Dell Equallogic GT-R Impresses at Super Lap Battle Against Steep Competition, Takes home 4'th in class Options

[GOTO:Racing]

The GOTO:Racing crew had a busy mid week event overcoming some serious issues to bring home a very respectable lap time at Buttonwillow Raceway at the Super Lap Battle. The event started with with some semi serious technical problems, and progressed into a very serious technical problem. The first session out Brian Lock, lead driver for GOTO:Racing, reported major clutch slip, bad enough that the car could not be driven at speed. Upon the cars arrival in the pit lane fire was seen under the hood of the car as the heat shielding of a turbo line was smoldering. To make matter worse, Brian also reported that the car was getting serious rear brake lockup, and the car was way off pace.

The crew went to work. A quick run over to the AMS paddock was made and some more heat shielding was aquired. A big thanks to AMS for the track support of their amazing turbos! After some tricky work (the turbos are not the easiest thing to get to in a GT-R when the motor is in) the fire problem was fixed. Tim Bailey from COBB Surgline sent us some new maps to try on the car with manipulated load readings to try to get the clutches to engage harder.

The crew went to work. A quick run over to the AMS paddock was made and some more heat shielding was aquired. A big thanks to AMS for the track support of their amazing turbos! After some tricky work (the turbos are not the easiest thing to get to in a GT-R when the motor is in) the fire problem was fixed. Tim Bailey from COBB Surgline sent us some new maps to try on the car with manipulated load readings to try to get the clutches to engage harder.

The GT-R headed back out on track for its second session on the 22 psi map. Time to find out what the transmission would take on track and if the dyno tune would be good under harsh conditions. Everything worked perfectly, the power delivery was nothing short of flawless, and Brian was getting some hot laps. The fun would not last though as going through the sweaper the transmission cooler line split in two and pumped out about 6 quarts of Willall all over the car. It was a mess like you could not imagine, the entire inside of the car dripping with oil. Unfortunately for budget reason GOTO:Racing did not have enough spare Willall on hand to refill the transmission, and the rest of the day was lost.

After a drive to LA and a lot of hard dirty work by the crew, the car was cleaned up and filled with new fluid and ready for the competition for the next day. The crew did not sleep well though with the big question hanging in the air, is the transmission damaged? Brian also had a lot on his mind, could he actually get this pig of a car to handle the tight, bumpy, and technical Buttonwillow track? Thankfully one of GOTO:Racing's amazing parts sponsors was on hand, Brian Hise from JRZ USA, and gave some input into the setup. Some drastic measures were taken which included sway bar adjustment, ride height change, and shock change. Everything would be known in the morning.

Race day and everyone was on pins and needles when the car went out for warm-up. "Transmission is perfect! Car is handling a lot better, I can acutally brake now," reported Brian. The Dell Equallogic GT-R went on the set 3rd fastest time in the morning session, and set 4'th fastest time in class in the first timed session at a 1:49.3. This time was done on the 19 psi map. "I was on the ragged edge, I got everything I could out of the chassis this session," Brian remarked after the first timed session, "we need to try to run the 22 psi map and hope we can put the power down."

Unfortunately the chassis and brake development is a little behind the amazing power plant of the GT-R, and the fastest time would stand from the first session. Out of tires, and out of ideas other than take 1100 lbs out of the car to get down to our competitors weight, the decision was made to save the car for Redline Time Attack the coming weekend. "California Speedway will suit this car much better than Buttonwillow," commented Steve Lock, crew chief for GOTO:Racing, "We get to use our Hoosier R100 full slick, which will put us back on par tire wise with the teams running C91's, and the track is all about power, which we have plenty of."

GOTO:Racing will be hard at work at HB Speed prepping the car for Fontana. With a solid result pulled out of a rough event, the crew looks forward to a podium finish in Southern California.

GOTO:Racing would like to thanks its Sponsors...

Sheedy Crane - www.sheedycrane.com/
Dell™ - www.dell.com
GT:R Fabrication - www.brianlockracing.com
North American GTR Owners Club - www.nagtroc.com
Nissan Motorsports - www.nissanusa.com/nismo/
MODE racing - www.moderacing.com
COBB Tuning - www.cobbtuning.com
HB Speed - www.hbspeed.com
Forged Performance - www.forgedperformance.com
JRZ Suspension - www.jrzsuspension.com
Harman Motive - www.harmanmotive.com
Hoosier Racing Tire - www.hoosiertirewest.com
Jongbloed Racing Wheels - www.jongbloedracing.com
Motorsport Brake Specialists and Performance Friction Brakes -www.motorsportsbrakespecialists.com
AMS Performance - www.amsperformance.com
DeatschWerks Injectors - www.deatschwerks.com
Rob Green Nissan

In-car video -
http://www.vimeo.com/7568180
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWZ8g8o9ZGE

Image Gallery -

http://www.brianlockracing.com/superlapgallery/index.html

This post has been edited by GOTO:Racing: Nov 17 2009, 10:06 PM

[forty-two]

Great documentation! I know many of us are following your progress. Thanks, and good luck!

[DocNrock]

Hope you get the issues worked out before this weekend!

[Sharif@Forged]

Great meeting you and the team, and the car looked absolutely spectacular on track. You were flying out there. I told you, that after Tues's mess (literally), you were bound to have a great day on Wed. As you mentioned, Buttonwillow's, technical and super bumpy track does not favor the 3600lb+ GT-R. Congrats on a very repectable finish against some heavy hitters. And tell your Dad thanks for the cotter pins.

See you guys on Sat.

[NickTO]

Any word on what caused the transmission cooler line to split? Is it the OE, or a rear mounted one?

Afaik theoil pressure in there is minimal, so it would be interesting to know.

[gotboost]

Some nice pictures. First one the right front tire is WAY off the pavement!

The second picture looks like $700 of red goo trailing behind your rear quarter. Ouch!

Good luck this weekend!

[Martin Donnon]

Good luck guys, sad to hear about the line splitting. What kind of material do you use on your cooler?
That is indeed one way of flushing the transmission, but not one we recommend

[Bernie (OOParts)]

Great work, guys! Keep it up! You have the whole community cheering you on!

[Skyline8409]

I actually prefer something heavy on the bumpier tracks.

Great meeting you and the team, and the car looked absolutely spectacular on track. You were flying out there. I told you, that after Tues's mess (literally), you were bound to have a great day on Wed. As you mentioned, Buttonwillow's, technical and super bumpy track does not favor the 3600lb+ GT-R. Congrats on a very repectable finish against some heavy hitters. And tell your Dad thanks for the cotter pins.

See you guys on Sat.

[Neoseven]

Tough break out there, sorry to see that happen to you. Even though, great time starting off. Can only imagine if you had more time to practice where that time could have ended up. That 1:49.3 is nine seconds better than my best on the stock Dunlops and stock power. But. . . 9 seconds. . . thats a huge improvement of the times this car can get in stock trim! Congratulations on that accomplishment and being able to get the car back on track so quickly after those problems.