What I learned at Watkins Glen

Brakes: HP+ are inadequate for track days. The S3 rotor and caliper upgrade takes the heat much better than stock.

After a track day the newly painted front calipers will match the color of the back calipers


Tires: Koni challenge take offs have more grip than REO1s and never overheated and got greasy like the REO1s did (the REO1s are a very good street tire). I was faster in the turns because of these tires

Passing faster cars is way fun! Like these that where trailered in on an enclosed semi and maintained by a crew of 5 who brought nitrogen tanks to fill the tires of the GT3s to make them more consistent (slow as all five of them where and the rubber was replaced for new at the end of the first day)




Being passed by a faster car is OK too because, after all the car is faster. This is a sweet GT3 and it will make yours ears bleed when it blows buy you.


Getting a wave by from a WRX STI is made better by the red Ferrari racing glove coming out of the window


KO4 > KO3 I was topping out at 130 on the back straight and 120 front straight this year compared to 120 Back straight and 110 front straight last year with the KO3 (these are indicated speeds from the speedometer, I know they are off but it is a good comparison)

Engine oil does not look the same as DSG oil (DSG oil is gold and clear in color, or so I am told by HPA luckily I have not seen any in person)

When your PVC blows you will not necessarily find oil around the filler cap, the engine being pressurized to 25 psi might find a week gasket and leak out the top back of the engine under the cam housing and all over the trans(not good, getting this fixed Thursday)

The KO4 makes the engine want more fuel and will make you change the rear fuel filter after 10 or so fuel cuts, my first ever check engine light and going into limp mode in an open track session in the esses and causing a yellow flag.

Meat is a good guy and very helpful. I know he is a good guy because he only threatened to steal my bumper.

Bring VAG to track with latest software, or if you were not smart enough to do this go ask Meat for help.


Take videos the first day in case your car starts squirting oil and there is not second day. All I have is this pic


Do not expect a credit for missing the second day from a HPDE event much less a refund

I did have a great time and had a better day than this guy and two others like him



Driving home on $7 dollar a gallon 100 octaine is not more fun than driving home on 93.

Damn I would LOVE to drive that track...

Cool,how were you times compared to last year?

Nice update. One day I hope to run there. Its good to have other MKV guys around, isn't it.

dtvburns said:

Brakes: HP+ are inadequate for track days.

Click to expand...

cobaltfriction xr2 > *

Sorry to hear your fun was cut short.
Were the Porsches some sort of rich guy 'pay & play' deal?

I do not have lap times, Meat was there and he will have some and hopefully some video too. I planed on setting up the lap timer for the second day after some practice. On the first day I was concentrating on driving the line and getting back into the driving grove. I did not want to watch the clock and star focusing on time.

Dan, I am ordering those pads

The rich guys owned the cars and the trucking crew service hires themselves out to groups of friends. The service seemed very good. The cars where beautiful and meticulously kept the only issue is they where all passed buy a VW

You don't think your exit speeds before those straightaways helped your top speed more than bigger turbo? I would say those Hoosiers helped your speeds more....

Good fun. GTIs are very capable track cars..

I am sure the tires helped as well as the LSD. In the toe of the boot I could tell a big difference with the LSD. That is a tight turn and last year I was spinning the right front going up the hill in the turn. This year much better steering control and speed.

I was also faster going into 10. Last year I was comfortable going into it with out lifting, carrying more speed this year I was hesitant and lifting and my instructor commented on it;

instructor "is it my imagination or are you lifting a little before turn 10?"

me "I am"

instructor "Why?

me "I don't want to scratch the roof"

lol

Do you have it floored from turn 1 until the bus stop? I'm pretty sure my speed on the back straight is right around 130 as well. If you previously did not lift til the bust stop, are you lifting now with the k04? My car is RIGHT at the limit where I never lift through there, and I figured with just a touch more power I'd have to lift coming in to the Esses, or I might get into trouble. What say you?

And I would say the toe of the boot is also the one area on that track where I say "man I wish I had an LSD". Other than there, could you notice a difference with the LSD?

I never got good time comparisons to last year because I left a day early. The LSD helped a bit in the carousel to. Other than that nbd

Updates

Turns out my assumption that a gasket blew because of the PVC failing was wrong. My HPFP cam follow cracked in half and then got caught up in the timing chain and caused a crack in the cam housing. I then wore down the end of my APR HPFP and lost the spring keeper and spring on that. So my car is at the dealer getting a new cam, housing and timing chain. They are using parts from my OEM fuel pump to fix the APR one.

Here are pics of the cam housing on the outside and inside you can see the cracks and the grooves carved inside.

Inside
View attachment untitled1.bmp

Outside
View attachment untitled.bmp

:biggrin::biggrin:

dtvburns said:

Turns out my assumption that a gasket blew because of the PVC failing was wrong. My HPFP cam follow cracked in half and then got caught up in the timing chain and caused a crack in the cam housing. I then wore down the end of my APR HPFP and lost the spring keeper and spring on that. So my car is at the dealer getting a new cam, housing and timing chain. They are using parts from my OEM fuel pump to fix the APR one.

Here are pics of the cam housing on the outside and inside you can see the cracks and the grooves carved inside.

Inside
View attachment 44244

Outside
View attachment 44245

Click to expand...

Damn that sucks, expensive repair ?

Besides the tires/LSD helping I got about the same speed differences at Sebring on the front and back stretch between the K03 and K04 setup (+ 10mph)

And it sure is fun to be able to get to pass GT3's aint it :biggrin:
It surprises the shit out of them, at least it did when I passed them :happyanim:

You ever dynoed the car ?, what were the numbers on 100 oct ?

Mike

Jim, it was nice to meet you...your GTI smelled really good on 100oct.

That crack in the cam housing looks about right for the amount of oil that was leaking. After poking around in there, I was thinking about it that night and thought "that was a lot of oil for a leaking gasket." A crack sure does make sense. Keep us posted on the repair.

I haven't gotten a chance to get all of my video and data looked at yet. I'm hoping to have some of it online tomorrow.

Data showed me at 123-125 mph before braking on the back straight. I was also lifting going into 2. I did not want to find out what the walls up north feel like.