We thought we would spring this one on everyone prior to SEMA since a lot of people saw us testing at the Global Time Attack event last weekend. The GSR Autosport Global Time Attack project car is being developed to run in the 2015 GTA Pro Am Series in Street Class. The overall concept is sort of a Jekyll & Hyde thing where certain parts will be able to be swapped back and forth - between track duty and street duty - parts such as the front splitter, rear decklid/wing, roll bar, seats, wheels/tires, etc.
We started this project with some baseline testing at Buttonwillow Racepark with basically a stock car – Toyo R888s, Pagid Yellow pads and GS610 brake fluid. As many you have discovered the stock setup has a lot of understeer so lap times were less than stellar – 2:00.5.
Our test just this last weekend, at Willow Springs, was supposed to be with KW Clubsport 2-way coilovers but they didn’t get to the shop in time so we had to settle for the H&R 435 lowering springs a lot of people are using on stock dampers. This setup wasn’t actually that great on the track. The dampers would load up and settle on the bump stomps so the suspension got really harsh with a sustained lateral load like in Turn 8 at Willow Springs – the car would basically bounce through the bumps which was a little unnerving at 130mph.
We did switch tire/wheel to a 285/35-18 (Hankook RS-3) square setup on Apex 18x10 wheels and added a rear wing but we weren’t really testing aero because we were unable to finish the front splitter prior to the weekend – so we ran the rear wing virtually flat. Although much improved over stock the car still had considerable understeer, especially in long sustained turns like Turn 2 and Turn 9. We were hoping to break 1:30 but with the understeer, particularly in Turn 2 our best effort resulted in a 1:31.4.
We’re now getting most of the intended upgrades on the car prior to SEMA. Come check out the car if you happen to be at SEMA – it will be in the Achilles Tires booth. We have a full photo shoot scheduled so we’ll update this post just after SEMA (Nov 4-7). The next test day for the car will be the Global Time Attack Super Lap Battle at Buttonwillow Racepark (Nov. 14)
