Qship (active) at Texas International Speedway!

[texasoil]

I took my very stock 94 Q45a up to a weekend of high performance Driver Education (sponsored by Porsche Club of Hou ,Dallas, Austin) . The 2.9 mile course has 15 turns, longest straight about 1/2 mile, 3 other much shorter straights. The ONLY mod from pure stock is a strut tower brace.

Front brake pads are Bendix ceramic and the rears were also supposed to be that (most likely were not.) Tires 225x60-15 Fusion M&S (selected some time ago for wet street traction (AA) and hot freeway durability (temp rating A).

Brakes could easily bring tires to breakaway and never faded until rear linings ran out last lap of 4th run (I was pushing real hard-either max braking or max throttle almost all the time. The final lap finish of metal to metal ruined rear rotors of course. B4 starting that track session, the pads looked OK and good for at least 2 more sessions. On examination, it was obvious from the pad backing they were different that fronts and lining simply evaporated.

Front pads had 45K miles on them already!, still with 3/4 depth at start, rears same condition--and fronts STILL are well over 50%, with 6 hard sessions +45K miles!! Rotors are pristine also. I was able to out run many of the Porsche's on the straights--but they generally had more cornering ability of course- with real wide, low profile gummy tires, track brakes and springs (those guys were SERIOUS-I just wanted training in high speed manuvering ,etc)

Was able to keep tires at breakaway on curves easily, holding my own with many on all but sharpest turns. Had one experience of real bad under-steer cresting a hill and failed to tap brakes to set the front end down B4 turning the wheel. Over-steer was easy to modulate with throttle. Wish I could 'hold' the transmission in a gear with no overdrive in/out lag. sometimes upset car with surge of 'go-fast' in middle of corners as throttle mashed to exit the turn and transmission computer backed out torque for shifting and then power returned with a surge on computer release. The 'sag-shove' was annoying.- I want to get rid of the 'sag' portion.

I was a great experience--coming off the front straight at 125 down onto the road course, hauling speed down ASAP then left,left, exiting at 55, short straight up to 85, brake brake 90 deg hard right, short straight up to 85, brake to 55, hard right, another short straight, sweeping left at 85, brake hard to 50, hard descending left (bad understeer here once- left the track), medium straight up to 95, steep banked sweeping left (after tap of brakes, hard braking to 45,sharp left, descending hard right, short straight to 75, brake hard , into a decreasing radius flat right 180 deg (43 mph) right into hard left onto 2 nd longest straight up to 95, medium left up-slope blindly into hard braking to 45,immediate hard left,right, left combo, accelerating at max onto long banked front straight up to 125 or so. WHew--2.9 miles in ??

Next time it is with wide sticky 16" gummmy-bears and metal-matrix pads, sway bar end links tightened up hard, and active computer tweaked if I can figure out how.

Rode several lap with my instructor in his nearly stock BMW M-3--awesome cornering forces.

The 'active' eliminates LOTS of body roll and all dive/squat, so it takes some re-learning from a 'standard' sedan.

[elwesso]

That is WAY cool Keith!!! Do you have any pictures?? God thatd be so much fun, and in an active, oh man... you're making me go nuts!

You CAN hold the trans in gear, just use the gated shifter. For instance, if you put it in 2, it will not shift out of 2nd.. I use it all the time!!!

How were the tires wearing??? Have you considered going to solid suspension parts?? Im curious if the actives allow enough camber gain under cornering...

[3Q Jay]

awesome Keith! way to waive the flag and let 'em know we're not grandpa drivers!curious if there were any active anomalies as you pushed the system to (beyond?) design limits.did you have any sign of oil starvation on the extended high rpm with cornering forces? i've always been afraid to push too much in that regard.

so, i have to ask---was the HG50 the biggest barge out there?!

[texasoil]

Tires held up real well (43 fr, 45 rear), no sign of oil starvation, G loads nowhere high enough to empty sump, no anomalies in the active--it worked beautifully--the lack of dive on braking does make rear brakes work harder.Yes, I was significantly larger than other cars-by about 700#. Performance amazed a lot of folks. I had to let up on straights to allow the Porsches to pass-I could outrun most of them. However, they corner like a quick mouse and stop instantly.

[bdf]

I assume you mean Texas World Speedway in College Station?

I have raced motorcycles out there for years, fun track and scary fast coming off the front straight at 170.

I have never been on it in a car, what did they charge for the day?

Not sure if I woudl do that to my F50, but I might.