Track day #2: Blackhawk Farms, #2 overall

Track Day #2 is in the books.

It was my first time out with the car at Blackhawk Farms. I had signed up for Intermediate 2 in order to give myself a little more pace buffer while I learned the track in a new car. The track org did something a little different today. They offered transponders for free to hopefully drum up a bit more interest in TT and other timed events. They posted standing throughout the day. I ended up #2 for times at the event. There were two other Corvettes there. A c6z and a c5z. Mid-day the fastest laps list had 10/14 as Corvettes, and 7/14 were me. I’m not going to post any other people’s names out of respect for insurance issues with timing, etc. Eventually the c6z put together a lap in the afternoon and beat me by almost 2 seconds. It was kinda funny to watch him on the main straight. I’d enter it fairly close to him and he would be in the brake zone when I was maybe halfway down the straight. I’m not sure what he had done to the car, but it was fast.

Here’s the #2 lap

And a passing compilation if you have 25 minutes to waste. Unfortunately my camera stopped recording for the most interesting track battle of the day. I probably have it on my Catalyst. The video quality is just ass. I’ll post it later if I find it.

• Brakes were much better. I also put the new hawk er-1 pads in this time. Same pedal engagement every time with only the typical ABS activation sink.
• Tunnel temps seemed lower. I didn’t measure, but I wasn’t baking as much today.
• I’m still consuming oil. About 1qt for the day. Acceptable for all day at redline for a 90k engine.
• The LR wheel is still grinding. I think it really is the bearing. I ordered a set of MPI hubs for the car. Reported they work well in the rear. I might need the more expensive SKF X Trackers for the fronts once they start making noise.
• I think the PS pump is leaking. I was down a minor amount of fluid. I think I saw some drips last time I was under the car. Just a couple ounces had to be put in near the end of the day. Not real surprising as the PS pump is a known weak link in these cars on track.
• I’m getting a CEL for the O2 still. Low voltage in the post-cat O2 on both banks. Seems like there is a laundry list of possible causes. Likely there is still a bit of a leak at the header flange. I could slather them in copper RTV. It’s not a problem other than I don’t like a CEL popping up on track.