JZR's little OTC story
04-14-2003, 11:01 PM
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OTC 2003
The Cars: Technical Specs and Driving Impressions
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Touring 3 #555 Hayashi/Messley/Rhoades
Technical:
#555 is Doug Hayashi's mostly-stock 2001 car frequently campaigned in SpeedVentures events. Prior to OTC it was equipped with a custom rollbar, Cobra race seat, Voodoo shift knob, Comptech CAI, and astraight pipe exhaust behind the stock resonator. Just in time for OTC it was equipped with triple-adjustable Penske shocks and Hypercoil springs, lowering the car about 1". The shocks were custom-valved by Erik Messley to his specifications, using experience from having done a similar setup on Paul Mumford's S2000. Several different rates were tried in testing; since this was performed without the AABAUW the car was intentionally set up quite loose, knowing the wing would balance things out. A front splitter from RM Racing was added, and the car was wired with a cockpit switch and quick disconnects for the wing. Tires are 225/50-16 front 245/45-16 rear Sumitomo HTR-Z's shaved to 2/32". Two sets on stock rims, a third on lightweight JDM wheels of stock dimensions. A fourth set in full tread for between-track commuting and in case of rain. Brakes are stock rotors and calipers with ATE Superblue fluid, Ferodo front and Porterfield R4 rear pads.
Driving Impressions - STREET:
Being used to a stock S2000, the first thing you notice is the seat. A bit harder to get into and out of, it hugs your legs and shoulders all the way around. Non-adjustable in position or rake, the seat proved to be quite comfortable in the 2000+ street miles logged over the course of the week. Upon returning to my car, the stock seat felt like an overstuffed lounge chair way up in the air. The straight-pipe exhaust somehow seemed quiter than my Borla-muffled setup, though it probably was due to its making noise at different frequencies, thus being easier on the ears.
Surprisingly, the EMI-built suspension rode better than stock on the street, even with springs more than twice as stiff as stock. Over all sorts of undulations, dips, and bumps on the freeway, you could feel the suspension working to keep the car planted and stable. The 1/2" of front toe-out made the directional stability "lively", especially over uneven surfaces on the freeway, but by no means unmanageable. I've driven a few other cars with DA Penskes, and been a bit turned off by the harshness of the ride. The combination of triple-adjustability and Messley's magic changed my mind about what one could do with Penske shocks.
Driving Impressions - TRACK:
Rolling onto the track with the same shock settings used for the street, 555 really begins to shine. With the radical front alignment the car turns in very quickly, and immediately takes a set with a minumum of body roll. The race seat and 5-point harness hold you firmly in place, allowing a light fingertip-grip on the wheel. By comparison, my stock car and belt require a significant amount of upper body pushing and torqueing on the wheel to hold myself in place, negating any chance of receiving or interpreting steering feedback. The net result is an extremely communicative and controllable car. Even out in the range of silly slip angles, the suspension never let the car get truly out of shape. The car was very fogiving of ham-fisted inputs, requiring only a mild correction to gather things back in.
Having driven about a dozen S2000s in various states of tune I can say this is by far the best handling one I've experienced in terms of dynamic control, stability, and overall balance. It is unclear how this same suspension setup would translate to DOT-R or slick tires, but I believe it would do so with minimum adjustments. If Doug starts kicking my ass at SpeedVentures events, you'll know why!
It's no wonder EMI-tuned cars consistently do so well - Hayashi's NSX, Mumford's Viper, Mello's 944, and Coffey's 240Z all in the top 10 overall, and Doug's S2000 runaway class winner. The brilliance in setup allowed the ham-fisted (me) to turn some respectable times while at the same time giving the ace (Erik) the ability to extract 100% from the car.
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Unlimited 2 #71 Kennedy/Rhoades
Technical:
#71 is Dave Kennedy's super-tuned beast, having turned tens of thousands of miles on track. Dave has been at the forefront of S2000 modification, tuning, and breakage, finding the limits of each system in the car one piece at a time. Over the last couple years his car has received a Comptech supercharger, Moton coilover suspension, BrakeMan lightweight 2-piece front rotors and rear wave rotors, lightened Toda flywheel, Speed Racing exhaust, Mugen header, racing seat with 5 point harness, 4-point rollbar, hardtop, RM Racing front splitter, and Volk racing wheels. For OTC, Dave went along the same path as Rylan, taking the car to the next level. Out came the window glass, entire interior including dashboard, heater, and stereo. Gone went the bumper supports, AC system, wipers. In went the switch and wiring to actuate the AABAUW.
Heat is a byproduct of power, and when the temps are right, Dave's supercharged car makes about 100hp more than stock. To try and keep oil and coolant temps in this "happy" range throughout the 25 minute track sessions, an external oil cooler and thermostat were added, along with oil pressure and temperature gauges to monitor their effectiveness. After his Laguna incident Dave installed an external high-flow oil filter. Finishing off the system was a 3-quart Accusump to maintain pressure in extended high-g corners. Everything was plumbed with high-end AN fittings.
All the suspension and power in the world won't help you if you don't have traction, and Dave went all out there. Big, meaty 235 front and 265 rear Dunlop slicks were procured in 18" diameters, along with a set of custom-made CCW wheels.
Driving Impressions - STREET:
Wouldn't recommend it, but technically most everything needed is still there - lights, blinkers, windshield, license plate.
Driving Impressions - TRACK:
Stripping the S2000 really wakes it up. Sitting in Dave (or Rylan's) car, one gets the feeling of being in a large metal bathtub on wheels. From the Comptech blower comes an eerie mechanical whine, and all around are gauges and meters showing A/F ratio, oil temp, oil pressure, accusump pressure, in addition to the stock F1-style gauges.
Rolling to pregrid the super-stiff slick tires provide instantaneous response. The clutch pedal is a bit heavier than stock but takeup is nice and predictable due to retention of the stock disk. Once underway the car accelerates fervently, just like a stock S2000. The supercharger doesn't come on boost until past 6000 rpm, with its effects most noticeable in the 7-9k rpm range. The last few hundred RPM before redline go by so quickly in the lower gears it takes some adjustment in shift timing.
The first half of the first lap is taken gently to warm up the tires. The second half the pace is quickened to get the heat into them and try to make the second lap a fast one. The challenge with Dave's car is to get heat into the tires without getting too much heat into the motor, which saps power, while managing traffic at the same time. Most of my fastest laps were the 2nd-5th laps of a session, with nice warm tires and a warm (but not too hot) engine. In the warm afternoon of Las Vegas on April 12, the oil temp climbed to 292 after a series of hot laps, getting way too close to our agreed-upon "do not exceed" temp of 300. A cool-down lap would bring this down 30-40 degrees, but it would climb right back up after another hot lap.
Around the corners the car is blessed with grip, HUGE grip. Early data analysis showed >1.2 steady G's through turns 1 and 2 at Pahrump, on Dave's old, "skinny" Dunlops. As speeds increased the grip only got better and better, with the AABAUW acting like a gigantic invisible hand, pushing the back tires into the ground. Dynamically, Dave's car behaved a bit more like my own when similarly tired at Laguna Seca. With a bit more of a bias towards understeer (especially at high speeds), the car required aggressive input at turn-in to start the rotation. Once underway one keeps the car at the limits between understeer, power oversteer, and inside rear wheelspin. In its inital state the car reacted beautifully in transitions but suffered from the dreaded wheelspin when a bump or curb was encountered in a second, third, and sometimes even 4th gear corner. The car tracks straight and true, following a consistent line over track undulations and other variances, without any aberrant hopping or movement.
The one place I feel Dave's car is let down is in the brakes. The lightweight BrakeMan components provide a significant reduction in unsprung, rotating mass, but IMHO are not up to the task of hauling down this car for extended periods. To start with, brake feel is poor. The lightweight 4-piston calipers have much more piston area than the stock calipers (a good thing) but the downside to this is that they require displacement of greater amounts of fluid for an equivalent amount of pad movement. What this means is that the driver has a good 2-3" of brake pedal travel before the car starts slowing down. And that's on a good day. I managed to boil the fluid just about every session I drove the car. The right front rotor sheared off the hat, the third such incident I've heard of with this system. Piston seals disintegrated. Calipers stuck and seized. This system is probably more than adequate for most people in most situations, but it was simply not up to the challenge Dave and I put upon it. I am thankful the temperatures were cool and mild; if it was hot out we would've been in big trouble.
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The Challenge: 7 Tracks in 7 Days
(Much of the events of the week are well chronicled on the NSX-Files - this is some additional stuff from my perspective)
Day 0: A ride with Messley
Saturday April 5 is designated a test n' tune day at Rupert Bragg-Smith's track, Spring Mountain Motorsports Park, in Pahrump, NV. We hadn't tested Doug's S2000's new suspension yet with the wing. We decide to send Erik out driving with me as passenger; plan is to do some laps with the wing, some without, and see about tuning the suspension. Erik could be considered a professional driver, having competed initally in Solo2 then Solo1, moving up into real roadracing in the ALMS series. In addition he's worked as a test driver and demo driver for special car sales programs. I was looking forward to being his passenger and learning some tricks from him. And learn I did, about 3 corners into the first lap - curbs! He was all over them, every one. Guess I was always a little timid with the curbs, afraid I would hurt my car. Erik didn't have that problem, and his use of curbs effectively widened the track for him by feet, not inches. An important lesson I was thrilled to learn early in the week.
Day 1: A glimpse of things to come
Sunday April 6, day 1 of the OTC in Pahrump. The game plan in Doug's S2000 is to send Erik out first, on my lightweight JDM rims. The combination of our best driver on our best rims at the best time of day would give us the best chance. Erik goes out and runs a low 1:55, and a couple of mid-to-high :55's, easily besting our competition, who can't even get out of the :57's.
After lunch I run Dave's car for my first session in competition. As I go out it's not looking too good, as some dude named Smith is turning :44's in his E36 M3, and Rick White is turning :46's in Wayne Mello's 944 turbo. We were in the :47's and :48's, a bit off the pace. Best I can manage is a :47.5, not really in the groove or driving all that well. At the end of the 3 session I go out in Doug's car, and fall deep into the zone. Everything just came into alignment, and that session I feel was the best I drove all week. I end up turning a low and mid :55 on the heavier stock wheels in the afternoon heat, effectively matching Messley's times in less favorable conditions. Coming in from the session, still "in the zone", I hop out of Doug's car as Dave and Randy (Schatten from the board - thanks a million for all your help through the week dude!) swap the AABAUW from #555 to #71. I go out in Dave's car and was it just me, or was the car really well hooked up? The Hotlapper isn't working right but everything feels good, and I turn some laps I'm happy with, even with the brakes getting softer and softer. Back in the pits afterwards Dave is ecstatic, smiling huge with his hands in the air. Turns out I pulled off a string of 1:45's, putting us ahead of the 944. Maybe we do have a shot at this...
Day 2: Derek Daly 1.8 mile suckitude
Monday the 7th. Short drive from Pahrump the night before. I go out first in Doug's S2000 after our serious routing of the field the day before, and post a 1:35.1, 2 seconds faster than our (sandbagging) competition. The Vegas track is a piece of uninspired poo - like a bad autocross. Dave turns a :26.8 and some :27's in the U2 car, but that punk Smith is turning :24's!
After lunch I go out and experience what I'll call "flapperhead mayhem" as the Ondrack-Salter Fiero pulls some 20+ carlengths on me on the back straight but proceeds to lose it all 2 corners later and hold me up for 3 laps. I still have a lot to learn about session/time management. Dave's car is getting horrific wheelspin, it's hot and I'm just plain driving bad, mustering a best of :27.0. Dave goes out in the last session but it's hot and the track is slower, and he seems to be getting some weird lockup from the right rear...
We get beaten this day by Smith in the M3, the 944, and also the Allan/Allan NSX team, who we later learn had recently taken a 4-day class on this track. Cheating bastards!
In the T3 car the competition sends out the their "good stuff" in the second and third sessions, turning some :34's and :33's. We scramble to send Erik out in the last session, who pulls it off with some low :33's - whew that was close! We are down on grunt to just about every T3 entry excepting the other S2000, and have to make it all up in the corners.
Day 3: Butt on Willow
Didn't do too much on this track, but the wing sure did. Only did one session, in Doug's car. A lot of it is high speed sweepers and transitions, which is just what the S2000 loves, especially with the wing. Erik turns some 2:12s and 2:13, almost a full 5 seconds ahead of the competition. In my first (and only) session on the track I do a :13 and some :14s, still enough to win it. And it was so much fun! I can't wait to get back and re-run the track in that config.
Dave goes out and busts some 2:04s and 2:05s, enough to squeak us past the 944, who spent most of the day fixing their blown head gasket. Yeah for S2000 reliability! Madman hotshoe Smith is turning 2:00's!
Day 4: Diff'rent diffs
This day starts off not too well, as Dave goes out in the first session and proceeds to blow the diff before getting out of pit lane. Uh-oh...He gets towed back in (tow truck tied to the roll bar, since he has no bumper supports for the tow hook) at the end of the session and we verify it's the diff. Hmmm...Dave begins work on taking his diff out. About an hour later things aren't going so well, as bolts are stripping, things aren't moving, and we don't have any laps in yet. Dave politely points out that he's the only one working on things and that they might not get fixed in time. Holy
, he's right! Okay, so what do we do? Comptech is a few hours away, Sacramento has the big Honda parts warehouse...but wait, whose black S2000 is that parked right next to us? Ahhh yes, it's Bobcat Bob's, ringer driver for the Hazelton team (turning 1:58's in Rylan's NA car no less!). Whaddaya say Bob? Bob is sympathetic to our plight and agrees to let us vulturize his car. Within minutes tools and bolts are flying, as Bob's car is in the air getting dissected as Dave works on his. Comptech wonderboy Shad appears (a billion thanks Shad!) and talks us through the removal and installation procedure. He's like a talking service manual that hands you the tools you need - what more could you ask for?! Within an hour or two Dave and I are racing to see who's going to get the diff out first, and it's a near tie. Shad walks us through installation of the working diff, and in less 3 hours from start time, Dave's car is good to go!
Thunderhill is Dave's home track, so he goes out in the afternoon and blasts some 2:00's. Unfortunately conditions are less than prime in the afternoon so he can't catch the 944 running in the :59's or Smith in the :58's. Just as the 944 was hampered the day before, we are hampered today.
T3 remains the status quo; Erik goes out early and rips some fast laps no one can touch. I take Randy in the afternoon heat and am slow. The tires Doug and I have been using are bald and toast. I am reminded how much more fun the track is in the other direction.
Day 5: Blunder at Thunder - Hill, that is
Okay, this one should be fun. Dave and I went to the SpeedVentures practice day at Thill CW a few weeks ago, so we know the track this way. Unfortunately so does Smith, which is bad, because we otherwise might've had a chance to beat him. In the first session I go out on the big 18" Dunlops. In grid is a yellow radical, green radical, Smith in his M3, then me. We start and right away Smith is all over the Radicals, inches off the green's back bumper. In the first lap he gets around both of them and takes off. I'm trying to follow him to watch his line (as he's run this config 5 or 6 times before) - I manage to get past the green radical with a dive-bomb pass into turn 6 on the second lap. I'm now close to the yellow radical, with the green one close behind, and we're freight-training it down the front straight in excess of 130mph on lap 2, trying to keep up with Smith. We brake for turn 15 at the end of the straight, but something isn't right, and I'm not sure what. I try to make the corner at a speed 30-40mph faster than the car was capable of, and shoot off into the grass at a high rate of speed. The lawn surfing goes okay for a while until I touch the brakes or something and start spinning around, still going 70+. Visions of those rollover videos we've all seen on the Internet go flashing through my head as I'm sliding sideways in a long pirouette of a spin. Fortunately my ride eventually came to an end somewhere in the neighborhood of turn 14, and I slowly ease the car back on track. "Damn I suck!" I think to myself, messing up so terribly on just the second lap. Wasn't sure what I did wrong...
Rolling on the asphalt now, turning wheel. Okay good, tires have air, car tracks straight, no vibrations, all is well! Until I brake for turn 12, that is, and the car really wants to turn right. Hmmm...I limp my way back into the pits.
"Something's wrong with the brakes Dave, the car pulls to one side and doesn't want to slow down"
"Hmmm...well they look okay to me, try going back out for some flyers"
I know the first session is our best window of opportunity for some good laps as it's nice and cool, so I go back out. But something is definitely wrong, as the car just doesn't want to slow. Somehow I manage some 2:05's (still 7 seconds off the pace) with barely functional brakes. I can smell crazy brake smoke and feel lockup coming from somewhere. After a couple laps of this I decide enough is enough and come in early. Dave and I jack up the car and begin theorizing
"Boiled fluid in the left front caliper?"
"Dirt and grass under the pads from the off?"
Our question is answered when we pull the right front wheel off, which happens to not be at all hot. The rotor is sitting not quite concentric to the hub...
Turns out the 8 bolts that hold the 2-piece hat and rotor together completely sheared off. Some of the tabs on the rotor holding the bolts also went.
I am thankful there is no wall on the outside of 14 and 15 at Thunderhill.
Randy runs all around Willows trying to get sheared off bolts EZ-outed while Dave rebuilds calipers. Stupid me goes to town for lunch in the T3 S2000 with the wing on it. Dave got things fixed earlier than expected and went out in the third heat turning some 2:05s without the wing. Hmmm...that's the same as I turned with no brakes.
I return from BK and we put the wing on Dave's car. Rick and Wayne are supposed to have left for the 400+ mile tow to Willow, but they're sticking around to see what Dave runs. The track is near empty and the temps have cooled way down - Dave turns a 2:02, 2:01, and bam, a 1:59! Next lap is a real flyer, easily a low :59, and he gets caught behind a yellow M3. Still a 2:00 flat, putting us ahead of the 944 yet again. Dave is running >5 seconds faster now that he's got the AABAUW...
Day 6: Big Bad Willow Springs
"The Fastest Track in the West" - the reference track, the one everybody uses as a benchmark. First time there best I could do was a 1:40 with a very loose car in 109 degree heat. That day included losing it at 115 in turn 8, and a triple tankslapper coming out of 9. The drive home that day had me thinking deeply about wings. Next time was a 1:37 with the AABAUW on corded Hoosiers in good weather.
Up to this point Erik had been leaving the wing in the downforce position, not flattening it for the straights. Hell, he was kicking ass with it fixed, so why change that. I finally convince him to start actuating it at Willow, since it has some long high speed sections; if there's a track where flattening the wing will help, it's here, and Erik is the only one good/consistent enough to properly evaluate the contribution of active aero to laptimes. First session out Erik turns a 1:35 in the S2000 - on our street tires! He estimates it's worth about 6 tenths at Willow, and his best few laps were attained by flattening the wing. Considering a $5k supercharger is only worth 1-1.5 seconds on the track, an extra $500 for 6 tenths doesn't seem too bad...
I run a morning session on Dave's shorter, narrower Dunlops and do a :29.x. I am at redline in 5th gear before braking for turn 9, and entering turn 8 at 134mph (indicated), flat out the whole way through. My initial calculations showed the wing produces >400 pounds of downforce at that speed. The wing was conceived in Turn 8, and I was happy to have it through there.
We get new 18" Dunlops mounted on the CCW rims to see if they're faster. Dave has only been here once before (if there's any track I've been too that demands experience, it's Willow) and turns a :29 scrubbing in the new tires. I go out in Doug's S2000 and do a :37, matching my Hoosier time with these Sumitomos. Come in, swap wing, go back out on big Dunlops, and manage a :27.9 with a pass and some low :28s. There was a ton more time in the car (see video below) but that's all I could come up with. Stiil, I have a feeling that :27 will stand for some time as the S2000 record, at least until next year's OTC.
Day 7: Final showdown in Vegas
Dave and I go into the last day of competition 5 points behind the Mello/White 944 in class competition. We really need to beat them today. I start thinking about this track, and how there's only 1 high speed corner, and not much high speed action. Hmmm...maybe if we take the hardtop and wing off, the weight savings will overcome the reduction in aero. I go out in the Cobra-style S2000 and best I can do is a :26.7. Smith is running in the mid-to-high :24's again, and White/Mello are turning mid :25's. Dangit. Dave decides to let me try again; this time I go out with hardtop and no wing. Wheelspin is horrendous everywhere, I have to count to 2 before putting down out of every corner. Also having to brake for the high speed right hander, killing my speed there. This session I fail to get faster and decide to come in early.
I find out we are running a ton of rebound in the rear, 13/16 clicks. This setting worked great for the previous tracks, but is sucking here. We turn the rebound down to 5/16 in the hopes the car will put the power down better. We also bolt the wing on and out I go for the last and final session of the event. The car is massively improved, and I manage to turn a :25.0 and a couple low :25's. This barely edges out Wayne and Rick for second today and thus secures us the hotly-contested second place in U2. Got to within 4 tenths of Smith's time, the closest we'd been all week, and that with a badly sticking left front brake caliper. There was definitely more time in the car, as evidenced by the video. For that, there's always next year...
On this day we didn't win T3 for the first time, falling by a few tenths to the Audi and E30 M3. It's okay though, as we had such a huge lead going in we could've parked it and still won.
Some videos:
Pahrump in the T3 S2000
Willow Springs in the U2 S2000
Derek Daly at LVMS in the U2 S2000
:edit: videos moved to free host - thanks Ry!
#71 Kennedy/Rhoades S2000 2nd place U2, 7th place overall, S2000 Cup champions, winner of the Rick White "it's a piece of shit" Hot Wheels award
#555 Hayashi/Messley/Rhoades S2000 1st Place T3
The Cars: Technical Specs and Driving Impressions
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Touring 3 #555 Hayashi/Messley/Rhoades
Technical:
#555 is Doug Hayashi's mostly-stock 2001 car frequently campaigned in SpeedVentures events. Prior to OTC it was equipped with a custom rollbar, Cobra race seat, Voodoo shift knob, Comptech CAI, and astraight pipe exhaust behind the stock resonator. Just in time for OTC it was equipped with triple-adjustable Penske shocks and Hypercoil springs, lowering the car about 1". The shocks were custom-valved by Erik Messley to his specifications, using experience from having done a similar setup on Paul Mumford's S2000. Several different rates were tried in testing; since this was performed without the AABAUW the car was intentionally set up quite loose, knowing the wing would balance things out. A front splitter from RM Racing was added, and the car was wired with a cockpit switch and quick disconnects for the wing. Tires are 225/50-16 front 245/45-16 rear Sumitomo HTR-Z's shaved to 2/32". Two sets on stock rims, a third on lightweight JDM wheels of stock dimensions. A fourth set in full tread for between-track commuting and in case of rain. Brakes are stock rotors and calipers with ATE Superblue fluid, Ferodo front and Porterfield R4 rear pads.
Driving Impressions - STREET:
Being used to a stock S2000, the first thing you notice is the seat. A bit harder to get into and out of, it hugs your legs and shoulders all the way around. Non-adjustable in position or rake, the seat proved to be quite comfortable in the 2000+ street miles logged over the course of the week. Upon returning to my car, the stock seat felt like an overstuffed lounge chair way up in the air. The straight-pipe exhaust somehow seemed quiter than my Borla-muffled setup, though it probably was due to its making noise at different frequencies, thus being easier on the ears.
Surprisingly, the EMI-built suspension rode better than stock on the street, even with springs more than twice as stiff as stock. Over all sorts of undulations, dips, and bumps on the freeway, you could feel the suspension working to keep the car planted and stable. The 1/2" of front toe-out made the directional stability "lively", especially over uneven surfaces on the freeway, but by no means unmanageable. I've driven a few other cars with DA Penskes, and been a bit turned off by the harshness of the ride. The combination of triple-adjustability and Messley's magic changed my mind about what one could do with Penske shocks.
Driving Impressions - TRACK:
Rolling onto the track with the same shock settings used for the street, 555 really begins to shine. With the radical front alignment the car turns in very quickly, and immediately takes a set with a minumum of body roll. The race seat and 5-point harness hold you firmly in place, allowing a light fingertip-grip on the wheel. By comparison, my stock car and belt require a significant amount of upper body pushing and torqueing on the wheel to hold myself in place, negating any chance of receiving or interpreting steering feedback. The net result is an extremely communicative and controllable car. Even out in the range of silly slip angles, the suspension never let the car get truly out of shape. The car was very fogiving of ham-fisted inputs, requiring only a mild correction to gather things back in.
Having driven about a dozen S2000s in various states of tune I can say this is by far the best handling one I've experienced in terms of dynamic control, stability, and overall balance. It is unclear how this same suspension setup would translate to DOT-R or slick tires, but I believe it would do so with minimum adjustments. If Doug starts kicking my ass at SpeedVentures events, you'll know why!
It's no wonder EMI-tuned cars consistently do so well - Hayashi's NSX, Mumford's Viper, Mello's 944, and Coffey's 240Z all in the top 10 overall, and Doug's S2000 runaway class winner. The brilliance in setup allowed the ham-fisted (me) to turn some respectable times while at the same time giving the ace (Erik) the ability to extract 100% from the car.--------------------------------------
Unlimited 2 #71 Kennedy/Rhoades
Technical:
#71 is Dave Kennedy's super-tuned beast, having turned tens of thousands of miles on track. Dave has been at the forefront of S2000 modification, tuning, and breakage, finding the limits of each system in the car one piece at a time. Over the last couple years his car has received a Comptech supercharger, Moton coilover suspension, BrakeMan lightweight 2-piece front rotors and rear wave rotors, lightened Toda flywheel, Speed Racing exhaust, Mugen header, racing seat with 5 point harness, 4-point rollbar, hardtop, RM Racing front splitter, and Volk racing wheels. For OTC, Dave went along the same path as Rylan, taking the car to the next level. Out came the window glass, entire interior including dashboard, heater, and stereo. Gone went the bumper supports, AC system, wipers. In went the switch and wiring to actuate the AABAUW.
Heat is a byproduct of power, and when the temps are right, Dave's supercharged car makes about 100hp more than stock. To try and keep oil and coolant temps in this "happy" range throughout the 25 minute track sessions, an external oil cooler and thermostat were added, along with oil pressure and temperature gauges to monitor their effectiveness. After his Laguna incident Dave installed an external high-flow oil filter. Finishing off the system was a 3-quart Accusump to maintain pressure in extended high-g corners. Everything was plumbed with high-end AN fittings.
All the suspension and power in the world won't help you if you don't have traction, and Dave went all out there. Big, meaty 235 front and 265 rear Dunlop slicks were procured in 18" diameters, along with a set of custom-made CCW wheels.
Driving Impressions - STREET:
Wouldn't recommend it, but technically most everything needed is still there - lights, blinkers, windshield, license plate.
Driving Impressions - TRACK:
Stripping the S2000 really wakes it up. Sitting in Dave (or Rylan's) car, one gets the feeling of being in a large metal bathtub on wheels. From the Comptech blower comes an eerie mechanical whine, and all around are gauges and meters showing A/F ratio, oil temp, oil pressure, accusump pressure, in addition to the stock F1-style gauges.
Rolling to pregrid the super-stiff slick tires provide instantaneous response. The clutch pedal is a bit heavier than stock but takeup is nice and predictable due to retention of the stock disk. Once underway the car accelerates fervently, just like a stock S2000. The supercharger doesn't come on boost until past 6000 rpm, with its effects most noticeable in the 7-9k rpm range. The last few hundred RPM before redline go by so quickly in the lower gears it takes some adjustment in shift timing.
The first half of the first lap is taken gently to warm up the tires. The second half the pace is quickened to get the heat into them and try to make the second lap a fast one. The challenge with Dave's car is to get heat into the tires without getting too much heat into the motor, which saps power, while managing traffic at the same time. Most of my fastest laps were the 2nd-5th laps of a session, with nice warm tires and a warm (but not too hot) engine. In the warm afternoon of Las Vegas on April 12, the oil temp climbed to 292 after a series of hot laps, getting way too close to our agreed-upon "do not exceed" temp of 300. A cool-down lap would bring this down 30-40 degrees, but it would climb right back up after another hot lap.
Around the corners the car is blessed with grip, HUGE grip. Early data analysis showed >1.2 steady G's through turns 1 and 2 at Pahrump, on Dave's old, "skinny" Dunlops. As speeds increased the grip only got better and better, with the AABAUW acting like a gigantic invisible hand, pushing the back tires into the ground. Dynamically, Dave's car behaved a bit more like my own when similarly tired at Laguna Seca. With a bit more of a bias towards understeer (especially at high speeds), the car required aggressive input at turn-in to start the rotation. Once underway one keeps the car at the limits between understeer, power oversteer, and inside rear wheelspin. In its inital state the car reacted beautifully in transitions but suffered from the dreaded wheelspin when a bump or curb was encountered in a second, third, and sometimes even 4th gear corner. The car tracks straight and true, following a consistent line over track undulations and other variances, without any aberrant hopping or movement.
The one place I feel Dave's car is let down is in the brakes. The lightweight BrakeMan components provide a significant reduction in unsprung, rotating mass, but IMHO are not up to the task of hauling down this car for extended periods. To start with, brake feel is poor. The lightweight 4-piston calipers have much more piston area than the stock calipers (a good thing) but the downside to this is that they require displacement of greater amounts of fluid for an equivalent amount of pad movement. What this means is that the driver has a good 2-3" of brake pedal travel before the car starts slowing down. And that's on a good day. I managed to boil the fluid just about every session I drove the car. The right front rotor sheared off the hat, the third such incident I've heard of with this system. Piston seals disintegrated. Calipers stuck and seized. This system is probably more than adequate for most people in most situations, but it was simply not up to the challenge Dave and I put upon it. I am thankful the temperatures were cool and mild; if it was hot out we would've been in big trouble.
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The Challenge: 7 Tracks in 7 Days
(Much of the events of the week are well chronicled on the NSX-Files - this is some additional stuff from my perspective)
Day 0: A ride with Messley
Saturday April 5 is designated a test n' tune day at Rupert Bragg-Smith's track, Spring Mountain Motorsports Park, in Pahrump, NV. We hadn't tested Doug's S2000's new suspension yet with the wing. We decide to send Erik out driving with me as passenger; plan is to do some laps with the wing, some without, and see about tuning the suspension. Erik could be considered a professional driver, having competed initally in Solo2 then Solo1, moving up into real roadracing in the ALMS series. In addition he's worked as a test driver and demo driver for special car sales programs. I was looking forward to being his passenger and learning some tricks from him. And learn I did, about 3 corners into the first lap - curbs! He was all over them, every one. Guess I was always a little timid with the curbs, afraid I would hurt my car. Erik didn't have that problem, and his use of curbs effectively widened the track for him by feet, not inches. An important lesson I was thrilled to learn early in the week.
Day 1: A glimpse of things to come
Sunday April 6, day 1 of the OTC in Pahrump. The game plan in Doug's S2000 is to send Erik out first, on my lightweight JDM rims. The combination of our best driver on our best rims at the best time of day would give us the best chance. Erik goes out and runs a low 1:55, and a couple of mid-to-high :55's, easily besting our competition, who can't even get out of the :57's.
After lunch I run Dave's car for my first session in competition. As I go out it's not looking too good, as some dude named Smith is turning :44's in his E36 M3, and Rick White is turning :46's in Wayne Mello's 944 turbo. We were in the :47's and :48's, a bit off the pace. Best I can manage is a :47.5, not really in the groove or driving all that well. At the end of the 3 session I go out in Doug's car, and fall deep into the zone. Everything just came into alignment, and that session I feel was the best I drove all week. I end up turning a low and mid :55 on the heavier stock wheels in the afternoon heat, effectively matching Messley's times in less favorable conditions. Coming in from the session, still "in the zone", I hop out of Doug's car as Dave and Randy (Schatten from the board - thanks a million for all your help through the week dude!) swap the AABAUW from #555 to #71. I go out in Dave's car and was it just me, or was the car really well hooked up? The Hotlapper isn't working right but everything feels good, and I turn some laps I'm happy with, even with the brakes getting softer and softer. Back in the pits afterwards Dave is ecstatic, smiling huge with his hands in the air. Turns out I pulled off a string of 1:45's, putting us ahead of the 944. Maybe we do have a shot at this...
Day 2: Derek Daly 1.8 mile suckitude
Monday the 7th. Short drive from Pahrump the night before. I go out first in Doug's S2000 after our serious routing of the field the day before, and post a 1:35.1, 2 seconds faster than our (sandbagging) competition. The Vegas track is a piece of uninspired poo - like a bad autocross. Dave turns a :26.8 and some :27's in the U2 car, but that punk Smith is turning :24's!
After lunch I go out and experience what I'll call "flapperhead mayhem" as the Ondrack-Salter Fiero pulls some 20+ carlengths on me on the back straight but proceeds to lose it all 2 corners later and hold me up for 3 laps. I still have a lot to learn about session/time management. Dave's car is getting horrific wheelspin, it's hot and I'm just plain driving bad, mustering a best of :27.0. Dave goes out in the last session but it's hot and the track is slower, and he seems to be getting some weird lockup from the right rear...We get beaten this day by Smith in the M3, the 944, and also the Allan/Allan NSX team, who we later learn had recently taken a 4-day class on this track. Cheating bastards!
In the T3 car the competition sends out the their "good stuff" in the second and third sessions, turning some :34's and :33's. We scramble to send Erik out in the last session, who pulls it off with some low :33's - whew that was close! We are down on grunt to just about every T3 entry excepting the other S2000, and have to make it all up in the corners.Day 3: Butt on Willow
Didn't do too much on this track, but the wing sure did. Only did one session, in Doug's car. A lot of it is high speed sweepers and transitions, which is just what the S2000 loves, especially with the wing. Erik turns some 2:12s and 2:13, almost a full 5 seconds ahead of the competition. In my first (and only) session on the track I do a :13 and some :14s, still enough to win it. And it was so much fun! I can't wait to get back and re-run the track in that config.
Dave goes out and busts some 2:04s and 2:05s, enough to squeak us past the 944, who spent most of the day fixing their blown head gasket. Yeah for S2000 reliability! Madman hotshoe Smith is turning 2:00's!
Day 4: Diff'rent diffs
This day starts off not too well, as Dave goes out in the first session and proceeds to blow the diff before getting out of pit lane. Uh-oh...He gets towed back in (tow truck tied to the roll bar, since he has no bumper supports for the tow hook) at the end of the session and we verify it's the diff. Hmmm...Dave begins work on taking his diff out. About an hour later things aren't going so well, as bolts are stripping, things aren't moving, and we don't have any laps in yet. Dave politely points out that he's the only one working on things and that they might not get fixed in time. Holy
, he's right! Okay, so what do we do? Comptech is a few hours away, Sacramento has the big Honda parts warehouse...but wait, whose black S2000 is that parked right next to us? Ahhh yes, it's Bobcat Bob's, ringer driver for the Hazelton team (turning 1:58's in Rylan's NA car no less!). Whaddaya say Bob? Bob is sympathetic to our plight and agrees to let us vulturize his car. Within minutes tools and bolts are flying, as Bob's car is in the air getting dissected as Dave works on his. Comptech wonderboy Shad appears (a billion thanks Shad!) and talks us through the removal and installation procedure. He's like a talking service manual that hands you the tools you need - what more could you ask for?! Within an hour or two Dave and I are racing to see who's going to get the diff out first, and it's a near tie. Shad walks us through installation of the working diff, and in less 3 hours from start time, Dave's car is good to go!Thunderhill is Dave's home track, so he goes out in the afternoon and blasts some 2:00's. Unfortunately conditions are less than prime in the afternoon so he can't catch the 944 running in the :59's or Smith in the :58's. Just as the 944 was hampered the day before, we are hampered today.
T3 remains the status quo; Erik goes out early and rips some fast laps no one can touch. I take Randy in the afternoon heat and am slow. The tires Doug and I have been using are bald and toast. I am reminded how much more fun the track is in the other direction.
Day 5: Blunder at Thunder - Hill, that is
Okay, this one should be fun. Dave and I went to the SpeedVentures practice day at Thill CW a few weeks ago, so we know the track this way. Unfortunately so does Smith, which is bad, because we otherwise might've had a chance to beat him. In the first session I go out on the big 18" Dunlops. In grid is a yellow radical, green radical, Smith in his M3, then me. We start and right away Smith is all over the Radicals, inches off the green's back bumper. In the first lap he gets around both of them and takes off. I'm trying to follow him to watch his line (as he's run this config 5 or 6 times before) - I manage to get past the green radical with a dive-bomb pass into turn 6 on the second lap. I'm now close to the yellow radical, with the green one close behind, and we're freight-training it down the front straight in excess of 130mph on lap 2, trying to keep up with Smith. We brake for turn 15 at the end of the straight, but something isn't right, and I'm not sure what. I try to make the corner at a speed 30-40mph faster than the car was capable of, and shoot off into the grass at a high rate of speed. The lawn surfing goes okay for a while until I touch the brakes or something and start spinning around, still going 70+. Visions of those rollover videos we've all seen on the Internet go flashing through my head as I'm sliding sideways in a long pirouette of a spin. Fortunately my ride eventually came to an end somewhere in the neighborhood of turn 14, and I slowly ease the car back on track. "Damn I suck!" I think to myself, messing up so terribly on just the second lap. Wasn't sure what I did wrong...
Rolling on the asphalt now, turning wheel. Okay good, tires have air, car tracks straight, no vibrations, all is well! Until I brake for turn 12, that is, and the car really wants to turn right. Hmmm...I limp my way back into the pits.
"Something's wrong with the brakes Dave, the car pulls to one side and doesn't want to slow down"
"Hmmm...well they look okay to me, try going back out for some flyers"
I know the first session is our best window of opportunity for some good laps as it's nice and cool, so I go back out. But something is definitely wrong, as the car just doesn't want to slow. Somehow I manage some 2:05's (still 7 seconds off the pace) with barely functional brakes. I can smell crazy brake smoke and feel lockup coming from somewhere. After a couple laps of this I decide enough is enough and come in early. Dave and I jack up the car and begin theorizing
"Boiled fluid in the left front caliper?"
"Dirt and grass under the pads from the off?"
Our question is answered when we pull the right front wheel off, which happens to not be at all hot. The rotor is sitting not quite concentric to the hub...
Turns out the 8 bolts that hold the 2-piece hat and rotor together completely sheared off. Some of the tabs on the rotor holding the bolts also went.
I am thankful there is no wall on the outside of 14 and 15 at Thunderhill.
Randy runs all around Willows trying to get sheared off bolts EZ-outed while Dave rebuilds calipers. Stupid me goes to town for lunch in the T3 S2000 with the wing on it. Dave got things fixed earlier than expected and went out in the third heat turning some 2:05s without the wing. Hmmm...that's the same as I turned with no brakes.
I return from BK and we put the wing on Dave's car. Rick and Wayne are supposed to have left for the 400+ mile tow to Willow, but they're sticking around to see what Dave runs. The track is near empty and the temps have cooled way down - Dave turns a 2:02, 2:01, and bam, a 1:59! Next lap is a real flyer, easily a low :59, and he gets caught behind a yellow M3. Still a 2:00 flat, putting us ahead of the 944 yet again. Dave is running >5 seconds faster now that he's got the AABAUW...
Day 6: Big Bad Willow Springs
"The Fastest Track in the West" - the reference track, the one everybody uses as a benchmark. First time there best I could do was a 1:40 with a very loose car in 109 degree heat. That day included losing it at 115 in turn 8, and a triple tankslapper coming out of 9. The drive home that day had me thinking deeply about wings. Next time was a 1:37 with the AABAUW on corded Hoosiers in good weather.
Up to this point Erik had been leaving the wing in the downforce position, not flattening it for the straights. Hell, he was kicking ass with it fixed, so why change that. I finally convince him to start actuating it at Willow, since it has some long high speed sections; if there's a track where flattening the wing will help, it's here, and Erik is the only one good/consistent enough to properly evaluate the contribution of active aero to laptimes. First session out Erik turns a 1:35 in the S2000 - on our street tires! He estimates it's worth about 6 tenths at Willow, and his best few laps were attained by flattening the wing. Considering a $5k supercharger is only worth 1-1.5 seconds on the track, an extra $500 for 6 tenths doesn't seem too bad...
I run a morning session on Dave's shorter, narrower Dunlops and do a :29.x. I am at redline in 5th gear before braking for turn 9, and entering turn 8 at 134mph (indicated), flat out the whole way through. My initial calculations showed the wing produces >400 pounds of downforce at that speed. The wing was conceived in Turn 8, and I was happy to have it through there.
We get new 18" Dunlops mounted on the CCW rims to see if they're faster. Dave has only been here once before (if there's any track I've been too that demands experience, it's Willow) and turns a :29 scrubbing in the new tires. I go out in Doug's S2000 and do a :37, matching my Hoosier time with these Sumitomos. Come in, swap wing, go back out on big Dunlops, and manage a :27.9 with a pass and some low :28s. There was a ton more time in the car (see video below) but that's all I could come up with. Stiil, I have a feeling that :27 will stand for some time as the S2000 record, at least until next year's OTC.
Day 7: Final showdown in Vegas
Dave and I go into the last day of competition 5 points behind the Mello/White 944 in class competition. We really need to beat them today. I start thinking about this track, and how there's only 1 high speed corner, and not much high speed action. Hmmm...maybe if we take the hardtop and wing off, the weight savings will overcome the reduction in aero. I go out in the Cobra-style S2000 and best I can do is a :26.7. Smith is running in the mid-to-high :24's again, and White/Mello are turning mid :25's. Dangit. Dave decides to let me try again; this time I go out with hardtop and no wing. Wheelspin is horrendous everywhere, I have to count to 2 before putting down out of every corner. Also having to brake for the high speed right hander, killing my speed there. This session I fail to get faster and decide to come in early.
I find out we are running a ton of rebound in the rear, 13/16 clicks. This setting worked great for the previous tracks, but is sucking here. We turn the rebound down to 5/16 in the hopes the car will put the power down better. We also bolt the wing on and out I go for the last and final session of the event. The car is massively improved, and I manage to turn a :25.0 and a couple low :25's. This barely edges out Wayne and Rick for second today and thus secures us the hotly-contested second place in U2. Got to within 4 tenths of Smith's time, the closest we'd been all week, and that with a badly sticking left front brake caliper. There was definitely more time in the car, as evidenced by the video. For that, there's always next year...
On this day we didn't win T3 for the first time, falling by a few tenths to the Audi and E30 M3. It's okay though, as we had such a huge lead going in we could've parked it and still won.
Some videos:
Pahrump in the T3 S2000
Willow Springs in the U2 S2000
Derek Daly at LVMS in the U2 S2000
:edit: videos moved to free host - thanks Ry!
#71 Kennedy/Rhoades S2000 2nd place U2, 7th place overall, S2000 Cup champions, winner of the Rick White "it's a piece of shit" Hot Wheels award
#555 Hayashi/Messley/Rhoades S2000 1st Place T3
04-15-2003, 12:22 PM
#5
Former Moderator
Thanks Jason. I really enjoyed that. It sounds like OTC was a blast but wow what a commitment, not just in time, but in preparation, materials, and on the fly fixing.
04-15-2003, 02:45 PM
#7
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Good read, jzr!
Does Dave's car have front brake ducting?
Do you think a contributing factor to brake overheating is the increased front bias with the multipistoned front and wave rotor rear?
Does Dave's car have front brake ducting?
Do you think a contributing factor to brake overheating is the increased front bias with the multipistoned front and wave rotor rear?
