Ok, a brief of the 2011 UTCC.
2011 was all about horsepower, lots of it. I believe there were about ten or eleven cars running under 2:00 this year compared to only a handful last year. And lots of cars in the 2:00 to 2:10 range, with cars slower than 2:10 (us) being the minority in the event. Sporting just 230 or so rear wheel horsepower we were definitely out gunned where the median rear wheel horsepower was well over 400, or so I was told by one of the organizers.
2011 Pirelli Ultimate Track Car Challenge presented by Grassroots Motorsports: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine
We didn’t make many pictures but we did get a short there in the beginning of the video driving out of the tech shed. The fastest car was the Riley that turned something like a 1:47 lap, blasing fast.
We weren’t there to really compete in this event and we knew we’d never turn lap times like the rest of the field. We were there treating it like a test day and in that respect it was 100% successful. The car behaved extremely well and performed just as intended. However, it was not a comfortable event. First off, it was hot. Tarzan hot. 101F sitting still under the canopy hot. And it was hot driving the car, extremely hot and uncomfortable, but at least our car was open on top which definitely helped.
I drove all the UTCC sessions as Mr. Young was out for the day with an illness. That was actually good as I needed seat time in car because I’d not driven it on track in quite a long time. The car just drives really well. We have it setup with a slight tendancy to push but it is gentle and predictable. It has a huge amount of rear grip, and not so much power, so getting the rear to come out is not that easy to do. But these traits lend themselves to being able to hammer the car and enjoy it, not worry about looping it or stuffing it into the wall.
Anyhow, our times were not that great, around 2:15-2:16, which is about the same as the previous weekend. The car is very stable and does exactly what you tell it to do. No ill handling traits that I could detect. Now, granted I was only driving the car at about 80-85%, same as Jeff, so there is still time on the table with the car. In fact, our Traqmate data showed that Jeff and I turn what is essentially the same lap times but we do it a bit differently. I really took it lazy through the uphill esses while he went at a reasonable clip there (entering at 122mph), but I’d pickup some time in Oak Tree and the roller coast/hogs pen complex, parts where I was trying to push the car. Doing a segment analysis I think the car will be good for 2:10 as it sits with the same intensity of driving, probably a second or two faster balls out.
The car has tremendous grip and braking power. Brakes are just out of this world and we still haven’t reached the limit. Braking down at the 3/4 marker into T1 from 135mph is possible and it appears that there is more braking to be had. No fade, no problems. We managed to get the bias dialed in well without swapping out master cylinders but I think we are going to put the 7/8” one in so that we have a bit more pedal travel than we do now.
Handling great. Braking great. Horsepower, ok, but not that great. VIR is a power track and no two ways about it, you have to have some power to go fast. The 930 gearbox is great at the track because all we need to use is the top two gears and that makes it fun for the driver. Looking at the data the car accelerates strongly in the 3000-5000 RPM range, particularly in third gear rolling out of T1 or Oak Tree, but the pull peters out in fourth once the RPM gets up around 4800-5000 RPM or so. Out of Oak Tree at 50 mph and up to about 110mph the car is moving well, but those last 25-30 mph to red line take a good while and certainly hurt the lap times a little. But, that is exactly what we dialed up and wanted for the 13 hour race – a car that doesn’t have so much power so that it’ll be good on fuel, have longevity, and produce a more relaxed pace for an endurance race. Still, it might be fun to put a bigger cam in and let’er rip……
A successful day. Engine performed well although oil temps were a bit higher than I’d seen before – oil temp = 250F, transaxle temp = 240F, oil pressure 40psi at anything over 3k. Water temps were rock steady at thermostat temp of 195F, no fans needed. The car cools really well. The gear shift lever got really stiff and hard to shift in my last two sessions and we think the cable has become heat damaged and will need to be replaced. But otherwise, all is good.
In two weeks I’ll be racing the car in the SCCA Charlotte Motor Speedway event. I’ll be stuffed into the ex-NASCAR group but I can run around at the back of the pack and get more testing time for the car, which is what I’m after.
