Keep Testing Fun: Mike’s Day Off!

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Dai Yoshihara
Dai’s car was running hot so he had to pit in and let it cool off every few laps.

Arriving at Willow Springs, the first thing we noticed was that it was hot!  Hot like over 105 degrees.  Heat was not really a problem with the Dog II as it has a huge ducted Koyo radiator and a big ducted Setrab oil cooler as well as rerouted water through the SR20VE’s cylinder head for better cooling.

If you know sports car racing history, you probably know of the famous Old Yeller series of cars built by the legendary Max Balchowsky in the 50’s and 60’s.  I am pretty sure this is OId Yeller II.  Dan Gurney and Carrol Shelby raced this car.  We didn’t see it on the track but this is a precious historical car probably worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Dai’s car wasn’t so lucky though, the HKS supercharged VQ35DE ran really hot, the water temperature gauge seemed to nearly follow the tach and the car could only run a lap or two before the temperature built up to the danger zone.

Dai Yoshihara Mike Kojima
Costa and TJ helped make adjustments during some stop and go pit stops.

Speedwise its was really interesting, the lightweight and nimble Sentra, although it was much slower than the Z down the straights was more than a match for the big car in the corners.  The Z also wanted to drift and not put the power down well in the corners. This was pretty scary in the high speed stuff at least for me.  No problem for Dai.

dai yoshihara
mike kojima
Dai Yoshihara Mike Kojima
The GT Channel 350Z and the Dog II are very different cars but surprisingly they turn nearly the same lap time!  The Z dominates down the straights but the Sentra is fast in the corners.  The aero stuff it has really helps in high speed turns like 1,2,8 and 9.

 

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