new member car 56 track addict

[panoz302]

Intro: new to the forum purchased a GTRA race car last year from Hayes at wire wheel.

Car #56 243 hours when I got it .

Live in south florida

PCA memeber and PCA instructor
Nasa Member

I have the car for about 3 months

Tuned and dyno the car, resut up the suspension, changed all the fluids and nut and bolted the car, added a shift light and new BBS wheels and pirelli d3 slicks.

Ran the car at moroso for two days video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWJn53YXXkY my buddy in a super charged lotus elise following.


look fwd to heaing from you guys-not too much info around about the gtra but I have been snooping.

I submitted the info. to Nasa for the TT TTB and PTB classification to Greg Greenbaum.

Wonder if I am and going to mod the car or leave it stock. Glad I found other to take to a about the car and to share info. my friend manny also puchased a car from hayes he is car 43. will get him a link to this forum.

Mitch

[Cobra4B]

^ Hey Mitch... frankly I'm surprised a supercharged Elise couldn't pull the 250ish HP Panoz in the straights... awesome! Maye they aren't as slow as I though.

What all have you done to the suspension? I'm in the process of re-doing ours now and setting the car for me and my father.

How much power did it put down at the tires?

[panoz302]

I have the dyno the car put 300 lbs torque to the wheels, and with a 15% power loss factor it was at 263 or so at the crank a little better than stock.Best run no heat soak. I changed the chip from the diablo to an SET, the mustang shop I use had more experience with this chip. The diablo is fine. We just fine tuned the engine, changed the plugs,filters,synthic oil, etc. That is the most it will do without taking it apart or changing stuff.

The suspension was setup all wrong, too much caster, camber outside of spec. I had my car setup by a HSR porsche shop, we went thur the suspension and check it all out. The upper arms are supposed to be parrell with the frame they where way off, the set bolts for the arms were taken out and the geometry was done by a regular shop not clue. I ran the car with slicks and the car handled great.

The lotus did kick my ars later, that was the 4 track session and I was still not up to par in the car. The gas pedal kept moving to the right and my foot was getting stuck under it for blipin the gas on h-n-t downshifts and my braking was not that good.

I have a lotus too, tracked it for 3 years, wanted a race car, the lotus if great but it is small and fragile.

[btwog]

Hey Mitch,
Welcome aboard. Since you had your car weighed and dyno'd for Greg, did it really come in at 2925 lbs with driver. I thought that sounded a little heavy. It also seems like the placed alot of restrictions on the mods you can do to the cars.
Thanks

[panoz302]

Here

[panoz302]

car weight 2780 give or take with 5 gallons of gas no driver, passanger seat passanger harness, fluid topped. This car never saw 2550 lbs , dry of fluids, p seat/harness, battery, radiator coolant. it might hit 2650, owe the wiper can be chucked for a pound. The door hinges are iron lugs of weight. I will use some of my Lotus powers to cut weight, Lightness is easier to make go faster and easier to stop.

[btwog]

Thanks

So I guess they are a little heavier than the 2550# they are spec'd at. I was worried it would be under 2925# with driver, but it sounds like with a 200 lb driver, 2925 will be no problem.

[panoz302]

Yes , weight is a little more portly then lead to think but the car is awsome. I due agree with the fact that Nasa gave the car some strict rules and weight will make it tuff to compete in TTB or PTB.

[Blue Streak 21]

Welcome to the forum.
Seems that the car weighs more than expected. When I get mine on scales for corner balancing, I'll post my weights too.
I can't see how they state that the car weight is 2550 lbs. That's one hell of a diet to get 230 lbs out of the car. I think they used that creative new math to come up with 2550 lbs....
I briefly drove the car on my street this weekend. It pulls okay, but noticably less than my Z06. I'm certain that after I get the car shook out for handling issues at the track, I'll be wanting more ponies. I understand that a set of Edlebrock RPM heads, a bumpier cam, and a less restrictive intake will bump hp up nearly 100. That would be real nice. I'm going to start to look for some of those parts tonight.

[Cobra4B]

^ We're following the same path... get the suspension sorted then begine the quest for more power. H/C/I will get you 320 rwhp.

[Cobra4B]

Question... when you re-tuned the car did bump the timing and tune it for 93 octane?

I'm assuming they're setup to run 87 right now.

[btwog]

TFS makes a real nice package. Aluminum heads, cam, and intake and all the ancillary parts for around $2500. They claim 350 HP, but I would guess probably more like 320. Thats the way I would go.

[panoz302]

I hear good things about the AFR heads, my engine shop blow by racing did a build up in 5.0 magazine stock 5.0 patriot heads, cam, intake, tb and maf and they got to just under 400 hp. So I guess it is possible. I think 350 would be a nice balance in the car. 3 and 4th gear pull right ot red line, 5 gear the car gets into a drag/hp/gearing lull.

just so you guys know the car is very tossable and I did run it with 275/40/17 slicks and it did not roll and handled excellant, better than I would expect with the konis and stock springs. ( plus no rear SB).

[Cobra4B]

^ Good to hear... it felt very easy to handle when I auto-xed it, but it's no auto-x car. Ran the panoz school at RA back in '03 but that was a long time ago.

Looking forward to getting the new shocks/springs under the car and a rear bar and getting it setup properly.