Search for the Ultimate Street Car: COTA, Austin, TX
08-05-2016, 07:20 PM
#1
Search for the Ultimate Street Car: COTA, Austin, TX
So, I didn't want to take over the other thread and instead figured I'd share my adventures from here.
I've been working to this point for a few months, upgrading and doing shakedown runs in the car. I've had 2 track days so far and a bunch of autocross events but still not enough time in the car in its current state (sway bar and tyres) to really get to know its limits on a track I know the limits of so I go in to the weekend a little blind but super excited to race on this great track.
The drive went well, sailed through tech without any hiccups and got issued a set of race livery to apply to the car, she's looking real nice now!
Car:
2015 Q60s Limited
- Hotchkis front sway bar
- SPL upper front control arms
- Z1 34 row oil cooler
- Z1 power steering cooler
- Z1 2 piece slotted rotors front and rear
- Carbotech XP10/8 front/rear brake pads
- Bridgestone RE71R tyres in 245/40 up front and 265/35 in back on stock rims
The upgrades address the biggest problems with the stock car and leave the springs and dampers alone to ensure daily driver comfort as I do 60 miles per day in the interstate (but that HUMONGOUS front wheel gap is getting real irritating)
I will Take photos, videos and telemetry during the event and keep this thread updated.
Saturday events:
- speed stop
- autocross
- street tour
Sunday events:
- open hot laps
I've been working to this point for a few months, upgrading and doing shakedown runs in the car. I've had 2 track days so far and a bunch of autocross events but still not enough time in the car in its current state (sway bar and tyres) to really get to know its limits on a track I know the limits of so I go in to the weekend a little blind but super excited to race on this great track.
The drive went well, sailed through tech without any hiccups and got issued a set of race livery to apply to the car, she's looking real nice now!
Car:
2015 Q60s Limited
- Hotchkis front sway bar
- SPL upper front control arms
- Z1 34 row oil cooler
- Z1 power steering cooler
- Z1 2 piece slotted rotors front and rear
- Carbotech XP10/8 front/rear brake pads
- Bridgestone RE71R tyres in 245/40 up front and 265/35 in back on stock rims
The upgrades address the biggest problems with the stock car and leave the springs and dampers alone to ensure daily driver comfort as I do 60 miles per day in the interstate (but that HUMONGOUS front wheel gap is getting real irritating)
I will Take photos, videos and telemetry during the event and keep this thread updated.
Saturday events:
- speed stop
- autocross
- street tour
Sunday events:
- open hot laps
Last edited by Splitter; 08-09-2016 at 11:28 PM.
08-06-2016, 10:56 PM
#2
So, for those who are not familiar with the Ultimate Street Car Challenge (like I was) it is run on a 2-day format with 5 events. Each car must compete and set a time/record in each event for maximum points for the weekend.
Saturday consists of:
- Autocross (this is just an autocross, don't hit any cones)
- Speed Stop Challenge. This event is a take on the classical Go-To-Whoa straight line but with a corner or two
- Design and Engineering Judging. Targeted at the more modified cars, this section gives points for the completeness, fit, finish and drive-ability (ie, AC, Radio, winding windows) of each of the cars. Standard cars don't get a lot of credit, badly modified cars don't get a lot of credit and so to do well here you need to rock up in a high quality show/track car.
- Street Drive. To prove you actually attended in a street car (and not just a registered and insured race car *COUGHALLOFTHEMCOUGH*) each competitor must finish a drive on public roads for about 1 hour without the assistance of a suport vehicle, although that bit wasn't policed today. (I didn't video this, a bit boring for what is actually a street car)
Sunday is more track focused and the single event for the day is simple:
- Post the fasted lap time you can
The car competed VERY well in the Saturday classes and you can find video with telemetry below:
Autocross:
Speed Stop:
I did really well in the autocross (4 of 14 for the morning session) but with only half the class competing in the morning I will have to wait for final results presentation to see how I finished. Not bad for a V6 in a crowd 98% made up of classic and modern V8 monsters! I sure upset a few guys in my session, including several trailered in queens, and I hope that continued for the day.
The car is doing great, despite the 104 degree heat, and not a single problem so far, fingers crossed that tomorrow is just as fine!
Saturday consists of:
- Autocross (this is just an autocross, don't hit any cones)
- Speed Stop Challenge. This event is a take on the classical Go-To-Whoa straight line but with a corner or two
- Design and Engineering Judging. Targeted at the more modified cars, this section gives points for the completeness, fit, finish and drive-ability (ie, AC, Radio, winding windows) of each of the cars. Standard cars don't get a lot of credit, badly modified cars don't get a lot of credit and so to do well here you need to rock up in a high quality show/track car.
- Street Drive. To prove you actually attended in a street car (and not just a registered and insured race car *COUGHALLOFTHEMCOUGH*) each competitor must finish a drive on public roads for about 1 hour without the assistance of a suport vehicle, although that bit wasn't policed today. (I didn't video this, a bit boring for what is actually a street car)
Sunday is more track focused and the single event for the day is simple:
- Post the fasted lap time you can
The car competed VERY well in the Saturday classes and you can find video with telemetry below:
Autocross:
Speed Stop:
I did really well in the autocross (4 of 14 for the morning session) but with only half the class competing in the morning I will have to wait for final results presentation to see how I finished. Not bad for a V6 in a crowd 98% made up of classic and modern V8 monsters! I sure upset a few guys in my session, including several trailered in queens, and I hope that continued for the day.
The car is doing great, despite the 104 degree heat, and not a single problem so far, fingers crossed that tomorrow is just as fine!
Last edited by Splitter; 08-06-2016 at 11:07 PM.
08-07-2016, 01:19 AM
#4
Do you have a thread on the brake parts failure issue? I'm considering those rotors.
Why the IPL upper control arms? Aren't they identical to the S and Journey arms?
Edit: Reading another post in another thread, seems you're running SPL arms, not IPL
Why the IPL upper control arms? Aren't they identical to the S and Journey arms?
Edit: Reading another post in another thread, seems you're running SPL arms, not IPL
Last edited by Ape Factory; 08-07-2016 at 12:01 PM.
08-09-2016, 11:02 PM
#5
So, COTA, here it is:
Absolutely amazing track and I will be coming back here again. Given it was my first flat out event I was very careful learning the car and track. My first session best was a 3.11 and my third session a 2.50! Not to mention the excessive track clean-up fee's. A corvette left a diff on the track to the tune of $1,500 in cleanup and an EVO tore it's block literally in 2 and copped an even bigger bill for his trouble.
With all that in mind, I tried to keep it really tidy and clean fun, I've watched 370z videos that have lapped in the 2.3X range on the stock tyres, so there is easily 10s left on the table. At no point was I really pushing the limits of the tyres (new) and setup (also changed since last event) but my gosh did I have fun! And I didn't come last in a field entirely of V8's
I would also highly recommend the Ultimate Street Car Challenge of itself. It's 99% muscle cars, but a really relaxed and friendly atmosphere with limited cars per run with lots of track time. There were 11 cars in my group, and by this lap, the last session of the day, only 6 had elected to continue running laps so that mustang was the only car I saw in 15 minutes. He was also my only overtake of the weekend....
Lots of track time and the mixture of events is a nice way to break up a 2-day weekend.
The brakes worked very well for me, no problems at all. My third run I did 4 full-pace laps, a slow lap and another at speed to make 6 and a full 20+ minute session, and whilst the pedal got very long and the pads lost all their initial bite (cold carbotech's will put your face through the windshield with any more than 2/3 an ounce of pressure on the pedal normally), they still worked and continued to pull the car up at 1G according to my logger. I will still investigate getting the brake ducts installed as I did already buy the stuff, so why not to be safe. Unlike some other forum members here, the calipers have not changed colour, so they must be working better than single piece rotors.
The power steering fluid still boiled as well on that run, there was some very minor seeping through the cap and when I took the cap off, a few bubbles. I reduced the fluid level from 'Hot Max' to 'Hot Min' and observed no more leaking for the day. It was just a hot day, 104 degrees blazing sunlight during that session.
The final run of the day (this one on video) I had forgotten to top up on fuel after my last run - I didn't think that 2-3 gallons would make a difference - but you can hear on the last 2 corners and the front straight that the car wouldn't rev. Hit fuel starve by lap 8, only ~5 gallons from empty, so I guess I got bit as I knew I should have filled up.
My bad! I had had a couple beers by that point and IPL and SPL were the same 
Absolutely amazing track and I will be coming back here again. Given it was my first flat out event I was very careful learning the car and track. My first session best was a 3.11 and my third session a 2.50! Not to mention the excessive track clean-up fee's. A corvette left a diff on the track to the tune of $1,500 in cleanup and an EVO tore it's block literally in 2 and copped an even bigger bill for his trouble.
With all that in mind, I tried to keep it really tidy and clean fun, I've watched 370z videos that have lapped in the 2.3X range on the stock tyres, so there is easily 10s left on the table. At no point was I really pushing the limits of the tyres (new) and setup (also changed since last event) but my gosh did I have fun! And I didn't come last in a field entirely of V8's
I would also highly recommend the Ultimate Street Car Challenge of itself. It's 99% muscle cars, but a really relaxed and friendly atmosphere with limited cars per run with lots of track time. There were 11 cars in my group, and by this lap, the last session of the day, only 6 had elected to continue running laps so that mustang was the only car I saw in 15 minutes. He was also my only overtake of the weekend....
Lots of track time and the mixture of events is a nice way to break up a 2-day weekend.
The brakes worked very well for me, no problems at all. My third run I did 4 full-pace laps, a slow lap and another at speed to make 6 and a full 20+ minute session, and whilst the pedal got very long and the pads lost all their initial bite (cold carbotech's will put your face through the windshield with any more than 2/3 an ounce of pressure on the pedal normally), they still worked and continued to pull the car up at 1G according to my logger. I will still investigate getting the brake ducts installed as I did already buy the stuff, so why not to be safe. Unlike some other forum members here, the calipers have not changed colour, so they must be working better than single piece rotors.
The power steering fluid still boiled as well on that run, there was some very minor seeping through the cap and when I took the cap off, a few bubbles. I reduced the fluid level from 'Hot Max' to 'Hot Min' and observed no more leaking for the day. It was just a hot day, 104 degrees blazing sunlight during that session.
The final run of the day (this one on video) I had forgotten to top up on fuel after my last run - I didn't think that 2-3 gallons would make a difference - but you can hear on the last 2 corners and the front straight that the car wouldn't rev. Hit fuel starve by lap 8, only ~5 gallons from empty, so I guess I got bit as I knew I should have filled up.
Last edited by Splitter; 08-09-2016 at 11:26 PM.
08-09-2016, 11:30 PM
#6
Sounds like a great event! What was the total cost to enter? Might have to try it next year.
And just to clarify, you had zero issues with the two piece rotors...wasn't sure if I missed a thread or post somewhere but the way you wrote it above, it sounded like you had some sort of failure with the two-piece rotors.
And just to clarify, you had zero issues with the two piece rotors...wasn't sure if I missed a thread or post somewhere but the way you wrote it above, it sounded like you had some sort of failure with the two-piece rotors.
08-09-2016, 11:40 PM
#7
It was $750 for COTA. normally it's about ~$300 at other tracks but COTA is expensive to rent. Other HPDE's run at about $800-900 for a 2 day event with WAY more cars on track.
However, what caught me out was the Snell SA2010 helmet rule. Most places allow motorbike M rating and for 2016 due to supply shortages are accepting 2005 helmets too as a grace period (mine is an M2005 so I wasn't planning on an upgrade until next year). In intermediate (passing allowed) you also need full fire suit and a neck brace. So I was up for a bit and not just the entry fee.
The brakes went very well, zero issues except the still long pedal that I'm going to look in to, but no fade and also no ice mode at all, even when other cars were suffering on the speed-stop on a bumpy brake zone.
However, what caught me out was the Snell SA2010 helmet rule. Most places allow motorbike M rating and for 2016 due to supply shortages are accepting 2005 helmets too as a grace period (mine is an M2005 so I wasn't planning on an upgrade until next year). In intermediate (passing allowed) you also need full fire suit and a neck brace. So I was up for a bit and not just the entry fee.
The brakes went very well, zero issues except the still long pedal that I'm going to look in to, but no fade and also no ice mode at all, even when other cars were suffering on the speed-stop on a bumpy brake zone.
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