VIR with TSCC: Dec 2022
Great end to the first year with the GTI on track
Had a great weekend with the Tidewater Sports Car Club at the December to VIRmember HPDE!
Was great to see some other MK7 forum buddies in person along with a bunch of other MK7 buddies, some from Facebookland and some old friends.
As far as changes to the car and how they felt:
The DO88 intercooler: awesome. I had some issues with my dongle losing connection so never logged a full session, but I got a few laps worth of data. In a nutshell IATs were never more than 12-14F over ambient when on throttle. They'd creep up a bit when off throttle of course in the corners/braking zones but go down and stay down to +12-14F. Oil temps never exceeded 245F. Coolant stayed fine at 190-200F.
The 26mm H&R sway bar feels great out back. I do think I will go forward with installing the front bar this winter since I already have it. For science. If I hate it in February then the stock front will go back on before a May event.
The Garmin Catalyst: friggin awesome. VERY useful tool for comparing lines and different braking techniques. I still have a lot of work to do myself as a driver as far as getting back to consistently doing the same thing every time. Keeping myself in place in the seat seems to be the biggest issue. Arms and shoulders are so sore I was able to work on individual sections of the track throughout the weekend and it pieces together an "optimal lap" video where you can figure out which ways were fastest.
The main thing is it doesn't tell you what the CAR is capable of... only what YOU have already done. As long as that is understood, and you are comfortable pushing yourself and know WHERE you can do it safely, you can figure out what works and what doesn't pretty quickly. I think the value in this thing will be huge in speeding up learning a new track. Try a few different lines and it'll slowly adjust the recommendations to piece together what is a decent goal.
On the APR DSG tune: prior to the event I tested out the manual mode and found out it did NOT auto-upshift as I instructed to... unless you lift off the throttle. Even then it didn't work every single time. I took the car back and had it flashed to run manual with no auto-upshift as I'd rather it be consistent. MAN was it hard to break the habit of letting it upshift itself on the stock tune...
I had to make a montage of me yelling inside the car "DAMNIT SHIFT" etc as it hits the rev limiter, I remember to hit the paddle, and then it takes FOREVER to complete the shift.
Finally on my 4th session on Saturday I started to get a rhythm down... Basically only used 3rd-4th. Stock ECU tune was speed limited to about 121-122mph GPS speed (due to the shorter 245/40R17s) so there was never a need to shift to 5th.
Temp data from VIR was uploaded to Datazap:
https://datazap.me/u/derhase/stock-tune-temp-data-track-vir?log=0&data=0-2-4-5-7-8-9-13-15
https://datazap.me/u/derhase/stock-tune-temp-data-track-vir?log=1&data=0-2-4-5-7-8-9-13-15
Pertinent info I got from it:
-DO88 IC heat soaks to about 12F above ambient on the stock tune in a 20min session. Perfectly acceptable. Honestly due to the IAT location, it wouldn't surprise me if it's actually lower than reported because of the sensor/intake getting heat soaked on track. What will be important is checking the delta again once tuned.
-DSG temp is fine and increases slowly throughout the whole session. I'd probably feel comfortable running it to 220F or so.
-Coolant temps not a problem.
-Oil temps don't seem to be an issue. We'll see what happens once tuned. Depending on how quickly it approaches 270F once tuned... I MAY see if it's possible to get away with just doing some massive hood vents. I 100% believe that this chassis' primary cooling problem is airflow. More through the radiator and everything, the better it'll be.
-I was running the heat on speed 2 or 3. Nothing crazy but there was a little extra help there.
-On one of my first days at VIR on stock IC, I was able to get to 270F a couple times even in similar 50ish F temps. I wasn't able to do that at all this time. Perhaps the lower IATs help the engine more efficiently get rid of heat while also making more power? Or perhaps the stock IC was heat soaking, so any airflow through it was getting pre-heated before the radiator (moreso than typical driving conditions). I don't think this is right because a more efficient (for IATs) IC is removing more heat from the charge air... meaning that heat has to go somewhere. Not sure what to think of this. But it feels good and temps are not an issue yet.
For reference, this is how the car was set up for this event:
Drivetrain: DO88 IC, APR trans tune (still stock ECU tune for now), 034 torque mount inserts
Suspension: 034 Camber plates, H&R 26mm RSB Wheels/tires: Apex 17x9 SM10s w/ 245/40R17 Falken RT660s (which are DONE [heat cycled] after a full season on them)
Brakes: Ferodo DS3.12 front pads, DS1.11 rear pads, Zimmerman blank OE style rotors all around, RS3 brake deflectors, Motul RBF600 fluid
Misc: Apex wheel stud kit, VCDS tweaks that most everyone does. Increased traction on the diff, XDS set to weak, straight ahead brake stabilization turned off and probably something else I'm forgetting.
All in all, it was a great end to the year. Primary plans for 2023 include installing the H&R 26mm FRONT sway bar to compliment the rear, refresh the front LCA bushings, and get some different tires.
So back on the Quickjacks the car goes for winter prep:
