Maiden voyage for the LS1 951 Completed today!

Just got back from the track, ran 3 hard sessions today.

I'm happy to report that all went well! The brakes are phenomenal, the hydroboost worked extremely well. No issues there at all, if anything the brake pedal is too high now, making heel/toe much more challenging.

I need to play with the brake bias though, as the rear brakes are grabbing too hard, leading to some squirrelly moments. I'll try less aggressive brake pads in the back and see what happens.

Steering felt nice, handling was neutral.

Power was good, the car is running a little rich on track, AFR's around 11.5 vs the 12.8 I saw on the dyno. Not sure why it's doing that.

Coolant temps stayed well under control, oil temps were higher than I'd like to see. However I think this was the first time the car got hot enough that the oil cooler t-stat opened up, which filled the core and sucked 1.5 quarts out of the pan.

I'll have to see how it runs with the oil topped up, but I am concerned as today was a brisk day, nothing like the 100 degree days I typically hit the track in during summer. I may have to relocate the oil cooler to directly in front of the radiator to get unobstructed air to it.

I took video's, but my damn camera mount sucks and the camera rotated around. The threaded boss in the camera stripped out, so I need to epoxy it in place and try again.

All in all, a very good day!

A milestone, making your first outing on the track with a new car.

BTW. Newbie here with a 951 chassis and a former 928 avid racer.

I would advise keeping the brake pad compounds the same..front and rear. When you mix the compounds you will find the brake grip changes as you go through your sessions or races. As you know each brake pad compound has it's own unique optimum grip temperature. Soft compounds work better at cooler temps, hard ones at hotter temps (generalization). So if you go hard at the rear to make the car balance at the start of a session, when the going gets hot...that grip will increase and the front will lessen, upsetting the balance...You do not want to have to contend with brake balance that changes as a session or a race progresses.

You can install a adjustable bias regulator. I used the screw-type on my GT-2 928 racer with good results. Don't plan on adjusting them during a race...

You might also look at your ride height to help with front/rear balance under corner entry braking. 944s often are set up low in front, allowing a lot of forward weight transfer under braking. Get the brake balance just right and you will 'murder' the 911 boys. I loved going round them, trail braking into corners.

Don Hanson
Former 928 stroker with 576 rwhp

I'm installing a Tilton adjustable brake proportioning valve next week.

I also need to look into my radiator fans, I think they died as I didn't hear them coming on yesterday.

I'm going to build up the level of the gas pedal to make it higher so I can heel/toe easier, too hard to try to lower the brake pedal.

Then it's wait until winter is over and do another test and tune day to see how things are working out!