Z/28 dedicated track car NASA TT2/ST2

[aris]

How are your rotors doing? How much life do you expect to get out of the oem set?

[Fusionofideas]

Originally Posted by aris

How are your rotors doing? How much life do you expect to get out of the oem set?

Good so far. I have a race April 22-23 at Buttonwillow and this will be first race with the new RacingBrake calipers so I will post an update here after. According to RacingBrake the Sintered Metallic pad adds surface to the rotor. We will see.

[Fusionofideas]

Here is the best run I had at Buttonwillow 13 CW with a 1:55 this last weekend in the Time Trial portion with NASA SoCal which would have got me third place but the track timing was not working so it got pushed to the previous time of a 1:56. My previous best was a 2:04. I changed to the RacingBrake USA 2 piece forged calipers and sintered metallic pads which gave me substantial braking capability as well as Pirelli Pzero slicks and there was a substantial difference over the Toyo R888 which I ran all of last year. Big props to Stephen Fuller for introducing me to JB Racing Tires for the used slicks. I know that I have at least 3-4 seconds as a driver and the next upgrade needs to be a proper suspension which would probably be at least another 2-3 seconds because the car is still soft and squishy and needs an aggressive coil over setup. I am also still classed low so I can either bump power or reduce more weight. Enjoy.
https://youtu.be/_m2mOniDJ9A

[bkevind]

Congrats on the substantial time improvement. Nearly 10 seconds is massive gain. Wow...

Video was pretty intense, but my eyes are still shaking a little bit

What coilovers are you thinking about?

[Fusionofideas]

Originally Posted by bkevind

Congrats on the substantial time improvement. Nearly 10 seconds is massive gain. Wow...

Video was pretty intense, but my eyes are still shaking a little bit

What coilovers are you thinking about?

Yeah sorry about the video the camera mount was loose and shaking. I am considering motion control systems setup.

[Fusionofideas]

So after the first run with the new calipers I want to give a debrief on the Racing Brake Calipers and pads. I ran the Brembo system for an entire year and was satisfied overall. The Racing Brake 2 piece forged calipers provided more braking power and doing so more consistently over the OEM system. When braking it feels as if there is a 50% increase in braking power bite and ability as well as a smoother transition.
The other component of note is the sintered metallic pads and the use of them on the Carbon Ceramic Rotors. I ran the CCR for an entire season and now have switched to the Racing Brake Sintered Pads and have seen their claim of the sintered pad adding a layer to the CCR as well as healing the fractures caused by the OEM pad. I ran the car for 6+ hours at the last event at Buttonwillow 13CW in both Time Trial and Race Group sessions ranging from 20-35 mins each over 2 days. The brakes responded flawlessly every session. There were no instances of brake fade and the brakes had very aggressive bite. I have a little over a millimeter left on the pads on all 4 corners.
I consider braking still one of the areas of most improvement as a racer and for faster lap times however my previous best time was a 2:04 and I was able to trim that down to a 1:55.

[bkevind]

Originally Posted by Fusionofideas

Yeah sorry about the video the camera mount was loose and shaking. I am considering motion control systems setup.

Ha no worries, giving you a hard time. I know how it goes, I've got quite a bit of very bumpy footage from car and bike.

Hmm I didn't have MCS on my radar until now. Options seem so limited for the Camaro platform. Either stuff made by companies that focus on classic muscle cars or KW, Penske and Ohlins. MCS looks to be a better alternative. I saw rumor that MCS was started by the same folks that were at MOTON, then JRZ, now MCS.
Are you thinking of running MCS with your Z/28 springs, or changing that as well?

I'm more in the camp for less spring rate than more, for better compliance. I'll take a little more body roll over a nervous skittering ride overheating tires.

I think it's really cool that MCS offers a single adjustable option for reasonable money, that is later upgradeable to a remote can for proper double adjust if needed. 2750 is pretty cheap for this level of quality damper.

Originally Posted by Fusionofideas

So after the first run with the new calipers I want to give a debrief on the Racing Brake Calipers and pads. I ran the Brembo system for an entire year and was satisfied overall. The Racing Brake 2 piece forged calipers provided more braking power and doing so more consistently over the OEM system. When braking it feels as if there is a 50% increase in braking power bite and ability as well as a smoother transition.
The other component of note is the sintered metallic pads and the use of them on the Carbon Ceramic Rotors. I ran the CCR for an entire season and now have switched to the Racing Brake Sintered Pads and have seen their claim of the sintered pad adding a layer to the CCR as well as healing the fractures caused by the OEM pad. I ran the car for 6+ hours at the last event at Buttonwillow 13CW in both Time Trial and Race Group sessions ranging from 20-35 mins each over 2 days. The brakes responded flawlessly every session. There were no instances of brake fade and the brakes had very aggressive bite. I have a little over a millimeter left on the pads on all 4 corners.
I consider braking still one of the areas of most improvement as a racer and for faster lap times however my previous best time was a 2:04 and I was able to trim that down to a 1:55.

Wow what a review for your braking system. What more can you hope for - reliably powerful consistent brakes. Being able to rely on that and focus on everything else is quite a blessing. Are there no issues with the ABS calibration on the Z/28 when achieving a much higher grip level/braking force than designed?

Thanks for sharing all this. It's refreshing and enjoyable to see a car used for something I can relate to and care about.

[Fusionofideas]

Originally Posted by bkevind

Ha no worries, giving you a hard time. I know how it goes, I've got quite a bit of very bumpy footage from car and bike.

Hmm I didn't have MCS on my radar until now. Options seem so limited for the Camaro platform. Either stuff made by companies that focus on classic muscle cars or KW, Penske and Ohlins. MCS looks to be a better alternative. I saw rumor that MCS was started by the same folks that were at MOTON, then JRZ, now MCS.
Are you thinking of running MCS with your Z/28 springs, or changing that as well?

I'm more in the camp for less spring rate than more, for better compliance. I'll take a little more body roll over a nervous skittering ride overheating tires.

I think it's really cool that MCS offers a single adjustable option for reasonable money, that is later upgradeable to a remote can for proper double adjust if needed. 2750 is pretty cheap for this level of quality damper.



Wow what a review for your braking system. What more can you hope for - reliably powerful consistent brakes. Being able to rely on that and focus on everything else is quite a blessing. Are there no issues with the ABS calibration on the Z/28 when achieving a much higher grip level/braking force than designed?

Thanks for sharing all this. It's refreshing and enjoyable to see a car used for something I can relate to and care about.

Yeah MCS has some great options and I am looking at Eibach Springs potentially.

ABS had no issues with the new calipers and didn't experience anything out of ordinary. Now I just want to see how long the sintered pad will support the Carbon Ceramic Rotors because I am not looking forward to changing those.

[Fusionofideas]

Camaro Squadron put the hurt on the #deathstar then back to base for some laps 🏁😎 #maythefourthbewithyou #maythe4thbewithyou #Z28 #1le #camaro #chevy #starwars last one I promise.

[JUSTIFIED]

Originally Posted by Fusionofideas

Camaro Squadron put the hurt on the #deathstar then back to base for some laps 🏁😎 #maythefourthbewithyou #maythe4thbewithyou #Z28 #1le #camaro #chevy #starwars last one I promise.

Awesome pic and nice play on words! ;-)

[aris]

Originally Posted by Fusionofideas

Yeah MCS has some great options and I am looking at Eibach Springs potentially.

ABS had no issues with the new calipers and didn't experience anything out of ordinary. Now I just want to see how long the sintered pad will support the Carbon Ceramic Rotors because I am not looking forward to changing those.

I think there's another fairly competitive Z/28 in NASA ST2 that runs the MCS remote double adjustables. I've been looking into those as an option in the future as well.

[Supercup]

Originally Posted by Fusionofideas

Camaro Squadron put the hurt on the #deathstar then back to base for some laps 🏁😎 #maythefourthbewithyou #maythe4thbewithyou #Z28 #1le #camaro #chevy #starwars last one I promise.

Well I have not been able to get the Z to the track this season, but started getting some track goodies put in and hope to see you guys out there soon for some fun! After seeing your car in person (at your shop late last year after I got my car, thanks for that) I looked into a cage, weight loss, wing etc.

Then I saw Ford was offering the Shelby FP350s, so I put my name in for one of the 50 they will build later this year, not expecting anything, but holding off on Z mods just in case. Well go tired of waiting so I started doing a few things to the Z and sure enough got a call last Friday that I was allocated a car Cost of it will be less than modifying the Z, so even though I like the look of the Z, this was too good to pass up!

Link Shelby FP350s specs: https://performanceparts.ford.com/FP350S/

So maybe next year we can have some real fun!

[bkevind]

Originally Posted by Supercup

Well I have not been able to get the Z to the track this season, but started getting some track goodies put in and hope to see you guys out there soon for some fun! After seeing your car in person (at your shop late last year after I got my car, thanks for that) I looked into a cage, weight loss, wing etc.

Then I saw Ford was offering the Shelby FP350s, so I put my name in for one of the 50 they will build later this year, not expecting anything, but holding off on Z mods just in case. Well go tired of waiting so I started doing a few things to the Z and sure enough got a call last Friday that I was allocated a car Cost of it will be less than modifying the Z, so even though I like the look of the Z, this was too good to pass up!

Link Shelby FP350s specs: https://performanceparts.ford.com/FP350S/

So maybe next year we can have some real fun!

Wow. That seems to be a great package.

[Fusionofideas]

Originally Posted by Supercup

Well I have not been able to get the Z to the track this season, but started getting some track goodies put in and hope to see you guys out there soon for some fun! After seeing your car in person (at your shop late last year after I got my car, thanks for that) I looked into a cage, weight loss, wing etc.

Then I saw Ford was offering the Shelby FP350s, so I put my name in for one of the 50 they will build later this year, not expecting anything, but holding off on Z mods just in case. Well go tired of waiting so I started doing a few things to the Z and sure enough got a call last Friday that I was allocated a car Cost of it will be less than modifying the Z, so even though I like the look of the Z, this was too good to pass up!

Link Shelby FP350s specs: https://performanceparts.ford.com/FP350S/

So maybe next year we can have some real fun!

Good to hear from you and meet up when we did. Congrats on the stang. That thing will be epic. I was an instructor at Fontana and one of the students asked me to take him out in his gt350. Such a capable car and fun to drive running out to 8500rpm.