tend to be. Still, it was well worth going once and giving it a spin. Every sector is exhilarating when you nail it just right (or at least, as just right as I was going to get for this weekend!). The only remotely boring part of this track is the back straight from 11 -> 12, but that flies by quickly and it's a good chance for tons of passing to sort out trains. Honestly, I think I really need that straight as a breather between the complex stuff happening before and after it anyways. No instructors, so I watched Mike Skeen's video from some practice laps last year in a Porsche over and over to try to have some idea about my lines. I eventually got down to 1:41.76 on a clean traffic-free lap, and that's about as good as I can do COTA currently. I had a back-to-back pair of clean laps on the session after that one and they were also high 1:41.xx's. I kept it on the pavement all weekend, and I only had one maybe-spin in my final session Sunday that I blame on getting tired and sloppy. I thought it qualified as a spin, but they didn't flag me, I guess because I didn't quite get fully perpendicular to the track during my mad rush of poor over-corrections? Who knows, but no flag so I kept on trucking No true equipment problems, but lots of things were showing signs of abuse - notably my trans fluid was fairly burnt out by the end of Sunday, shifts were getting sloppy. And some of the little surface checking on my front rotors was turning into real cracks after my final session. I don't think I can go another full weekend on these rotor rings. COTA is tough on brakes, be prepared if you go! Anyways, all I've exported for now is my fastest lap. I plan to edit up a highlights/incidents video later as well with the interesting stuff from my footage. Boost_lee, guru, Rusty and 2 others like this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 02-10-2014 at 09:24 AM.

02-10-2014, 09:43 AM	#701 (permalink)
JARblue A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Austin, TX Age: 43 Posts: 36,450 Drives: 11 Z34, 98 E36 M3 Rep Power: 2684440	Looks like a great weekend. Thank you for allowing me to live vicariously through you track guys This is the first and, so far, only track I have experienced in the Z. Although it was at the Nismo Performance Academy, and I wasn't really able to go full speed, it was an amazing track and a great experience. Maybe someday I'll actually have the money to buy another DD and the time to track prep the Z For now, y'all's videos will have to do __________________ 2011 370Z 6MT Sport Gun Metallic \| ARC \| CJM \| Ecutek \| FI \| Fujimura \| R2C \| SPL \| Stillen \| TWM \| Z1 \| ZSpeed \|

02-10-2014, 10:04 AM	#702 (permalink)
SPOHN A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Covington, GA Age: 45 Posts: 14,844 Drives: Waiting on next Z Rep Power: 221	Sounds great. I talked to Mike last night. Those times are still great in my book based on Mikes. Mike has a lot of track time so he adapts quickly. Did ChrisSlicks track also? __________________

02-10-2014, 10:08 AM	#703 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	No, I think Mike was confused between two different Chris's. guru on the forums here is the Chris that brought us BBQ __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

02-10-2014, 05:23 PM	#704 (permalink)
sig11 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Detroit Posts: 1,294 Drives: 09 370Z Red Sport-MT Rep Power: 18	Awesome! I'm jealous... I would love to take a trip down to COTA. Y'all are pansies for not running in the ice! Get the tires warm and it's pretty close to rain.

02-10-2014, 05:39 PM	#705 (permalink)
Mike The370Z.com Sponsor Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Loganville, GA Posts: 5,944 Drives: 370z Rep Power: 2186	Great meeting you Brandon! __________________ NISSAN: 75 280Z / 86 300ZX GLL /87 Sentra SE / 03 350Z / 23 Z Porsche: 93 968 / 23 Macan GTS / 93 968

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