Man…I can’t imagine a passenger egging me on like that lol TTTTTWOOOOOO MIIIIINNNNUUUUTTTEESSS!!!
Your driving looks pretty masterful, but wow, that track looks horrible on your tires. Reminds me of gingerman out here. You can tell how familiar you are with the track based on how many corners you don’t apex all the way inside. That’s pretty crazy that you are faster than a TTRS with A6’s. At a certain point, I guess it becomes all about the driver 8)
Ahahaha yeah, that track is horrific on tires. The left front tire gets killed due to all the tight right handers.
Even with -3 camber and 40psi hot pressures, I’m getting some uneven wear on some tread blocks.
As well, you are probably giving me too much credit for the late/missed apexes. Yes, many of them are intentional. Though there are a couple there that I missed just because my tires were giving out by then. You can probably hear me curse about it in the video XD The car is good for 5 laps at this pace back to back and it needs to pit. Tires and brakes are done at that point. When it was stock and I was going much slower (2:06), it was good for about double the amount of laps before stuff started to really head downhill.
How are you liking your Z2’s?
Oh I should add that despite removal of dust shields behind the rotors + upgrade to stoptech st60 (355mm) + motul rbf600 fluid (far from my fave), I am still having brake issues. I managed to cook the fluid despite only 5 hot laps back to back per session (and I ran only 4 sessions - that’s 20 real laps! with 2 cool down laps per session). Given that, I still do not have a desire to upgrade the cars power, as the weak link continues to be the brake system for a track like this. 
I could see the struggle with the car in your video (great driving BTW). I do believe the sphericals cure the dynamic alignment issues of a car this heavy leaning on those rubber bushings. That’s why it was one of my first mods.
I would think that track is a large reason you are having issues. No real sections with speed where you are off the brakes except that straight. Plus you never have any road camber to help, so I imagine you are constantly jabbing the brakes to keep weight on the front for turn-in. That course really reminds me of gingerman, where I turned my red calipers maroon. Also, maybe SRF would help you more than the RBF 600? The wet boiling points are like 520 vs 400. Also, not sure how much they help, but I run the .5mm Ti shims from hardbrakes.com
In recent times I’ve been going to tracks that are MUCH easier on the brakes. The only thing remotely concerning me is pad wear. As far as the ZII’s, the wear is fantastic, nothing beyond the wear triangles, so the added camber is helping me keep them from rolling over at 40 psi hot. In terms of grip I’d say they are a B+ (PSS a solid C at temp), I definitely feel some progressively wide slip angles as I got quicker. I’m planning to fully disable traction control this weekend at Mid Ohio. I’ll see if i can make some improvements on my line. Also will make sure to properly grab some vids!
West - thanks for the tip. I had considered sphericals, but being a dd + I am in Canada with bad winters + salt, I didn’t want to deal with the whole spherical thing. It’s clear from my setup that my car is a compromise setup–with the priority being daily drivability. I am happy to make that trade off. I’m going to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (aka Mosport) in a couple weeks. I’ll report back on how she does at a real world class circuit.
Drob - Yup! I do normally run SRF, but my SRF source just disappeared, so it’s not easy to find locally at a decent price. I have one bottle left that I was saving–and it looks like I’ll have to use it now (since my fluid is cooked). I may run those TI backing plates. They do WONDERS, but at the expense of a dramatic increase in pad fade with little warning. So it can be a safety thing in some situations. In all honesty, I’d rather deal with a soft pedal (or even the pedal going to the floor) because at the very least, I know my pads are still there. I just brake check on the straights periodically for pedal pressure. Pump the brakes when it goes to the floor. Worked for me last season anyway 
Very glad to hear the Z2’s are working out for you. They continue to be my favorite street tire. Very responsive and wakes up the front end of this car. That said, you may find the slip angles to actually not be as forgiving once you turn off TC. There is a very small envelope of grip for these tires. Exceed that and they give up pretty quickly. You’ll find that especially with the front end…once the car starts to push, you will need to reduce steering input immediately to bring grip back to the front end. I was doing this all day long with the car. Mind you, dropping the pressure will make them more forgiving to this. And is less of an issue on a bigger, more high speed track. I’d be curious to know how many lapping days the Z2’s get you. I’ll also report back. I took pics of my tires after the last track day. Wear is very well managed. Huge improvement over stock.
Here is what the tires look like after 2 DE’s (4 days) with 2 at Grattan in ~75 deg F weather and 2 at Mid Ohio ~85 deg F weather.
Outside
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/437/19866383582_50d0d9d180_k.jpg
Inside of same tire
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3677/19873837695_fa009995cb_k.jpg
Tread left in center
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/313/19251174324_bd5bc89ce0_k.jpg
The scariest moment I actually had at the last DE did not occur on track…so I have a cheap tailgating Aluminum canopy that has been drunkenly disassembled enough times where one of the legs was severely bent. While I was away shooting the shit with some other guys, a huge wind came through and broke the bent leg. The tent was tied to some jacks…so much for that…lol…the tent apparently tumbled through the paddock and a bunch of old PCA guys caught it and returned it right next to my car. Just thinking about the amount of $$$ in that paddock and what would have happened had it smashed into the V10 Stasis supercharged R8 or brand new 991 GT3…fuck…that gives me goosebumps :o :o
LOL @ the tent. That is sketchy. Glad nothing happened.
your tires…wow, your tires.
You aren’t using the insides of those tires!! Your car is still camber challenged. Sorry bud. Time for more camber. Get back to that alignment rack 
And take out that front toe dang it hahaha.
I’m actually going to toe out my front end now. And drop toe out back (running 2mm total toe out back only now as is. Will drop down to 1mm).
Shrug. your tire wear tells me you are still pushing a lot. And I bet the entry phase of the corner isn’t helping you very much.
I’m going to try again with the xp20/xp8 this weekend. But I suspect you could be right. Under heavy braking where the rear is significantly unloaded, the suspension geometry might toeing the rear wheels out. I’d assume the geometry is designed to toe in under compression to help you steer in the direction opposite of the weight transfer. My rear toe isn’t too aggressive though :-\
I never had this issue before the alignment and tire switch. It really didn’t feel like a brake bias issue because of how quickly the back end was wagging (e.g. didn’t feel like abs was going in and out).
Keep in mind that the sidewalls are stiffer on the Z2’s.
The tire has a “spring rate” that factors into handling. So braking stability can very well be different with the Z2’s compared to your previous setup. That said, -2 camber as west noted wont affect braking negatively. -3 doesnt. I have yet to try -4 but I know many people who run that range without issues. FWIW the S4 is so stable under hard braking already. The anti dive geometry is solid. Drive a S197 then come back and talk to me about braking stability XD
That said, yes, road conditions absolutely could be the issue. Does the instability happen in every corner, or just a couple?
Got a video to throw up so we can take a look? I also wouldn’t be surprised that you’re much closer to the bumpstops under braking with race pads + competition street tires vs before. So now any undulation in the road could make you touch the bump stop, making the car very unstable. You are not on shortened struts afterall…
Pretty sure it’s a large part this straight. Just did a partial track walk and it must be almost 3 deg of declination on this straight!
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/25/f1613fa0fe524d87e64d0c2eb1190a74.jpg
That makes sense then.
I know it’s not an apples to apples comparison, but when I dropped a previous car on factory length struts (it had performance strut inserts, but the struts were OE length), the car had like only 1 inch of travel. So having a travel issue, combined with having a straight that goes downhill…and throw in some race pads and tires that can actually maintain grip with the road under serious braking, I would not be surprised you are on or very close to the stops. Any undulation will begin to throw the car off and engage ABS.
What tire pressure are you running in the back? Playing with that may help some.
Well, had a great weekend for the most part at mid-ohio. Was running a much more polished balanced line, not necessarily faster than what I had before, but I feel a lot more comfortable with some of the real butt puckering turns. There was quite a lot of carnage this weekend, a ttrs going off at turn 1 and slamming a tire wall, a tts that rolled onto its side in china beach (after the straight) and a BRZ that slammed into the side rail after turn 11. Not to mention a lot of spin outs.
Here’s a vid from a lap (this vette would not give me a pass, stuck with him for 3 laps and got pretty pissed…instructor got kind of mad at me lol)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aHvHddGnzI
The bad news is something is really fucked up with my exhaust. Happened during the last session, obviously ended my day. Car sounds like a tractor… ???..90% is an exhaust leak. I REALLY hope it has something to do with my installation at the downpipes flanges. Hope is that a bolt came out or the gasket failed. I had to limp home in the right lane going 60 mph because it was pretty brutal listening to it. Had a CEL come on due to O2 sensors reading lean codes. So I REALLY hope it’s downstream of the cats. I installed the exhaust myself, and honestly, I tend to not know wtf I’m doing while wrenching. Definitely learning though. I’ll throw the car up on stands tonight to see if I can locate the issue.
Here’s a thread I made about my exhaust, which was a completely unproved product at the time (I’m guessing Nuespeed sourced from FI based on the design and bolt on flanges instead of slip joints. Really hope I don’t have to drop coin on an AWE exhaust…
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/583814-3-0T-Neuspeed-Catback-Install-and-Impressions
Yo smooth as hell driving.
That vette sucks. He shouldn’t be there XD
Did you have the rear end instability issue on the lap of the video you uploaded?
Looks like you are driving the car at 70% or so. I would hope that you aren’t having instability problems at that vette pace. There’s a lot more in her. You’re way faster with no vette in front I’m sure
Vette guy was nice and personable, but when I went up to talk to him after that session and say “was there a problem with how I was following you?..then why no point bye???” he said that while some cars catch him in the turns, sometimes they can’t catch him on the straights so he generally doesn’t point bye… ??? : :-X…of course he solo’d off at that point :o
For whatever reason I didn’t feel the braking issue this weekend. Strange. I tried to do a half assed brake bed session after getting initially tech’d…but nothing. I was lifting on the straight, you can tell where by seeing when he pulled away on the straight.
I’m going back to MO next month, so will see if I can drop some time 8)
Man, I just don’t know about the AWE exhaust. I’ve had both resonators fail, and the central muffler. So, 3/5 of the major components in less than 15k miles… They say they’ve addressed the issues with the resonators, but I’ve gotten a ton of PM’s from people with the same issues that don’t want to post about it on AZ. The AWE sounds great, but I’ve spent so much time, money, and effort getting it fixed that it’s become a huge PITA. I’m pretty sure I have another resonator failing again (my current ones were replaced just before they supposedly fixed their issues).
I also don’t like the fact it necks down to the stock diameter where the downpipes meet the rest of the exhaust. Seems like a compromise to be able to offer downpipes separately without having to redesign a small part the exhaust. I’m not sure why they don’t offer a full 2.5" version for people that want the full exhaust. Just seems kind of lazy…
Ya nope. I’d go Borla.
Finally, I thought I was the only one who felt this way. My AWE track edition was great for the first few hundred miles and then it started rattling like crazy. Had my indy shop try to fix it to no avail, same story with my audi dealership… Both say its the exhaust system that is poorly designed. I’m going to PM AWE to see what’s going on but so far I’m not that happy with my purchase.
I also hate that its not a full 2.5inch system. I’m running 034 test pipes to the stock dp and then the awe track. I need the res dp’s to open up that restriction, part of me thinks that my current exhaust setup with the stock dp is contributing to the rattling because it bottle necks there… I dunno, guess i’m not alone though
Well…looks like I found the problem. Fuck. The catalyst sheared right off from the exhaust manifold flange. Ugh. I’m amazed my exhaust was able to do this. wtf ??? Honestly not really sure what to do. Dealership because an upstream part failed, or they will just blame tune/exhaust. I understand I was pushing the car, but you wouldn’t expect the cat to just flat out break.
That sucks… Can u snap pics or not possible do to location? Probably worth going test pipe/headers at this point… How are emissions laws in MI? Never know dealer/audi may cover?
Michigan is the anti-Al gore state. Could probably drive a big tired drag car on the street. Personally I don’t really want to go cat-less since I hate the smell. Especially in the garage…sigh…Just called 034 and JHM, neither of them are making high flow cats.
It’s easier to see the driver side flange, but my phone doesn’t get light back there. Best I can do in this shitty vid is shake the left downpipe and nothing…then shake the right side and you can hear the bang bang bang.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-kfd5cHN-o
I can see that the flange is not moving, so it’s not like the manifold itself cracked or something. At least what I can see. Visibility is pretty horrible.
I’m going to call the dealership tomorrow and see what they say.