Man I had a blast! Clint thnaks for turning me onto this event. Nothing quite like running to 115 down the back stretch at Buttonwillow. I only ran 3 sessions. By the 3rd session I had a consistant 2:17 run. I had been running 2:20's all day. I had to leave before the 4th session as I was out of gas and brakes. I can't beleive that my instructor cooked my brakes before I even had a chance to do it myself. Josh, Katie and I had quite a ride off turn 1. I'm glad that we didn't collect that Porsche Turbo on the way off. I need alll new rear and possibly front rotors. All new pads of course. I have to stay stock calpers as I run in STX at the autocross stuff, any suggestions for a good rotors and pads. The Hawk HP probably would have been OK, but once they got cooked that was it.

I had a great time with everyone there. I love to see other G35 drivers get out there and experience what this car can do. Alll in all a pretty exciting day. Did you guys notice that the two red flags of the day were because of VW's. The broken Passat wagon and the flaming GTI (anybody for Bar-B-Que'd rabbit).

Thanks again to everyone that showed it, it wouldn't have been the same without the G35 group. When do we get to see all of our lap times?

Oh yeah Clint I have been working out with your weights. I can bring them on Tusday if you want to hook up then.

Mike

Base 6MT Silver sedan
Stillen Exhaust
Stillen CAI
Eibach Pro Kit
Eibach Sway Bars
Kaaz LSD

 

Mike:
Glad you were able to make, and it was a total pleasure to meet you and make the runs around the track. You were really cooking to move that sedan around the track at those speeds. Now that you are experienced on the road racing circuit, you can see how easily it gets into your blood! You watch that VW shatter a half shaft, and the GTi go up in a ball of orange flame....and all you can do is mutter...scrape those suckers off the pavement so I can get back out there!!!!!!!!!!

We GOT YOU now Mikey!!!!

Cheers, Ed.

Cpe 6MT/Aero/Prem/ATI/RT cats/Borla hdrs-catbcks/Nismo flywhl-cltch/TS-ECU/Tein flex EDFC/Stillen sways

 

Ed,

I have to say that you have one nice ride. Nothing but the best. If your gonna do it do it right. You and Clint were right, my AutoX experience definitly helped out. I feel I got up to speed pretty quick. Did you run all 4 sessions? I didn't see you after the 3rd session. We left as it was getting late, and like I said I was out of gas and brakes. I think you had the quick time of all the G35's very nice.

You're completely correct, I'm hooked!

Base 6MT Silver sedan
Stillen Exhaust
Stillen CAI
Eibach Pro Kit
Eibach Sway Bars
Kaaz LSD

 

Mike,
You're welcome ... I knew you'd have fun. The extra speed and G-force is quite a change from the AutoX you're used to. They sure redefine the term pedal to the metal don't they

Sorry you're instuctor cooked your brakes. I make it a priority to not abuse students' car. It's rare I'll go past 70% driving their car (most of time hovering around 50%). Showing them the proper racing line and braking zone is the priority and that does not require smoking the brakes or all out speed. Having said that, the stocker non-Brembo brakes are junks at your level of play. They are just enough to get by for people who haven't autox or tracked before.

Stoptech make slotted rotors for the stocker brakes. Josh has them. As for pads, the Hawk HP+/HPS combo will fair you better. Those are the same setup I was using when my brakes were stock.

btw ... if you could bring the weights Tuesday that's be wonderful.



Clint (THX723)<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by THX723 on 10/03/04 05:35 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

Oh and times are usually posted a week after the event.

Clint (THX723)

 

Mike great meeting you man your quick with that 4 door. Every now and then I see you peeking around my tail making me nervse. Hope to see you again soon

03 6MT Coupe Blk/Blk&gt; Injen CAI, Hotchkis adj Sway Bars, Test Pipes&lt; "Nt G R8D" Aj

 

Mike:
I only ran three sessions. When the yellow group went to grid and started launching for their third run, that lad in the white GTI started to burn going into Cotton Corners, and it was about 3pm. I figured it would take a half hour to clean up, and then another half hour to run the yellow group, then red, so 4:30pm earliest launch for blue and then track closure. That made me think that it was more likely they would run an open session at 4:30, and I was not interested in that, so I packed up and hit the trail. Three good run sessions with times on the third run consistently five seconds better than my previous single best lap time the first time I tracked the car with purpose (Laguna Seca was Clint's introduction for me to driving, and I had no transponder and was just doing laps and getting the feel of the car).
Honestly, my first time at Buttonwillow was mixed, because the track showed how much more I needed to learn and apply to drive quickly. (no autoX experience or solo running either). To come back and really enjoy it, at speeds much faster and smoother running, is a good feeling and encouraging. It really is all about "seat time", and getting the experience, and little by little it comes. There is so much to learn it just cannot all come to you at once, and some things have to be learned before you get to a new level to learn more things.

The Gs acquitted themselves well this Saturday, so it was very nice to see so many of them zipping around the course. They did the community proud.

Cpe 6MT/Aero/Prem/ATI/RT cats/Borla hdrs-catbcks/Nismo flywhl-cltch/TS-ECU/Tein flex EDFC/Stillen sways

 

I know what you mean by little by little it comes to a driver. When I got home that night I went to sleep thinking of how I could have gotten through the various corners faster, if I could've got on the gas earlier at certain ponts and thinking of running with the Red session and passing at alot more places. Not that I would be doing any passing with those guys. Man, there were some real fast lap times in that group by the end of the day. I saw a 1:52 I think.

It was really cool to see everyones lap times drop as they got familiar with the track. I think that alot of people were intimadated by Lost Hill because the instructors telling us of the two people that were killed there. Of course the were driving a old Healy, with no roll bar (not the smartest thing). After I spoke to you Ed I was alot quicker through there. That little bump at the top was one of my favorite parts of the track by the end of the day.

My favorite spot was definitly the carousel and the esses to Sunset. I was flat out at the esses by the end of the day.That section was very fast.



Base 6MT Silver sedan
Stillen Exhaust
Stillen CAI
Eibach Pro Kit
Eibach Sway Bars
Kaaz LSD

 

6Speed and All!

Man that was a complete BLAST!!! First time on the track is a day I will never forget.

Finally I could open it up to my hearts content without having to hold back for anything but my own limits or the cars limits.

I must say it was a very educational experience. I learned a lot about my driving skills and weaknesses and I learned a lot about the cars stregnths and weaknesses.

1) I need to practice smoother/more accurate shifting while under stress. I would occasionally accidentally shift to too high a gear when up or down shifting but this should be easily fixed with more track practice. ;-)

2) I really need to learn how to get the car more into oversteer. This is partially my fault and the stock sport suspensions fault. My front tires are very well chewed.

3) (Which is part of number two.) The car needs swaybar optimization desperatly. I admit I never took VDC off, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the car anywhere close to oversteer. I was always stuck in some varying degree of understeer. If I was lucky I was able to get it in to a neautral steering pitch but it was rare.

4) Most importantly for me, I ran into very serious brake fade by the second and third heat. If I need one mod more than anything else, it is mandatory brake mods. Brake fade of the stock, non Brembos, was seriously slowing me down and even putting me and the car at risk of running right off the track. Luckily, I made it through a few hairy turns with only about 50% braking capasity. Applying all the force I could on the brakes while screaming into a turn I had to rely on a down shift to slow down just enough on entry to barely stay on the track.... =I... WOW.... After a few incidents like this, and with the situation getting progressively worse, I simply had to slow down.

5) Despite the stock sways and brakes, Overall, I give big kudos to the G35 Sedan. It handled awesome on the track. Most other cars cannot do what this humble looking sedan can do. It's a bad *** in disguise and is definitely worthy of running on the track. With some modest brake and suspension mods it is fully track ready.

Sure the engine could be FI'ed but it was my experience that it is already quite sufficent. There is nothing lacking in the HP or TQ department. If you can add more HP that's awesome, but the car doesn't really require it.

It was a lot of fun and I am ready to sign up for it again! Hey it's just more money to spend. Sign me up. I'm there!


2004 G35 6MT Blk/Blk Sedan Stillen Air, Stillen Exhaust

 

Hydrazine,

Your completely correct. The Brake mods are a definite must have. I will be replacing all rotors and pads today. They were toast after my instructor went off at turn 1 our first lap. I'm leaning towards the Stoptech rotors and Hawk HPS or HP Plus pads. I will stay with the stock calipers as I run in STX SCCA AutoX events and they don't allow you to upgrade the calipers, but rotors and pads are OK.

The one mod that I have done that by far I noticed teh most was the Kaaz LSD. Man the car is truly planted with that LSD.

I also noticed, and have seen it on other stock sport suspension G35 sedans is a lot of body roll. The Eibach sways and Eibach Pro kit springs seems to help that quite a bit. I was behind you a couple of times and you have that same body roll as I had before teh sways and springs. The Kaaz LSD also helps keep the car flatter in a turn believe it or not.

I never drive with the VDC on. Well not never, I use it in the rain. I find it to intrusive. I couldn't have run at Buttonwillow with it on for sure. The other problem is that the LSD and the VDC just don't get along. With LSD the wheels want to turn at the same speed and the VDC won't let them slip. So the VDC wants to always turn off the engine. I never once felt like I was out of control or was about to lose control at Buttonwillow. It may have appeared that way, but that's just how I drive.

Base 6MT Silver sedan
Stillen Exhaust
Stillen CAI
Eibach Pro Kit
Eibach Sway Bars
Kaaz LSD

 

A blast that event definitely was. Glad everyone had a great time and was able to get home without breaking anything. It was good meeting all of you guys and chatting it up. Thanks to Clint for organizing this, instructing me, and plain ol putting up with my annoying questions and pleas for help. BTW his 4 corner Stoptech system with the Cobalt race pads were nothing short of amazing! I'm definitely going Stoptech when my skills improve enough to warrant them. Was a bit surprised everyone took off early. I actually ran all 4 sessions and believe it or not they actually finished on schedule a little after 5 pm, even though there were so many delays throughout the day. Learned a lot that day and hopefully I can take that to my next event and improve upon that. Lost Hill a.k.a. Magic Mountain was killing me all day. But other than that I felt I improved as the day went on on all the other parts of the track. Ran conistent low 2:30's by the 3rd and 4th sessions with 2:30 being my best. Not that fast but at least I was improving. The stock GSD tires worked alot better than I had expected but definitely were not ideal. Too skinny at 215 and a stickier tire wouldn't hurt either. Hopefully I will have a dedicated set of 17x8 race wheels and 255 tires for the next time. I'm so glad I switched to the Hawk HP+/HPS combo since I never really experienced fade throughout the whole day. My rotors are just fine as well. I think my tires were giving up before my brakes were in the latter part of each session as the tires were heating up and getting gummy and not stopping as well. All in all a great day and definitely looking forward to the next one.


Darren


04' G35S 6MT Ivory Pearl, Willow, Premium
Z-Tube / NFC Y-Pipe / Custom Mid-Pipe / 350 EVO Rear Sway/ '03 350Z Shocks and Springs

 

Darren,
It was a pleasure sitting in with you and I hope I was of help to you. I like it when a student ask a lot of questions. It shows they were listening. You were doing quite well for the 1st outting, setting up for turns as directed by going wide to the outside then apexing like you're suppose to. Most newbs just want to dive straight for the apex right away.

The Hawk HP+/HPS combo is a good journeyman setup. They'll bite much harder than the stockers and last quite a bit longer. They will eventually fade as well, but much later. At that point, it's a good idea to back off and let the stock rotors and calipers to cool off before something cracks.

Indeed my Stoptechs were insane. Can you believe what you felt was only about 70% effort at best? Later that day, I went out there by myself and got a good taste of 90+% effort and WOW!

For those interested. I do have a set of Hawk HP+/HPS pads that saw only one track event out at Big Willow (last time). They still have 75-80% pads left. For 50 bux ... they're yours. They normally run $130ish + tax and shipping for the entire set. They're obviously no good to me now as I'm on Stoptechs.


Clint (THX723)<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by THX723 on 10/04/04 01:38 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

Clint,

The pleasure was mine and you were of enormous help to me. Can't thank you enough. It felt really great when you showed me how to take a late apex into sunset and sunrise and exit out with some pretty good speed. There's no feeling like actually nailing the corner like you were taught to. Talking about it on paper is one thing but actually going out there and doing it is another. Now it's all about getting out there as much as possible to improve upon the skills learned.

You must be absolutely sh*tting me about the 70% thing because I think I would have soiled my pants if I felt the 90+% effort. Gotta love those Stoptechs. Just plain nasty!


Mike,

I wish I could have gotten a ride with you to see how that Kaaz LSD of yours feels like. Must be much better than a '04 VLSD and infinitely better than an open rear diff. Here's to hoping that Quaife releases a Torsen LSD for our application. You ran some good times as I'm sure your extensive autox experience helped you out.


Darren

04' G35S 6MT Ivory Pearl, Willow, Premium
Z-Tube / NFC Y-Pipe / Custom Mid-Pipe / 350 EVO Rear Sway/ '03 350Z Shocks and Springs

 

Hydrazine,
Thanks for coming out. It looked like you were out there blasting around pretty good too with your muffler less G. Too bad we never got around to take measurements of your custom exhaust. I never even got around setting up my own in car cam this time arournd. Oh well ... there's always a next time.

Until next time.


Clint (THX723)

 

Clint,

Thanks for all the work you did setting this up. It is greatly appreciated.

It seemed there was a lot less time than expected for doing things like muffler measurments and stuff, but yes there will be a next time!

ALL,
Since I have never heard my car from anywhere but the inside the car, what did it sound like while under load on the track?

GOOD?
BAD?
UGLY?

Just for curiosity sake. :P

2004 G35 6MT Blk/Blk Sedan Stillen Air, Stillen Exhaust