The OPTIMA Batteries OneLapCamaro - Final Preparations

[James OLC]

Originally Posted by DFRESH

I'll admit, it is frightning how much tweaking you have done to make the car better, and how many changes you've had to make. It makes me realize that I have a lot of work ahead of me to begin optimizing my setup
Doug

Thanks Doug. I wouldn't put too much stock in the "amount" of tweaking that we have done. I'll be the first to admit that we have been chasing the last little bit of performance for most of the year. I could have called it close enough at almost any point in the last six months but we're taking our One Lap of America effort pretty seriously... Besides, hopefully others can learn from our work.

On that note though... I should probably state that I don't recommend most of these modifications for the average enthusiast... they should be considered to be for off road use only and what works and fits on the OPTIMA Batteries OneLapCamaro may not fit or work on any other car on the planet...

[DFRESH]

Originally Posted by James OLC

Thanks Doug. I wouldn't put too much stock in the "amount" of tweaking that we have done. I'll be the first to admit that we have been chasing the last little bit of performance for most of the year. I could have called it close enough at almost any point in the last six months but we're taking our One Lap of America effort pretty seriously... Besides, hopefully others can learn from our work.

On that note though... I should probably state that I don't recommend most of these modifications for the average enthusiast... they should be considered to be for off road use only and what works and fits on the OPTIMA Batteries OneLapCamaro may not fit or work on any other car on the planet...

Hey, that last paragraph above sounds like the slogan I get from Summit Racing everytime I make a phone order---

I'm really interested in the rear sway bar and how the adjustments, and eventually a new bar, came into being to get the car to work the way it needed to. I'll pick your brain a bit more if you have time (maybe Dave's also) when you are down for the event. I've installed one as well this past week when I put the G/Bar in--will try to mess with it some before the event and see what works best.

Doug

[David Pozzi]

OLC kept telling me it wanted more rear bar so we kept at it.
I also raised the Watts bellcrank pivot to nearly the highest hole. There is one more left that might have been enough with the first bar, but using it would have required relocating the fuel filter and fuel lines coming out of the tank.

This car has way more rear stiffness than Penny with the same rear suspension. Front tires are smaller than Penny and also the weight is higher. The amazing thing about OLC is it puts the power down VERY well, and is very nimble for it's weight, it doesn't feel heavy at all, and that engine makes loads of torque and HP!

In past posts James mentioned we worked on brake balance. After changing to a smaller rear master cyl TWICE! We finally have the brakes balanced and can hit them way harder now.

About the steering mods, I raised the outer steering arms by cutting and welding. This is a prototype setup for testing and although they passed magnaflux testing, they should eventually be replaced with a billet part. The inner pieces on the tie rods I have a lot more confidence in due to their thickness, but still, welding on steering parts is a race car trick, not something I take lightly and I WON'T do it for anyone else, it just isn't worth the liability. I trust the job enough to plunk my own butt in the driver's seat, but I check them carefully every time the car is up on the lift, which is after nearly every outing we have.

I think the Speed Tech arms, especially the uppers are a better match for the tall ATS spindles. The arm is flat and the balljoint angle is much better. We also found a tiny bit of extra wheel to fender clearance, maybe 1/4" per side for some reason.
David

[monza]

Have you guys played with any of the data acquisition stuff with track mapping and or track vision yet? (with all that extra time on your hands lol)

[David Pozzi]

James has recorded it. I had a file but couldn't open it on my laptop for some reason. I have the basic G2X data system I use in Mary's Camaro and the Lola T-70. It's useful in comparing one driver to another. I like to look at the MPH plot all around the track, that tells me the most. Then look at lateral G's and braking/accel G's.

I'm starting to wish I had shock sensor data, but it's a lot of data to digest and understand so for now I'm probably better off without that.

I can't even turn the camera on right, usually I press the darn button slightly too long and it goes into time lapse mode.
David

[Vegas69]

Thanks for taking the time to post all your troubles and wins. It's insane the amount of work that goes into these cars to get them "Just Right". At the end of the day it's a bunch of bastard parts that need finessed to work together and be to your liking. I'm definitely behind you guys in race tuning but I'm a perfectionist and my car get's so much better every time I race. Best of luck to you guys in the One Lap.

[James OLC]

Thanks Todd - and thanks for chiming in Mr. Co-Driver.

As David elluded to there is a bunch of "little" stuff that we worked through over the last year as well...

• The brakes - as David mentioned, the rear master cylinder was changed twice before we had the "ideal"(?) balance. We started at 0.8125" before trying 0.750" and finally settling on 0.700".
• The clutch - we changed the clutch master once, going from 0.75" to 0.8125".
• The transmission - replacing the Rockland T-56 with a very street civilized T-56 Magnum.
• The Tuning - we went from being untuned (completely untuned to begin with - no map, no nothing below 3500 rpm) to a well tuned open loop to a great closed loop setup.
• The steering wheel - yes... even the steering wheel! The combination of the ATS steering box and the relatively small MOMO wheel was a little "too quick" so after some hunting we found a 15" Sparco race wheel that slowed everything down a little bit.

And that is forgetting about all of the truly small "challenges" that we worked through... the alternator, mystery grounds, binding MC push rods, and a host of others.

None of it was insurmountable - nor unexpected - but a lot of it was puzzling at the time. Thankfully, the solution was to hammer on the car every chance we got!

[Al Moreno]

James thanks for the info

Curious, knowing what you now know, if you were to do it over, would you recommend going with a DSE or the likes, instead of trying to modify the existing sub?

[James OLC]

Originally Posted by Al Moreno

James thanks for the info

Curious, knowing what you now know, if you were to do it over, would you recommend going with a DSE or the likes, instead of trying to modify the existing sub?

If I were to do it all again I would definately use an aftermarket subframe - but not because I think that there is a significant performance advantage from the suspension geometry. The advantage of an aftermarket sub, IMHO, is the ability to run a larger wheel and tire combination on the front. I would call Speed Tech in a heartbeat (and will for my other '67) and don't think you will go wrong with DSE or AME.

That being said, when I was working on the front sub for the OPTIMA Batteries OneLapCamaro there were very few - if any - proven aftermarket subs available. Some of the "older" designs weren't readily available and the "new" generation of subs were available on paper but were still 8 months from delivery.

At the end of the day, I am happy with the capabilities of the stock sub but wish there was another two inches of clearance for 315s...

[DFRESH]

Excellent stuff---thanks for all that info---I have a lot of work ahead ---

Doug