There may be a driving school at the New Louden, NH track. That's where we race. I would also try Watkin's Glen in NY and Limerock in CT.

 

Does anyone know if it is possible and what are the consequences of removing the EGR system on 87 V-12 for the purposes of racing? It would be nice to get rid of that system and simplify the fuel system. Also, does anyone have experience with changing the chip in an 87 XJS? I'm getting pretty good performance now but I'd like to know how to change the chip, is it worth it and which chip gives the best performance for the investment? This is a race engine and not for the street. Thanks, Kev

 

Interested for sure. Want to investigate putting
A performance chip in my 2001 XKR

 

Just saw this thread. I'm in!
I've just acquired an STR, and couldn't think of a better use for it. (although I'm not overly fond of the trans in it)

I've got a bunch of track experience in cars, and used to teach Motorcycle Roadracing schools all over the country. So you could call me a junkie. :-)

I'm only 20 minutes from Miller Motorsports Park, in Utah. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.

 

Took my car out to the track for the second time 2 weeks ago. Much faster this time and was keeping up with a new ZR1 and would have passed him had he given me a point (track day not a race). We were hitting 150+ in the straight and I was getting close to my NSX speeds in most of the turns. The car handled very well at the edge and was very controllable. Very good day at the track

 

what tracks do y'all visit?

 

I go to Roebling Road, i have been tracking there since 2001, great pretty safe track with lots of run off room, 9 turns 2 miles long

 

Watkin's Glen, Virginia International, Road Atlanta, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Mosport, Le Circuit Mont Tremblant, Calabogie, Cayuga and Shannonville.

 

Nice...
from your list, I've been to Road Atlanta, Road America, Mid-Ohio & Mont Tremblant. I've never been to the others you list. Man, I'd sure like to.

Wouldn't it be cool to do a "Track-Rat Tour"? hit all the road-race courses on the continent.

 

That would be a blast. I was able to put together a 3 day Panoz school at Road Atlanta followed by a Chin Motorsports 2 day at VIR with a few days inbetween touring the Barber facility in Birmingham just prior to its opening and then kicking around VA and the Outer Banks.

If you liked Road Atlanta I think you'd also like Mosport and VIR. Cresting under the Suzuki bridge at RA looking 100 feet down into the fast T12 is similar to cresting T2 at Mosport, but in addition to a 100 ft drop you've got a double apex and the track's off camber just to up the pucker factor! RA's thrilling downhill esses are similar fun to VIR's uphill esses and downhill Roller Coaster. Hard to beat RA's back straight where you cross over blind at T9 at 140 mph where the track disappears for a moment...and then you're looking down into the slow 90 degree T10a and one of the most grueling brake zones I've experienced. Track completely black from skidding through the brake zone and into probably the largest sand trap I've ever seen.

I'm not even going to start on Watkin's Glen...just put it on your bucket list!

Bruce

 

So I did another track day this weekend, this time at Inde Motorsports Ranch in southern AZ. The track is 2.75 miles long, quite up and down, and has 21 turns, several being blind just after crests etc., so it was a very interesting and technical track to drive.

We had 2 sessions, each lasted approximately half an hour. Each session started with a lead car, but he went in after a 3 or 4 laps after which we could drive freely. The only restriction was to not overtake anywhere other than the straight, which was fine as just the main straight is maybe 1/2 mile long.

There were only 5 of us on track (all from the Jag Club of Central Arizona). There was an XK-120, an E-type, an (1960's/70's) XJ , a 2004 XKR and me in my 2008 XKR. Needless to say I had somewhat of a performance advantage, so really only saw traffic when I lapped all the others :-)

The lack of traffic and the length and complexity of the track gave me a lot of clear space to really work on my cornering technique, I really felt like I learnt a lot and got to a point where I felt I could really predict the car's handling very well at the limit.

Especially during the second session after I had got more familiar with the track, I found I was driving a lot more smoothly and was able to drive very close to the adhesion limits of my tyres most of the time (the point where they were continuously squealing but not really slipping), yet I felt I was still in perfect control of the car. It was an amazing and addictive feeling.

I had originally anticipated I would try tuning the DSC totally off, but I actually didn't as it didn't feel like DSC was really holding me back that much. Also I was really exploring the limits and several of the corners were blind (i.e. right after crests etc) so I had a few close moments from having slightly overcooked it a couple of times. Feeling the DSC each time successfully help me avoid the embarassment and potential paint damage of a tour in the kitty litter made me less inclined to turn it off. I was also already learning a lot, and going much faster than everyone else, so I really didn't see the need to introduce an extra challenge just to be slightly faster again. Perhaps next time.

I got on much better with the paddles this time. According to the manual, when in DS mode the car won't shift at all once you've used the paddles once. I found its annoyingly true that while in sport even holding the upshift paddle for a few seconds wont switch it back to sport auto, but I discovered that the car even in full sport will still automatically shift up when you get near the redline. Discovering that was a revelation and immediately helped me find a much better shifting technique that (at least for me) is much closer to being as competitive as I would be with a stick shift:

The car is actually very good at anticpating corners and automatically changing down while braking, so I really didn't need to ever manually downshift going into corners at all, however I did need to manually downshift on many corner exits, especially the more sweeping ones, and very especially coming onto the straight, as even in sport mode the kickdown wasn't downshifting like it should. Consequently I ended up hardly, if ever, using the upshift paddle, meaning I could at least freely move my right hand around the wheel and let the car upshift on its own. Its probably not upshifting at exactly the most optimal shift point for track use but it really wasn't far off. At the end of the day its still a slush box so even manually upshifting often felt more like a suggestion than a precise command anyway.

All in all, I came away even more impressed with my car's handling ability and also felt like I had learnt a lot. Just finding a much better paddle shift technique would have been worth the trip but I got much more out of it than that.

I'm planning to fit a Quaife limited slip diff next. I'm already looking forward to the next track day to experience the gains from that. Even without an LSD the XKR already gives an exceptionally satisfying track drive, I can't help but expect that it will feel very special with an LSD.

 

I came across this topic by accident so forgive me if I have some catching up to do. Over the last two or three years, my friend and I have been going to Audi track weekends several times a year at such tracks as Buttonwillow, Infineon, and Spring Mountain. Although I can't put my 2002 XKR convertible on the track because 'verts are not permitted, I take my ancient 1972 De Tomaso Pantera out and my friend's Audi S5-6spd. and we swap back and forth. I wanted to learn about what my limits and fears were (well, I knew what some of my fears were), and I have generally had a great time. I say generally, because there have been some hiccups along the way such as two frightening spin outs on a wet track at Infineon in the Pantera (it will no longer be visiting wet tracks ever again.) Having a teacher with lots of track experience sitting next to you at these events, explaining things is a great way to ease into enjoyable track experiences. But, I will tell you what I found helped me a lot. Since I was not willing to take the Pantera back to Infineon last year because the track is typically wet in October or November when the Audi event is there (all the Audis have 4 wheel drive so it's much easier and safer), I rented a 6 cylinder Mustang at a nearby rental yard. The V6 which is supposed to still put out more than 300 hp, apparently had a governor on it, because it just had no power. The odd thing though is that less power teaches you to drive more smoothly, and more smoothly is what track driving is all about. I drove that Mustang with my foot planted and learned more than the previous half dozen events in the much more powerful Audi or the Pantera. It's probably why Miatas are so prevalent at track events (little power, but smooth handling and balance+=speed). If you haven't tried, it's worth the experience and is a great driving confidence builder.[PHP]

 

I couldn't seem to upload a photo at Buttonwillow (I think), but here's the old cat on the track.

 

Good to hear there are others that will track their jaguars. The car is actually fairly easy to learn to drive at the track once you get used to the weight and power. Spinning is not a big deal at a safe track but a real spincter squeezer if there is lots of steel or concrete around the track

 

Gresat to read about your track day...let us know how you like the Quaife LSD.