Video from MSCA Winton Yesterday

[jimnielsen]

A video take from trackside of my car going through the kink on the front straight, a few times - yes that Ford turbo has good brakes..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O4DauVyzBs

[jimnielsen]

The view from inside the car....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXamI4xzYgQ

[dehne]

how did the car run on e85 and how much mod/tuning do you think the 90 would take to be able to use it or should i just run a 105-110 oct fuel

[jimnielsen]

Dehne, I wouldn't do either unless you are going to turbocharge the 90. E85 requires significant modification of the entire fuel system and a fully programmable ECU. Proper 105-110 Race fuel (such as ELF etc) costs $6-$10 a litre and would also need a fully programmable ECU to enable you to take proper advantage of it. I would stick to 98 Octane fuel such as BP Ultimate etc. The knock control that higher octane provides can be useful on turbo charged cars (and perhaps na cars with high compression ratios) - but if my car was not turboed, I would still be using BP 98...

cheers, jim ~

[dehne]

mmm turbo charged that could be fun only the small prob or $$$ getting in my way. looks like i staywith 98 oct then

[dehne]

just checked prices only $400us for a t3/t4 turbo kit for the 90 with a few mods aswell but maybe worth looking a little further

[Simon Aarons]

That Ford is all over the place!! Very ugly through the S's! haha.

[Simon Bidese]

Jim happy with your 1.40.**?

[alfagtv152]

Thanks Jim,
Great footage,I especially enjoy watching the AFR/Boost/RPM etc on the inboard footage.
Cheers
Andrew

[jimnielsen]

Simon, no I wasn't happy with 1.40.02 !  My previous fastest in this car there (in the same format as as last weekend) was 1.41.5, but I can see on the data that I could actually do 1:37. Just need to translate that potential into reality. The car has 'significant' understeer issues at Winton, which will always be its worst track, the brakes are working better, but I am still finding the ABS 'unpredictable'. I have better wheels and tyres coming for the next try!

jim ~

[Simon Bidese]

thanks for the summary Jim.

From the onboard footage it was clear understeer was the problem and it sounded like you were running the same wheel/tyre combo.
How did you rate the track? Fast  / Slow / Somewhere in the middle.
Does that explain the 0.5 second?

Cheers,

Simon

[Dna Dave]

Jim,

What's your front and rear spring rate, and are you running rear tow out?

Cheers

Dave

[jimnielsen]

Dave, I do need to increase the rear spring rate, and I plan to do that before I use the car again. I would also try running some rear toe out, and some rear neg camber - but this will involve removing the entire rear suspension assembly and cutting and welding it. I am looking at how this can be accomplished.  Unfortunately the 155 Q4 did not get the rear strut type suspension like the Lancia Delta Integrale.

jim ~

[Dna Dave]

Jim,

I only ask because I raced a 156 GTA for a few years, I'm told that a 4 wheel drive set up is very similar to a front wheel, if so we ran rear 1mm toe out, 900 pounds rear springs and 650 pound fronts, obviously as much caster as possible, it felt a bit nervous but was alot quicker than when we ran softer rear springs. We were running semi slicks. Hope this comes of some assistance.

Cheers

Dave

[jimnielsen]

Dave, yes it is of assistance. Do you mean that you ran 1mm of toe out for the front, or the rear -and was this per wheel or total? I have 550lb springs on the front and 200lb springs on the rear. I was going to double the rear to 400 lbs (rear). Its difficult to change the caster on these cars - currently its set at 1.5 degrees, to add more would require some modifications.