Road Atlanta HPDE -- FL5 Track Review

[Cdsbblue]

Facelift fk8 also shows oil temps, calculated from other measures since it doesn't have an oil temperature sensor. It's probably calculated from oil pressure, which is affected by an oil cooler or a different oil viscosity. Should the fl5 have similar calculations, it might be interesting to add a real oil temperature sensor in a future sandwich plate. Otherwise you might not know how accurate is that gauge after mods.



Thank you for the detailed response. What were your tire pressures? You mentioned the nannies in your exits. That seems like the understeer assist acting up, unless it was a traction issue.

I'd bet it was a traction issue, but now I'm thinking twice about that. I'm trying to remember where I felt a bit of bogging - it's starting to fade on me - but my impression at the time was traction. I rarely had to crank and recrank the wheel.

My tire pressures on the Falkens started at 28 cold and got to 36-37 hot, always taken after a nice cool down lap. The Michelins started at the same place but even on a damp to wet track, got up to 39 and I wasn't even pushing that hard. I probably was overbraking that day though so that might be a part of it. On a hot day, I'd probably start them at 27 and knock them back after first 8 laps of first session.

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[Modular Cal]

Nice write up! I'm hoping to make it down to Road Atlanta later this year (work pending) and it's great to hear about your experiences in the FL5 there.

I've heard that removing the scoop underneath the hood vent helps with temps on track (and that it is more of a rain guard) . I haven't had the chance to test myself yet, but am curious of your thoughts on that, especially if you get to try it.

 

[Rhorn]

Honest question, aren't 5W-20 and 0W-20 oils the same in regard to viscosity and performance at high temperatures (i.e. tracking use) and the W-rated (Winter) viscosity only being relevant for low temperatures and cold starts?

I live in a tropical climate where the temperature rarely goes below 70 F/21C and essentially don't pay much attention to W-rated viscosity.

Honestly its pretty confusing. Almost every article that I looked up when comparing 5W-20 to 0W-20 says that the 5W-20 is still overall a thicker oil than 0W-20. There might be something that I am missing. Would be helpful if someone could explain. I just know that 0W-20 is generally not a good oil to use for high performance purposes

 

[tezzasaurusrex]

Honestly its pretty confusing. Almost every article that I looked up when comparing 5W-20 to 0W-20 says that the 5W-20 is still overall a thicker oil than 0W-20. There might be something that I am missing. Would be helpful if someone could explain. I just know that 0W-20 is generally not a good oil to use for high performance purposes

This is correct, the base stock determines the cold and invariably the hot viscosity. So a thicker base stock results in a higher viscosity at high temperature. An easy way to determine this is from the technical data sheets that all oils have on their relevant manufacturer websites. You will see that nearly every time the 5W base will have a higher kinematic viscosity and HTHS (High Temp High Shear) at 100*C compared to an equivalent 0W base.

 

[TheTopher]

How even was tire wear? I remember the FK8 needed some negative camber to avoid destroying the outside of the tire. But in the FL5 around Sonoma on sport cup 2 tires, wear was surprisingly even at stock camber settings.

Great to hear brakes held up well!

 

[mbaapk]

That's not quite correct. This is what the UK FL5 manual says:

0W20, 0W30, or 5W30 if temperatures don't drop below -30 C.

This will surely do the trick…

https://www.amsoil.com/p/signature-series-0w-20-synthetic-motor-oil-asm/?code=ASMQT-EA

 

[Cdsbblue]

How even was tire wear? I remember the FK8 needed some negative camber to avoid destroying the outside of the tire. But in the FL5 around Sonoma on sport cup 2 tires, wear was surprisingly even at stock camber settings.

Great to hear brakes held up well!

I'm actually moving to Paragon R7 pads. The R5s worked well but I'm not crazy about some excess pad smearing I see on the rotors.

Definitely rolling a bit. My front and rear camber was 1.7. Got some whiteline adjustable ball joints and SPC rear camber arms so intend to increase front camber to around 3.5 (I'll undo the damper pin delete adjustment) and the rear to around 2-2.5. Also added a RV6 rear sway. I'll start at middle stiffness. Gonna take a pyrometer to check tires but not sure if I'll have someone there to test them before tires in the pits cool off (or heat up from rotors). That will help guide camber set up (and tire pressure) for this track.

 

[Icehawk]

Gonna take a pyrometer to check tires but not sure if I'll have someone there to test them before tires in the pits cool off (or heat up from rotors). That will help guide camber set up (and tire pressure) for this track.

You may know this already but the method I use to set camber is based on tire wear, I've used a pyrometer in the past which backs wear data as you'd expect. I'd run a few events with the tires in the same position and adjust based on wear.

 

[Code Monkey]

Waiting to see what lap times you get once you start pushing harder. I did a 1:42.99 at Road Atlanta in a completely stock 2019 Type R.

 

[MadMage]

For some reason, the data log only compiled segments around the pits and on my way to a restaurant, but not around the track. User error I'm sure.

LogR is a little weird, assume LogR 2.0 behaves the same, you have to swipe right to get it into track recording mode once you have the track setup and are in autoscoring. Took me a long time and lots of frustration to figure that out.

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