Ariel Road Course Laptimes

[cvjoint]

Any Ariel is a force to be reckoned with on track. There is no better way to experience that force pulling on your chubby cheeks than to sling it around without a speed limit. Whether you want to show the Radicals we're in the mirrors or share your progress with fellow owners post up some of your hotter laps.

RULES: (Was never a big fan. Luckily this forum is not too big to manage so any posts whether your own or for others would be good material to gnaw on. I will propose a format so that we can get quality data but feel free to work with it or around it.)
- Time should be ideally coming from a 10hz or better GPS receiver. Look at your data and make sure there is no funny business before or after the finish line, even my 10hz receiver screws up once or twice a track day. A good strategy is to make sure you have several laps within a second. If it is too good to be true...
- Timed submission should be ideally coming from the driver, however any great driving is fun to watch, we will just have to keep tabs on the source for record keeping sake.
- Update as you beat your best


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Proposed Format:

-Own time or someone else's?
-Lap time

-Track
-Direction
-Layout (if more than 1)
-Bypasses (if any)
-Conditions/Temp

-Type of Ariel (Nomads too)
-Stock or modified
-Wheel and tire package
-Engine
-Aero package
-Transmission Type
-Go-fast options
-Modifications, if modified

-Warning/failure if any
-Anything that strongly influenced results (e.g. corded tires, rock met face)
-Feedback or notes

-Video or photos

[cvjoint]

-Own time
-1:49.15

-Sonoma (aka Infineon, aka Sears Point)
-Clockwise (standard)
-Long Circuit (2.52 mile)
-9/30/2018 @ 3:50pm 73* dry
Sonoma Long 2.5 mile.jpg

-Ariel Atom SRA
-Stock
-Keizer wheels with FA tires
-K24Z7 engine
-no aero package
-transmission: 6 speed manual
-Go-fast options: none
-Modifications: none

-Warning/failure: none
-Anything that strongly influenced results: front tires @50 heat cycles corded, rear tires 28 heat cycles, severe understeer
-Feedback or notes:

• Speed: 38.3 mph to 114.2 mph, average of 82.3
• Lateral G: 1.6 to -1.3
• Engine speed: 3,757 rpm to 7,660 rpm, average of 5,827 rpm
• Coolant temp: 201* to 203*
• Intake temp: 77* to 81*

-Video or photos
Screenshot_20181109-132146_RaceChrono Pro.jpg

[argonaut]

Virginia International Raceway

-Lap time: 2:11.xx
-Date: Nov 2018
-Track: VIR full course
-Direction: clockwise
-Layout (if more than 1): Full
-Bypasses (if any): negative
-Conditions/Temp: chilly - 50s

-Type of Ariel (Nomads too): SRA
-Stock or modified: stock
-Wheel and tire package: stock 15x7 with 205 front, 225 rear - R7
-Engine: K20Z3
-Aero package: negative
-Transmission Type: stock honda 6-speed
-Go-fast options: none
-Modifications, if modified: none

-Warning/failure if any: none
-Anything that strongly influenced results (e.g. corded tires, rock met face): 50+ heat cycle R7s
-Feedback or notes:
* SRA's (at least the early ones) don't have a thermostat. In cold weather I couldn't get water temp above ~160
* Spoke to a person who was involved in the Spec Race series - he told me that they use to block air flow to the radiator in order to keep engine temps higher
* With a better driver and in better conditions with new tires - the car is capable of low two-minute laps
* My uphill esses ave speed is ~114. Car can do ~120. I don't have the balls for it...LOL.
* Bad understeer in turn 1. trail braking helps a bit.
* Was really unhappy with braking - very fine line between threshold braking and lock up. Low temps and old tires don't help. Need to experiment more with F to R bias.
* Hit redline (~8100) in 5th on back straight - 125-127 mph

[cvjoint]

* SRA's (at least the early ones) don't have a thermostat. In cold weather I couldn't get water temp above ~160
* Spoke to a person who was involved in the Spec Race series - he told me that they use to block air flow to the radiator in order to keep engine temps higher

TMI told me the same: there is no thermostat, block air to front radiator to get up to temp. It's um, very NASCAR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTHlnwvu9hk

I do gaffer tape on the side openings of the nose cone.

[cvjoint]

-Own time
-1:39.38

-Laguna Seca
-CCW
-Layout: standard
-Bypasses none
-July 1, 2018 @ 12:40pm 73* dry
download ls.jpg

-Ariel Atom SRA
-Stock with custom muffler to pass 90db @ 60ft
-Keizer wheels with FA tires
-K24Z7
-no aero package
-transmission: 6 speed manual
-Go-fast options: none
-Modifications, if modified: none

-Warning/failure if any: none
-Anything that strongly influenced results (e.g. corded tires, rock met face): custom muffler weighs more than stock and may lose power but passes sound!
-Feedback or notes: Had some trouble getting it to turn, ended up with a lot of rear brake bias. The car benefits greatly from trail-braking, especially in turns 2, 5 and 11. The Atom can soak up the bumps in the corkscrew really well so a Zanardi straight line through it is possible and feels quick. I left a lot on the table braking early, mostly to avoid the rears locking, so there's a lot left in it for faster laps. Proper braking technique would do wonders. There are at least two ways to take turns 2 and 9, or at least I can't decide which way is quicker. The extra drag from the wide wheels/tire may not be worth the extra grip on this track, it's a fairly fast wide track that rewards high speed. The 118 mph top speed is far behind current production cars, the Atom would greatly benefit from more power here.

• Speed: 40 mph to 117.8 mph, average of 81.5 mph
• Lateral G: 1.6 to -1.6 (hit max G in turns 6, 8, 9, and 10 on this lap)

-Video or photos
Screenshot_20181127-104531_RaceChrono Pro.jpg

[cvjoint]

-Own time
-1:59.68

-Thunderhill East (aka Thunderhill 3-mile)
-Counterlockwise (standard)
-3 mile without bypass (aka. over the hill, aka cyclone)
-7/21/2018 @ 3:20pm 93* dry


-Ariel Atom SRA
-Stock
-Keizer wheels with FA tires
-K24Z7 engine
-no aero package
-transmission: 6 speed manual
-Go-fast options: none
-Modifications: none

-Warning/failure: none
-Anything that strongly influenced results: hot weather robbed some hp but helped get the tires in optimal heat range
-Feedback or notes:

• Speed: 44.2 mph to 119.7 mph, average of 85.5
• Lateral G: 1.7 to -1.7
• Engine speed: 3,147 rpm to 7,676 rpm, average of 5,521 rpm
• Coolant temp: 217* to 221*
• Intake temp: 95* to 99*

The Thunderhill 3 mile is a really fast track. The Atom doesn't feel fast here as it gets clobbered on the straights. A Norma does 170 mph here and standard production cars reach 150+ mph, compared to the SRA at 120 mph. However, the high temperatures in the summer make it easy to get even the widest tires to temp so it make up time up in the corners where it maxes out at 1.7g! On days like this in the mid 90*s ambient many cars overheat and do cool down laps but the Atom keeps going. The cooling system is well sorted, considering the ambient and that I was effectively at full throttle the majority of the time. Traffic can block airflow and run the temps up to 225* so care must be taken to keep the nose in clean air from time to time.

-Video or photos

[cvjoint]

-Own time
-1:23.28

-Thunderhill Wast (aka Thunderhill 2-mile)
-Counterlockwise (standard)
-2 mile
-10/27/2018 @ 2:40pm 80* dry


-Ariel Atom SRA
-Stock
-Keizer wheels with FA tires
-K24Z7 engine
-no aero package
-transmission: 6 speed manual
-Go-fast options: none
-Modifications: none

-Warning/failure: none
-Anything that strongly influenced results: hot weather robbed some hp but helped get the tires in optimal heat range
-Feedback or notes:

• Speed: 32.5 mph to 103.3 mph, average of 71.5 mph
• Lateral G: 1.8 to -1.5
• Engine speed: 3,461 rpm to 7,621 rpm, average of 5,428 rpm
• Coolant temp: 205* to 208*
• Intake temp: 79* to 82*

Fairly low speed track where I can push it to the max without worrying about spin-outs too much. Looks like it did 1.8G in 2 different turns for a total of 3 times this session, so that's not an outlier and a pretty good estimate of the max it will do. Pretty good without aero!

Screenshot_20190315-115907_RaceChrono Pro.jpg

[argonaut]

How are you measuring the Intake Temp - is that just the ambient air temp or are you pulling it from the ECU?

[cvjoint]

Intake Temp is off the OBD II reader. The ambient temp I report is the one reported online for that time of the day.

[argonaut]

I didn't know we could read intake air from the ECU. I'll have to check if the protocol I'm using in my AiM dash can pick it up.