I took the 1LE back to Buttonwillow Raceway after adding a few more go-fast upgrades. I ran in the advanced group with open passing. Previously, I had tracked the Camaro 100% stock at Thunderhill. Then I added Pedders Supercar Coilovers, bushings and a rear sway bar and tracked it again at Buttonwillow. See my signature for those runs.
The mods
For my third trip to the track, I added a road-course cam with a broad torque curve, longtube headers, high-flow cats, a CAI, rockers, springs, Etc. to yield 478 RWHP and 445 RW Ft-Lb. I also wrapped some monster 18x11 and 18x12 CCW wheels with Nitto 315/30-18 NT-01 R-compounds. These steam rollers are significantly lighter than my stock wheels and are 2.3" smaller in diameter, which gives me more torque to the rear wheels and slams it to the ground. Because I use my stock wheels for the street, I'm okay with these dedicated track wheels/tires sticking out a bit provided they give me kung-fu grip of the tarmac. I also added stainless steel brake lines and Hawk HP+ pads, along with a fresh flush with Motul 600 brake fluid.
Hitting the track
Last time I ran Buttonwillow, we drove Configuration 13 counterclockwise. This time, we ran 13 clockwise so it was like learning a new track from scratch. Sure enough, on the first session I went over a blind hill with the wrong line and proceeded to go off in the dirt! Luckily the track is surrounded by light, flat dirt, so no harm done aside from looking a little clueless.
I brought a friend with me that has lots of experience at this track, and let him drive as well. He was clicking off laps 4 seconds faster than me. By the end of the day I was still getting spanked by 2 seconds. Well, the next day during the first session, I was able to beat his best by 2 seconds. I'm a slow learner, but eventually I got the line figured out. I spent the rest of the day racing around with this GTR and another friend in his GT3, we were all running about the same lap times so they were the perfect sparring partners.
How did the mods work out?
These tires were working very well and man, the power of the engine mods! I had no problem keeping up with the GTR on the straights and could out-accelerate the GT3. It's a completely different animal than stock. The ARH full exhaust is civil in the cabin around town, but just roars at wide open throttle on the track! The Hawk HP+ brake pads had no problem bringing this big beast to a halt, even when my friend and I ran back-to-back 25 minute sessions. We ran ten sessions between the two of us on the first day, no sign of fade. Rotors looked healthy at the end of the weekend.
Lap times
My fastest time was 2:02.92, very pleased with that lap time. The GT3 had a best of 2:03.x and the GTR achieved a 2:01.x. The only cars that were running times much faster than us had big wings and splitters. Below is the video of my second fastest lap, a 2:02.98. This was about 3 seconds faster than my previous Buttonwillow run of 2:05.79, but I was running in the opposite direction so it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. The clockwise direction I ran is known to be slower, people suggested 1 to 4 seconds slower than counterclockwise. So my engine mods and R compounds were worth about 4 to 7 second faster lap times. I use Harry's Lap Timer, and even with a high speed GPS, it consistently shows lap times that are 0.1 to 0.3 seconds slower than Speed Venture's high-accuracy transponder. But overall I like Harry's, it interfaces to a blue-tooth OBD module that tells it my speed, throttle and RPM.
This was likely my final track event this year as the rain is coming soon. Can't wait for next season!