Factory Five Forums - GTM Supercar https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/ en Sat, 02 May 2026 12:55:15 GMT vBulletin 10 https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/images/misc/rss.png Factory Five Forums - GTM Supercar https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/ FFR PDG GTM 2026 Teardown and Rebuild https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?53481-FFR-PDG-GTM-2026-Teardown-and-Rebuild&goto=newpost Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:07:37 GMT It has been awhile since we ran a race. (or posted an update thread here) About a year and a half actually. The last event saw a front end impact... It has been awhile since we ran a race. (or posted an update thread here) About a year and a half actually.

The last event saw a front end impact that did not hurt the car too badly, but did disable it until I got a chance to tear it down and inspect everything.

I started that this weekend in preparation for a September event this year at Thunderhill Raceway Park. I am trying to get everything sorted to run the inaugural 12 Hours of Thunderhill. As some of you may know, we built this car specifically for the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, but after some behind the scenes maneuvering the rights to that race were apparently sold to another track back east a couple of years ago and so Thunderhill Raceway Park, under NASA sanction, no longer had a big endurance race...until 2026. The original powers that be are organizing and putting on this event in the hopes to make it more attractive to racers with a number of potentially positive features for the average racer. They are lowering the entry fees. They are running the race in September so it hopefully is not so cold. And they are running all 12 hours during daylight hours so tons of money does not need to be spent on high end lighting for every car. Lots of other things as well, but I think it can best be said that the organizers are going back to the drawing board and trying to make a new event that is easier and more fun to run, as far as the racers are concerned. A good move IMHO and we will do what we can to support this event, hopefully by attending, but there is a TON of work to do before September.

Some of the items so far that we will need to address are:

1) Leaky fuel system. Went to put the car in the shop and fuel is leaking out by the pump area. Definitely have to sort that.
2) Water is leaking out under the middle of the car. Probably a loose connection. I have been having issues with the silicone hoses not remaining tight. Definitely will need to track this down.
3) Nose box is bent and sheet metal is tore up. R&R needed.
4) Fiberglass tore up. Will need to put that back together and repaint the entire nose.

Some of the items I am working on for this event and improving the car are:

1) Going to put in the smaller engine that makes right at 500HP at the crank. It gets much better fuel mileage and can run on pump 91. Lots of details needed here as I attempt to get a two engine package put together. In other words I am at this same time also purchasing all the parts to get to where we have a complete spare engine setup sitting in the shop/trailer. There are a lot of expensive accessories that need to be standardized and bought to end up having two complete engines ready to go. This is expensive and time consuming, but I feel it is the right way to run an endurance race. No point in driving 2 days to a race and having an issue that can't be addressed with an engine or transaxle. As such I am also trying to do the same with the transaxle.
2) We have always had two Mendeola transaxles in the shop. One is usually being serviced while the other is being run in the car. I have recently gone out and have been looking to purchase a third gearbox in order to have a complete spare in the shop/trailer. Mendeola does not seem to have any available, so I am looking in the secondary(ebay) market. This has been complicated because Ian at Mendeola has informed me that there are a couple of wear parts in the differential that they purchase from other manufacturers that have not been available for awhile and as such they are trying to find a replacement part/manufacturer. I have proposed just going to an entirely different differential assembly, and we are trying to get something together to test right now. I don't really want to run a new setup in a long and expensive race like this 12 hour, but we will have to see how scheduling works out this year.
3) ABS. I have been working on a motorsports ABS unit from the guys at RHT. I have all the parts in the shop, but actually running individual lines and getting compatible ABS sensors on the hubs is proving to be a challenge. Work in progress for sure, but I am moving forward on this little by little.
4) New front sway bar setup. The one we have on the car takes up a lot of space and is a bit unpredictable in its adjustments. It is not a "conventional" setup and I want to go back to what I know works from past experience. Again, lots of time and money needed to do this, and as I have not really torn into the front of the car since acquiring it, as far as clean paper rework of function and components, this is the time. Between the sway bar and the ABS it will mean rerouting pretty much everything in the front of the car including the water lines.(Ugh. Not looking forward to that)

So lots of things happening here and I thought I would bring you all along for the ride.

The pictures are of the front nose box damage and the rear hood pin areas where the hood pins were ripped from the car during the incident. It was a crash into a tire barrier and it doesn't appear to be a whole lot of damage, but you never really know until you get it torn down and start measuring things. Fingers crossed that the repair list is small.
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