Sagaris V8 GT racer...
Discussion
A quick update on the first test of the new car on the National circuit at Silverstone yesterday. So much has changed on the car since it raced at Spa last October that I think we can call it a new car! This was the first time out with the 5.7 litre LS2, clutch/bellhousing/ Holinger gearbox / prop/ diff / ECU / wiring etc etc...
Fortunately the weather was kind to us and we had sunshine all day - ideal conditions.
The intention was to run the car very gently to flush out the inevitable issues. We were very fortunate to have engineers Chris Gregory and Steve Rouse with us for the day - both have huge GT race experience.
After spending almost a year on the (re)build I was very apprehensive as I took the car out for its first lap. Straight in for checks…… no problems so back out for 3 laps….. and building up for the rest of the session until I was doing 8-10 laps at a time. All temperatures stayed constant - which was great as heat had been a concern.
A comprehensive check at the end of the session showed no issues whatsoever. Nothing broke, bent, cracked, burned, melted, overheated, leaked or did anything other than function as intended. Which was something of a surprise!
Darren took the wheel for session 2 and followed a pattern of 5 lap stints. After each 5 lap stint we put the car up on the air jacks and checked it over - each time we could find no issues and sent him back out.
We did another comprehensive check of the whole car over lunch - still no problems - so we switched from shakedown mode to working on set up. The car was corner weighted and geometry checked, ride heights re-set and dampers adjusted.
After lunch we started pushing the car harder - interestingly it doesn't feel mind blowingly fast - it just gets on with the job without drama. The Holinger gearbox is a delight to use - although the flat shift is not yet configured, upshifts require a tiny lift of the throttle and it snicks into gear - no need to use the clutch. On downshifts the briefest prod of the clutch and it pops down through the ratios with incredible speed.
The engine is beautifully torquey and has superb drive regardless of the gear. Like most race engines it sounds grumpy at idle, but as the revs rise the big V8 soundtrack is fabulous. At the front of the car a loud hissing noise dominates - the engine sucks air in through the huge K&N airfilter at such a rate that it sounds like an air hose!
We ended the day with Darren back in the seat, pushing hard and lapping consistently in 58.3 seconds. The tyres are a year old (having been used at Spa) and had been run all day. The brake pedal travel was a little long which doesn't inspire confidence, and the flat shift is not configured. Tyres are worth ~0.5 seconds a lap and the brakes/flatshift a further half second. That puts the car comfortably into 57 second laps, which I understand is exactly the pace of the Racesport car. Straight out of the box that is pretty good!!
Overall then, a huge success. I can't quite believe that we had zero issues and that the car is so good already. We have further testing to do and quite a bit of work to configure the electronics and datalogging, but nothing dramatic.
Big thanks to Steve and Chris for all their help yesterday.
I've even managed to work out how to use You Tube - there are now three very short clips of the car:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1g5DEUtn9pE&feat...
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf2SG5rlFFs
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mywEoTMMwNo
Apologies for the quality - fortunately I am better at building cars than I am shooting video!!
Fortunately the weather was kind to us and we had sunshine all day - ideal conditions.
The intention was to run the car very gently to flush out the inevitable issues. We were very fortunate to have engineers Chris Gregory and Steve Rouse with us for the day - both have huge GT race experience.
After spending almost a year on the (re)build I was very apprehensive as I took the car out for its first lap. Straight in for checks…… no problems so back out for 3 laps….. and building up for the rest of the session until I was doing 8-10 laps at a time. All temperatures stayed constant - which was great as heat had been a concern.
A comprehensive check at the end of the session showed no issues whatsoever. Nothing broke, bent, cracked, burned, melted, overheated, leaked or did anything other than function as intended. Which was something of a surprise!
Darren took the wheel for session 2 and followed a pattern of 5 lap stints. After each 5 lap stint we put the car up on the air jacks and checked it over - each time we could find no issues and sent him back out.
We did another comprehensive check of the whole car over lunch - still no problems - so we switched from shakedown mode to working on set up. The car was corner weighted and geometry checked, ride heights re-set and dampers adjusted.
After lunch we started pushing the car harder - interestingly it doesn't feel mind blowingly fast - it just gets on with the job without drama. The Holinger gearbox is a delight to use - although the flat shift is not yet configured, upshifts require a tiny lift of the throttle and it snicks into gear - no need to use the clutch. On downshifts the briefest prod of the clutch and it pops down through the ratios with incredible speed.
The engine is beautifully torquey and has superb drive regardless of the gear. Like most race engines it sounds grumpy at idle, but as the revs rise the big V8 soundtrack is fabulous. At the front of the car a loud hissing noise dominates - the engine sucks air in through the huge K&N airfilter at such a rate that it sounds like an air hose!
We ended the day with Darren back in the seat, pushing hard and lapping consistently in 58.3 seconds. The tyres are a year old (having been used at Spa) and had been run all day. The brake pedal travel was a little long which doesn't inspire confidence, and the flat shift is not configured. Tyres are worth ~0.5 seconds a lap and the brakes/flatshift a further half second. That puts the car comfortably into 57 second laps, which I understand is exactly the pace of the Racesport car. Straight out of the box that is pretty good!!
Overall then, a huge success. I can't quite believe that we had zero issues and that the car is so good already. We have further testing to do and quite a bit of work to configure the electronics and datalogging, but nothing dramatic.
Big thanks to Steve and Chris for all their help yesterday.
I've even managed to work out how to use You Tube - there are now three very short clips of the car:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1g5DEUtn9pE&feat...
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf2SG5rlFFs
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mywEoTMMwNo
Apologies for the quality - fortunately I am better at building cars than I am shooting video!!
that's interesting. To help identify it you can look for the numbers cast into the head below the front side of the rocker covers. Look for 3 digits raised above the aluminium. So 853 and 241 is ls1, 243 is ls6 and I think ls2 also and these engines have D port exhaust ports which you may have seen. Also, ls1/6 have the cam sensor at the back of the block. Am ls2 would usually have the cam sensor in the front cover. Front covers can be interchanged though. Where are the knock sensors, in the valley or on the side of the block?
The ls2 has bigger bores then the ls1 and 6 and an ls1 can't be bored out so an ls1 will remain a 5.7 unless it's been stroked.
I suppose it could be a 5.7 ls1 built during the transition to ls2 in which case the block may have some ls2 features before they went into proper ls2 6.0 production.
The ls2 has bigger bores then the ls1 and 6 and an ls1 can't be bored out so an ls1 will remain a 5.7 unless it's been stroked.
I suppose it could be a 5.7 ls1 built during the transition to ls2 in which case the block may have some ls2 features before they went into proper ls2 6.0 production.
... top work
...!!!
Chris - got your e mail and yes, that's absolutely fine to use the pictures and video.
The engine had 'D' shaped exhaust ports. When I extract it from the transporter I will check the engine block for markings. I'm not too fussed what it is although it would be nice to know definitively. I am quite satisfied with the power output, particularly given the (light) weight of the car!
The engine had 'D' shaped exhaust ports. When I extract it from the transporter I will check the engine block for markings. I'm not too fussed what it is although it would be nice to know definitively. I am quite satisfied with the power output, particularly given the (light) weight of the car!
teamHOLDENracing said:
The engine had 'D' shaped exhaust ports. When I extract it from the transporter I will check the engine block for markings. I'm not too fussed what it is although it would be nice to know definitively. I am quite satisfied with the power output, particularly given the (light) weight of the car!
So it's most likely an ls6 or maybe an ls2. Both have similar bhp at just over 400 before tuning 
Look for knock sensors on the side of the block whilst looking for capacity numbers.Gassing Station | General TVR Stuff & Gossip | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff