The Project Pad

Forgot to show the modified rear cover that allows adjustment without draining the coolant. Harbor freight 1" npt tap and plug. I did build up a couple of welds on the back side for strength and sealing surface.

A lot of this has been on FB, but figured I would share what was a pretty crazy petrol filled weekend. We had our annual ACNA event out at Spring Mountain Raceway in NV this weekend. Being this close to Hanks shop meant I simply must stop by to see Hank, Collin and Jeff. I put the car on the dyno and made a measly ~400 wheel on pump gas. The motor just would not stand any timing so we said to hell with it and put e40 in the tank. Basically half 91, half e85. The car absolutely came to life, and with the valve springs and TT-RS intake came, I was not boost limited any more. It laid down my dream dyno chart at 636whp, 632tq. We took the air filter off to get these numbers, with it on it's about 20whp lower. I need to get a full 4" inlet built. The filter is currently 3" for packaging, but I can do 4" with some extra massaging. Looks like I am hooked on corn. Also, Veso stopped by while he was in town and shot this video.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2CUzGy-vzw[/youtube]



I decided to stock up on E85 and run this tune at the track. I hurried out of town, tight on time to make the drivers meeting because Hank and I were out joy riding giggling like 10 year-olds. Then this happened, ran over something in the road and had to limp through the desert on the spare, if you can even call it that.

It didn't matter, I was still amp'd from the way the car was running.

I run into the drivers meeting, late, and as soon as I get there, Deeno (our president) calls me up front. WTF, I am thinking, no worries though, he just needed some tech help on the presentation. He introduces me to a new face, young kid, some kind of Euro accent, has a mac that isn't working with the projector and in a language I don't recognize. He shows me the preso, and it's about Tom Kristensen? Now I am curious, we often have professional race drivers at our events, so I asked if he raced? He says, "No Tom is my dad and he will be here in 5 min to meet you guys." Holy fucking shit. TK is going to be here?? Sure enough, he comes in, I jumped on the opportunity to meet him before he went out to speak. Really, really nice guy. He shared stories, and it was so amazing to hear first hand about the amazing culture at Audi Sport that was behind their success in WEC. They often competed with each other, but is didn't matter who's team they were on, if the other guys were faster at changing transmissions, they dove in if that's what was required.


That was just Friday, Saturday was track time! The car ran great, and TK was out with us again. A couple of our members have acquired Racing R8's so he was excited to jump in a race car again and show them how to drive the cars. The first one he actually helped develop years ago, so it was a reunion of sorts.





The coolest thing to see was him out there with his kids though. He was helping teach them how to drive, and showing them what Dad does just like everyone else. They didn't view him as racing royalty like everyone else.


On to Sunday! This time it was my turn to surprise the group. Hank and I arranged to have Tim's IMS1000 TT-RS come out for a few laps in the morning, and mother of god, I got to drive it I took Hank out in my car for some more giggles, then we came in and grabbed Tim so I could show him what I was about to do to his car

I was playing with closed loop boost control to use TPS % blending and was only getting 1.6 bar as I mention in the video. Still strong as hell though.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKAoK_8vCtA[/youtube]

Now it was time for the TT-RS. Coming strait from cleaning up on a Mclaren P1 in the half mile on Saturday.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asXKGo7nm_Y[/youtube]


It was prepped with drag radials and an open, very short, 4" exhaust. I have to admit, I was nervous as hell to drive it! I just had to keep in on the track and not completely destroy the tires. The TTRS is such a cool little car. I actually fit in it, and the power on this setup is amazing. The low end is just as, if not more powerful than my setup. The car is setup to flow massive amounts of air, along with the TFSI it really shines everywhere. Then when you get to 5000 rpms or so you better be holding on and puckered up because the fuse on the cannon goes off. People said I didn't stop smiling all morning, and I am pretty sure Tim will be out with our group in the TT-RS as a driver next time People were definitely talking about it at lunch.


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ3errZY0zs[/youtube]

Whew, what a weekend. Definitely one to remember!

Great post Jim! I'm going to put this on the list for next year.....if Hank has my engine done by then.

Darin, it is my favorite track by far. Looks like I need to fix a few links for tapatalk..

must be a great experience!

Great write up, sounds like a landmark weekend for sure!

Did TK comment on your build?

Yeah, he was impressed with it. I showed him all around the car. Although I think his son was more impressed. Haha

jelly. I want to play.

Nice post! That was great to read about. Can't wait to see videos of your car on the track at full tilt.

Sounds like an awesome time!

What an amazing kind of day, especially for the kids:)

BTW there was some serious hardware out here over the weekend and nothing gobbled up the front straight like that TTRS. Nobody could hold back the school-girl-giggles when it passed.

Yeah. I can't find a setup that really captures the sounds of these cars. It's like the turbo is too high and the motor grumble is too low pitched for the go pros and smartphones. In all of those videos it's about 3x the excitement of what you see.

audifreakjim wrote:Yeah. I can't find a setup that really captures the sounds of these cars. It's like the turbo is too high and the motor grumble is too low pitched for the go pros and smartphones. In all of those videos it's about 3x the excitement of what you see.

I've always kind of thought the same. Your car, TTrs's, Seans car, all sound good on video, but in person is seriously so different. It's mindblowing how insane they sound in person.

Great write up. Just out of curiosity, did you ever mount the CF hood?

I have not yet. I am trying to get the cooling all sorted so I know what type of vents need to go in it. I am still having some hot start issues, going to focus on a few more heatshields and making sure the coils are not getting cooked.

What an epic weekend man! I wish I could have made it out to the track to join you guys!

That sounds like a seriously awesome weekend. We don't really have stuff like that up here. Just ice racing

So that 400whp was with or without meth? Pretty amazing you pull another 240whp out of it on e##.

You clearly need a giant hole in the hood above the fuel rail

audifreakjim wrote:I have not yet. I am trying to get the cooling all sorted so I know what type of vents need to go in it. I am still having some hot start issues, going to focus on a few more heatshields and making sure the coils are not getting cooked.

Ah, yes. I recommend putting some reflective heat shielding under the CF hood. You might bubble the resin. Do you have a hot side jacket? DP wrapped? That should help.
I know not everybody is a fan of turbo jackets. Do you have an after run system like on the AAN?

Car is getting major heat shielding as we speak. I'll post pics, and yes I have the after run hooked up.

Update?

Nah, kinda moving at a snails pace. Adding some more egt sensors and a turbo speed sensor. Also working on getting config select and flat shift wired up right.

i love this. all of it.

has there ever been a better developed b3 audi? I can't think of one.

Its amazing that you had this car all these years, and the evolution is quite impressive. Also impressive is the amount of track time without serious incident.

dana wrote:has there ever been a better developed b3 audi? I can't think of one.

Its amazing that you had this car all these years, and the evolution is quite impressive. Also impressive is the amount of track time without serious incident.

Thanks Dana. I am actually starting to explore cage options because I feel it may be only a matter of time. I wouldn't mind having a HANS setup and some extra protection. Now that I am not driving the car to track events, I don't need the back seat room as much, although I would still keep the full interior. I think it makes this car part of what it is. I just love jumping in and taking it to work once in a while. And I would still like to drive it to Vegas once a year

If anyone has nice street friendly cage pics, lets see them. Not going for any certifications, just extra rollover and some side protection for HPDE type events.