Re: Sign up for Sepang Track Day 19 Aug
MachoMan;845816 said:
What I didn't know is what category (GT2, GT3, prototype etc) the Ultima falls into. As far as I know, it can be registered as a road car in other countries. The specs of the car looks impressive, but I am clueless about the kind of pace it will/can achieve on Sepang.
Hi Simon...if you look at its weight, power, downforce, tire size, they are all superior in to a Porsche cup car. All 4 factors are top on the list of factors that determine laptime. The quickest cup car qualifying time at SIC is 2:09. So driver and compound equal, an Ultima will beat that time hollow. Raw spec wise I would put it in between FIA GT2 and GT3 which are both significantly faster than GT3 Cup cars. Vs FIA GT2/3 spec, Ultima has a big advantage in weight (~300kg), tire size, and is not too far down on downforce. Fact that it's road registerable is quite irrelevant. Radical V8 and 1000hp kit cars are road registerable too.
I am also aware of the available test days that Sepang offers. Bringing it in on this coming BMW trackday is more about timing and having kaki along for the trip. At this point, the car is waiting for a couple of parts to be replaced for reliability. And high chance the car will be ready by 19Aug.
The thing is there will always be opportunities before or after Aug 19th to run a car at the track with kaki along for the trip too
But how does one consider a car to be in good/reliable condition? Reliable just because it's built by a reputable workshop or team?
The best way to test reliability is a thorough and extended shakedown and test. How many hours has this Ultima tracked so far on local tracks and what problems if any surfaced? How hard was it shaken and what were the laptimes? Which crew is running it?
Many of the cars listed earlier that have run at BMWsg trackdays before had run hours and hundreds of laps successfully at Sepang prior to that. The top example had gone some 15 hours and over 300 fast laps without problem. At the BMWsg trackday crewed by official distributor for the marque that is quite heavy into motorsport.
If there is no option for a good shakedown and test, then indeed crew reputation is a very good variable to look at. If Joest Racing were to build say an R8 GT car (model of which they have built and run/raced many times before) and declare it good and ready, I would bet on it working very well (and even then teams like that once in a while have issues enough to disable the car on track)
If Mr. Tan AK from Ah Kao Pte Ltd. says that XYZ car is ready but he's never worked on anything like it before, never run a car of that class, no experience, no wins or top 5s,I would bet money on issues 100% cropping up if the car is run hard. If there is a high chance problems will pop up, it's not really good to use crowded roadcar trackdays. The car is so fast that all the other roadcars are basically standing still and nothing but obstructions anyway.
In Australia, our cars goes through scrutineering along with our personal safety equipment before we are even allowed onto the track.
Mentioned safety inspections are for basic worthiness only. Oil leaks, tire condition, visual etc. They do not go down to what a good outfit would do in terms of true mechanical and electrical integrity, managing temps, basically knowing the car inside out, being there every step at build stage and truly knowing the car is ready and is good.
An ill maintained road car can be less reliable than a track car.
There will always be exceptions and outliers to any set of samples, but why would anyone work off the outliers and not all the rest that fit? Most of the roadcars that go to the trackday are less than 5 years old, were assembled at factories that do a very good job, have not been disassembled since. It is always trickier to build a kit car up, especially a very high performance one. Overall the systems are simpler vs roadcars, but the attention to detail required to put together and maintain these simple systems is vastly greater because there are less or no redundant fasteners, dead locking fasteners, factors of safety are smaller on performance cars, there is a much greater sensitivity to setup.
My personal opinion is that the driver of such a fast car is the issue, not the car.
Yes I agree driver is a larger factor than car, but who is the driver? There is no info about the car, driver, or the history of either. If there was a semi known driver, and a semi known car history, trust me no one would even think twice, but at this point there is 0 to go on.
Also, we are talking all else equal and it cannot be denied that big power, speed, grip, all require a better driver to drive safely. And that the same margin or error in a more normal car would be penalized less vs in a crazier car.
Cautious and safe as most newbie drivers are, would you start them out in say a GT1 car with 0 electronic aids despite them being really timid? Never, because you know they're sitting on a bomb. Put a pro in a GT1 car and surround him with newbies in lesser cars getting passed with 100 - 160 km/h differentials and the result can be very ugly too. Even pro to semi pros in much closer matched cars at smaller differentials get very bad once the slightest unexpected move is made on either side. There's just so much to lose for everyone, and nothing to gain by mixing such different classes of cars together.
So from the history of Porsche cup cars that were allowed on BMW track days, am I right to say that it is only possible to bring such 'supercars' to track days if the driver has been a long time BMW trackie, and who is known to be safe and not cause red flags?
Shawn doesn't seem fond of setting rules, and no one else sets any rules, and I guess it's the organizer's subjective call to make, although the previous poll did numerically show what all of old trackers here are comfortable with.
IMO, having a tracking history with the club, contributing content to this forum, over the years going from slower roadcar to faster roadcar to basic trackcar, then to well tested racecar, etc. would all help with the trust in a person, his judgement, as shown in word and action over time.
The opposite is a complete stranger, with an unknown history, no interaction or contribution to the club before, suddenly showing up with a wild car that has never run solid laps, that has no reputable crew or garage confidently stating the car is good and ready. If this were to be permitted then the floodgates really are open for anyone to being any car to BMWsg trackdays.
Or should any car which is capable of 2:25 and below be banned (regardless of driver ethics, skills etc)?
This is a possibility but then it's also tough because people will start sandbagging just to get around the rule... bring a formula car and claim it is just a 2:26 car hahah
There are just too many variables and considerations. I only seek everyone's opinion here because the other thread on this topic doesn't seem to have a firm conclusion. It's a BMW track day, and I will respect the club's rules. No worries mate.
Cool man.. and this is just my view. As can be seen on a few other threads here, the folks here never agree unanimously on anything, so others will have their own view and it's up to them to express it clearly and then Shawn can decide or open it up to a vote if he wants.
Cheers