This car is great in the rain! The hardcore bar + Pedders + Konis + half worn stock tires caused much havoc at the track.

I wish I had more footage, because the second half of the first day is when it started to rain. That's when I really caught a bunch of stuff, including fully prepped race cars.

YouTube - Trackdaze, VIR Full, Nov 16, wet, wet, wet!

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

A somewhat boring dry session. This was just a warm up for some folks. I had already run one session with the instructors. This is with the advanced students:

YouTube - Trackdaze, VIR Full, Nov 15. First black run group

 

pedders + konis?

What the struts instead of the stock ones? which ones are they

 

looks like fun? I was expecting some drifts around corners or something.

 

There's only one Koni setup available for Cobalts. Inserts up front, and shock replacments in back.

Trust me, the car is constantly sliding. The sensation is totally lost on video. Oversteering or understeering burns off speed.

 

gotcha, I was thinking how the hell we were able to tell.. it's hard to .

 

haha that was a guy I know, Nick in the white civic hatch. I was at a dyno day yesterday with him and a guy named Rick (yellow evo VII, intermediate group) and they were talking about the "wicked fast cobalt" at VIR the other day. lol

 

All over those spec miatas in the turns on stock tires??? Now that is crazy.

 

Thats very impressive driving, Im so mad I couldnt go! [censored] server racks. To add salt to the wound, they have me on call for thanksgiving AND xmas.

 

I run Nitto NT01 in the dry, and the stock tires in the wet. I was pleasantly surprised with the stock tires. I was doing 110 - 120 mph in the rain, depending on how hard it was raining at the time. Driving through the rivers at full throttle coming out of a turn in FWD is something I learned a long time ago. Don't even think about moving the steering wheel, just let the car step sideways, and hold the throttle and steering right where they are. As long as you don't do something bone headed, it should continue along it's merry way, but you'll just be moved over left or right a few feet

What does Nick have done to his car?

I caught pretty much everything and anything once the rain hit. I have a lot of practice driving in awful conditions on track.

 

[QUOTE=Wangspeed;5390835]What does Nick have done to his car?

QUOTE]

High compression b18 ~230whp stripped, cage, coilovers on 205 starspecs last I saw. He said he was spinning 4th on the straights through the rivers. Looked like you were just much more comfortable out there than him.

already wishing for spring.

 

230? Holy crap, he should be crushing me out there. You can tell him I cut my teeth back in the hay day of Honda Challenge. FWD, and softening up the suspension really allows you to get away with stupid stuff in the wet.

 

subd for later

 

hah nice!

 

Dunno if you noticed, but in the dry run clip, the blue spec miata brake checks me when he tries to throw a passing signal.

I also drop a few turns before catching the Evo X because I NLS too early, and the ECU complained.

 

You always NLS on track?

 

When I see the "oil temp" calculation hit > 180, and the track is dry, or just a little damp, it's time to NLS. I don't do it when I short shift, for obvious reasons.

 

Wangspeed, can I just say, and I think it's safe to say this comes from all of the regulars that browse the "Road Course" section of the forum as well, you are one of the best, if not the best driver that is also willing to put the time and effort into documenting your track conquests? Seriously, it's an honor to sit behind my crappy laptop and watch you and the other trackday guys tackle on "faster" more expensive cars. I think you're the first one to at least put up wet laps in the LNF Cobalt.

Seriously though, to you and the other trackguys in general, I think the forum, Chevrolet, and GM owe you guys a lot of street cred (because they sure as hell aren't going to be nice enough to throw some money at you) for really pushing our cars to the limit and effortlessly passing "real" race cars. You guys are awesome drivers, and for the most part, you're all really modest about it.

Also, everyone please keep posting more videos of Cobalt's at a track day. It inspires me to think twice before enabling the DIC's "COMPETITION MODE" and foolishly tackling a dangerous backroad like a 17-year-old who stole his Dad's garage queen. Generally the eerie amber icon on the dashboard of a car fishtailing in a triangle reminds my small brain, "Should you really be doing this?" Even so, sometimes the evil thrill-seeking side of my brain prevails.

But yeah, the videos really do inspire me, and I'm sure those who have never done a road course day in the Cobalt, to keep the racing where it really does belong -- on the track. The more these kids realize and learn this, the higher probability of our road-legal racecars will have of living long, high lateral-G, fun lives. I look forward to the day my LNF is screaming down a racetrack on a regular basis. Keep it up guys. :-)

 

Thanks for all the compliments. FYI - I run with ESC disabled, rain or shine.

It's a shame that we're all spread out so far. I'd love to get a few of us to the same event someday *ahem, army & venom*. I'd love to go up to Canada sometime, but I wouldn't want to do that w/o borrowing a friend's trailer. Mont Tremblant is on my list of tracks that I'd like to drive someday. As an added bonus, the Canadian ballet is very talented! Have not seen them in years Highly suggest a trip to see them, but cover your beer.

I wish I had a working camcorder for the last dry session. It was very good. I took an unsuspecting rider out for quite the session. Very fast traffic. The first few wet sessions were a hoot too. It was dry for weeks, and the rain brought up all the oil and gunk. Slick as a pig in poo. I passed one particular race car during the initial rain. He tried to follow up the uphill esses and ended up going off and hitting the guard rail Was not happy to see that, but at least it was a dedicated race car, and not a daily driver.

 

I'll see you at a TrackDaze event next year for sure. I've been saying for the past 2 years I need to get up to VIR. Kinda putting it off cause I know it will ruin CMP for me. lol

 

How are the Konis for daily driving and how much of an improvement is it over the stockers?

 

Not too different for daily driving, but they are a little stiffer. What's nice is that you can adjust the fronts easily. The back is a little bit harder, but for me, I can get the backs done in under 30 min.

The back of the car is a lot more predictable now. I have front/back set soft enough that it doesn't really make too much of a difference for daily driving. The car definitely is more predictable when you get into the turns though. Overall, I love the Konis, but the front Pedders are not really up to the task now. I think they're a little too short, and a little too soft.

 

i want to watch these later, they sound superb

 

wangspeed.. if you do come to Canada go to mosport.. if you haven't been already... all come with too!

It's a friggin blast in the wet, the back end gets so loose lol... but the stock conti's are great in the rain

 

Impressive, I am a deflated superhero in the rain and that's no lie. I am not in my element on a wet track nor do I have the best of tires for a cold wet track even though KDWs are some of the best in warm wet I won't sign off on that one bit, I get that teeth grinding uncertainty when the rain starts, and you can watch my times go down 4 seconds a lap until im 20 seconds slower. Bravo wang, that was some excellent driving. I'm in the off season experimenting with engine mods and I'm hoping to do weight reduction this year in prep for a cage. I've been challenged six times this year and the general concensus is that I cannot compete out of the "color" classes and in the GT classes until I have a full cage and meet the fuel cell requirement. Look it up, at best it's an archaic rule in the gulf coast series. 1998cc 1.5x multiplier but I have to have a full cage...stupid as hell and on a completely open track with plenty of oops space I just am not impressed and they intend to enforce it with the new track next year.

AND OH F'ING **** I forgot to post the camber how to for the rear... guys forgive me I'll take it apart because it's out of season now and I should probably put it back to factory spec from here to spring.

 

Is it actually wheel to wheel racing? I'm a safety nut, so if it's honest to god wheel to wheel, I think having a cage is a good thing. Fuell cell req doesn't make sense though. Tons of people run stock fuel cells. Maybe just add an extra strap, because those stock ones do break when you run super stiff suspension.

Oh, and re: wet driving, don't get me wrong, I love it, but I still pucker up. I had my fair share of little scares, but I kept it on track, and outside the car, it looks very minor. Really though, if your car's suspension isn't too crazy, sometimes you just gotta believe. Stay on the gas, and steer. Find a few high HP, stiffly sprung RWD cars to pick on to boost your ego, and then chase down the rest