Driving Ambition Updating Kip's Car.

[DrivingAmbition]

Update,
After a very successful first season of racing in 2009 we realized that we still needed to make some major changes for 2010. With our small step into the world of Pro racing we learned allot about our car, driver, and team. SCCA World Challenge wanted us to have working headlights, so we went with the 2002+ conversion. With our race @ Laguna the officials were worried because we where almost 12 mph faster than other cars down the straights. They started talking about lower boost and more weight. But after many words I asked them to not take our one advantage way, because we must be loosing the time some where else on the track. Either our driver sucks or we needed more grip in the corners. We can can not fix the driver (and I do not think he is the problem) but we can work on our cornering grip. We needed to work on our under body aero. We also still had the problem with axles that would not hold up to 50 minutes of racing. If and when the axle problem got solved I am sure the transmission might be the next thing to go. Here are some picture of our progress so far. Cheers, Shad

 

[EdinKali]

Looking good! 12mph faster on the straights. Gotta love it. Keep up the good work.

 

[LS7NSX]

Shad, I've driven Laguna Seca, & would bet that at least half (if not more) of the "extra" 12 mph straightaway speed is the result of excellent corner exit speed out of turn 11----so Kip is probably the positive. If you have race data aquisition (with GPS) check out total elapsed time from entry-to-exit @ turn 11, & compare it to other "quick" cars you run against. Might want to review percentage of lap time @ WOT also---especially thru 5-6 & 7. White knuckle lap will post a bunch of WOT in there---also between 9 & 11. Just curious if you've analyzed those aspects?

Dale

 

[Dr.Honda]

What are his lap times if I may ask? What are some of the other cars you are running against?

 

[Mac Attack]

Nice car and awesome craftsmanship!

Aerodynamics is a tricky subject, and even time spent in wind tunnels can be misleading if you haven’t accounted for slip angles in turns, vehicle loading in turns, and vehicle ground motion/tire/wheel interactions. Then, you also need to take into account removing all that waste heat generated with a powerful engine. Already your coolant temps will probably increase a bit with the new front end – I haven’t calculated it, but I think the frontal area for your radiator is decreased slightly with the ‘02+ front end. That will certainly get worse for your transmission and oil temps if you do a full underbody.

I followed your build, and was impressed with your front hood venting design. The cowl is typically a high pressure area on cars (some musclecars in the 60’s boasted “cowl induction”), but without seeing NSX streamlines and pressure coefficients I can’t say whether or not it works better than venting ala NSX-R before the cowl. But, it looks like you have good exit venting area and the radiator exhaust is routed smoothly. If the bottom hasn’t been sealed yet (couldn’t tell from pictures), you should be OK with cooling and not forcing any extra air under the car.

The front splitter looks good too – not too low and deep to the point is causes excess drag. Unfortunately, while it is helping a little now, you aren’t getting nearly the full effect since you don’t have deep side skirts and flat underbody.

Same thing with your diffuser, except it’s probably not doing anything at all. The diffuser itself doesn’t generate downforce, it creates a lower pressure that acts on the area just in front of it. Pressure (P) is Force (F) divided by Area (A), P=F/A, so rearranging, F=P*A. So, you get more downforce if you have a more efficient diffuser (and minimal air leakage from the sides of the car – where low side skirts and full-face wheels come into play), and a greater surface area for that pressure to act on. Unfortunately, that little pressure generated by the Taitec diffuser is acting directly in front of it – the engine compartment that is basically all open. You need to have rigid, flat panels under there for your diffuser to generate force. The turbulence from the engine compartment basically breaks up and negates any beneficial effect. There’s feedback mechanisms of course, and all this stuff really needs to work together to be effective. Piecing it can be detrimental.

It’s a balancing act to allow enough air to flow through the engine compartment and exit through the trunk (like your design) to keep the engine cool, but you also don’t want all that air flowing under your body to be directed up through the engine compartment and out the back where it could be effectively utilized with your diffuser and underbody to generate downforce.

I would start with the front. Monitor coolant temps with just the new front end. Then seal off ther bottom front if you haven’t done so already and see what happens to temps (you have a nice vented cowl so maybe nothing). If temps rise excessively, I hate to say it, but try the NSX-R design but with a larger vent area and a smooth transition from the radiator (like you have for your cowl). Or, try cutting out the front bumper a little more for more flow area to the radiator.

Next, proceed to the deepest, non-rounded side skirts you can get away with without scraping in turns.

The next stage is the trickiest: balancing cooling, underbody sealing, and diffuser design so definitely leave that for last. Even before you do that, I would go with active aero on your rear wing as a simple, effective, cheap means to generate downforce without straightaway drag and cooling penalties. If you don’t have contact temperature data acquisition capabilities for the engine compartment, here’s a cheap four-channel contact thermocouple kit with logger ($300) with everything you need to get going (I think this comes with short 36” leads, but they sell a longer 5-pack for another $100):
http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref=HH309A&nav=

That site sells all kinds of cool stuff like LVDT’s you can mount on your suspension to track loading throughout the course – which at your level you should probably start to consider.

As a last and fine-tuning step, you can use canards for more front downforce and vortex generators before the rear wing and even on the underbody just before the diffuser.

Good luck!

Dave

 

[ChopsJazz]

The updates look great. When I spoke with you at Laguna last season, you expressed concern that you may not be allowed to participate in the series as they (World Challenge) didn't want a car in the series that wasn't "relevant". Does the 2002 update bring you closer to their idea of relevancy?

 

[Coz]

Looking good Chad

 

[DrivingAmbition]

Hi Guys,
Sorry for not posting sooner, we have been very busy working on customers cars. The Quaife gearbox finally came in from england and we ran our first race with some of the new aero stuff. We got the prototype front splitter and under tray done for the first race. It worked a little to well and we had a loose race car all week end. The gearbox needs allot of work to get it up and running in the car. We did the first test fit and measuring for all the new mounts and axles we need to build. Here are some pictures of the progress. Cheers, Shad

 

[gsrboy]

dang, thats awesome.

 

[Sir Stunna Lot]

that blue 'vet looks mean!

 

[docjohn]

So Shad what did you do to improve rear downforce?

 

[Kip Olson]

Hey Doc John, I, with Shads guidence we/I made some side skirts and a rear diffuser that would follow the rules of World challenge and National STO classes and allow us to seal off the bottom of the car. The front splitter worked way to well in relationship to the rear so hopefully the items we worked on will get our balance back in check and speed me up?? It should be up & running for our next national @ Pacific Raceways next weekend?. Hope it all works cause it was ALOT of work!!!!! Anyway, Our next race is the June Sprints @ RA. Hopefully we will get some of this stuff sorted out by then?? Take care, Kip

 

[Kip Olson]

that blue 'vet looks mean!

It is, 800+++ HP full on Trans Am car with really big slicks.

 

[menfou]

Hello Shad,
1year ago, I contacted Quaife UK for this gearbox , and he said me :

That is not some thing we have and I cannot think who is likely to have
one.

Len
Great car one of only a few cars I have driven that was more desirable
after the drive than before.
Len



Kind regards

Len Unwin
Quaife Technical Sales

My question was :
Sorry, I forgot to say for a Honda NSX 1991.
What is the maximum power and torque for your gearbox ?

I have a Honda NSX Turbo with 600hp/600Nm, the stock gearbox is fine,
but I would like to buy a sequential gearbox.

 

[docjohn]

Hey Doc John, I, with Shads guidence we/I made some side skirts and a rear diffuser that would follow the rules of World challenge and National STO classes and allow us to seal off the bottom of the car. The front splitter worked way to well in relationship to the rear so hopefully the items we worked on will get our balance back in check and speed me up?? It should be up & running for our next national @ Pacific Raceways next weekend?. Hope it all works cause it was ALOT of work!!!!! Anyway, Our next race is the June Sprints @ RA. Hopefully we will get some of this stuff sorted out by then?? Take care, Kip

Thanks for the update,RA ,wow, that will be a real test of how your aero is doing.Good luck.

 

[Ponyboy]

Man, I REALLY need to attend one of your races. I'd love to see you guys compete.

 

[NSX 3.0]

Hey Doc John, I, with Shads guidence we/I made some side skirts and a rear diffuser that would follow the rules of World challenge and National STO classes and allow us to seal off the bottom of the car. The front splitter worked way to well in relationship to the rear so hopefully the items we worked on will get our balance back in check and speed me up?? It should be up & running for our next national @ Pacific Raceways next weekend?. Hope it all works cause it was ALOT of work!!!!! Anyway, Our next race is the June Sprints @ RA. Hopefully we will get some of this stuff sorted out by then?? Take care, Kip

Will look for you Kip at RA in June !

 

[docjohn]

Kip and Shad let us north easterners know if and when you ever come to the glen/lrp or pocono.

 

[Kip Olson]

Will look for you Kip at RA in June !

Fantastic, It's been a while since I've seen you guys out there. I'll be signing up for the practice day on thursday. Qualifying and racing are Friday Thru Sunday. Here's a link with the Schedule. Look forward to seeing you, Kip

http://junesprints.com/2010/schedule.html

 

[Kip Olson]

Kip and Shad let us north easterners know if and when you ever come to the glen/lrp or pocono.

Will do, Shad say that I would love the Glen???

 

[docjohn]

Will do, Shad say that I would love the Glen???

You would,besides the F1 history it has been cleaned up for the IRL/nascar.We don't have a corkscrew but blasting up the front esses and slamming through the bus stop, and climbing the boot in a car like yours would be fun.

 

[DrivingAmbition]

So Shad what did you do to improve rear downforce?

Hi John,
Here is a couple picture of the bodywork we are working on to inprove rear end grip. Cheers, Shad

 

[docjohn]

Nice work.If and when Kip ever decides to sell this car( in one piece :wink: ) call me

 

[DrivingAmbition]

Hi John,
No need to wait for Kip to get tired of his car, we can start with the Bumble Bee. :smile: Cheers, Shad

 

[docjohn]

I'm still laughing lol.....stop trying to coax my wallet from my pocket...:redface: