Maximising weight distribution for handling

Oh yes my exhaust is completely stainless steel! maybe why i was so light! I think I did have the spare alloy in the boot though.

I'm going to take the VR up there when (if) it's finished to see the difference, it's only 5 mins from my house and I can pretend I'm going there for work.

In other exciting news, I might be renting part of a workshop nearby.

can we all store the cheap 2nd cars that we want to buy there??!

My VR was 1320Kg on a public weighbridge, no occupants

Full tank of fuel
17" BBS RX

Toad wrote:I'm going to take the VR up there when (if) it's finished to see the difference, it's only 5 mins from my house and I can pretend I'm going there for work.

In other exciting news, I might be renting part of a workshop nearby.

whats the plan batman?

Is it big enough to spray a car?

by kevhaywire on Wed Nov 26, 2008 11:58 am

My VR was 1320Kg on a public weighbridge, no occupants

Full tank of fuel
17" BBS RX

Did I read somewhere that a full tank is aprox 80 kg??

Something like that, but the worrying thing is 1320Kg plus my 80 - 90Kg bulk aswell....... means a right lardy 1400Kg car on the move!!

This weight thing brings me onto a "Suspension consistency" thread

I believe petrol per litre is 0.75kg so 45x.75 is 33.75kg for a 12 gallon tank.

Well after my session at snetterton yesterday I was very impressed with the way the corrado handles on track.

I've only got a Evo 8 and Subaru Impreza WR1 to compare it to but although it wasn't anywhere near those 2 for straight line pace it seemed to deal with the corners with minimum fuss.

Not the understeering, nose heavy beast I imagined. How will adding all the stuff for the turbo affect the nose heaviness?

Still thinking about ways to balance it all up.

By the time you've fitted a short runner, slim fans, moved the battery to the back etc you probably make the nose a little lighter.

Plus all the turbo weight is behind the axle line where it belongs

If you have a diff fitted, you'll notice more power understeer....

we should have done passenger laps Mic (although maybe you're glad you didn't ) i had real trouble with understeer on the entry to the main straight, couldn't get it to work at all. maybe it was just too tight or the conditions were too bad (or it was just me..) but i was really feeling the weight at the front..

Maybe you were pushing harder than me John, I found it was a case of hard on the brakes for the 2nd (start of back straight) and 3rd (under the bridge) corners, and then again for entry into the chicane at turn 7.

You're right, we should have done a few passenger laps. Would have been a good point of comparison between the similar cars.

Out of interest, how many miles have you done on the rainsports?

Rainsports, on the track? That's why it understeered

A summer tyre, like the Bridgestone RE050 would have given better results.

What wheels, tyre size too? 6.5J with 205 section doesn't work that great either imo..... 7.5 or 8J with 205 would work better....

I've currently got Toyo T1-R's on the front and Bridgestone Potenza's on the back. Standard VR6 tyre sizes as well.

How will the weight and movement of water in the charge-cooler affect handling?

They're defo better than Rainsports for track use! There could be other factors too..... geomtery, tyre pressure, suspension, etc etc.

I would imagine water sloshing around in the chargecooler would have the same effect as battery acid sloshing around....i.e. minimal

Nice one Kev, I did wonder as I guess the cooler system should have no, or a minimal, amount of air in it?

Talking of charge coolers, I keep meaning to ask you. Is it a mixture similar to engine coolant that you use in the charge cooler to stop it freezing?

Yeah there's certainly no air in the chargecooler core whilst the pump is running.

Yep, engine coolant exactly mate. I use a 70/30 mix of water and G12+

Ah, thought there'd be something to stop freezing but didn't know if there was some magical mixture being used or not.

So do you think a VRT will make a good track car? After my experience at the weekend I'm starting to think it might......

I know it's not anything like track use, but I hadd some potenzas on recently and as soon as the road was damp it felt like the car was on tip toes wacked rainsports on the front and P5000/shonkey cheap tyre on the back, and the 16v is back to feeling fine again.

That's funny cause my Potenza RE050s have loads of grip in the wet, the same, if not better than my old Rainsports. Tyres are too subjective anyway, let's leave that kind of fruitless debate on the Corrado Forum

Yes Mic, a VR Turbo would make a great track car, so long as the engine's built to be reliable and take the constant punishment I would go with a slightly larger turbo than you would normally use on the road as too much torque coming out of the turns will hamper progress....unless you have 4WD!

Lol. Yeah, there's a lot of variables, these tyres had been sat for several months before I got my mitts on them.

Only issue with corrado track cars is the cost of panels when things go wrong. It might not even be anything to do with you, all you need is someone leaving coolant or a few spots of oil on the track and it could all go wrong.

Do you thing there is more room under the bonnet of a mk2 than a corrado?

I'd say the Corrado has significantly more room in the engine bay, there is acres of space behind the engine if it's not full of turbo like Kevs!

So what size would you suggest Kev? Originally I was thinking GT35 but with a 1.06 exhaust, but then I changed my mind to a 0.82 exhaust.... I'd guess that you'd be sitting in the right gear to hold about 3k rpm in a corner, so all in by about 4k rpm as you get back on the power in the straights??

Anyone know a little more about racing techniques than me?

Yeah, that's very true about Rados as track cars..... very expensive if it goes pear shaped!! That's why I'm strictly a Caterham man when it comes to tracking (if I ever decide to do it!). It's built for the job and rebuilding them is cheap and easy

With a 1.06 GT35R, 3" exhaust and your 24V rev limit set to 7500rpm, I reckon it would be devastating in the straights.

In terms of using it as a road car, well I have a plot of a 1.06 GT35 on a 2.9 12V in front of me (can't upload as I'm at work) and it starts spooling at 3000rpm where there's 180lb-ft (stock VR's peak, LOL!) and climbing very steeply. By 3500rpm there's 220lb-ft torque, by 4000rpm there's 300lb-ft and at 4200rpm there's 350lb-ft and at 5000rpm it hit's a peak of 360lb-ft and holds to 7K. That's with 15psi and at the wheels by the way.

Your 24V will have more top end potency than that and will haul arse down the straights and imo (although I'm no track expert) the torque from 3000 to 3500 is managble.

If you had say a T3/T04e 0.63 (very common turbo used on VRTs) with stock intake, you'll be scrabbling for grip at 2000rpm at Civic Type Rs with 140lb-ft will be blasting past you, wheel spin free

Sounds like an awesome idea Kev, like the sound of the Hauling arse down the straights bit!

Get some proper R888's on it and it should be pretty good, especially if the current weight distribution isn't much different from now.
I genuinely was impressed wih the way it handled around snetterton.

Good stuff! The 888s will finish it off nicely. With that much grip and torque, gearbox and driveshaft integrity can become an issue.