Cobra setup for tracking - Page 3

sspano01 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-22-2012, 07:19 PM

too funny about the vette driver! i think you have to do this just for fun for the most part. i think as long as i feel like I am improving and learning, i am doing good. if i can pass a few cars every now and then - all the better....but there are some really good drivers out there!

DAVID GAGNARD · #2 (**permalink**) 07-22-2012, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sspano01

too funny about the vette driver! i think you have to do this just for fun for the most part. i think as long as i feel like I am improving and learning, i am doing good. if i can pass a few cars every now and then - all the better....but there are some really good drivers out there!

You start out doing it just for fun and all is good, then one day,you think to yourself,man,I really like doing this and maybe I should take it to the next level and race competitively.......
Then you look for a race car or build your own and your hooked and begin racing........it's kinda like drugs, a dope addict starts off small, taking pills and what not,when that doesn't suffice, they move on to bigger more addicting drugs,before they know it, they are a full blown junkie..........
Pretty much the same with tracking your car........so,I say to you,stop right now, quit while your ahead and stil have a few dollars in your pocket,because I know for a fact,if you stay in it long enough, you'll just about go broke!!!!!!

But you'll never have more fun doing anything else!!!!!!!!!

David

sspano01 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-28-2012, 08:34 PM

hi, just to update in case some people are looking up this info in the future....

i have pretty much completed the changes on my Cobra and am now ready for my next 2 track days coming up Monday/Tuesday.

My latest set of changes include
1) Canton 460 ford 7.5" low-profile baffled road race pan, which also requires a new oil pump, pickup, mounting stud for the pickup. All available at canton.
2) Moroso 3-quart accumulator, 25psi solenoid charge/discharge valve, and new twist-loc plumbing
3) 295/50/15 and 265/60/15 AVON CR6ZZ series tires
4) lateral support to roll bar, head rest bar added to the driver/passenger rear loop
5) flaming river mustang II power steering rack. requires a special coupler because it is NOT a splined input shaft, it is some weird triangle/pyramid input shaft.

flaming river rack was a last minute item....while i was doing some work on it. i noticed that the front wheels were not pointing the same way. come to find out the existing steering rack had some 1/4" slop on both inner tie-rods!!! I figured I should replace that before taking it back on the track. The rack I was using was just a 'remanufactured' mustang II rack, probably not the ideal one for track events I suppose.

At any rate, i took the car out today on my 'street test track' for about 30 minutes today.

Whatever people say about the AVON's....i think they are right! The combination of the new springs, shocks, corner balancing, AVON's, and the flaming river rack makes the car drive/handle/feel like my wife's fancy BMW, or my friend's Z06 corvette, except with more torque

This little car has gone through quite a change over the last 6 weeks and I am very excited to get it back on the track and ..carefully.. build up lap after lap.

sspano01 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-28-2012, 08:39 PM

and if I can keep up with the Miata's and the Volkwagon GTI now - I'll be really happy :P

but i think that is more my skill level at issue in that respect

sspano01 · #5 (**permalink**) 07-31-2012, 07:04 PM

well! to follow up on my posts, what a difference!
i was not trying to hit crazy high speeds, and really 105-110 is plenty fast for me.

those avon tires, for 15 inch, are outstanding! it took maybe 2 runs (30 laps or so) to get the tires broken in or something. the first run out, they were swishy, and most of that went away after the 2nd or 3rd run group.

the canton oil pan and the accumulator, worked flawlessly! i had near 60psi around the entire track. no more bottoming to zero on the oil gauge!

the suspension changes were still working well and they matched the tires nicely. the car's capabilities are now definately above mine. so now i can practice more with it and work on building another dedicated track car so as I improve over the next 1-2 years, I am not risking my little cobra all the time.

one shot of a run
watkins 073012 0248 - YouTube

a pic right before going to the track - and it still looks like this

cobra-072912 by sspano01, on Flickr

** THANKS AGAIN FOR THE COMMENTS AND SUPPORT **
** I APPRECIATE IT **

DAVID GAGNARD · #6 (**permalink**) 07-31-2012, 09:04 PM

Quote:

the suspension changes were still working well and they matched the tires nicely. the car's capabilities are now definately above mine. so now i can practice more with it and work on building another dedicated track car so as I improve over the next 1-2 years, I am not risking my little cobra all the time.

Nicely done............little changes can mean a lot as you've just found out......

BTW: you are now officialy screwed!!!!!!

Already looking for a track car,yep, your screwed!!!!!!!!!!

David

sspano01 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-01-2012, 08:15 AM

thanks! now i will work on practing and try to hit a few more track events.

and yes, i am screwed! this is totally more fun than just going to car shows :P

SwiftDB4 · #8 (**permalink**) 08-01-2012, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sspano01

thanks! now i will work on practing and try to hit a few more track events.

and yes, i am screwed! this is totally more fun than just going to car shows :P

If you want an even bigger adrenaline rush move up to full on wheel to wheel racing. That's a total drug addiction (and huge money pit) !

DAVID GAGNARD · #9 (**permalink**) 08-01-2012, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sspano01

thanks! now i will work on practing and try to hit a few more track events.

and yes, i am screwed! this is totally more fun than just going to car shows :P

been there,done that.........restored a 65 Mustang Fastback to look like a 65 GT-350, hit the car shows for the first 2 years,rarely drove it, that got old, so I then began drag racing it for 2 or 3 years and driving it more, more fun.
then hit a road course with it, mucho more fun.....got bit by the bug......
then found a 65 Mustang coupe and built a road racer out of it and have been doing that for the last 9 years.........

David

sspano01 · #10 (**permalink**) 08-01-2012, 11:41 AM

i'll bet a huge money pit !
i dont want to wheel-to-wheel my little cobra though - i love it too much :O

Hence, i need to start thinking about a future track car. I hear Factory Five makes a nice Daytona coupe!

sspano01 · #11 (**permalink**) 08-01-2012, 06:35 PM

i was looking at your 65 coupe! i have a 66 convertible and was thinking of a 1st gen mustang. i'd like a fastback, but they are soooo overpriced for even a basket case. the coupe's are much better priced. saw one for $1200!

sspano01 · #12 (**permalink**) 09-04-2012, 07:34 PM

well! looks like things are improving further!!
i've now been back to watkins again, went to mosport, pocono, and back to watkins again 9/3 and 9/4. heading to NJMP Lightning this weekend - probably my last DE event for the year - everything else falls near birthdays/anniversary/etc.

i've gotten my track time at Watkins Glen down nearly 40 seconds from when I started at the beginning of June. I ran a slow 3:15, and today I got a 2:35 lap! I'll be shooting for 2:25 next, but i need to work alot more on carrying speed. its amazing that even with the amount of power my cobra has, it is still hard to pickup 'lost' speed that you scrub off in a corner.

Here is one run from yesterday, 2:38 i think.

IMG 1331 - YouTube

I was running my app in "timer mode" so I could see my lap-to-lap comparisons on the dashboard today as I crossed the start/finish line each lap. Even had the Cobra up to 121mph on the back straight at Watkins :O

Tommy · #13 (**permalink**) 09-04-2012, 08:28 PM

Your camera mount left me feeling a little shaken, but I enjoyed the sound.

sspano01 · #14 (**permalink**) 10-07-2012, 06:37 PM

Holy crow!
So....as I kept improving with the Cobra this year and making more changes to it to make it better at track days. I kept raising the bar and getting more confident....

I signed up for the SCCA Drivers School at Watkins Glen and rented an SCCA Legal Spec Racer Ford. It looked like a fun car, and it was a Ford

But I wondered - would it be scary? How would it handle? Only having 100 hp but weighing in at a mere 1600 pounds, would it be fast?

WOW!!! What an awesome race car! 100% on my must purchase list now before next season.

Anyway, I ran the drivers school - finished 1st place in my group and 3rd overall out of 12 cars. I had the pole position for my group which was cool

I got signed off too on my first drivers school!!

Ran the regional race on October 6 - and oh-my-gosh! It make track/HPDE seem so tame

What a great time.
I qualified 10th place, then during the race - someone blew their engine right in front of me and i got sprayed with smoke/oil and took a really lousy turn #1 at WGI and got passed by many cars. I then passed many cars on the way back up to maybe 10th or 8th place overall. And then - I spun the SRF in the boot at WGI! No damage and No Contact, but I got sit there for about 90 seconds and watch everyone go by me

And that was the next to last lap - so I finished 21st out of 26. But I would have been closer to 10th had I not spun - don't they all say that?!

scca last chance 100612 - YouTube

There is a video link to the Regional. THe good part is at the 10 minute marker

Thanks again for the advice/etc as I was moving the Cobra through track days this year!

Looking forward to next year, HPDE again with the Cobra and running another race to get my Regional License! Maybe run and gun next year too!!

Tommy · #15 (**permalink**) 10-08-2012, 04:54 AM

Looks like fun. ... I lost track of the number of times I've spun my Cobra.

SwiftDB4 · #16 (**permalink**) 10-31-2012, 11:00 PM

I told you wheel to wheel racing was addictive! If you think Spec Racer was fun step up to formula cars. My speed addiction got really bad and didn't end til I got to Formula Atlantics. Nothing like 30 cars all heading for corner one at a race start!

sspano01 · #17 (**permalink**) 11-01-2012, 06:19 AM

It was alot of fun, a helped a friend of mine as crew for his F2000. Wow, i thought I was going fast, they were all running near 1:55 laps on the full course at WGI near 100mph average.

But the F2000 is expensive! The SRF is a nice cost point to start with I think.

And now that its the off-season, I am trying to find other things to do. I have one track day at Lime Rock on 11/12 that I am going to. Maybe I can find something down south in Jan or Feb to do....I gotta keep my practice up.

And of course...now I am rebuilding the engine in the Cobra because I spun a rod bearing!!! In august at NJMP lightning, i picked up a knock. Patched it back together with bubble gum and emery cloth, got two autocrosses and 300 miles out of it and then it started knocking again.

Weird...its the #1 rod, first oil pressure point. I've have a thread running about this on 460forum.com.

I should have the engine back together within a week or so and I am thinking of doing a dry sump on it. I was having alot of oil pressure swings at NJMP and elevated oil temperature.

Oh well - you play - you pay someone told me :O

sspano01 · #18 (**permalink**) 11-01-2012, 07:03 AM

The Avons are great! I'm running those now
I'm thinking about upgrading to Penske shocks now as well

vector1 · #19 (**permalink**) 11-01-2012, 07:11 AM

qa1's are junk imo, unless you get the dbl adjustable than i don't know but they have to be better. penske's would be real nice. don't know if it will make much difference with your higher rate springs though. if you want to try different tires you could go to stock car type, hoosier i believe, whatever they use on current round track stuff now and have a pretty good choice of compounds and priced competitively.

Clois Harlan · #20 (**permalink**) 11-01-2012, 07:17 AM

Just a word about over filling your crankcase. You may experience some blow by on your passenger side valve cover. Here is a suggestion: assuming you are NOT running a PCV valve. Remove your valve cover breather on the passenger side and take some of the material that is used in fuel cells that baffles your gasoline from sloshing around (probably a piece about 3" square by 1" thick) and stuff it inside your valve breather hole (also assuming you have a baffle plate below the hole attached to your valve cover from inside)then place your valve cover breather back in place. Of course you could also use an oil catch can that is connected by way of a 3/8" hose to a breather cap with a nipple on it. However, if you over fill and do nothing you will more than likely get some oil that is being pushed out of your breather cap(s) during some of your turns.

Another thing or two, if you ever go to a set of slicks you will think you are superman on a road course. Also, tire selections are not so great in 15" and 17" sizes. You may want to look at the 18" tires especially if you are considering buying another set of wheels. Big breaks will fit nicely on most wheels larger than 15". Good tires and good breaks can usually out perform horsepower on a road course.