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DAL Motorsports interview
- Thread starter Lud
- Start date
...and if anyone has any questions of their own, feel free to ask them here and I'll do my best to answer them.
EDR
EDR
Great job Lud and Eric! I would like to see a brief write-up by Eric following each event, describing the weekend, him impressions of the series, and how it all measures up to expectation. If you are so inclined and time allows of course.
Who else races an NSX? I'd like to hear from someone running SCCA amateur series for example. I don't think I've heard of any NSXPrime members doing that.
Who else races an NSX? I'd like to hear from someone running SCCA amateur series for example. I don't think I've heard of any NSXPrime members doing that.
EDR,
Car is absolutely beautiful, I look forward to meeting you and watching you guys run at VIR in Oct. I was there in the rain last year watching Peter and Benoit and couldn't help but get excited as they were outrunning alot of people.
I have a question or an idea so to speak about a product that I think you guys should considering bringing to market. I think it would be great for us NSX owners who are serious about safety and tracking the car to have an option on some sort of bolt in roll bar or partial roll cage that is still streetable. Obviously you guys are very knowledgeable in that area w/all the recent preparation and are looking to bring new products to the market. This may already be offered or in the works by another vendor I'm not sure. I understand this can be offered on a custom basis, like any custom cage, but I would like to see a standard product that obviously is not a custom cage but offers some additional saftey and support vs nothing at all. If I was local there in TX I'm sure we could get exactly what I was looking for on one off custom deal but unfortunately I am here in NC. Not sure if this would be doable on the NSX w/out welding etc, but I think it would be something that would be very popular with the fairly high number of NSX owner's who track their cars at different levels. With the speeds that my BBSC'd car can achieve on the back stretch at VIR it really gets you thinking about safety.
Lud great job with the interview!!
Car is absolutely beautiful, I look forward to meeting you and watching you guys run at VIR in Oct. I was there in the rain last year watching Peter and Benoit and couldn't help but get excited as they were outrunning alot of people.
I have a question or an idea so to speak about a product that I think you guys should considering bringing to market. I think it would be great for us NSX owners who are serious about safety and tracking the car to have an option on some sort of bolt in roll bar or partial roll cage that is still streetable. Obviously you guys are very knowledgeable in that area w/all the recent preparation and are looking to bring new products to the market. This may already be offered or in the works by another vendor I'm not sure. I understand this can be offered on a custom basis, like any custom cage, but I would like to see a standard product that obviously is not a custom cage but offers some additional saftey and support vs nothing at all. If I was local there in TX I'm sure we could get exactly what I was looking for on one off custom deal but unfortunately I am here in NC. Not sure if this would be doable on the NSX w/out welding etc, but I think it would be something that would be very popular with the fairly high number of NSX owner's who track their cars at different levels. With the speeds that my BBSC'd car can achieve on the back stretch at VIR it really gets you thinking about safety.
Lud great job with the interview!!
Congrats
I just want to express the thrill that these 3 guys have made for not only myself but for everyone that had the pleasure of 'Getting Close' to the car at NSteXpo (some of us were at TMS a few weeks prior). I think that we all owe it to them to thank them for their hard work, time and money that they have and will put into this team because it spot lights our personal vehicles. Being in the DallasNSX group I know Eric, Brian and Vaughn well and they have assembled a great car. I look forward to attending a few races in person and watching the rest on TV.
Good luck Dal Motorsports!
I just want to express the thrill that these 3 guys have made for not only myself but for everyone that had the pleasure of 'Getting Close' to the car at NSteXpo (some of us were at TMS a few weeks prior). I think that we all owe it to them to thank them for their hard work, time and money that they have and will put into this team because it spot lights our personal vehicles. Being in the DallasNSX group I know Eric, Brian and Vaughn well and they have assembled a great car. I look forward to attending a few races in person and watching the rest on TV.
Good luck Dal Motorsports!
Roll Bar/Cage
While I wish I could say that "yes, we have a ready to go bolt-in solution" for you. Unfortunately, the answer is not so simple. Mainly due to the design of the NSX.
Three issues come to mind immediately.
1. The aluminum construction of the NSX makes bolting in a cage quite a bit more difficult that in a "normal" car.
2. The rear window means compromises must be made that might not be suitable for a car that sees street duty.
3. Fitment might be an issue depending on the size of the driver and the seat being used.
So the short answer is no, there probably won't be a real bolt-in option that I'd trust on a racetrack for the NSX.
However, if you're seriously interested in a roll bar of some kind, feel free to contact either Eric, Vaughn, or myself and we'll be happy to work with you to find something that suits your needs.
Brian Bailey
DAL Motorsports
While I wish I could say that "yes, we have a ready to go bolt-in solution" for you. Unfortunately, the answer is not so simple. Mainly due to the design of the NSX.
Three issues come to mind immediately.
1. The aluminum construction of the NSX makes bolting in a cage quite a bit more difficult that in a "normal" car.
2. The rear window means compromises must be made that might not be suitable for a car that sees street duty.
3. Fitment might be an issue depending on the size of the driver and the seat being used.
So the short answer is no, there probably won't be a real bolt-in option that I'd trust on a racetrack for the NSX.
However, if you're seriously interested in a roll bar of some kind, feel free to contact either Eric, Vaughn, or myself and we'll be happy to work with you to find something that suits your needs.
Brian Bailey
DAL Motorsports
>>I think you guys should consider an option on some sort of bolt in roll bar or partial roll cage that is still streetable.
Remember the NSX is one of the strongest cars made in the area of the B pillar. I don't think you need a cage for safety in a roll over situation.
>>If I was local there in TX I'm sure we could get exactly what I was looking for on one off custom deal but unfortunately I am here in NC.
I humbly suggest you try to find some vendors in your area. NC is a hotbed of Nascar activity and there are a large number of experienced motorsports companies near you. Let us know what you find!
Remember the NSX is one of the strongest cars made in the area of the B pillar. I don't think you need a cage for safety in a roll over situation.
>>If I was local there in TX I'm sure we could get exactly what I was looking for on one off custom deal but unfortunately I am here in NC.
I humbly suggest you try to find some vendors in your area. NC is a hotbed of Nascar activity and there are a large number of experienced motorsports companies near you. Let us know what you find!
1BADNSX said:
Good question. Ancient Japanese secret. It will cost you one million Yen to find out.
Actually, ¥1M is about the price of entry for a properly set up suspension on the NSX, and camber/toe is (as you know) an integral part of the overall setup.
Generally, the NSX likes a lot of negative camber and a VERY stiff front end.
But I can't really answer your question. OK, I will answer your question: "it depends". Yes - you can quote me on that.
It depends on a number of things, including:
- Car weight
- Weight distribution F/R
- Tire selection
- Suspension setup (damper settings and spring rates)
- Ride height
- What track you are driving on
- Anti-roll bar stiffness / length
- Chassis stiffness (big honkin' cage installed or not?)
We are limited to negative 3 degrees of camber in the Grand-Am Cup series, although that doesn't mean we dial-in -3deg and go racing... that's a limit, not a recommendation.
The reason I can't answer your question is that the alignment settings change for each track we have tested on, and even change during track weekends as we make adjustments to the car. There isn't a single answer that would be correct.
That said, we will always be running more negative camber all around and more toe-out in the front than the stock alignment recommendations from Honda/Acura. Those are about the only constants that I predict we will have.
If you're interested because you are looking for some input on how to set up your car for track use, you have to understand that a fast DE car is not going to be setup anything like our race car because of the lighter weight, lower ride height and increased chassis stiffness from the cage.
Also understand that we are running incredibly stiff front springs an amazingly stiff solid front anti-roll bar (and no rear bar). We are also using the Comptech non-compliance components in the rear (beam and toe links), and triple adjustable dampers on all corners. You will probably not have your car set up the same way or be as light as we are, or as low as we are, so giving you our alignment settings would be useless for you.
I wouldn't want you to waste your money having an alignment done to replicate our camber, caster and toe settings on your car because you're not going to be pleased with the result. In fact, with the toe out we are running on the front end, it's likely to be flat out dangerous without the rest of the setup done like ours.
If you can send me as much information as you have about your car and its existing setup, we could look at it and be happy to make a recommendation, but to do it right you need to test, change, test, change, repeat as necessary.
Now, if you are interested in replicating our entire suspension setup, that is something that we can do for you. We can supply the custom fabricated components (upper shock mounts, front anti-roll bar, damper remote canister mounts, etc.) and can resell the springs (Hypercoil), dampers (Moton) and rear end components (Comptech). Ship your car to Dallas with about one million Yen and we'll ship it back to you a couple of weeks later ready to go.
EDR
erobbins said:
EDR,
I was interested for two reasons 1) many NSXers want to know the near optimal setup for track driving and 2) I race on Hoosiers in a different chassis/series and wondered how much different the alignment would be.
For case 1) you frequently hear on this board to use stock NSX alignment for a pure track car and I know that Hoosiers need far more camber than stock. I am surprised that you are not maxing out camber if you are limited to 3 degrees static camber. In regards to toe, I have speculated in the past that the stock NSX probably has enough rear toe-in and maybe too much (91-93 specs). From your comments above, this may be the case.
For case 2) I understand that the suspension geometry and the difference between static and dynamic alignment would certainly be different, but under dynamic conditions the Hoosiers are going to be happy at nearly the same point. Because of this I wanted to compare your alignment settings.
Thanks, Bob
1BADNSX said:
Journalist or not, nice job. Thats one of the best articles I've seen here.
Maybe we can start getting some results or brief write-up on a monthy basis during the racing season. Someone down in GA is building a car for that same series as I remember them posting before.
DAL, good luck this season.....having been down that road before I know it takes more work than people can possibly know to field a competitive car.
Maybe we can start getting some results or brief write-up on a monthy basis during the racing season. Someone down in GA is building a car for that same series as I remember them posting before.
DAL, good luck this season.....having been down that road before I know it takes more work than people can possibly know to field a competitive car.
Tom Larkins said:
Thanks for the words of encouragement Tom.
Actually, last I heard, the car being built in Georgia is targeting the SPEED World Challenge series.
I've gotten some questions about weight reduction... here is some info:
When we got done with our first stab at removing parts from the car (and we didn't spend all that much effort doing it), we had the car at 2388 pounds with 1/2 tank of fuel and OEM 15/16" wheels and Yoko A-022 tires. We are confident that we could get a customer-contracted vehicle down below 2350 pounds fairly easily.
We are required to be at 2730 pounds for the series (dry). The roll cage put 200# back into things... right before testing at Texas Motor Speedway over Memorial Day Weekend, we weighed in at 2588# when the car was corner balanced.
Still to add to the car in the next few weeks are the dry-break fuel system and cell, fire suppression (now that they can be shipped by truck again), and the data acquisition system. If we are still below 2730# (which we will be), we have a weight box on the passenger seat rails that is used to add ballast to reach minimum weight.
For reference, 3.2L/6MT configuration vehicles need to be at 2930#, so the series considers the 20HP, more efficient headers, etc. to be worth 200#. We think it should be less than that, as do others familiar with the car and series. Our testing at TWS and TMS along with input from people has led us to believe that the 3.0L/5MT configuration could actually be faster at 2730# than the 3.2L/6MT at 2930#.
EDR
When we got done with our first stab at removing parts from the car (and we didn't spend all that much effort doing it), we had the car at 2388 pounds with 1/2 tank of fuel and OEM 15/16" wheels and Yoko A-022 tires. We are confident that we could get a customer-contracted vehicle down below 2350 pounds fairly easily.
We are required to be at 2730 pounds for the series (dry). The roll cage put 200# back into things... right before testing at Texas Motor Speedway over Memorial Day Weekend, we weighed in at 2588# when the car was corner balanced.
Still to add to the car in the next few weeks are the dry-break fuel system and cell, fire suppression (now that they can be shipped by truck again), and the data acquisition system. If we are still below 2730# (which we will be), we have a weight box on the passenger seat rails that is used to add ballast to reach minimum weight.
For reference, 3.2L/6MT configuration vehicles need to be at 2930#, so the series considers the 20HP, more efficient headers, etc. to be worth 200#. We think it should be less than that, as do others familiar with the car and series. Our testing at TWS and TMS along with input from people has led us to believe that the 3.0L/5MT configuration could actually be faster at 2730# than the 3.2L/6MT at 2930#.
EDR
