Not really much media for this post, so here's a pretty picture to start it off before a wall of text.
I finally got the car to the track. I was hoping to get a shakedown session in before doing full track on Thunderhill East at Super D, but due to Covid, the heat, and all the local street spots being a bust, I didn't get a chance. Literally 5 minutes into the track being hot, it was black flagged due to someone leaking oil all over it. Fortunately Super D had the small skidpad rented out too so I got a chance to get a quick shakedown in. The car felt amazing temps and psi's looked great, but in such a small area it was difficult to keep my eye on the gauges under WOT.
Once I hopped on track, I did a couple grip laps. I was surprised how many blind and off-camber turns there were. Once I got a chance to go WOT I noticed the AFR would periodically shoot off the gauge, but would drop back to safe range after a second. So I let'er rip and holy fuck did it feel good. Legit the best driving car I've ever driven. So much turn-in, yet manageable and grippy and fast. For the first couple of laps I just left it in third gear and everything worked great, aside from me initiating everything a bit too early and using far too much e-brake.
I took a break and then went back over to the skidpad and did a few laps with Dom and Nic. The flat spots from sitting on the e-brake were so bad I though I had broken my car
I've never used the e-brake that hard before. After the runs, I noticed the AFR was sticking at 18+ for a lot longer than it had been in the morning, but it was still running fine, not stumbling or acting like it was leaning out. Nic suggested the wideband sensor may be bad as he's had similar issues in the past, so I swapped out the wheels and hopped back on the track and started really ripping it.
The first lap out I chucked it into turn 2 in 4th and went to downshift to 3rd and it wouldn't go in gear. Drifted turn 3-5 in 3rd and dropped to 2nd for turn 6 and tried to upshift to 3rd and it wouldn't budge again. I tried entering turn 10 in 4th and dropping to 3rd and of course it wouldn't go even with me slamming it with the force of Bruce Banner. 3rd gear synchro DED. So I just did everything in 3rd again, dropping to 2nd and revving out at turn 6. Not quite as exhilarating. Then I decided to give turn 1 a go. Ripped it mid-way through 4th gear and initiated the feint crossing the start/finish line at about 95mph and clutch kicked the shit out of it until it wouldn't stay sideways anymore haha I gripped the rest of the lap in an attempt to catch up to Dom, which was fun. Not sure how, but this dumb slammed car handles amazingly well. Super curious about what kind of lap times it'd put down if I really pushed it. Anyways, of course as I caught up to Dom, he pulled into the pits, so I ripped it as hard as I could down the front straight and I noticed the AFR weren't returning to safe levels what so ever so after giving turn 1 another go, I cruised the rest of the way around the track and into the pits. AFR stayed off the gauge the entire time.
When I pulled into the pits I got a big waft of fuel and saw fluid pouring out of the bottom of the car so I jacked the car up with the quickness and grabbed a fire extinguisher just in case. Fortunately it was on the cold side and it was actually just coolant leaking out of one of the swirl pot lines. Sure did get my heart going for a second!
I couldn't identify where the fuel smell was coming from, but my guess is there's something funky going on with the hard lines, whether it be a pinch, pinhole puncture, blockage, or shitty fitting. At this point, I've replaced just about every other component in the fuel system. Also hoping the wideband sensor is just bad otherwise some pistons might not be very happy with me
I forget why, but I popped the hatch and found the battery tie-down had snapped and the battery was just chillin on its side in the spare tire well. Thank fuck it's dry cell and didn't leak acid everywhere. Curious as to just how long it had been flying around. I don't recall hearing anything flying around back there, but I did have a couple hard off-track excursions earlier in the day.
At that point I decided to call it and pack up the car. It was already 2pm and 100?+ out. Gave me a chance to watch they other doods boogie down the front straight and huck it into turn 1, which was very exciting to say the least. I don't care what anyone says, 100+mph entries are always cool regardless of linking it to another turn or not.
In the end, it was a slightly frustrating day, but I still had a ton of fun out there. Thank fuck this car handles as well as it does or else it'd be part-out city with all the head and heart aches this thing has caused me. Julian just announced they're going to do East at the end of the year again so at least I'll have a chance at redemption.
Also, quick side note, Federal Evolution ST-1 feel fucking great. 10/10 bang-for-the-buck tire and they come in 225/35r18, which is what I was running up front with 225/40 ST-1 in the rear. Extremely balanced.