JhnRX7's Weekend Track Toy Build

[MaczPayne]

Are those AD08's? How do you like them?

[JhnRX7]

Originally Posted by MaczPayne

Are those AD08's? How do you like them?

yep. Advan AD08 255's on all four corners. I absolutely LOVE them! I mounted them (on a different set of wheels) for the first time just before DGRR and I got to test them out on the Dragon. I was thoroughly impressed. The grip was unbelievable, but the best part is they are easy to drive at the limit. They let you know when you are getting too close and dont just let go on you.



Also, to update the thread a little...

This year's DGRR was a trial run to shake down the car before any track days. It was the first time I had a chance to really push the car since the winter build. The motor performed flawlessly, however I had not done much as far as engine related modifications. Just some tweaking to my maps.

The drive down gave me alot of time to test out PFC boost control. I got rid of my Greddy Profec B Spec-II and used the solenoid along with the PowerFC to control boost. I have the OEM fog light switch wired up as a Hi / Low boost switch. I love this, because I dont want my interior filled with excess gauges and gadgets. Anyway, I found that the PFC does a better job at controlling creep than the Profec did, however I got slightly better response with the Profec. I am currently am getting creep in the taller gears because I am trying to limit the boost to 10 psi and with the amount of air that my ported engine flows even the ported wastegate cannot keep up. Its fine though as I have tuned for the creep and I will be upgrading to a three bar map sensor in a week or two and turning up the boost.

On the roads leading up to the Dragon and the Dragon itself I got a chance to really test out the tires suspension and brakes. As I mentioned earlier, I was very impressed with the tires. However, what was just as impressive were the brakes. The stopping power was incredible and the modulation night and day improvement over my old Hawk HP+. The Hawks felt like I only had two pressures, on or off. These Endless ME22 Competition Pads really responded well to pedal input and I could really feel the threshold approaching and control it well.

On my first run of the Dragon I was on the brakes VERY hard the entire time and on the second to last turn I felt the pedal stiffen up and I started to loose bite. I parked the car at the turnaround spot (without ebrake applied) and let the car cool down. It appears that I overheated the rotors. I removed the pads when I got home and took pictures to send to the Endless tech. They informed me that there was no sign of the pad being overheated so it must have been the rotor. The dragon is particularly hard on brakes because you are hard on the brakes non-stop turn after turn without much cooling time between braking zones. Also it is relatively low speeds so my brake ducts would not have been providing much cooling unlike in a track environment when the car sees 90-100MPH between braking zones. In addition to the rotors overheating the first turn on the run back i found that the fluid had boiled while sitting and I had to pump them to bring the brakes back. I have since installed Ti backing plates to reduce the heat transfer through the pads to the pistons while sitting in the paddock. I also have some plans to provide some additional airflow to the brake ducts which i will post once I start working on it.

and another shameless picture of the car, because I love my new wheels so much

[afgmoto1978]

All you need now is one of my CF splitters.

[MaczPayne]

Nice, I'm running the older AD07's on my car and they have really surprised me. Got them on a whim for $500 brand new, in 255/40/17. I may give the 08's a try when I go through these!

[RXtacy]

+1 for the AD08's. I was also running them at DGRR and was very impressed.

[JhnRX7]

With track days coming up in June I got a hold of some AP temp paint so I can see what is really going on with my rotors and ducts.







and for more track data analysis, I split a Racelogic Performance Box with a couple friends. The performance box uses GPS signal and accelerometer to calculate lap times including split times and predictive lap times as well as cornering and lateral G's. It should be a good tool to help improve my driving. All the data can be uploaded with the included software and analyzed.

[RX SE7EN]

Sick dude, love the new rims.

[JhnRX7]

Update:

I attended my first track event of the year this past weekend. It was at NJMP on the Lightning track. This was my second event and my first time on this track. After I learned the line, I really enjoyed this track.



The car performed flawlessly, and inspires confidence... however I still need to get comfortable pushing the car to the limits. I was short shifting and partial throttling in areas where I could be flat out. With more seat time I should be pushing the car harder.

I triggered the green and orange temp paint, but not the pink so rotor temps were somewhere between 560C and 610C. I did not experience any fade or braking issues what-so-ever.

I used the Performance Box on the last session of the weekend and my best lap time was a 1:25.33. The performance box also displays split times and uses all your best splits to determine your "ideal lap" which was a 1:24.85. The data shown below displays speed, cornering G's and lap time difference of my fastest 4 laps.

Screenshot of Racelogic Performance Box Circuit Tools software:



Video of one random clean lap. I will be uploading more videos this week. I am also going to try out the TrackVision software to overlay my Performance Box data onto the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vpuWi9aDOk&hd=1



I signed up for another event at NJMP (Thunderbolt track) on July 1st. The event is organized by “Track Daze”. If anyone else (Brian…) wants to join there is space left and it is on the cheaper side for a track day.

https://www.trackdaze.com/index.php?...hw_attendees=1

[tweiss3]

What front bumper is that?

[JhnRX7]

Originally Posted by tweiss3

What front bumper is that?

Mazdaspeed GT-C

[JhnRX7]

Video from last Friday at NJMP. I was able to overlay the data from the Performance box onto GoPro video

[TitaniumTT]

NICE!!! We've got to get to the track together

[Herblenny]

Like the wheels!!

[93rx7r1]

Car looks at home on the track! Hopefully one of these days I'll get my rx7 to the point to where I can come along on some track days with you John.

[JhnRX7]

My new DD / Tow vehicle..... My FD is just too reliable and I was getting bored