Papa Smurf is home, ...first time out this past weekend at VIR: VIDEO Options

[naro914]

OK, so I posted this in the Paddock section but a lot of you don't go there, so I thought I would repost.

Many of you know our trials and tribulations with a member of our family Papa Smurf. If not...read here: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=245984

A lot has happened since that last post on that thread. Well...kinda a lot. In Nov 2015, Papa was sent away to Dawe's Motorsports Development boarding school in cold and snowy Pennsylvania. There he receive a full Peter Dawe disciplinary attitude adjustment (well, at least the engine, ignition and oil delivery system did). And after exactly 1 year to the day, we picked him up a couple weeks ago with a new attitude, fresh and ready to go. From the outside he LOOKED the same, but under the hood and in the front, things were a bit different. Gone are coil packs, replaced with individual plug coils. There's all kinds of new sensors and balancing systems in there. And the oil cooling system is huge and complicated looking, but is mean to be efficient and effective for a 350+ hp engine...

So this past weekend we went to VIR for his coming out party after a year of disciplinary training.

Here's video of a few laps:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqPsw_4PCHA




The car ran GREAT!! We do have a bunch of things that still need sorting out though:
- Car set up is not great - we've never really had a chance to set it up over the past few years since we've been chasing engine issues ....hard to set up a car with a lap or two every 6+ months.
- Need to work on the Aero balance - at top speed it started wandering all over the track. Plus it didn't feel planted as it should at high speed corners.
- Drivers suck, so they need a lot more seat time.
- Need hood pins on the back trunk lid since a change in the engine compartment area lost a connection point (racers tape to the rescue last weekend!!)

But overall...so far, so good!!