Hey guys,
While we had an official press release for the 2009 Redline Time Attack Season Finale, we only glazed over our performance at the 2009 Super Lap Battle Season Finale. So here is more info (and VIDEO) of how the weekend went:
While admittedly we weren't prepared for this event, we also had some bad luck and minimal track time. Since the truck and trailer didn't leave Las Vegas until early Wednesday morning (the day of the event) and because of a further delay from being pulled over for speeding -thankfully no tickets were issued, the car didn't arrive at the track until after 10am. Because of this, we missed all of our practice sessions. After speaking with Elliot in the early morning drivers meeting, we were okay to be teched whenever we arrived.
After passing tech and informing Elliot that we only had one set of Super Lap Battle-legal "DOT-approved" Yokohama A048's (the same exact tires the HKS car used to set the record), and that we would use the first timed session as practice to shake down the car on our RTA-legal slicks with no transponder (so no official timing would be counted or confused), we were ready to go.
We made some changes to the car before this race but by far the biggest change was our awesome Performance Friction Forged Monoblock (multi-pad) Calipers. These things are truly amazing and world-class (from their background in JGTC, ALMS, Grand Am GT and Daytona Prototypes, NASCAR, Champ Car, and more). With 4 brake pads per caliper (1 per piston) the wear, initial bite, and most impressively the brake pedal MODULATION characteristics were unbelievable. You truly have to feel these things for yourself to believe that you can have this much control over the brakes. This is due in part from the ultra-stiff caliper and multiple pads per caliper.
Unlike most companies that take off-the-shelf calipers to make a "BBK", or even other companies who claim to engineer the best piston sizes for a given car, Performance Friction actually engineers their brake systems for a given platform (and street kits) just like they would for a JGTC, DP, or Champ Car. These unsurpassed lengths include measuring the stock brake forces, (for this NSX kit they took what we've learned from our FXMD racecar's brake forces as well as the JGTC NSX), stock and racecar tire sizes, calculations taking weight, weight distribution, and tire sizes all into account and more. All of this adds up to an unrivaled brake package that felt the best and was the most controlled under braking than it has ever been in the past. ALL OF THIS was designed for the STOCK MASTER CYLINDER. We don't run a twin-master setup like a racecar should, but it goes to show how well a properly engineered system can work on a STOCK CAR. This setup will bolt right up to a factory NSX and be the best performing thing you can bolt on. I will reiterate that you truly need to feel a properly engineered (design and balance) brake system for yourself to truly understand how good braking can be.
Our KW Competition 3-way Motorsports Dampers continued to work flawlessly. But going from our staggered 280/330 width Yokohama Slicks to these skinny non-staggered 265/265 Yokohama ADVAN A048 tires had me questioning the balance of our slick tire spring package. Thankfully the bias wasn't too far off and with some slight changes to the dampers and alignment, it worked quite well. With more time to test this setup I'm sure we could come up with a more ideal spring package, but our alignment stagger for these tires wasn't bad atall.
As the first timed session rolled around, we took our FX750 NSX out on track with our Yokohama Racing Slicks. With no transponder to record an official time (and with blessings from Elliot) no one knew what time we were turning but us with our AIM Sports Dash and GPS data acquisition. After turning a few laps we determined that the Performance Friction Brakes were working flawlessly. We also realized our dampers were still set with the drag race settings from the race I did a few weeks ago (my first time staging a car ever on the tree!).
In the short period between the first and second timed session, we had to reset the dampers and realign the car for the skinny non-staggered A048s. We still had the car in the air with no wheels or tires on when the Unlimited Cars headed back out on track. After missing half of the second timed session, the car was ready and I went out on track.
My first timed lap was a staggering 1:45.247 -the fastest time we ever turned around Buttonwillow! (even with our wider slicks). This time improvement was due in part from the development we did to the LSD and transmission, as well as the PFC brakes. But this time was impressive for a 265-width RWD car at Buttonwillow.
Despite all of these hurdles, the result of the weekend weren't half bad:
2nd Overall (by 0.2 seconds)
1st Place - Unlimited RWD
NEW TRACK RECORD - Unlimited RWD
In-Car Footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYVL8feoaU4
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/FXMD-Billy-Johnson-SLB-09_721061.htm
<embed src="http://videos.streetfire.net/vidiac.swf?video=54f15965-d132-4198-b10c-9cc9010d80ff" width="428" height="352" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br/><a href="http://videos.streetfire.net/video/FXMD-Billy-Johnson-SLB-09_721061.htm?ref=63d66a66-76bf-4240-8b1f-9bc2013f57b0">FXMD+%26+Billy+Johnson+-+SLB+'09+Finale+Buttonwillow</a>
More pictures from the event:
Billy
While we had an official press release for the 2009 Redline Time Attack Season Finale, we only glazed over our performance at the 2009 Super Lap Battle Season Finale. So here is more info (and VIDEO) of how the weekend went:
While admittedly we weren't prepared for this event, we also had some bad luck and minimal track time. Since the truck and trailer didn't leave Las Vegas until early Wednesday morning (the day of the event) and because of a further delay from being pulled over for speeding -thankfully no tickets were issued, the car didn't arrive at the track until after 10am. Because of this, we missed all of our practice sessions. After speaking with Elliot in the early morning drivers meeting, we were okay to be teched whenever we arrived.
After passing tech and informing Elliot that we only had one set of Super Lap Battle-legal "DOT-approved" Yokohama A048's (the same exact tires the HKS car used to set the record), and that we would use the first timed session as practice to shake down the car on our RTA-legal slicks with no transponder (so no official timing would be counted or confused), we were ready to go.
We made some changes to the car before this race but by far the biggest change was our awesome Performance Friction Forged Monoblock (multi-pad) Calipers. These things are truly amazing and world-class (from their background in JGTC, ALMS, Grand Am GT and Daytona Prototypes, NASCAR, Champ Car, and more). With 4 brake pads per caliper (1 per piston) the wear, initial bite, and most impressively the brake pedal MODULATION characteristics were unbelievable. You truly have to feel these things for yourself to believe that you can have this much control over the brakes. This is due in part from the ultra-stiff caliper and multiple pads per caliper.
Unlike most companies that take off-the-shelf calipers to make a "BBK", or even other companies who claim to engineer the best piston sizes for a given car, Performance Friction actually engineers their brake systems for a given platform (and street kits) just like they would for a JGTC, DP, or Champ Car. These unsurpassed lengths include measuring the stock brake forces, (for this NSX kit they took what we've learned from our FXMD racecar's brake forces as well as the JGTC NSX), stock and racecar tire sizes, calculations taking weight, weight distribution, and tire sizes all into account and more. All of this adds up to an unrivaled brake package that felt the best and was the most controlled under braking than it has ever been in the past. ALL OF THIS was designed for the STOCK MASTER CYLINDER. We don't run a twin-master setup like a racecar should, but it goes to show how well a properly engineered system can work on a STOCK CAR. This setup will bolt right up to a factory NSX and be the best performing thing you can bolt on. I will reiterate that you truly need to feel a properly engineered (design and balance) brake system for yourself to truly understand how good braking can be.
Our KW Competition 3-way Motorsports Dampers continued to work flawlessly. But going from our staggered 280/330 width Yokohama Slicks to these skinny non-staggered 265/265 Yokohama ADVAN A048 tires had me questioning the balance of our slick tire spring package. Thankfully the bias wasn't too far off and with some slight changes to the dampers and alignment, it worked quite well. With more time to test this setup I'm sure we could come up with a more ideal spring package, but our alignment stagger for these tires wasn't bad atall.
As the first timed session rolled around, we took our FX750 NSX out on track with our Yokohama Racing Slicks. With no transponder to record an official time (and with blessings from Elliot) no one knew what time we were turning but us with our AIM Sports Dash and GPS data acquisition. After turning a few laps we determined that the Performance Friction Brakes were working flawlessly. We also realized our dampers were still set with the drag race settings from the race I did a few weeks ago (my first time staging a car ever on the tree!).
In the short period between the first and second timed session, we had to reset the dampers and realign the car for the skinny non-staggered A048s. We still had the car in the air with no wheels or tires on when the Unlimited Cars headed back out on track. After missing half of the second timed session, the car was ready and I went out on track.
My first timed lap was a staggering 1:45.247 -the fastest time we ever turned around Buttonwillow! (even with our wider slicks). This time improvement was due in part from the development we did to the LSD and transmission, as well as the PFC brakes. But this time was impressive for a 265-width RWD car at Buttonwillow.
Despite all of these hurdles, the result of the weekend weren't half bad:
2nd Overall (by 0.2 seconds)
1st Place - Unlimited RWD
NEW TRACK RECORD - Unlimited RWD
In-Car Footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYVL8feoaU4
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/FXMD-Billy-Johnson-SLB-09_721061.htm
<embed src="http://videos.streetfire.net/vidiac.swf?video=54f15965-d132-4198-b10c-9cc9010d80ff" width="428" height="352" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br/><a href="http://videos.streetfire.net/video/FXMD-Billy-Johnson-SLB-09_721061.htm?ref=63d66a66-76bf-4240-8b1f-9bc2013f57b0">FXMD+%26+Billy+Johnson+-+SLB+'09+Finale+Buttonwillow</a>
More pictures from the event:
Billy
Last edited:
