Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

So - as some of you already know after a short hiatus I've jumped back into an R35 GT-R. This time with Targa Tasmania as it main goal.

Its a 2007 JDM formally piloted by giant from these forums. The beauty of this car for me is that the annoying parts have been done (cage, race seats, fire bombs etc) but the rest of the car is pretty stock standard with the exception of an exhaust (which is no longer with-in the Targa regs so needs to change) and a Cobb.

268618_10150381331927564_605772563_10489128_6260732_n.jpg

So I thought I'd start this thread up as a log of the development of this car, some of the testing results we find, and also as a guide for anyone else ever thinking of building an R35 for Targa. Unlike say the awesome Superlap builds we have a fairly limited list of things that can and can't do so our objective is to build as good a car as we can within those rules. As a consequence what I will try and do is explain why we have gone in some directions where the current common options may differ.

As a very quick summary I will list the basics of what can and can't be done for an R35 Targa car.

Brakes are free (that means you can do what you like as far as mods go)

Suspension - shocks are free. Arms however must remain standard.

Wheels - only 1 inch variance from OEM allowed (so no 18's running good R comps like RE55's, A050's etc)

Engine + turbos must remain factory.

Exhaust - 80mm max OD.

Fuel system - we can change the fuel pumps on R35's but can't change injectors. So no E85.

Aero - must remain OEM. You can replace the bonnet, boot, wing, skirts with different material but must retain OEM shape.

Weight - minimum weight is 1740kgs.

So the initial plans are to fix the exhaust, get the car tuned properly and then we can start really testing the handling side.

This past weekend I took the car out for its first real run at Phillip Island raceway (I had done a day at QR but was just putting around given the distance from home).

Unfortunately I've discovered the car has some form of engine knock / miss. Not sure what it is but it doesn't seem to be a tuning issue as even with 25% race-fuel (Martini 110) and just the Cobb Stage 1 tune the knock is still there. So the guys at Racepace will try and nut this problem out this week. But in-case anyone out there doesn't know this little fact - if you have a Cobb Accessport with the latest software and you have your boost gauge on your MFD (doesn't matter if its part of the 6 gauge screen or the 3 gauge screen) and you see this flashing white - that is Engine knock - which is not cool.

Anyways, despite this little issue I still went out and did a few laps in the car even though I really couldn't give the car any WOT. But what I was able to do was give the car a few laps on some old worn OEM Bridgeston RE070's and then a few laps on my old very worn Targa A050's (on 18's) just so I could compare the balance and the grip of the car with both types of rubber.

Here's a video of a lap on each set of rubber.

The major thing I found with the old OEM rubber was it had poor initial turn in where you really needed to get the weight forward to turn in - and then you had to steer it a lot with the back of the car in the slower/mid speed corners. But the car was REALLY well balanced on the R comps. I was surprised given we only had 1.9 degs neg camber on the fronts, and given the state of the tyres, and dead stock suspension just how well balanced it was to be honest. The other noticeable thing was how much better the car was "geared" with the smaller diameter wheels. It's a real shame we can't run them for Targa - but for anyone doing other track work you'd be mad not to go the 18's option. (Also for what it is worth I was running 18 x 10.5 + 15 TE37's but I think +22's would be prefect. But brake clearance was great)

So the next main test for me will be to get some new good rubber that is Targa legal and see if any can come close to the feel of the A050's. I've ordered a set of the new Dunlops and a set of Toyo R888's and will do some meaning full back to back tests on the same day to see what results we get.

:cheers:

  • Replies 70
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

cool story snowman. lol.

seriously though good idea to post a thread on the mighty targa build. bummer it has a noise though. hope that gets sorted fast.

I'm looking forward to see what you think about tyres etc. I really noticed the gearing difference too when watching in-car of handbrakes 35 at EC vs my own experience there. with his 18s it was almost perfectly geared for the track (would be the same at PI I reckon as they are both fairly similar overall).

Yeah Richard the car was definitely better ratio'd through turns 9,10,11,12 and to a lesser degree in 4,5,6.

But it's possible with some extra grip this might reverse - will have to wait and see.

But the objective is to get the car into the 1.43's @ PI in full Targa trim.

Timmy - not sure what Alford ran but Jones ran 19's (P Zero's)

Steve-o. My best at PI was a 1.47.1 - but that was a LONG time ago in the blue car and on rubbish tyres. I never went in the White car but I reckon a 1.45 was possible. Mind you if the engine wasn't playing up on Saturday I'm sure a 1.45 was easy done with this new car with just the A050's - which is pretty amazing I reckon given it was running low power and otherwise stock! These things really are an awesome bit of gear.

I'll be back there in Oct for the PIARC weekend so we'll see if I'm right.

I've just read you sig Snowy! lol

You'll be bloody hard to beat in an R35 at Targa Tasmania mate, considering in a dirty old R34 you came 2nd this year, and 4th at Targa High Country last year!

LMAO... what's with that!? And how does Herridge feel about it? :P

Exactly :)

I wasn't competing against Herridge so he has nothing to worry about.

But next time.....

Blah blah next time :P

Seriously though, when I'm at BBQ's and spruking about "achievments", I risk inducing nausea and tell folks that yes, we came 18th outright, but in fact we were third in our Class! haha (Just saying 3rd sounds heaps better though :D)

Anyhoo, sorry to botch up your R35 thread mate.

Hey mate - I was on the same podium with Herridge and we both had plates saying 2nd and a big bottle of champagne.

You'll never be able to tell me I came anything else but because that was my only focus for the race! :) There is no such thing as an overall prize / trophy in that event.

Now with this new car the eventual goal is Targa Top 10 but a desire is for a Top 5. IN MODERN.

But the first main goal is going to be Superlap Clubman Class next year in a car that is either fully Targa spec or with easily swapped mods (such as we may look at E85 for Superlap).

Best thing about the R35 is I know nothing about them other then if I am servcing and it breaks; the best place for me will be the pub...not under the bonnet.

Any chance you can run this thing as a Spec V or something and get some goodies for it....after all its an auto AWD so must needa bout 1200hp to be entertaining to drive :)

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Could be. Could also be that they sit around broken more. To be fair, you almost never see one driving around. I see more R chassis GTRs than the Renault ones.
    • Yeah. Nah. This is why I said My bold for my double emphasis. We're not talking about cars tuned to the edge of det here. We're talking about normal cars. Flame propagation speed and the amount of energy required to ignite the fuel are not significant factors when running at 1500-4000 rpm, and medium to light loads, like nearly every car on the road (except twin cab utes which are driven at 6k and 100% load all the time). There is no shortage of ignition energy available in any petrol engine. If there was, we'd all be in deep shit. The calorific value, on a volume basis, is significantly different, between 98 and 91, and that turns up immediately in consumption numbers. You can see the signal easily if you control for the other variables well enough, and/or collect enough stats. As to not seeing any benefit - we had a couple of EF and EL Falcons in the company fleet back in the late 90s and early 2000s. The EEC IV ECU in those things was particularly good at adding in timing as soon as knock headroom improved, which typically came from putting in some 95 or 98. The responsiveness and power improved noticeably, and the fuel consumption dropped considerably, just from going to 95. Less delta from there to 98 - almost not noticeable, compared to the big differences seen between 91 and 95. Way back in the day, when supermarkets first started selling fuel from their own stations, I did thousands of km in FNQ in a small Toyota. I can't remember if it was a Starlet or an early Yaris. Anyway - the supermarket servos were bringing in cheap fuel from Indonesia, and the other servos were still using locally refined gear. The fuel consumption was typically at least 5%, often as much as 8% worse on the Indo shit, presumably because they had a lot more oxygenated component in the brew, and were probably barely meeting the octane spec. Around the same time or maybe a bit later (like 25 years ago), I could tell the difference between Shell 98 and BP 98, and typically preferred to only use Shell then because the Skyline ran so much better on it. Years later I found the realtionship between them had swapped, as a consequence of yet more refinery closures. So I've only used BP 98 since. Although, I must say that I could not fault the odd tank of United 98 that I've run. It's probably the same stuff. It is also very important to remember that these findings are often dependent on region. With most of the refineries in Oz now dead, there's less variability in local stuff, and he majority of our fuels are not even refined here any more anyway. It probably depends more on which SE Asian refinery is currently cheapest to operate.
    • You don't have an R34 service manual for the body do you? Have found plenty for the engine and drivetrain but nothing else
    • If they can dyno them, get them dyno'd, make sure they're not leaking, and if they look okay on the dyno and are performing relatively well, put them in the car.   If they're leaking oil etc, and you feel so inclined, open them up yourself and see what you can do to fix it. The main thing you're trying to do is replace the parts that perish, like seals. You're not attempting to change the valving. You might even be able to find somewhere that has the Tein parts/rebuild kit if you dig hard.
    • Can you also make sure the invoices on the box (And none exist in the boxes) are below our import duty limits... I jest, there's nothing I need to actually purchase and order in. (Unless you can find me a rear diff carrier, brand new, for stupidly cheap, that is for a Toyota Landcruiser, HZJ105R GXL, 2000 year model...)  
×
×
  • Create New...