QV8S VK Race Car build

[VKGrupeA]

Saw Big Jim's car and previously posted a few comments and updates on AdamRSLC threads, so thought it might be worth the while to post the VK since I bought it.....to now.
Couple of shots as the cars was on its first track day....called the QR Mid-Weeks Sprints....bloody terrible....was like a cat on a hot tin roof, lots of noise but little direction!!!


Check out the body roll...and understeer all in one


This was January 2008...at this point I installed a Bond bolt in 4 point cage and recovered some WRX seats in the Berlina cloth to match the interior.....no oil catch cans, no race pads, no better brake fluid.........just like TOP GEAR!!!!...did a 1.12 around the Clubman and a 1.10 around the Sprint....and it was a handful!!!

[VKGrupeA]

Thought I had better sort out a few things, mainly the oiling system.....tried a few things but all failed, so got a small workshop to rebuild the engine to sort it out.....but it didn't.....also changed the diff from 3.08's to 3.45's......installed KMac strut tops to get more neg camber (about -2.5') with the new engine and these other mods got it down to a 1.07 on the Sprint and 1.09 on the Clubman

[choppo]

Keep this thread going, gotta love the VK 308!!!

[VKGrupeA]

Was not getting better with the oiling issues so moved workshops....went to Chris at Western Suburbs Mechanical......he tried a couple of things to sort out the oil surge before building this oiling seperator and installed a new ASR Commodore Cup sump.





Times didn't improve, but the oil issue was now resolved.....finally!!!!
So we dyno'ed the engine that the old workshop built, made 270hp (or 200kw) at the treads......but what Chris noticed was that the power curve flattened out after 5,500rpm and did not drop off all the way to 6,500rpm.......with some consultation it was deemed that the original workshop over did the exhaust area's.....this was confirmed by Steve Jordan (used to be in house at Stone Brothers Engine shop).........so we decided that the engine should be rebuilt.
Before this we installed Koni's adjustable bump & rebound shocks to the front and adjustable bump at the rear.....changed the springs too. The kit was built by Edgar at Extreme Motorsports at Northgate. The times came down to 1.02 for the Sprint and 1.04 for the Clubman. We also had an opportunity to run the national at this stage and I ran 1.26.
The new engine made 346hp (258kw) at the wheels......funny thing was the lap times didn't drop....by the way, I was using Bridgestone RE55's from the second track day onwards.

[ALLMTR]

Nice but your sig is a spoiler

[bigmuz]

VK Crew represent!

That manifold would be part of why it was so top endy no? What is it?

[gtrboyy]

torquepower by the looks of it with early heads.

[VKGrupeA]

Decided that Sprinting was getting boring by mid-2010 and entered into an iRace meeting at Lakeside.........mind I had never driven at Lakeside before, so went to a Time Attack there and ran 1.04 on the RE55's

At this stage I felt that I know fuck all about fuck all............so got hold of Glenn Seton and hired QR for an afternoon. Glenn helped with the car set-up on the day and assisted me with lines, braking markers etc.....by the time that race came by at Lakeside 7 days later, I was running 1.02's on the race....ended up winning my category and coming 2nd outright for the Muscle Car division.....not bad from 22 cars!!!! By this time I also installed a KAAZ LSD and changed to 3.9's.....and ran for the first time old Porsche Cup Michelin's 240's all round.

[VKGrupeA]

The car looked like this for a while, but I got serious and also decided to take the car off road rego and gut the interior completely.


also installed a new set of Harrop brakes 4 spots front and rear and 343mm rotors front and rear.

[thedude]

Moar!

[VKGrupeA]

By this time I had been racing at various Top Gear and QRDC meetings with mixed results, qualifying well (2 poles and 2 front row starts out of 6), but couldn't really get my lap times much lower......I went and purchased some really stick Dunlop D11's...and all of a sudden the times tumbled....Lakeside 59.5......QR Sprint 59.8, QR Clubman 60.9 and QR National 1.24.........

But the car was wearing the tyres way too quickly because I still hadn't sorted the suspension out properly......by the 2nd meeting, the Dunlop D11's dropped off by about 1 sec and the wear on the rears surprisingly was way too high......it got me thinking about roll centres, spring rates and sway bars.....so I did what any normal guy would do and pulled the suspension apart....
Got this idea of Adam RSLC, relocating the rear panhard bar pickup point to raise the rear roll centre......VERY VERY important

Rear upper control adjustable arms, to sort out the diff pivot angle....should be about -3 to 4mm for better rear traction

Adjustable rear spring saddles to change the rear ride height

Relocated the inner pick up point of the front lower control arm with new rose jointed steering arms (to reduce bump steer), this change increased neg camber and raises the front roll centre, again VERY VERY important



Then did a Dry Sump install....

[VKGrupeA]

I couldn't afford to buy new one only to wreck the Dunlop D11's....so I bought a set of Kumho V710 semi slicks......
Lakeside 59.9......QR Sprint 59.8........QR Clubman 1:02.5 and QR National 1:23.5. The changes worked and I was astounded!!!! and happy!!!! tyres for 1/2 the price and competitive lap times.
I took all of the old stickers off and gained some good sponsorship for the new QV8S Championship up here in Queensland and Big Jim and I run in....so the car looks like this now.....VERY GREEN!!!!!


Also some good shots of some of the cars in the group.
Round 1
http://rossjohnsonphotography.zenfol.../qld_v8_series
Round 2
http://rossjohnsonphotography.zenfol...v8_series_rnd2

Also some incar footage
http://youtu.be/k8NaTffL7Wk
http://youtu.be/7ndW9F5tFWk

http://www.youtube.com/user/VKGrupeA/videos

[VKGrupeA]

That manifold is a Torquepower one.....it was put on the engine at the last rebuild....the previous manifold was actually a Edelbrock Torquer

VK Crew represent!

That manifold would be part of why it was so top endy no? What is it?

[BigJim]

Good stuff Dan

Dan drives the ass off this car for what power it makes compared to a lot of the cars in our Qld V8 series.

Its always a front running car. If he ever takes it to a 355 stroker watch out.

I just don't need you getting any more power at this stage mate. hehe

[GTV]

Good work. Nice to see the effort and funds being put into smart areas with good results.

[matty12]

loving these early girl race cars at the moment, still running the standard bars front and rear by the looks, any reason why you havent changed them to adj ones?

[VKGrupeA]

Yeh....I wanted to try to remain competitive without the heading down the path of flares, ie a narrower tyre and narrower track.......that's also why I run with a standard stoke 308 and early heads.....I know I'm crazy, but I like the idea of trying to punch above my weight so to speak......if I do anything to the engine I might put on some Yella Terra dash 3 heads and a bigger cam.....actually the cam is quite large as it is, so not sure.....242 / 248 @ 50' 106 lobes and 674' at the valve.....we'll look at doing something if my driving doesn't improve that much and I want to go the more horsepower route....??? maybe...??? I think there is still another 1 -2 seconds per lap left in me, so not sure...???

loving these early girl race cars at the moment, still running the standard bars front and rear by the looks, any reason why you havent changed them to adj ones?

[VKGrupeA]

Jimbo....you laughed when I came over this morning about your post....I thought you were indicating that you were hanging shit on me.......that's the nicest I heard you say about anyone....I think I'm falling in love with you champ, move over Voighty!!!!

Good stuff Dan

Dan drives the ass off this car for what power it makes compared to a lot of the cars in our Qld V8 series.

Its always a front running car. If he ever takes it to a 355 stroker watch out.

I just don't need you getting any more power at this stage mate. hehe

[Guido]

Very cool.

[HoonBoy]

Very nice.

Are those suspension/steering bits off the shelf or fabricated?

[VKGrupeA]

yeh....a little bit of both.......some are off the shelf for a different brand/model car, but then they have been modified somewhat to suit the application. Bearing in mind that this car isn't registered so doesn't have to comply with ADR's.....just strong enough to withstand racing forces.....if you want to know anything, PM me if you like and I can let you know what we did.....????

Very nice.

Are those suspension/steering bits off the shelf or fabricated?

[VKGrupeA]

QV8S Control Tyre Testing
Chucked some new springs in the rear of the car the other week but I have never had a chance to use them at the track as yet...............but another competitor and I had to do some tyre testing today at Queensland Raceway, which was very interesting. We only drove of the Sprint Circuit and we tested the following tyres:
* Hoosier Sportscar DOT Radials R6
* Kumhon V710's
* Dunlop Formula R (the original Future Tourers control tyre)
I can't give away the results of the test..............but I can say that f_ck those rear springs have just settled the car down enormously!!!!
Did a PB today.....my previous PB was 59.1 which I did 22nd April...........well I bypassed the 58's completely and went straight to a 57.8...that's 1.3sec better....and on the exact same tyre set that was used on 22nd April.....so I know it was the rear springs!!!!!
I'll update my signature now!!!!

[VKGrupeA]

guess what Livery...????

http://s1044.beta.photobucket.com/us...ia/P1.jpg.html

http://s1044.beta.photobucket.com/us...ia/P3.jpg.html

http://s1044.beta.photobucket.com/us...ia/P2.jpg.html

[<---cop]

Mark Skaife 1996 ATCC

[bigmuz]

Chickadee/ Roadways

[mondo2000]

STP?

[GTV]

looks like chickadee to me too

better grow a handlebar 'tash for the full effect

[Tripper]

ill go with muz

[VKGrupeA]

ill go with muz

Finished version.....literally just hours before the car hit the track....and yes there is a mo now as well....????

There's the mo


Car heading down into Hungry during qualifying


On the grid....qualified 4th.....cars next to and infront are either 6lt or 7lt......against my little 5lt....!!!!


In the pits....came 3rd for that race, the next race and the last race as well......and 3rd for the Round......really hard to pass the guy ahead when he has soooo much more stonk in a straight line

[132oft]

Looks great Dan!