Picture of the Month #37

[beez]

Well, it looks like winter has finally ended, so let's get these snow pictures off the page…
it's racing season folks! This is Krokodil pushing hard while cresting the hill at Grapevine
at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, in the Porsche Owners Club (POC) Red Cup race, May 11.

Photograph by Steven Happel - Vanhap Photography
Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, EF400mm f/2.8L IS, 1/320 sec. f/7.1 ISO 50

[beez]

For those less interested in the photography specs, and more in the car:

Krokodil reports he's running a 2007 Cayman S - slightly modified ;-) - in POC GT3 Class - 335 RWHP, 2860# (with driver), on Yokohama Slicks. The car is built and maintained by Vision Motorsports in Laguna Hills, CA

[Ed Merry]

Cool. Glad to hear of more Cayman in competition. Thanks for the picture. Ed

[Krokodil]

Thanks for posting the picture Beez!

This car was/is one of the first competiion Caymans built in the US (and the first on the West Coast). It has been a dedicated race car for four years - winning the GT3 class championship in 2012 - and ran as a drive-to-the track race car for a year before that.

Cheers,

[Ed Merry]

Originally Posted by Krokodil

Thanks for posting the picture Beez!

This car was/is one of the first competiion Caymans built in the US (and the first on the West Coast). It has been a dedicated race car for four years - winning the GT3 class championship in 2012 - and ran as a drive-to-the track race car for a year before that.

Cheers,

Can you tell us more about this car? How did you get 335 RWHP in a Gen 1 3.4L motor? For example.

What suspension mods and weight savings were accomlished and yet made the car still street legal? Brakes? What type pads? Wheel sizes , etc.

If you don't mind of course. Plus a few more pictures would help as well. Ed

[diverdog]

Originally Posted by Ed Merry

Can you tell us more about this car? How did you get 335 RWHP in a Gen 1 3.4L motor? For example.

What suspension mods and weight savings were accomlished and yet made the car still street legal? Brakes? What type pads? Wheel sizes , etc.

If you don't mind of course. Plus a few more pictures would help as well. Ed

The engine is a 3.8L

[Croc'ed]

Awesome action shot! Thanks for posting it.

[Krokodil]

Originally Posted by Ed Merry

Can you tell us more about this car? How did you get 335 RWHP in a Gen 1 3.4L motor? For example.

What suspension mods and weight savings were accomlished and yet made the car still street legal? Brakes? What type pads? Wheel sizes , etc.

If you don't mind of course. Plus a few more pictures would help as well. Ed

Ed,

As Diverdog posted above, the current engine is a Vison built 3.8, not a 3.4. The 3.8 makes about 360 RWHP unrestricted, but we run an intake air restrictor to hold the RWHP to about 335 to meet class rules.

However, we did race the car for several years with a 3.4 Gen 1 engine. It was built and prepped by Vision Motorsports and made about 305 RWHP. This engine ran an EVOMS program, larger TB, decked heads, headers, open exhaust, UD pulley, etc. This is pretty much all you can do to a 3.4 to make power, so I would say that is about it for a M97. There may be a bit more in the 3.4 engine, but it would require changing theintake manifold as our testing showed this to be the final, critical restriction.

As for the rest of the car - it has not been street legal for quite some time. I think we removed maybe 120 pounds of stuff while it was still street legal, but that is about it. The car ran Bilstein PSS9s at the time to meet class requirements.

Now the car is a fully gutted and caged race car (for the last four years).

We run 9/10 x 18 Fikse Profil10 wheels with 250/650 and 280/680 Yokohama slicks.

Brakes are stock calipersF/R, stock rotors in the rear with Wrightwood Racing Indycar rotors up front. Pads are Pagid Blacks. We also run the 997 Cup dual master cylinder system and a Teves motorsports ABS.

Steering is converted to the GT3 Cup electric system.

Suspension uses JRZ TA dampers, Porsche Motorsports, Tarett, and Kokeln parts, and some trick geometry changes.

Here is a recent video:



And more photos:









Cheers,

[Ed Merry]

THanks for the info. Sounds like a cool race car. THanks again. Ed

[bretster]

Originally Posted by beez

.

Next time my instructor tells me to stay off the curbs.......

[Donnie C]

thanks for getting my snow car off the picture of the Month... I was getting cold just looking at it..
Nice drive today, temps 80's

Donnie C.

[Gator Bite]

Awesome action shot.... I love it..!!

[Gator Bite]

Originally Posted by bretster

Next time my instructor tells me to stay off the curbs.......

Too funny....

[stevecolletti]

Great pic, and great thread.

[SBD]

Nice shot! I am curious what times you ran at buttonwillow? I was there the a couple of weeks later-very hot) in a stock 06 Boxster. I'm thinking about adding a 3.4 to the car and doing some suspension mods.

[Speedy]

Great video, and great driving. It always impresses me how easy the pros make it look.

Oh, and the car sounds great too!

[Krokodil]

Originally Posted by Speedy

Great video, and great driving. It always impresses me how easy the pros make it look.

Oh, and the car sounds great too!

Thanks, but no pro here, just another hack amateur.

Cheers,

[Krokodil]

Originally Posted by SBD

Nice shot! I am curious what times you ran at buttonwillow? I was there the a couple of weeks later-very hot) in a stock 06 Boxster. I'm thinking about adding a 3.4 to the car and doing some suspension mods.

Thanks.

Which configuration at BW? POC runs the longest configuration - essentially Race#1 plus the extended off ramp / A section (+ ~ 2 seconds). My fastest qual time their is OK, but not great at a 2:01.X

PCA & NASA typically run Race #13 (no A section or Star Mazda) or Race #1 (no A section).

Here is a link to the maps: http://buttonwillowraceway.com/track-info/track-maps/

For a few fixed configuration tracks:

WSIR - 1:24.1
AAA Roval - 1:44.5
Chuckwalla - 1:52.7

Cheers,

[Ed Merry]

Wow. I went to their site to see what course you were talking about. There are sure a lot of various track configurations at Button Willow.(27) And I thought VIR was complicated with only 5 configurations. Full, South, North, Patriot, and Grand East Ed

[bretster]

Originally Posted by Ed Merry

Wow. I went to their site to see what course you were talking about. There are sure a lot of various track configurations at Button Willow.(27) And I thought VIR was complicated with only 5 configurations. Full, South, North, Patriot, and Grand East Ed

Make that 6 if you count Grand West.