R's Day 2024 roared to life on May 26th at the legendary Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. Built in 1957, Laguna Seca is a driver's paradise, but its proximity to residential areas has created a sonic challenge. Despite being in the flight path of a nearby airport, neighbors have expressed concerns about noise levels, resulting in strict sound regulations for the track.
The track is limited to a certain number of days with 95 dB, 105 dB, and unlimited decibel levels per year. This has led to some creative, if unconventional, exhaust modifications, often seen pointing upwards and to the left. Determining the exact location of the sound level monitoring station might be a popular pastime among enthusiasts.
R's Day was a 105 dB event, and surprisingly, there was only one reported black flag. The alleged cause? An unexpected upshift, according to the driver.
Brian's car and the Nismo loaded up in the garages May 26 6:43 am
We got up to Laguna late in the day on the 25th. There were a few things on the Nismo that I hadn't been able to work out prior to getting on the road. I was thinking it had a fuel delivery issue. So I brought every fuel related item I could quickly grab before we left the shop. Extra fuel pumps, regulators, set of injectors, fuel filters, line. Spare MAF. I just couldn't work out what exactly was going on. I had a set of HPX- N2 MAF which will meter a ton of air. However no mater what I did I couldn't get the load to work right. There was some MAF scaling that I had setup wrong. So at the track, I decided to swap it back to the normal "R35/Nissan" blade style MAF. Once I got those MAF and scales setup, the car started acting normally again.
Getting setup in the garages early on Sunday morning
Sunday morning came, and I just had a small list of things to do, like tune the car, check the boost. Align it. Get power to the Accusump. . Install the new G-sensor. Luckily I had Aidan and Ernie at the track to help me get the car setup. Normally the morning of the event, you should be doing very minimal things, but hey, life happens.
For R's Day there were two groups, a beginners group, and an advanced group. In the first session, first thing I noticed was that the Hooisers had a ton of grip. Everything else felt decent. Overall third fastest in the first session by 0.022 behind a couple of R35 GT-R.
The next session, as I started to gain some speed, and use the brakes a bit more, I got a long pedal. As in, to the floor, and not slowing down at all kind of feeling. Almost like I lost a line. When I went to bleed the brakes, realized I left my SRF back at the shop. Even though I had ducts, and decent pads in the car, just didn't have enough brake.
Nismo going down the corkscrew
I qualified for the King of Kaiju time attack event, but I sent it a little too hard. I upped the duty cycle on the boost controller, and first time I got on it, I popped the left side lower intercooler pipe off. Trying to decide where to go, I ended up beaching it in a bad spot. Aidan fixed the intercooler pipe, and I turned the duty cycle back down for the last session of the day.
Nismo R32 GT-R at Laguna Seca
Justin Bieber duct tape holding the fuel door closed
OS88 catch can . This cheap catch can even has a dipstick. Around $35, saves a lot of mess. I put this in front of the battery, all the way in the front. I just hooked the transfer vent, and the transmission vent together. It's really not going to mix the two fluids, and honestly even if it does, its not that big of a deal. I ran it sealed, no atmospheric vent, but you might want to try some different ways for your own car. I did have to empty it once at Laguna Seca during R's Day.
Best lap, a bit sloppy. The brakes needed SRF, I forgot it at the shop. The Hoosiers just stick. Great tire.
1:42.1 was my best of the day in the Nismo
The Nismo was making about 330 whp at 14 psi, and with stock brakes it was about what I could do on that day. I know going up over turn 1 into 2 I have at least a few seconds of time. I forgot the Nismo/Ohlins had separate rebound and compression damping. I have been working with single knob stuff for too long. I needed some rebound to give me a little more confidence. That huge floaty, fly off the edge of the track feeling isn't great. Would have, could have, should have. I guess if we didn't think we could go faster, we would just stop trying to go faster. The Nismo is no dedicated track car, but it has a lot of good parts in it from years of experience. It will never be the fastest car on a track day, but it will hold its own
A few videos of the event from several different people.
Buy USA Legal R32, R33, and R34 Skylines at Toprank Importers! When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network
No comments:
Post a Comment