Weekend at Daytona

Back from Daytona.....great weekend. Didnt break anything. Improved every session on the track. 2nd place both days (over 300+ cars and Bobby Kennedy driving a 2700 lb with the driver sprint cup car) and I are the 2 fastest). We only had 1 practice/qualifiying and 2 race sessions so not alot of test time. We ran pretty hot on Sat. with oil temps hitting 260 degrees and bouncing off the rev. limiter. I didnt want to hurt my motor and I thought using a lower rear end gear might help temps and go faster so we tried that for sundays race. Switched out the 3.89 for the 3.50. As soon as they dropped the green flag my crew and I knew it was the wrong decision to win. Easily held on for second and the oil temps were lower so that was good. Turned my personal best time of 1.57.4 sec. and I broke 180MPH recorded on a GPS logger...WOW thats fast. Love the new pavement at Daytona.... Thanks to my Crew (Gary Orman Jr., Jenn Benfield, Max Dickinson) and a great setup by my race shop Performance Tech (Brent Oneill, Frank Parzych)

Look out....late breaking news....Mylaps just posted the results. Looks like I turned 2 laps in the 1.56's......so the new fastest lap of the weekend for me is 1:56.841

Way to go Brian, great time!!

Video of Sat. Race- This is the restart after the 10min. yellow flag. Notice the car in front of me? It was built on Horsepower TV on Spike. I climbed from 3rd all the way to 1st and then had high oil temps and let go of the lead. Lap times - 1:58.613, 1:59.386, 1:56.841, 1:58.297

http://youtu.be/E1PHz8T2XsI

Brian,
Exciting. Very smooth, great draft and slingshot. That is some track.

You need a better brace for the windshield, right angle may be?

Thanks for the post,

Mike

Nice drive! and nice car..thanks for the video..windshield(scary) Bill..if you come to the west ...it would be great to have you for an instructor..thanks

Thanks! We braced the windshield on Sunday. I guess 180MPH pushes pretty hard :-)

We run 3 parallel braces (SCCA specs in the GCR) that connect up to the top front roll bar just under the roof edge. There are special brackets that kinda look like helmet hooks that connect the roll bar to the angle aluminum. I haven't hit 180 yet, but with 30mph head wind and 145 speed the Lexan windshield will flatten into the supports..... kinda lets me know I'm at speed!

Great drive Brian nice laps. Curious if you want to share rwhp and torque for your car.

Well done.

Kevin

I have posted all of that info before.....No secrets when you race NASA.....

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/panozracing/dynosheets2008001.jpg

We run 3 parallel braces (SCCA specs in the GCR) that connect up to the top front roll bar just under the roof edge. There are special brackets that kinda look like helmet hooks that connect the roll bar to the angle aluminum. I haven't hit 180 yet, but with 30mph head wind and 145 speed the Lexan windshield will flatten into the supports..... kinda lets me know I'm at speed!

Great drive Brian nice laps. Curious if you want to share rwhp and torque for your car.

Well done.

Kevin

Thanks! I had 2 aluminum braces that bent. I had to run a perpendicular brace down to the dash to keep them in place.

42903

This is the only pic I could find of how we braced it. I thing the upper mounts were from IO Sport and connect the aluminum struts to the roll bar. Bottoms are screwed into metal below window.

Kevin

Brian,

Good job Brian I was really impressed with your speed and how well the hood stayed on the car. I have only hit 162 mph but my hood flops around like crazy at those speeds. Did you do anything to your hood to prevent it from flopping around as much?

Yes, the hood supports in the middle of the hood have been modified and extended thru the hood with wing nuts on the outside. Its totally solid and also is used for my night racing light setup.

DO you have any pics of that on the forum? Thats a great idea as the first race this season I thought my hood was going to fly off!

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/panozracing/IMG_7445.jpg

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/panozracing/IMG_7443.jpg

GReat thanks for the info, I will likely do something similar as my hood is a gong show. Another question you may be able to help me with is I lost a wheel last weekend as I sheared a spindle. It damaged my caliper and I need a new one. The Panoz I have is a 2001 GTS with Brembos on it. Do you know what the part number is for the caliper?

I dont have it off hand. It should be in the Panoz manual. I think Hayes Harris @ Wirewheel - [email protected] and Joe Palmer - [email protected] have new and used calipers at discounted prices. check with them first.

Ok thanks, I ended up buying an ew pair of front calipers from BRembo and it was the last set they had in the USA. So from this point on we are likely going to have to rely on rebuilds and what not. Brembo said they would need an order of 25 - 30 calipers to do another run.

We used to have problems with the hood "floating" and filling up like a parachute at speed. Installed the Panoz spec cold air kit (big sheet metal tray that draws air from near the window) and the faster you go the more the hood is sucked down now. I see Brian isn't running it. I think it's worth 10-15hp especially when things start to get heat soaked.

I wonder what is unique about our Brembo calipers....seem to be the same as many Porsche units etc. Ideas?

Kevin

Ok thats interesting. I have a cold air intake around my airfilter and it didnt seem to do a hell of a lot. Can you buy the cold air kit from Panoz? I have tried calling them yesterday but there was no one to pick up the phone in parts and no one called me back? I never get a great response from those guys even though they are always my first call.

The calipers are out of date so there is little demand for them and thats why there are no more new ones to be had. I will have one spare and you can reverse the calipers if need be to go from one side to the other.

Old Picture :-) I was just showing the hood pins

Cowl Induction kit from Panoz installed a while ago. It is about $170 from panoz. I would email Josh or Brandon and call them. I have never had problems getting a hold of them although I have not called in months. Brandon Carver [[email protected]] Josh Huskin [[email protected]]

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/panozracing/228080_1962512779171_1133397397_2318111_501808_n1. jpg

OK cool, thanks a lot for the info and I will let you know how it pans out. If you need any info on my car or need any pics of anything let me know and I will get it done for you. I can tell you that I upped the springs 200 lbs for this year and noticed that the car is too stiff on goodyears but runs really well on the Hoosiers. It seems that for identically sized slicks the Hoosiers have a softer sidewall. I get snap oversteer on the Goodyears but no such thing on the Hoosiers. This has allowed us to lower the car significantly. I still havent surpassed last years lap times as my wheel came off during the first race but I am confident that this car would be in a dead heat with a 2011 Cup Car. I dont think there is that much more left in the car as I am riding it pretty hard.

A friend of mine with another Panoz GTS is getting the same wheels that I have from Boggart so he can go with a 10" wider track. So all the dimensions are at Boggart should you choose to utilize them. You will need the flares as well of course when you go that wide.

would love to see the modifications that where done to the rear frame and how you widened your wheelbase.

The track was simply done with offsets and I will post the specs of the wheels. I will take some pics of the rear frame for you when I go to the shop next

Wow! Holy Crap Brian! You are one wild and crazy guy! That’s an awesome video.

Hey guys i took some pics of my rear suspension but honestly dont even know what I was taking pics of. If this doesnt work for you let me know exactly where you want me to take the photos and I will do so on Saturday.

Took the car out and it ran awesome. The motor was string and the new spindles and calipers worked flawlessly. I have about 1/8" toe out on those big tires, is that a common setting for you? I tried 0 toe and 1/16 and it seemed a lot better at 1/8 as it was super twitchy on the back straight at 0 and 1/16.

Thanks,

Andrew

I don't see any modifications of the rear frame. Looks stock. I do see what appears to be an aluminum rear end chunk. That has to save some weight. I think you also have an aluminum block. That would make up the 100+ lbs. you are lighter than me. Hmmmm.......

I have an aluminum block and I beleive an aluminum rear diff housing as well. Whatever it was in the rear came from NASCAR and is a solid locker diff. This way I can plow through the grass with one wheel on the track....

I don't see any modifications of the rear frame. Looks stock. I do see what appears to be an aluminum rear end chunk. That has to save some weight. I think you also have an aluminum block. That would make up the 100+ lbs. you are lighter than me. Hmmmm.......

Brian, just wondering if you are roasting in your car as well? Mine is super hot and I wrapped the exhausts to try and make a dent in the heat. Just wondering if you cut holes in the rear lexan to get some more air movement in the cockpit?

Andrew

Yes its hot in the car but it was pretty darn hot in my last Porsche race car too. I did cut holes in the rear window. Not sure how much it helped. I also have a 3" duct strapped to the bodywork and roll bar sticking out into the air stream on the passenger side window which is bent and blowing on me. It blows a lot of air. I also run a cool shirt and helmet blower.

Ok I run a cool shirt and have a Clear NACA Duct on the drivers side as well blowing air onto me. Its reminiscent of what they did on the Porsche 968 turbo RS. It works relatively well. I guess we just have to live with the heat.

I started with a NACA duct but found it was not as much air as sticking a duct clear out of the window.

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/panozracing/223219_1962514259208_1133397397_2318116_2655975_n. jpg

Ok thanks, I will take a stab at both. I may get a variable speed blower so that I can control the rate of cooling on myself and have some ducting from the passenger side as the driver side duct makes it harder to get in and out of the car.

We used to have problems with the hood "floating" and filling up like a parachute at speed. Installed the Panoz spec cold air kit (big sheet metal tray that draws air from near the window) and the faster you go the more the hood is sucked down now. I see Brian isn't running it. I think it's worth 10-15hp especially when things start to get heat soaked.

I wonder what is unique about our Brembo calipers....seem to be the same as many Porsche units etc. Ideas?

Kevin

Kevin, as I understand it the calipers on our cars are for 2 different model Ferrari's that are no longer made. This what I was told here in NZ when I was trying to track down local pad options (prior to switching to Carbotech). As I recall the models were F550 (rears) and F40 (fronts). Dont quote me as second hand info.

Kel.

I started with a NACA duct but found it was not as much air as sticking a duct clear out of the window.

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/panozracing/223219_1962514259208_1133397397_2318116_2655975_n. jpg

Brian, off the topic slightly but pic of rear wheel/guard has prompted the question. I am surprised at how little wheel/tyre is protruding from your guards given the width of your rears. Can you pse remind me what offset your rear rims are? I am looking at going to 11" rears with 315's hence the interest.

Thanks, Kel.

PS - Loved the clip of the race. Cant believe how much your screen/roof are collapsing in at speed. I used a chrome moly brace for this with stays out touching the screen. You are certainly one fearless dude racing at that speed with the car collapsing around you...............!! No windscreen rub marks on your helmet?

Great driving though.

I run 18x12's out back with 325/705 rubber and my notes say 7.25" backspace. I went and measured one and I think it might be closer to 8" backspace and I cut it slightly too close so I run a small spacer probably 3/16". I still get a slight tire sidewall rub on hard cornering on the 4-link bars but it doesn't seem to be an issue. I would highly recommend buying CCW wheels if the shipping isn't ridiculous.

Honestly, the windshield wasnt as bad from my perspective since the camera is mounted by the rear view mirror which is much higher and closer to the windshield. But I do like being called fearless and lets just say I had marks on my helmet :lol2:

I will be redesigning the windshield supports. We quickly ran a perpendicular bar down to the dash for the next day which solved the problem but looks terrible. So that has to be changed. Its really only an issue at Daytona 180MPH is faster than any other track we go to.

Brian, off the topic slightly but pic of rear wheel/guard has prompted the question. I am surprised at how little wheel/tyre is protruding from your guards given the width of your rears. Can you pse remind me what offset your rear rims are? I am looking at going to 11" rears with 315's hence the interest.

Thanks, Kel.

PS - Loved the clip of the race. Cant believe how much your screen/roof are collapsing in at speed. I used a chrome moly brace for this with stays out touching the screen. You are certainly one fearless dude racing at that speed with the car collapsing around you...............!! No windscreen rub marks on your helmet?

Great driving though.

Thanks for the backspace info Brian. Got 370 cube Dart blocked engine in car yesterday, so rearin to go!!

Kel.

I may get a variable speed blower so that I can control the rate of cooling ...Save the effort Aromocki, a variable speed blower has as much use as the adjustable water flow on your cool shirt. Typically there is only one setting you'll ever use ...

I tried the blower and it didnt work. It was heat soaked in 5 minutes and just blew hot air on me!

the blowers work great. You need the one that blows the air thru a cooler that has an aluminum finned shroud on the PVC tube that passes in and out of the cooler of ice. I couldn't live without my cool shirt and helmet cooler.

How much is a new set of your hoosier tires?

$1400 a set for the Hoosiers. Tons of grip on them as they are 13" wide in the front and 14" in the back. When it rains you are still pretty quick on slicks as they have as oft sidewall and are very forgiving.

That is slightly cheaper than my 18" slicks. I get about 6 sessions from the front and 3 sessions from the rear tires before times are tough to maintain. I still have plenty of rubber left but I start losing grip and lap times. How long do they last for you?

I get about 5 sessions, but with biase plies when they go, they really go and you lose 4 seconds a lap and have to fight every corner to keep the car going. The one nice thing though is that if you overcook your tires, you can slow down a bit and the tires come back. This doesnt happen on radials.

Final point is that they are fantastic in the rain. I can do lap times within a few seconds of my Porsche which is on RAINS in my Panoz on full slicks. I now have rains for it but havent driven with the rains yet.