Nurburgring

[loveitdou]

As some of you know I am living it up in Europe and will be testing my nerve and reaction times the 25th of this month at the Nurburgring race track.

My car a Cobra Replica that I built myself, except the body which I had done at California customs, has a supercharged 427 Ford engine that I have set up and tested at a dymo in H at 600+ HP at he rear wheels. I will be upping the boost and tweaking the ECU to get more like 700HP. I have a race suspension in it that makes it a bear to drive in the city but still enjoy taking it out on occasion.

That is all well and good NOW I will see IF I am up to the task. I have some super sticky tires coming and will adjust the shocks but the test at Nurburgring is more about the driver than the car. It will easily hit 175 on a straight away but I am not sure how fast I can push it in the corners.

Anyway if I don't kill myself I will report back.

[Guest123018-4]

Please video if you can.
I love sports cars and running a track like that has always been a dream of mine.
Life's circumstances have dictated that it will never happen.

You lucky dog.

[loveitdou]

I will try to record it with my GoPro but regulations say no filming, I have asked for clarification on this.

Yes I am a Lucky Dog, also dirty old man

[Lucky 1]

Will you be running the short (F-1) course...or the Nordschleife???

I was over there on business last fall and got to run one of the new Cayman GT-4's on the long course (Nordschleife) for 3 laps ..... for a 3 lap average of 7:49.056 ...not bad for an old guy who dropped out of SCCA Formula Atlantic more than 20 years ago.....of course the pro's will take the same car around almost 10 seconds per lap faster......so what.... I had a blast!!!

Seriously...I hope you're running the long course......I'd love to hear how some home-built American muscle did!

BTW....I don't know if there are any other Formula One crazies like me on this board....but F-1's season opener is this coming weekend!!!

[loveitdou]

I am running the 12.9 mile course and doubt that I will come close to your time due to my lack of experience on road courses. In the past i was a straight line racer and had great reaction times at the line where most races are won or lost. I have driven on the edge many times in a Firebird I owned and had set up with way too many horses but I realize that running on that circuit is very different from the street. I have registered and been given a starting time of 9:05 so I am second off that day. I see that there is an Arial Atom ahead of me and I suspect I will only see it at the start. They do not allow running for time on what they call Tourist Day but of course I will be doing my best just to try to be able to see the Ariel Atom's tail lights and will employ my own stopwatch. I figure I will be able to corner at about 80-85% of that guys speed but at that speed I doubt I will be able to accurately determine that. It will be the seat of my pants and I hope I don't get burned. I found several videos and am studying them to a great extent so I will know what curve or corner is next up. I see in the videos that the track is pretty rough in spots and hope to keep it on the track the first 2 times around and finally push it hard on the final lap. Wish me luck!


BTW your time was a Great time as the record is 6:11.13 -BRAVO!

[Lucky 1]

My time was decent....but like I said....the Porsche factory drivers were taking the exact same car around at least 10seconds per lap faster...maybe more.

I will say that I've had a lot of road course experience in the past with SCCA ....never did straight line stuff.....the Cayman GT4 is also an unbelievably easy car to go fast in!
Push to the limit in the corners and under braking and the limit just seems to get further out the more you drive it.

The Caymans that were available to drive were also fitted with track tires.....makes a huge difference.

Anyway ...best of luck and have fun!

[GlobeSpotter]

what ecm do you have that allows that tweaking?

[loveitdou]

GS
It's a McLaren TAG-250 which is an early model I bought from a friend who is in Nascar racing. I think the current ones are are model # TAG 320.

[oilfieldscum]

[GlobeSpotter]

Originally Posted by loveitdou

GS
It's a McLaren TAG-250 which is an early model I bought from a friend who is in Nascar racing. I think the current ones are are model # TAG 320.

That's interesting. I'm going to study it

[Still-Naughty]

OP,
That's really cool man, great opportunity, good for you!!

I prefer FAST EFI systems myself

[Seeskylar]

Good luck and video would be greatly appreciated

[loveitdou]

Track officials have asked me to show on the 23rd to test my car. They evidently are leary of "home built" cars-(their terminology) It's about 800 miles so I am headed that way tomorrow. I plan to stay in Schalkenmehren a few miles from the track and my buddy from NASCAR racing is meeting me there for technical support.