Life is Great with a 6.0-liter V8
RSS icon Email icon Home icon
  • Wednesday Night Drags

    Posted on March 30th, 2011 tcorzett No comments

    Infineon Raceway has weekly bracket racing events on Wednesday nights. The weather in California has been rainy for the past two weeks, so there were quite a few people who took advantage of the nice weather. Temperatures were up to 80 degrees, which didn’t help the DA, but made for a enjoyable evening. Unfortunately there was a 10mph head wind most of the night. I know I didn’t setup my car for drag racing, but I have been curious to see what it can do in the 1/4-Mile.

    I headed to the track alone, but met-up with another G8 owner and a couple of his buddies. Having never raced at Infineon I was a little out of my element (I’m normally behind a camera at the racetrack). I figured things out fairly quickly and staged-up for my first pass.

    This was the first time to the track after the extensive modifications had been performed. Specifically the supercharger and the rear end/suspension bits. Unfortunately, tires (drag radials) were not on my upgrade list… So, with the low-end torque from the Maggie, the 3.45 gears, and the stock tires, I knew traction was going to be a big concern.

    For the first run I decided to just let the car do its thing (didn’t even air down the tires). I left the transmission in ‘Drive’ and left the Traction Control enabled. I launched at idle and the car pulled-out the best run of the night… A 12.98 @ 108.09 mph.

    In the subsequent runs I tried launching from 1st without Traction Control, launching in 2nd at idle, and finally launching in 2nd at 1100rpms. I was able to get 60′ times in the 2.0x second range, but there was quite a bit of wheel spin whenever I jumped into the throttle off the line.

    It seems all the rear-end bits did their job… As despite having traction issues, I never once developed any wheel-hop (which was killing me before).

    While the times weren’t what I was hoping for, I was really happy to test out the car and try a couple of launching ideas I’ve been thinking about. I think any future trips down the strip are going to require a different set of tires!

  • Suspension Upgrades Continue

    Posted on March 29th, 2011 tcorzett No comments

    The last time the G8 was up on the lift I found that in two days of driving I broke the front Sway Bar End Link. After a temporary fix (just popping the back into the socket and inverting the End Link) I ordered new replacement BMR parts. Turns out it was a good idea, as after yesterday’s drive on Mines Rd. I broke it again. Today I had the BMR replacement End Links installed.

    They are adjustable in length, which is really nice… although, it would have been nicer if they were “counter-threaded” so that adjustments could be made with them still on the car (Heck, my RC Car can do that).

    I can not feel a difference between the stock End Links and the BMR replacements, but time will tell if they hold-up to the abuse better.

  • Mines Road Redux

    Posted on March 28th, 2011 tcorzett No comments

    One of the most convenient and fun roads to drive in my area is Mines Rd. I have driven it many times in several different vehicles.

    Previously I drove the G8 on the road with my GoPro and DL1 data logger. That run was before all of my modifications, so I was very interested to see how the car does now that the modifications have been performed.

    In summary… Wow!

    It was difficult to tell how much faster I was while driving, but the can felt so much more composed around the corners. There was very little body roll and it allowed me to carry much higher speeds through the corners… as well as to get back into the throttle quicker upon exiting the corners.

    I was trying to “push” to a similar level as I did on the previous run, and the comparable lateral G-forces (top graph) from the two runs are evident of that. What was exciting to see is that I was able to enter the corners faster (bottom graph) and keep the speed up (2-3mph) through the corner. Exiting the corners I was able to accelerate quicker and achieve higher speeds (5-10mph) between the corners. As a result, in the 2.785 mile section displayed above I was able to trim 11.4 seconds from my time!

    I am very happy with how the modifications have transformed the G8. I am sure I will surprise a few people with just how quick a dour-door sedan can be around a track!

  • Goodguys All American Get-Together

    Posted on March 27th, 2011 tcorzett No comments

    It has been two years since I last had the G8 out in a car show. Living near Pleasanton, Ca gives me several chances to put my car on display, but lately I just have not been available to attend. As has become a tradition, the NorCal GOATs showed-up with good numbers and received a fair bit of attention.

    Last time the G8 was lightly-modified (mostly electronics), but this year was a different story. With a highly modified car I knew I was going to get some attention… and rather than explaining all of the mods to everyone over-and-over again, I decided to make a “Fact Sheet” for the car.

    In the future I plan on having a display stand for the fact sheet, but for now I just had it in a window.

    Watching the number of people who spent quite some time looking at the fact sheet, many of whom might have just walked past “a four door sedan”, I was really glad that I made it. Also, having the photos of the underside saved people from having to crawl under the car.

    I have been joking with people about how I don’t want to “show” my car, as I care more about making it fast, but for some reason when you have a supercharger people just want to look under the hood. I have NEVER even cleaned under my hood, but I guess I’ll have to start now!

    I took the opportunity of being around show cars to wonder around and see what people were doing to dress-up their engine compartments. I think I was able to pick-up a couple good ideas to dress things up without going overboard.

    One of my favorite parts of the show was visiting the Adam’s Polishes booth. I have quite a few of their products, but have been really curious about their machine polishing systems. I was treated to a great demonstration, including some hands-on testing, and have to decided to dive-into the world of “finish correction”.

    It was really nice to get out and “show-off” the G8 a little. I know have the car for my own enjoyment, but is really nice to get compliments on it as well. I can’t wait until the next event where I’ll be better prepared to properly exhibit the G8!