Wagner Race Products race recap: A little background Grand Am Cup/Koni Challenge is a great series that has two primary classes GS which is made up of the big boys, Mustang, BMW, RX8,and Porche. Modifications are allowed with spec ECUs issued to each driver. All suspension mods are allowed, tires are spec r compound Hoosiers. Chassis must remain basically stock in dimensions. ST Class is Street Tuner class, these are limited modification street cars. Stock turbos and ECUs but you can run any fuel, timing, and boost level you would like. Cars include Chevy Cobalt, Honda Accura, RX8's, Subaru Legacy. WRP Wagner Race Products was invited by Fall Line Motorsports to set up our latest simulater in the Garage Area for Thursday and Friday. These are the days that Grand Am races, the race is 3 hours long on the Daytona Road Course. this event precludes the Rolex race on Saturday and Sunday. The event started out with great promise, the Subaru Legacy was the king of the field running lap times as fast as the mid pack GS cars. The power down the straights was crazy. However the Subaru had an Achiles heal, I will get to that later. In the GS class there were 2 brand new E92 BMWs, these things were also very fast. The problem was that the aftermarket suppliers don't have much out to support the chassis. Both cars were running stock bushings, big handicap. The other problem was the ECU, both teams recieved their ECUs less than a week prior to the event. This means seat of the pants tunning and no dyne time. Qualifying put the Subaru on the pole in the ST class. In GS class the E92's were mid pack. Both classes are on the track at the same time with a large gap between the ST and GS class cars. At the drop of the flag the Subaru pulled away with ease soon he was passing GS cars with ease. It was at this point 5 laps into the race that the first caution came out and our first E92 met its demise. After being hit from behind coming into turn 2 the Kenetic car was taken nose first into the wall. The picture attatched shows the damage to the car. After review the mechanics issued its death warrant, frame bent car dead, no repair possible. Now we approach the end of the race and the Subaru continues to dominate however this would end soon. Remember the Achiles heal I mentioned, the Legacy suffers from bad gas milleage. The chief strategist told me they can go exactly 58 minutes on a tank, even with yellow flags. Now we are within 5 laps of the end of the race. The Fall Line Motorsports E92 is running 9th and moving forward. Entering the bus stop chicane on the back side of the Daytona road course the E92 bobles a bit mid turn and collects itself only to get nailed from behind at 100+mph. This hit puts the E92 into the wall and brings out the yellow. Now remember what I told you about the Subie? Prior to the caution the Subie was just going to make it on fuel, 58 minutes on the button. Unfortunatley the caution extends the race by 5 minutes and the Subie needs to stop for fuel. The winning car is the Chevy Cobalt which gets great gas milleage and handles very well. The winning Chevy Cobalt was piloted by Pat Iannucci who was racing his first race in a car. Pat was a Kart racer and a client of WRP he purchased his Sim 6months ago and had practiced the Daytona Road Course for 4 hours a day for 3 weeks prior to the event. All in all we had a great event, we moved from the Grand Am pits to the Grass Roots Racing VIP area for the Rolex 24 hour race, we will save this story for another date. BTW Melissa and I will be staying in Florida until April. We will be attending the Sebring and Homestead races. Mike
New Pedal Setup Pics above show new pedal setup. The brake pedal uses a Load Cell for feedback. This allows us to simulate a real brake pedal feel. The load cell is made with Alluminium block and a strain gauge, when you hit the end of the spring you begin bending the alluminium block. We can make the block with different machined cuts allowing us to simulate any type of brake system, from Formula (no brake assist) to street car feel with longer throw and softer feel. We will be back in town in April we will try and find a place and time to let everyone try it out.
So we volunteer next time you're invited to be a vendor at a national level Motorsport event! LOL Boy do I miss you guys and the SIMS!!! I'm seriously considering getting one, we'll talk more. Thnx for keeping our interests at heart! Be safe and take care!
Sure why not :roll: We miss everyone in the great white north as well, call me when the temp gets above 50 on a regular basis. When you get ready we will hook you up, Subie discount applies. Mike
