Challenge vs vs 818

[Martin]

I remember reading that the 818 was significantly faster than the MK4/challenge car.

Looking at John George's latest times around Watkins Glen, a 2:00 vs the 2:02 for the 818 in testing. I think John might have been driving both cars, and I know his challenge car is well tuned/prepped/set up, but is the 818 still supposed to be faster?

I haven't seen any results from any FFR racing/prep for a few years now. Last I saw was the Ultimate track car where they blew the engine before they really got going.

Have I missed something? (different layout around the Glen maybe?)

Martin

[Jim Schenck]

Martin,

Several things have changed in that time however I would say the basic claim still holds true. An 818 has much better aero, lower CG, and much less weight going for it, although how the car is built and prepped could be the difference between any two of them. Three things make those numbers appear to be skewed toward the challenge cars, firstly the Glenn was just repaved this spring making the track itself quicker than in the past, secondly John has added quite a bit of aero to his car (that I wouldn't think most people would be willing to do), and thirdly John has also added the new IRS which was introduced in the time since the 818 was released and did make his car noticeably quicker. Johns car being ST2 trim and with aero and IRS generally runs 2-4 seconds quicker than the challenge car track record at any given track, and at a place like the Glen with so much straightaway it was a full 5-6 seconds quicker. The 818 that ran the 2:02 was our old blue test car that had a 2006 WRX engine with an upgraded turbo and a tune but not anything else done to the engine, so by comparison was considerably down on power to Johns challenge car.(probably 70-80-hp less) Also not to be discounted, the 818 was running in test session format, and in the Challenge car John was chasing two incredibly well prepared cars for the Championship.

[Martin]

Thanks Jim for the info.

Much appreciated.

Martin

[D2W]

So Jim, has FFR been racing the 818 at all? I can't say I've seen anything about it for a long time.

[Jim Schenck]

We haven't been doing any wheel to wheel racing, really just testing on track. What we have been doing is playing with intercooler ducting and track set-ups as well as working on getting the tune sorted for the race engine. We only have one race car right now as the blue prototype morphed into the first coupe and the car we do have took a hit to the concrete wall earlier this year on a semi-wet track (Palmer up near us) with slicks on. The mechanicals are all fixed and the plan is to give it a fresh paint job but it got caught in the line behind our Sema cars going to the body shop, I expect the body to go out next week or the week after at the latest and then the car to be finished and back testing in the spring. Once we are finished testing new stuff I think we will turn our attention to running it fast again most likely at UTCC and possibly some NASA stuff up near us. We don't tend to publicize our testing sessions which can make it seem like nothing is happening if we aren't going to events, but the race 818 had a busy summer last year testing at Palmer, NHIS, and Lime Rock a few times as well and all the things we learn goes into both the R manual and new parts for the cars.

[FFRSpec72]

I run a challenge car that conforms to the current NASA rules for FFR. I have a 818R that I have been testing for getting it race ready, I can say from what I have seen so far is that the 818 will be faster and better handling, its an easier car to drive hard then the challenge car. Once I get all the bugs out of the 818 I can compare lap times between the 2 cars.