On the track for a shakedown

I had my first shakedown test of the Pink Panther on the road course and it went very well. Nothing broke and the car has no strange handling vices but I learned some interesting things, like that the diffuser really works and you can feel the extra grip with it. The ignition would start to break up above 5000 rpm, which prevented me from exceeding 110 mph (175 kmh) on the straight. Up until that point it pulls like a freight train and once the tires are warm, I can stand on the throttle coming out of turns as long as I am in 2nd gear or higher. The rear of the car jumps going over bumps and I will try to tame that with shock tuning. Neither Briget or myself were brave enough to drive the car at even 8/10's. We both felt that the limits of the car are a lot higher than ours but we will be ready to push in Lincoln.

The rear tires rub on the inside of the wheel well but a spacer should fix that. The aluminum mesh I used in the grille does not let enough air through but the coolant temp only rose too high after 3 or 4 hard laps, and dropped as soon as I took it easy. Even when I push the car too far, it comes back fairly easily but does get twitchy above 100 mph. I attribute this to the aero on the car, I think it starts to push one end down harder than the other at high speeds. On the way home I called the guy who did my engine tune and he immediately diagnosed my problem: I have the wrong spark plugs in the car. If it clears up the misfire, that car is going to be seriously fun.

 It was a lot of fun and if we can move our hands fast enough, it should do ok at autocross. However, the pivot cones are going to be a problem but fortunately, that is only a local problem.  I only have video of my very first drive of the car and Briget's first 3 drives because the battery in my GoPro crapped out. 

Briget on the track
 Mark on track
 Drive-by