Another Pedal..

[ralphmusic]

3,300 miles now of which around 600 miles on 4 track days. 22.5mpg overall and 9.5mpg on last track day.

My old car was driven 43k miles, 54 track days with say 8,000 track miles, 19.5 mpg overall and track mpg ranged from 8 to 11mpg.

Similar road/track mix, maybe higher state of tune on the old car caused the lower gas mileage or perhaps there is some truth in "the older I get the faster I was" []

 

[Brian_Innes]

Ralph,

As an old(er) racer myself, it is heartwarming to see you using your GT4 as the Porsche motorsport division designed it for. Well done you!

Some owners buy the car as a nice thing to behold, a piece of automotive art, the pleasure of walking up to it and getting in, or merely driving it on the public roads even with all the restrictions that brings upon it. To me that is missing out on 90% of its appeal. I accept we are all different in the way we own and drive our cars.

The GT4 is a track focused machine. Keep up the good work.

Brian

 

[ralphmusic]

This is a nice gif on changing the angle of the 981 GT4’s rear wing, same for 718.

 

[ralphmusic]

I removed the front ducts and adjusted the wing this afternoon in preparation for breaking Lewis Hamilton‘s lap record Silverstone next next Monday. [8D]

The rear wing adjustment is/seems very small and after changing it is quite difficult to see any difference. The front ducts are easy to remove once the front of the car has been raised to gain convenient access. Best to replace the securing screws to keep the threads from road detritus.

 

[Motorhead]

Go for it Ralph - time to show the young guns how it done..! []

Re the rear wing adjustment, I think that you’re confirming what’s evident from the rather jerky images in your previous post.

Jeff

 

[ralphmusic]

Jeff,

I came across this image and whilst not a racer, it does reflect a good positive attitude to using our cars as intended even as the bones start to creak.

Ralph

 

[Motorhead]

Nice one Ralph! Liking the sentiment. []

Jeff

 

[Scrounger]

Ralph

A strange Q for you but did you happen to be at Silverstone this morning? If so, you were behind me at the main gate as I was going to the PEC.

Dan

 

[ralphmusic]

Twas me..

 

[ralphmusic]

A very hot day at Silverstone on Monday. I booked very late but managed to get a garage at sign-in. I like to spread my tools, chair and travel bags and have a home from home. A number of cars running slicks so lots of OPR (other people’s rubber) to be cleaned off the car and tyres.

Tyre performance was very pressure sensitive and I had to come in after lunch and add another 1 psi all round to get back to 3 psi higher than cold. Oddly tyre temps were not excessive and were within 6 degrees across each tread at all times tested. The rears’ pressure picked up more than the fronts which was quite helpful in rotating the car through Stowe, Chapel and Copse.

Double highlight at lunchtime was an Aston Martin Valkyrie running at impressive speed plus the disks it uses are from Surface Transforms which on Monday announced a new OEM supply contract so their/my shares went up >60%.

It is really odd that the three shares I hold in automotive companies (Surface Transforms, VW and Ceres) are all doing very nicely. It seems not all is negative for automotive.

I had a CEL;

“Engine Control Fault Consult Dealer Driving Permitted“ so on leaving the circuit I called Exeter who suggested I try Porsche Assistance, which seemed at variance with the CEL message. Anyway this morning I connected my shiny new PIWIS and found an error “Engine Compartment purge fan - Right” so booked into Exeter next week to have that attended to. I wonder if it is a mechanical fault or ambient temperature taking compartment temperature above threshold. The latter would be odd as I ran my old car at Jerez in >90c ambient with no problems.

 

[Scrounger]

Twas me..

Thought it was. Sounds like you had a good day!

 

[Nick_USA]

I had a CEL;

“Engine Control Fault Consult Dealer Driving Permitted“ so on leaving the circuit I called Exeter who suggested I try Porsche Assistance, which seemed at variance with the CEL message. Anyway this morning I connected my shiny new PIWIS and found an error “Engine Compartment purge fan - Right” so booked into Exeter next week to have that attended to. I wonder if it is a mechanical fault or ambient temperature taking compartment temperature above threshold. The latter would be odd as I ran my old car at Jerez in >90c ambient with no problems.

You have bought a PIWIS Ralph? Which one of the clones did you buy?

btw. Re: temp fluctuations, perhaps you should invest in a nitrogen walk round kit. I post a photo of mine later.

Nick

 

[ralphmusic]

You have bought a PIWIS Ralph? Which one of the clones did you buy?

btw. Re: temp fluctuations, perhaps you should invest in a nitrogen walk round kit. I post a photo of mine later.

Nick

From a US friend...

 

[Nick_USA]

You have bought a PIWIS Ralph? Which one of the clones did you buy?

btw. Re: temp fluctuations, perhaps you should invest in a nitrogen walk round kit. I post a photo of mine later.

Nick

From a US friend...

I don't think your (our) friend lives in the US []

 

[ralphmusic]

Moving on, cleaning all the OPR this morning was relatively easy using the product below. The car has extensive PPF and luckily, or by design, all the marks were on the PPF. I found out about this unlikely product from a PPF supplier as being suitable for restoring PPF that had faded overtime through multiple wash cycles and application of various polish products.

It is very effective and much less aggressive than traditional tar removers.

I also poked around to see whether the engine compartment purge fan might have become damaged by some OPR but there are no signs of any passing through the side intake grills.

 

[AndrewCS]

How was the `aero` change please … ?

 

[ralphmusic]

Andrew,

I wish I could report a huge improvement in time and handling but the effect is either above my pay grade or I wasn't going fast enough but at least I can claim to be running a high downforce set-up. The main difference I found as stated above was tyre temperatures and oddly, for someone who likes a neutral car, a rear that slides slightly, (but is stable if you take the apparent contradiction) is quite helpful in balancing out the inherent understeer.

On my old car with custom suspension enabling large front and rear cambers, it was completely neutral. On stock wishbones and Rear TCA the camber is a lot less so it will understeer even at max camber. For reference the ARB settings are middle front and 50:50 middle/hard rear. I guess I could make the rear 100% hard and get a very similar effect, but that might not work at Goodwood, but might well work at Silverstone.

 

[ralphmusic]

Some OPR from just the rear wheels.

 

[Nick_USA]

Some wheel off scraping ?

 

[ralphmusic]

Some wheel off scraping ?

No, just that stuck on the wheel barrels, rims and inside of the spokes. Normal running on road should clear that sticking to the tread.

When Centre Gravity set up the suspension, they found accumulations of road debris under the aero floor and diffuser and I expect there will be more OPR in there as well. I normally have the front PU taken off each winter for cleaning and having alloy parts sprayed with Scottoil, but will now have to have the aero bits taken off for cleaning as well.

I am beginning to think grills over the side intakes would be a good idea for whilst it looks as though there is no tyre rubber in there, maybe that is just luck this time. And whilst on the side intakes, I am reminded of the following experience arguing for annual air filter changes. This was from just one of the two filters on my old car after maybe 12 months, not OPR but brake dust and small particle road debris so another winter maintenance job.