Watkins Glen - May 4-6

[Ruffan]

Any other 1 addicts going to the Glen this weekend?

New items that I'll be testing out at the track:
-Stopteck BBK w/ Endless pads
-BRRacing harness bar and Schroth harnesses
-ARC-8 wheels with Hoosier R6 r-comps

[GaryS]

Do you have Endless pads in the rear too?

[Groundpilot]

What is the size of the tires?

[Ruffan]

Endless pads in front with the Stoptechs. Rear brakes are stock calipers and Hawk DTC-60 pads.

the Hoosiers are 245/35-18 in front and 255/35-18 in back. I considered going square, but I have a lot of power and wanted to take advantage of the rear grip. The 255s are actually 12mm wider than the 245s, so it's still a staggered setup, but a lot less than stock. I needed 5mm spacers in front to get the tires not to rub on the shock. With the Vorshlag plates I have about -2.6 degrees of negative camber, which is fine.

A note on the camber: I was quite shocked to find out that I couldn't get any more out of the plates. The limiting factor is that when running at maximum castor the strut tube is off-center in the shock tower holes (toward the driver) and actually is limited by the space in that hole. If I reduced the castor I'd be able to get a good deal more camber out of them. Note that I have the Dinan springs/struts, which is similar to the stock setup, as opposed to a coil-over setup.

[Groundpilot]

OP, the reason i asked about the tire size is i am about to order a new set of track tires as my BF Goodridge R1s are completly cycled out.
I think i am going with hoosiers too, but unfortunately they dont offer 265 for the rear. I dont think 255 is wide enough for the track car with lots of power. What do you think about wheel spacers?
Alot of ppl dont like them for the track use, but i spoke with my mechanic today who is also a racer and he said he is running 15 mm rear spacers for his race car for 2 years with no issues.
I decided to go with 10 mm rear spacers to push the wheels out a little bit for better grip.
How did you like hoosiers at the Glen?

[GaryS]

Originally Posted by Groundpilot

OP, the reason i asked about the tire size is i am about to order a new set of track tires as my BF Goodridge R1s are completly cycled out.
I think i am going with hoosiers too, but unfortunately they dont offer 265 for the rear. I dont think 255 is wide enough for the track car with lots of power. What do you think about wheel spacers?
Alot of ppl dont like them for the track use, but i spoke with my mechanic today who is also a racer and he said he is running 15 mm rear spacers for his race car for 2 years with no issues.
I decided to go with 10 mm rear spacers to push the wheels out a little bit for better grip.
How did you like hoosiers at the Glen?

Do you know Anthony, who drives the black wide-body 135i with red ARC-8s? He has 5mm spacers in back to fit Nitto 275s, but he leaves the spacers on with his other wheels too. I wouldn't want to be swapping spacers on and off a lot, but I think leaving a small spacer on is no problem, especially in the rear with the bigger lip and especially if you have studs.

[Ruffan]

Guys, my 255 rear Hoosiers had plenty of space both from the shock and from the fender. With that said, the reason I chose the 255 in back is I wanted to keep the stagger to a minimum and the 245 was as wide as I could go up front (with 5mm spacers as they were hitting the shock tube). I have an LSD on my Dinan 135 and am making a ton of power and I never once got the rear end loose on-power with the 255 rear tires. I could pull on pretty much every car on track when I got on the throttle. Maybe if you are running without an LSD you could get some rear-wheel spin, but I didn't feel like i needed more rear tire.

I'm glad I got the sizes I did because the car never felt more balanced than it was this past weekend. Still understeers at the limit obviously, but it was much more neutral than with a big stagger on street tires. I was SOO impressed with the increased performance from 1. my Stoptech brakes (w/ Endless pads), and 2. the Hoosiers, which really helped transform my car into a track beast.

The EAS/Macht Schnell spacers float on the wheel hub and take approximately 1.5 seconds to put on or take off if you have the wheel off, so that shouldn't be a consideration. Their spacer kits also come with extended lug bolts matched to the spacer size.