Well, been pretty radio-silent on here this season... the main reason for this is that the car has actually been running very reliably, to the point where I've just been changing tires, monitoring brakes, changing oil, and driving & enjoying the car.. so other than posting videos of laps in the car, I really did not have a lot of updates to post throughout the season.
The car saw quite a few outings at Gingerman & Waterford Hills, with a planned weekend at Grattan resulting in so much downpouring rain that I decided to not attend (for fear of crashing, as well as other conflicts).
Waterford Hills
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Gingerman Time Trials
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Gingerman Season-Ender
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The season-ender was particularly special, as my dad was able to get his newly-acquired GT350 on track for his first laps in a personal car (his background is Chassis / dynamics, but this was the first time he was able to enjoy his toy car on-track).
He then let me take it out on-track for a session. I am blown away by how great the car is in it's stock form. Although heavier, I loved the brakes, power, and handling balance (much more neutral than my car). Anyone looking to replace a GT350 with a Coyote New Edge?
Below is a video from one of the Gingerman sessions from the last event of the season for me. Was able to improve my PB at this track by about 1 second, even though I was still on my fairly-old RS4's.
So, the car is now in hibernation for the winter. Not a lot of 'upgrades' are planned for the car, just some small rebuild projects and weight redistribution:
-GT500 valve covers going on (had an instance of milky oil in the catch can, my belief is that the baffling and material changes to the GT500 heads will help keep them properly oiled. Plus having a drain port for the catch can to drain back into is a bonus.)
-Rear axle pinion seal is slight-leaking gear oil, been meaning to check out the overall 'health' of the axle/diff/etc anyway. So, a full axle rebuild will take place.
-Invested in some corner scales to better set-up the weight of the car.
-Going to work on sealing-up the interior a bit. I love the way the car sounds, but it is quite loud inside, (even with earplugs) so I plan on removing the dash and sealing up firewall holes, then going with either dynamat pads or a spray-on sealer/sound-absorption product like Lizard Skin or similar.
After car projects, we will wait for baby to arrive early next year, then introduce our new daughter to the racetrack world next season.
Thanks all!