2014 Ford Fiesta ST project

[RAAMaudio]

I have never heard of pads doing that, just not right, maybe the extra heat of the Torque Vectoring is the culprit, just got them hotter than designed for, others had had pad issues on stock brakes but I have not heard of any with BBK's.

I am going to talk to my brake supplier Monday as that is what I have for my track pads as he felt they would be the correct ones.

Glad you two, you and the car, are OK!

I went off backwards at that speed once in my own oil, not a fun feeling, to say the least.

 

[razorlab]

I'm thinking about going with them for my spring wheels next year. How you like them? The sparcos? And you still run 205/45 on those as well?

They are cheap and work. 215/40/17 Z2 Star specs for track and the 205/45/17 Bridgestone S03's for street.

 

[razorlab]

Since I am a data junky, I was really looking forward to datalogging at the track today. I have 5 sessions worth of datalogs to comb over but here is the first interesting one.

This is a datalog of my last session of the day in the afternoon. About four full laps of a 2.8 mile course. It was about 95* ambient at the time. The hottest session.

My selection is over the peak numbers for the datalog while on track.

Couple things to note:

1. Correlation between Charge Temp and Coolant temp, the plots almost mirror each other. We really need a upgraded radiator option!
2. Intake temp. How rock steady is that mofo? Stock intake down to the paper filter. Guess it works well.
3. Zero knock except a single 1 blip. Guess my track tune is working.
4. Oil temps. Getting toasty. From what I know from tracking Evos, cooler oil temps will also equal cooler water temps.

 

[jayroddrumz]

Cool. I was thinking our radiators are week too after seeing my Autocross runs data.

 

[Kip2MyLou]

They are cheap and work. 215/40/17 Z2 Star specs for track and the 205/45/17 Bridgestone S03's for street.

Okay. Which one you like the most? I want a better, smoother ride for the street.

 

[razorlab]

Okay. Which one you like the most? I want a better, smoother ride for the street.

Sorry, S-04, not S-03.

S-04's are my absolute favorite street tire. They are well priced, ride well, silent, grip well for their class, etc.

The Z2's hum like angry bees on the highway.

 

[Kip2MyLou]

Nice. Glad to hear that. I'll definitely be getting those for the spring then.

 

[razorlab]

Obligatory track paddock photo:

Playdoh melted BP-20 pads smeared all over my rotors

 

[Kip2MyLou]

Holy shit. That's not a good advertisement for those.

 

[razorlab]

Holy shit. That's not a good advertisement for those.

The Wilwood kit worked great after I put proper track pads in.

 

[RAAMaudio]

I am deffinately sending back the BP20 and getting BP30 for the track, I have an 11.75" rotor version of the same brakes but will be on 225 RA1 tires so I know I will work them even harder.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Radiator, until available, my solution was to open up the grill more and add an oil cooler and disconnect the stock water to oil cooler lines to take some load off the radiator. I had been looking into adapting a radiator, best for the money for me has been Mishimito, to work on this car but then decided to wait for the 2j-r but we are all still waiting on that and other things.

I notched the bumper beam and opened up the whole grill but if you just open up another inch or so in the middle and also drill some holes in the verticle support in front of the radiator and in the bar that holds the crash sensors you will get much more air to the radiator. I also made a new crash bar beam, must smaller than the stock one, as I needed it higher up to use it as the oil cooler mount.

The cooler is a Setrab dual pass so the out and in are on one side, Mocal T stat plate, AN push on fittings, it does add some weight up front but no more than a bigger radiator and coolant, gives more oil capacity as well which is a good thing.

 

[razorlab]

More data!

One thing this will show is that I was driving the car at about maybe 70% and I'm sure all the guys I was pointing by can attest to that. It was more of a test and tune day for me since I hadn't been to the track in six years and this is a totally different platform for me, as I am used to high horsepower AWD Evos.

Some of the things I learned was that I have a ton of cobwebs to get out and these little short wheel base FWD cars are hard to drive on track, at least compared to what I am used to!

Btw, an old Evo friend of mine was with me at the track in his Focus ST with cobb stage 1 map. I would easily pull on him in the fast parts of the track based on pure acceleration. Was interesting to see that.

This is my last lap of the day with Lateral G-Force and MPH. Very cool data!

Peak lateral G of .99 in this data set. Like I said I was driving at probably 70% so I think it easily has over 1.0 G in it. I believe a stock FiST has been tested at .92? It also has more mph in at at the end of the front straight, I let off a bit as you can see here. I know when I looked at it right before my braking incident I was at 110 mph but of course my eye to brain connection can be off. If I remember correctly (It's been a long time) my Evo 8 would hit about 125 or so in the same place.

Purple is MPH
White is Lateral G

 

[jayroddrumz]

Thanks for all the info! Just curious, did it feel pushy at all? Or did it feel a little too loose in the rear?

 

[razorlab]

Thanks for all the info! Just curious, did it feel pushy at all? Or did it feel a little too loose in the rear?

Sometimes a little pushy, sometimes neutral, sometimes loose. It was a party in the corners, that's for sure.

I have to get more comfortable with the cars tendencies. The biggest one being that the cars turn in is really really good and confidence inspiring, however once it turns in and goes to set, it feels like it never really sets itself like the turn in suggests it would. Some of that might be the suspension and some of that might be me new to the FWD platform.

Coming out of corners it felt pretty good. You can adjust it pretty well with throttle and it surprisingly rockets out of corners for a FWD.

 

[rodmoe]

Sometimes a little pushy, sometimes neutral, sometimes loose. It was a party in the corners, that's for sure.

I have to get more comfortable with the cars tendencies. The biggest one being that the cars turn in is really really good and confidence inspiring, however once it turns in and goes to set, it feels like it never really sets itself like the turn in suggests it would. Some of that might be the suspension and some of that might be me new to the FWD platform.

Coming out of corners it felt pretty good. You can adjust it pretty well with throttle and it surprisingly rockets out of corners for a FWD.

Some of it might be Torque Vectoring firing as it to ma anyway feels like something just nibbling at the car in the corners I'm getting to the point when I feel that just squeeze the gas a lil more...

 

[RAAMaudio]

Makes sense the torque vectoring would be working even with the Quaife and probably less so easier on the brakes which do get used more with it, with the LSD, probably a lot less heat so the BP20 pads may of been alright but I think I will switch to the 30s to be safe.

I have had two very easy to drive FWD cars, one IRS, one without, I had very good handling and feedback from both, why I chose to spend the time and change te rear camber and toe, which was a far bigger project than anticipated but now I could do one in a few hours, I have many times more into mine.

But, with shock tuning, spring rates, front camber, toe tweaks, tire pressure, driving style adjustments, there is a lot that can be done with the rear stock settings, I am just going right for what I have found to work then tweak from there but then again, I may end up needing a major change or a minor one.

I have not been on the track in a long time as well so I know I will be very rusty and taking it easy while getting my groove back and sorting out the car.

Thanks for the very informative and frank posts, much appreciated!

 

[razorlab]

One thing I forgot to mention is that in the G-Force plot, the positive numbers are left turns and the negative are right turns. So a -.81 would be a right turn at .81g

 

[razorlab]

I was also pretty happy that I could fit almost everything for the track in the back, with the false floor and spare removed. Especially happy how well the two fuel jugs fit. The only thing I couldn't fit is my plastic bin of essentials. Which I put in the back seat.

I have my tool box, a jack stand, a jack, two 5 gallon VP racing fuel jugs and my folding chair in there.

 

[rodmoe]

I am really quite impressed how easy this car is to fuel with that little funnel and a 5 gal jug like you have .. BTW "nice Juggs buddy
Oh have you thought about taking the rear seat out for track events pop the lower rear seat by the two front locking clips and take out the lower seat belt and the backs come right out for extra weight savings and more room