Finndurance Motorsports G35 Endurance race car build thread

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IanS
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PapaSmurf2k3 wrote:
Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:59 pm
I tried like 9 different ways to embed that youtube video and none of them worked. Oh well.
So I'm guessing full brake job after day 1? How'd the car do on fuel/range? As good as you expected?
Weird. Maybe I broke it.

We did mess with the brakes a bit, but that story is for later.

Fuel range was good enough, it ran the 1:45 stints on Saturday without sputtering, but the low fuel light turns on after about an hour and a half. My guess is the computer doesn't like all the sloshing. I was a little apprehensive that she would make full 2 hours on fuel at RA which is typically know for having a relatively high burn rate. The temps hovering around 40° also tend to increase fuel burn.....


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PapaSmurf2k3
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Updates?!

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IanS
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PapaSmurf2k3 wrote:
Sat Dec 05, 2020 7:26 pm
Updates?!
Was hoping to have Saturday's in car videos uploaded soon, but its taking longer than expected. They're coming I promise.

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float_6969
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:ohno:

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IanS
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So the in car video has finally been gone through, and it turns out, all the test day and Saturday video is whitewashed due to improper camera settings.

So, on to Sunday.

Saturday night we rotated tires, flipped front brake pads ( it wears outer pads faster) and changed front rotors since they were shuddering pretty bad. Then we packed it up and headed to the Air B&B.

Sunday morning started cold, barely above freezing. I was in the car first, and I was strapped in and ready to go as they lined us up on grid. This is where things began to go wrong. I realised the coffee I'd had that morning wanted back out. Hadn't even left the pits and I needed to pee. No time to get out, I decided to hold it. They took us for another couple pace laps and the pace car pulled off and we all went for it. The track was so cold I couldn't get any heat into the tires. I struggled with a total lack of grip for over an hour. Then my need for a pit stop began to overwhelm the cars. The need for a restroom was becoming more and more distracting. I pushed through for another 30 minutes or so, squeezing my leg on straights to distract myself. At about 1:40 I radioed that I was coming in as I was now in so much pain I was missing Alexis. I stumbled out of the car and hobbled to the nearest porta John. By the time I was out the car was back on track. I spent the rest of the day with a stomach ache.

The next two drivers got in and out without much excitement. Jaret managed to set the cars best time ever at a 2:51.9. We were again working nicely through the field even with my short relatively slow stint. With twoish hours left Eric got in the car and he's able to work his way up to 8th place overall. The northern weather also decided to bless us with some snow as the race ended and Eric took the checkers as snow began to cover the track. The race was over, both cars finished, and it was time to load up and head home.

My Sunday stint



Jaret's Sunday Stint


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IanS
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The cars had a decent coating of snow just in the few minutes while awards was going on.

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The team that made it all happen.

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Eric taking the checkers

https://i.imgur.com/ZUqyeDi.mp4


Day twos live broadcast.


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IanS
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Well, we had planned to make the trek down to Birmingham Alabama for a 2 day race at Barber Motorsports Park in December. But due to large increase in Covid Cases, a cross country road trip was deemed unwise, so we pulled out.

The car spent the winter hybernating in Evan's garage. We spent a weekend or two doing some reprep. A few weeks before the race we buckled down and made some changes then buttoned the car up. We pulled the diff, and I welded it up. We had been turning the inside rear tire to smoke on some of the tighter turns at Road America. Turns out the factory viscous coupling can't handle the 275 width tires for more than a few laps and would essential turn to an open diff. We also added some more rear camber to the alignment and put on a new set of front brakes.

Evan also took the time to properly organize our spares collection. We purchased new bins, and labeled everything and got things seperated and easy to find in a hurry.

Then the car went in the trailer.

Image

Thursday morning before the race, we hit the road towards Road America for the spring opener, which also happened to be the 2020 ChampCar national championship race. Because we had only run one race in 2020, we weren't eligible for champion status, but it would give us the chance to test the car vs the fastest CCES cars in the country.

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PapaSmurf2k3
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Niiiiice.
I've gone out for sessions when I've had to pee, but only for a 40 minute stint at most. Usually it makes my lap times a bit faster haha.

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float_6969
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Race snow. Brings a whole new meaning to Finnishfury, LOL! Love the updates!

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PapaSmurf2k3
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I've never done a track day in the snow, although we got real close to freezing rain once at Barber motorsports park during their Santa Fun Run or whatever they call it.
I have run the tail of the dragon in the snow though. Full pucker the whole time.

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VStar650CL
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Getting lost in AZ we once did Devil's Highway downhill in a snowstorm when returning to El Paso. No GPS in those days, all it took was a wrong turn. For those unfamiliar, I once worked out the figures for US 191 (formerly 666) versus the more familiar Dragon's Tail in Tennessee. The Dragon worked out to slightly more turns per mile, I think it was about 270 feet for the Dragon versus 310 feet for the Devil, but the Dragon is only 11 miles long and the Devil is over 90. Not a guard rail in sight, either. My wife and daughter can testify, in the snow that was one white-knuckle MF!

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float_6969
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Meanwhile in Kansas when it snows it goes from, "Man, I can almost see Colorado today!" to "Man, that's a lot of snow, I can only see two towns over today!"

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IanS
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Some of us are a bit more comfortable driving hard on ice/snow than others....

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PapaSmurf2k3
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Oh don't get me wrong, I love the stuff... I just have to have the right car/tires for it.

mbolender
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IanS, I ran across this thread and decided to sign up to get in touch with you.

I'm in the rip-out phase of building a 2006 G35 coupe for Lucky Dog racing in Washington and Oregon. If you're willing to share, I'm interested in any lessons learned or interesting tidbits you ran across while building and racing your car.

Neverready
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Hey bud. Just read your story. We also have a2004 g35 build. Raced it for a while now with a lot of issues. Got past most of them. Putting the car on a severe diet and I have some wiring elimination questions if you would be kind enough to answer. Concerned about not disabling car from cutting out wrong stuff. Thanks

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PapaSmurf2k3
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^Man that step is always a bit scary. I hacked a lot out of my 240sx when I converted it to a truck and kinda just crossed my fingers and hoped nothing disabled the car or somehow got crossed and caused a big ole battery drain.


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